Expat Kiwi returns home to head up NZ Book Month

Expat Kiwi Michele Powles has been appointed Project Director for NZ Book Month.
Currently UK-based, Powles is an arts marketing specialist and she has extensive event and performance management experience.

Most recently, Powles has been the director of Rifleman Productions Ltd, a well-respected performance-touring company in New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region. She has also worked with the Touch Compass Dance Company and the Trash to Fashion annual event.
An LLB (Hons) graduate from Victoria University, Powles also has the legal skills to back her work up.

Powles says she’s thrilled to be given the chance to get more Kiwis reading and head-up this hugely successful and creative book-industry initiative.
She says she’s so impressed with what’s already been achieved for the Book Month brand in its short life and can’t wait to work with the book month team, sponsors and booksellers to get even more Kiwis behind it.
“The team has created a really effective marketing mix and the result — judging by the sales of The Six Pack and website hits — shows that consumers have really embraced the initiative,” enthuses Powles.
The Six Pack publication is the month’s signature and highly successful promotional initiative. Both anthologies have gone straight to the best-seller list and remained there for several months.

Not one to sit back and watch the paint dry, Powles is also a graduate of the University of Auckland Masters of Creative Writing course and she is now a published author. Her first book, Touch Compass, was published by David Ling (who provided her pic and book cover image) and her latest book, Through Darkened Water, has been accepted by Richard’s Literary Agency.

Michele said: “I now know first hand the joy and excitement of seeing your words in print. It gets the heart rate up, it makes smiles sneak up when you weren’t looking, and it’s a feeling which should be encouraged, celebrated and grown among New Zealand writers.”
Now in its third year, and held every September, NZ Book Month has become a firm fixture on the literary calendar.

“The Book Month Trust is delighted with the appointment of Michele who we are sure will lead the event forward building on the success it has already had. I would like to personally thank Phil for all his fantastic work in establishing the event and wish him well for the future,” says Michael Moynahan, NZ Book Month Trust chair.
Michele Powles has taken over the role from Phil Twyford who is standing as a candidate for Labour in this year’s General Elections.

TRADE ME BATTLE WITH BOOIKSELLERS CONTINUES

An interesting listing on Trade me yesterday was from member kelvinm [an Auckland online book dealer] Auction Number: 137409774

RARE NEW ZEALAND BOOKS

No bids

No reserve

Closes: Tue, 29 Jan

Starting bid: $
[ ]
[Place Bid]

[ ]
Auto-bid

Rare, indeed, as New Zealand books have become very hard to find on Trade Me since the removal of the New Zealand category of non-fiction books.
The category was taken from the site suddenly, and without consultation, or notification or explanation, just before Christmas, the major buying and selling season. It was gone in a flash ... just like that!
Good luck if you want to browse for New Zealand books now, because you can't. They're lost among a rag bag of titles in other categories of non-fiction books. Or listed in inappropriate categories, such as the New Zealand-published section of Rare and Collectable books.No wonder buyers and sellers are confused and disgusted, emailing or writing to Trade Me, sending messages to the New Zealand Book Council and approaching National Radio.

You only have to read the 300+ messages in the Books section of the Message Board to see how much of a furore this has caused.Trade Me's reply when asked to explain:Dear .., Thanks for taking the time to contact us about our recent category changes. I've passed it to the appropriate team so they're aware of how this effects you. From time to time we may add, remove or change categories to meet the needs of our sellers and make the site easier for our buyers to navigate. ... I really appreciate your feedback. If you have any further questions or if I can be of any further help please do not hesitate to contact me. Regards, .. Trade Me Support" Interested? No! Evasive? Yes! Sellers and buyers of New Zealand books are asking Trade Me to reinstate the New Zealand sub-category of non-fiction books, perhaps with its own sub-categories. They say it was working well and want to know why it was dropped without warning.They invite you to start your own auction along these lines if you support this cause.
THIS AUCTION WILL BE WITHDRAWN PRIOR TO CLOSING.

48 hours in literary London

I missed this Reuters story when it was published last Wednesday, still here it is in case you missed it too, better late than never! Makes one want to rush over there..........................

Got 48 hours to explore the literary haunts of London? The British capital is a treasure trove of pubs, museums and hotels steeped in booklore. Reuters correspondents with a mix of local knowledge give tips on how to spend a short stay.

FRIDAY
7pm - You'll be thirsty for a drink when you arrive, but don't waste time searching for George Orwell's mythical perfect public-house, the "Moon Under Water". Start your weekend in the world of P.G. Wodehouse's butler Jeeves by drinking and dining in the historic pub "I Am the Only Running Footman" on Charles Street in Mayfair. The 1749 pub, rebuilt in 1937, was once the haunt of servants and is said to have inspired Wodehouse to create the fictional Junior Ganymede, the club for "the gentlemen's gentleman" where Jeeves took his ease. As you head back to your hotel, take a look at Number 48, where Winston Churchill lived as a child.

SATURDAY
9am - Start your day with more than 13 million books! Head to the London haven of book lovers, the British Library at St. Pancras. You can view the 1215 Magna Carta and many manuscripts, including Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens.

10:30am - Walk down Upper Woburn Place past the gardened Tavistock and Russell Squares in the heart of Bloomsbury - home to the "Bloomsbury Group", or "Set" as it is also known. See where the Bohemian artists who so influenced Edwardian London lived and exchanged views - as well as lovers. Modernist literary giant Virginia Woolf lived at 46 Gordon Square.

11am - A short walk from Russell Square is the Dickens House Museum at 48 Doughty Street. Tour the rooms where Dickens lived with his young family during a particularly productive period. It was here that he completed "Oliver Twist" and "Pickwick Papers" between 1837 and 1839.

12pm - You've seen where Dickens lived, now why not sip a pint where he did. The Lamb on Lamb's Conduit Street is a pub full of history. Not only a local for Dickens, it was also the meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group. Built in the 1720s and done up in Victorian times it has beautifully preserved and rare "snob screens" - panels of etched glass at head height at the bar to conceal the drinker's identity. After a traditional pub grub lunch take the tube to Leicester Square.

2pm - Exit the tube onto Charing Cross Road, where there are a plethora of bookshops to suit any budget. You can find rare books, first editions, antiquarian sets and modern classics. Be sure not to miss 84 Charing Cross Road, once home to the bookshop in Helen Hanff's book of the same name, later made into a film with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. Lose yourself in the massive independent bookshop Foyles (113-119 Charing Cross Road). If you're lucky you might even meet an author, as they regularly pop in, sometimes unannounced, for signings. If you can't wait to flick through your new purchases, take a breather in the organic Café inside Foyles.
4pm - Take a taxi to the north side of the Millennium Bridge near St. Paul's Cathedral and walk across the River Thames towards Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - a faithful reconstruction of the Elizabethan open-air playhouse for which the Bard wrote many of his greatest plays. Take a tour (last entry 4.30pm) to learn about the painstaking construction of the theatre and original Shakespearean acting techniques, such as what they used for gory scenes in Elizabethan times (real pig's blood - in case you're wondering).

5:30pm - Pop to the Anchor pub just along the path by the side of River Thames where diarist Samuel Pepys was said to have watched the destruction of London in the Great Fire of 1666, describing the dreadful heat and "fire drops". Rebuilt in 1676, the pub's original structure has been added-to over several centuries, creating a maze of odd little rooms featuring old brick fire places and creaking floorboards. One of the bars is named after Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer and writer, who drank here regularly. A copy of his dictionary is on display.
If you're after more modern surroundings you could head for the imposing Tate Modern museum next door to the Globe for a reviving cocktail overlooking the Thames. The restaurant and bar on the 7th floor has some of the best views in London.
7pm - In the summer months, nice weather might encourage you to down a few pints of beer and have some pub food at the wooden tables set out in front of Anchor on the bank of the River Thames. If it's raining, you might consider dining in the restaurant at the Tate Modern before walking back to the Globe to watch an evening play (performances between late April and October only).

9pm - If your visit is outside of these months, head back into central London for dinner at the world famous Café Royal on Park Lane. A favorite haunt of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, where they and their literary chums enjoyed conversational jousting in the opulent dining rooms of frescoed ceilings and gilt-edged mirrors.

SUNDAY
9pm - Wake yourself up with a brisk walk through the parks of north London and a visit to Highgate Cemetery, Karl Marx's resting place. Take the tube to Archway and walk up Highgate Hill to the East Gate of the famous Victorian cemetery. It's a tranquil place to wander, crammed full of gravestones, tombs, catacombs and monuments, all set in magical woodland. Marx's massive granite bust with the inscription "Workers of the world unite" is the most visited, with flowers and wreaths still placed there. But you can also find novelist George Eliot and Victorian poet Christina Rossetti's graves. Just outside the north end of the cemetery is St. Michael's Church, where late 18th century author of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and best friend of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is buried.

12.30pm - A short walk into Highgate Village will take you to the Flask pub, a historic once-rural establishment with rambling charm. Settle into one of the nooks and crannies and sample one of the many real ales and eat a hearty lunch before heading back to central London by tube to Baker Street.

2.30pm - Coming out of the tube make your way to one of London's most famous addresses 221b Baker Street, where Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional creations Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson lived in the late 19th century. In the Sherlock Holmes Museum you can sit in the super sleuth's armchair by the fire in the study overlooking Baker Street. The deerstalker cap, magnifying glass, Persian slippers and disguises are all on display. But if you'd like a photo taken in character you'll have to bring your own pipe - "Elementary!"
4pm - Time for a quintessentially English Afternoon Tea at a hotel favored by mystery writer Agatha Christie and colonial traveler Rudyard Kipling. Make your way to the 170-year-old Browns Hotel in Mayfair. It boasts that Kipling wrote "Jungle Book" here and that Christie broke off from writing "At Bertram's Hotel" here to enjoy the dainty sandwiches, scones, clotted cream served at tea time.

6pm - If you happen to be leaving London by rail enjoy a glass of champagne at the magnificently restored St. Pancras station, said to rival New York's Grand Central. If you're departing from its grimier neighbor, Kings Cross station, see if you can find J.K. Rowling's platform 9-3/4. Muggles beware though - don't jump aboard the Hogwarts Express, as you may end up somewhere mysteriously magical.

Nestlé book prize put to bed for last time

Michelle Pauli writing with sad news in The Guardian Wednesday January 23, 2008

The Nestlé book prize, which has been honouring children's authors for the past 23 years, is being discontinued by its administrator Booktrust and sponsor Nestlé.
According to Katherine Solomon, press officer at Booktrust, the future of the prize has been in discussion for some time and the decision to end the partnership was "mutual and there was no hostility". It was a "natural time to conclude", she added, as the literacy charity's focus moves increasingly into its national book-giving scheme - the Bookstart and Booked Up programmes that provide free books to babies and year seven schoolchildren.

Nestlé said that it was "moving its community support towards the company strategy of nutrition, health and wellness," in the form of healthy eating plans for primary schools.
Despite some controversy over the prize's sponsorship by Nestlé due to the company's tarnished reputation arising from its promotion of powdered baby milk in developing countries, the prize became one of the most respected in the publishing industry. The judging process included contributions from children - over a million took part during the prize's life - with selected school classes voting on the winners in each category.

Julia Eccleshare, chair of the prize, said "the Nestle children's book prize has played a big part in promoting children's reading in the last twenty years and it will be missed by authors and illustrators who have won it and and by the children around the country who have so enjoyed playing their part in judging it."

The prize was divided into three categories: five and under, six to eight and nine to 11, and the prize helped to launch the careers of some of today's best-known children's writers. JK Rowling and Lauren Child both won the prize three times, while illustrator (and Observer political cartoonist) Chris Riddell won a record-breaking fifth gold medal in the final awards last year.
Previous winners of the award include children's laureates Anne Fine, Quentin Blake, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen.

Ruses and Daring Escapes by a Jew in Nazi Germany


Review from The New York Times overnight:

In June 1942 a 20-year-old Jew named Cioma Schönhaus stood in front of a Nazi bureaucrat in Berlin for final processing before being deported to a concentration camp in Poland. Asked if he had any money, he replied, “Yes, my lucky penny.” The penny went into the coffers of the Third Reich, duly noted in an account book.

THE FORGER
An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin
By Cioma Schönhaus
Illustrated. Da Capo Press. 220 pages. $23.

“No further mention of luck,” Mr. Schönhaus recalls tartly in “The Forger,” his stirring account of life on the run in wartime Berlin.
Even without the penny, luck stayed with him, allowing him to beat the odds and survive. A last-minute deferment saved him, but not his parents and other relatives, from the transport trains headed east. As a skilled worker at a munitions factory, he was deemed essential to the war effort. Later, when the noose tightened again, he found work as a document forger for an underground network devoted to helping Jews. He eventually escaped across the border to Switzerland, where he lives today, the founder of a successful advertising and graphic art studio in Basel.

In the vast literature devoted to the Jewish experience under the Nazis, Mr. Schönhaus’s slim book deserves a special place, as much for its tone as for the remarkable events it records: a catalog of hairbreadth escapes, clever ruses and brazen coups. The background is undeniably grim, and his personal circumstance dire, but Mr. Schönhaus relates his experiences with an often joyful bounce and a dry sense of humor.
If the prospect of imminent death concentrates the mind, as Samuel Johnson observed, it can also sharpen wit.

Mr. Schönhaus, the son of Russian immigrants, tells his story in compressed vignettes that shine a brilliant, unfamiliar light on Germany under the Nazis. Among other things “The Forger” provides a fascinating look at the dodges employed by all sorts of Germans coping with wartime scarcity. Through mundane details he exposes some of the complexities of life under a totalitarian regime and the unexpected acts of decency that allowed him to survive, to hope or, at the very least, to enjoy a few moments of civilized human contact.
The owner of an art gallery, sensing that Mr. Schönhaus and his girlfriend might be interested, conducts a private backroom tour of works by banned artists like Emil Nolde and Max Beckmann. The night foreman at the munitions factory whispers instructions into Mr. Schönhaus’s ear on how to sabotage the machine-gun barrels he is filing down.
Mr. Schönhaus, a young graphic design student, has the brash confidence of youth and a trickster’s zest for dangerous games. He and his girlfriend, for example, put snaps on their yellow stars, placing them in their pockets so they can go into shops and restaurants, and putting them back on when Nazi officials or the police loom.

Such subterfuges come in handy when Mr. Schönhaus, sensing danger, leaves his munitions job and goes underground. By chance, he falls in with Dr. Franz Kaufmann, a former government minister who, at great personal risk, supplies false identity papers and other documents to Jews living illegally in Germany.
Mr. Schönhaus applies his artistic training to the duplication of official stamps, turning out fake passes and papers in a secret warehouse in the mornings and enjoying Berlin to the fullest in his off hours. “In spite of the goods trains you must say ‘yes’ to life,” his ever-optimistic father tells him in a dream. “As our representative you have a duty to experience all the pleasures we were denied.”

Bravado, cunning and carelessness are Mr. Schönhaus’s calling cards. When the Gestapo seals off the rooms of family members who had been deported, he and a friend unglue the seals and sell the furniture and other possessions on the black market.
Well paid for his forgery work, Mr. Schönhaus eats at good restaurants, often surrounded by Nazi functionaries, on the theory that the police do not look for a criminal in the station house. To secure a place to sleep, he shows up at a government office, claiming that he had to vacate his apartment to make space for an elderly uncle who had been bombed out of his residence in Cologne.
Supplied with a list of landlords willing to take in boarders, he makes the rounds, arriving at each address in the early evening and promising to register with the police, as required, in the morning. When morning comes, he announces that a letter has arrived at home, summoning him for active duty in the Army. Thus he moves across Berlin in a series of one-night stands. Ingenuity is undermined, however, by his bad habit of constantly losing his own forged identity papers.

The kindness of others, and the unfathomable stupidities of the regime, help him along. Decent Germans hide him. When the Kaufmann ring collapses, exposed by an informer, he simply walks into a well-stocked map store and buys a complete set of guides to areas along the Swiss border.
With a book by Joseph Goebbels in his knapsack for insurance, Mr. Schönhaus hops on his black-market bicycle and, with bombs raining down on Berlin, starts pedaling toward freedom. The reader’s heart lifts. Reason says it is impossible to escape Nazi Germany by bicycle. But by this point it is evident that the impossible is Mr. Schönhaus’s stock in trade.

Penguin closes its Scottish office after four years

Phil Miller writing in The Glasgow Herald
January 23 2008

One of the world's leading publishers, Penguin, is closing its office in Scotland.
For the past four years, Judy Moir, a leading literary editor and former publisher at Canongate books, has found and nurtured writers north of the border for the London-based publisher.
However, Ms Moir is now to leave her post of Scottish editor at Penguin at the end of January after the publisher said it has changed its business model. Last night, she said she was "baffled" by the company's decision and that she still had great faith in the writing talent north of the border.

Ms Moir was appointed as Scottish editor four years ago, and another leading London-based publisher, Hodder Headline, mirrored that decision, appointing Bob McDevitt, the former manager of Ottakar's bookshops in Scotland, as its publisher for Hodder Headline Scotland, responsible for identifying a number of fiction and non- fiction writers in Scotland.

Ms Moir currently has 15 writers on her books for Penguin in Scotland and last night she admitted the removal of her post would be "difficult" for them.
"They are closing the Scottish office after four years," she said last night, "and I am still a little bit baffled. My remit was to find Penguin Scottish writers and ideas and feed them back to Penguin, and of course I am disappointed it has come to an end.
"I still feel enormously positive about the future of Scottish writing. I have been involved in Scottish publishing for more than 20 years and I have a great relationship with the writers I work with.
"Why they would want to do this in Scotland, I don't know. Last year was a really rewarding year, so from my own point of view I know I did a good job for them."

In her time in Scotland for Penguin, Ms Moir has helped publish James Robertson's The Testament of Gideon Mack, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize, two Scottish awards - the Saltire and Scottish Arts Council awards - longlisted for the Booker Prize, as well as being selected for the Richard and Judy Bookclub in 2006.
She also worked on the critically successful Scotland: The Autobiography by Rosemary Goring, the literary editor of The Herald.

Last night, a spokeswoman for Penguin said they still had great faith in Scottish writing, and would be commissioning Scottish writers from London.
The spokeswoman said it "made more business sense" to revert to the London-based model and added that new books by Scottish writers James Robertson, James Kelman and Ali Smith had already been commissioned.
Tom Weldon, managing director of Penguin General Books, said: "Judy has a terrific editorial eye and an unrivalled network of contacts in Scotland. We are very grateful to her for bringing some wonderful new Scottish writers to Penguin's publishing lists over the last four years."

New Zealand Post Writers and Readers week launched

From the Festival organisers:

Yesterday we launched the largest Writers and Readers programme so far at New Zealand Post House in Wellington. Twenty international and 34 New Zealand writers, photographers and artists make up this week which celebrates the power of the printed page and revel in exploring in-depth issues that are constant challenges within today's society.

New international additions to the programme are American Patrick McGrath (pic above) , Australian-born Craig Sherborne and Sia Figiel is oft-described as Samoa's first woman novelist and her book, Where We Once Belonged, has been adapted for the stage in a starkly honest and wildly funny play making its debut at the Festival. Read more

Beah and publisher stand by book - From The Australian

BEST-SELLING author Ishmael Beah and his US publisher have stood by his claim to have spent three years as a refugee and then child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war despite The Australian finding evidence that his ordeal lasted one year, not three.
"I am right about the dates. This is not something one gets wrong," he said in a letter to the editor of The Australian released through his publisher yesterday.

Beah's publisher, Sarah Crichton, also stood by the accuracy of his book, A Long Way Gone, in which he says he hid from brutal rebels for nine to 10 months and then spent more than two years as a child soldier who was fed drugs and trained to kill.

"I have met many people who knew Mr Beah in Sierra Leone, and who have corroborated his story," Ms Crichton said in her own letter. "When Mr Beah says, as he adamantly does, that the dates in his book are correct, we have absolutely every reason to believe that this is the case."
Contacted later by telephone in New York, Ms Crichton said she could not discuss the issue until after the Martin Luther King long weekend in the US, and that Beah was unavailable because he was travelling in Europe.

The Weekend Australian reported that while Beah, now 27, clearly went through a terrible ordeal in the war, inquiries in Sierra Leone had found that his best-selling version of events was seriously flawed.
The Australian found many witnesses in Beah's home region in Sierra Leone who said the attacks he claims happened in January 1993 actually took place two years later. Beah, who was born in November 1980, was handed over by the army to a UNICEF-backed rehabilitation camp in January 1996.

Some 650,000 copies of his book are in print and Beah, who lives in New York, has become the world's most prominent spokesman for child soldiers.
The Australian investigated the dates and confirmed the discrepancy while at the same time disproving claims by a man in Beah's home village of Mogbwemo that he was Beah's father.
Beah's parents and two brothers were killed in the war.
In his statement yesterday, Beah challenged one of the witnesses quoted by The Australian, Abdul A. Barry, who was a teacher at the Centennial Secondary School in Mattru Jong when Beah went there in the early 1990s.

Mr Barry and his wife, Martha, identified Beah from a photograph shown to them by The Australian and independently named his parents and brother before insisting that he had been at school throughout 1993 and 1994 and that the attacks happened in 1995. Beah said he had never heard of Mr Barry.
Contacted again by The Australian yesterday, Mr Barry said he had no idea why Beah would deny knowing him because "I know him very well".
"He was boarding and I was the boarding master. I also knew his brother Mohamed and their parents. His mother came from Kabati," said Mr Barry, accurately volunteering the mother's home village.

Interviewed at the school in Mattru Jong last week, Mr Barry said rebels did not take over the town until 1995, a version of events confirmed by many other adult witnesses, including the town's acting paramount chief Sylvester Basopan Goba and numerous historical records and published accounts of the war.

Creative writing professor Dan Chaon, who helped Beah produce the book, told The Australian: "If it turns out there are factual errors, I wouldn't necessarily be all that concerned about it."
In his book, Beah says his home town, the mine where his father worked and his mother's town were all attacked in January 1993.
He and a group of friends were then waiting in Mattru Jong for news when a Catholic priest was ordered by the rebels to deliver a message telling people inthe town to co-operate with the rebels. Many people fled immediately; two weeks later, the rebels attacked from a surprise inland route, leaving only one unanticipated escape route on a footpath through a nearby swamp.
That is exactly what happened in 1995, according to the adult witnesses, internal records at the mine and numerous published sources.
The 2004 study "Conflict Mapping in Sierra Leone", published by the group No Peace Without Justice, records that a Catholic priest was detained by rebels in December 1994 and ordered to take just such a message into Mattru Jong, prompting the evacuation ahead of the subsequent attack.

Perfect Day for AL Kennedy as she takes Costa book prize
· Versatile Scottish writer gains victory at last· Judges hail postwar novel as a masterpiece

Mark Brown, arts correspondent writing in The Guardian Wednesday January 23,

AL Kennedy last night received the literary recognition many people believe is long overdue when her post-second world war novel Day walked away with one of the UK's most important literary prizes.
The Dundee-born writer is just as likely to be seen on newspaper comment pages as she is on bookshop shelves. If not there, then on stage as a stand-up comedian, or in front of students as an academic.
Last night she was on the stage of a posh London hotel as she picked up the Costa book award and a cheque for £25,000.

After being presented with the award, Kennedy said she felt a sense of impending doom
surrounding British culture and said if she was starting out as a writer today
she probably would not get picked up. "I work all the time. I don't have
a family. I live quite inexpensively."
She said researching the book had increased her fear of flying, although it did not stop her flying in from the US for last night's ceremony and returning the next day.

The chair of the judges, Joanna Trollope, said it had been a passionate 80-minute judging session and Kennedy had won on a 5-3 vote. "It is a perfectly and beautifully written
novel. She is an extraordinary stylist," said Trollope.
Asked whether the novel, which centres on a traumatised second world war tail gunner, was excessively gloomy, Trollope said it was realistic but not gloomy. "I wouldn't
recommend it to anyone who was profoundly, clinically depressed. You need to
work at the novel a little."

She also praised Catherine O'Flynn's first novel What Was Lost which, effectively, was runner up. "It was a very close-run thing," she said.

The Costa prize, formerly the Whitbread prize, pits five category winners against each other - novel, first novel, biography, children's book and poetry.
This is the eighth time a novel has won and it is a victory at last for Kennedy, 42. Day is her fifth novel.

The judges described Kennedy's novel, which looks at the personal damage wreaked by war, as a masterpiece. But critics were not unanimous. Ursula K Le Guin, writing in the
Guardian, praised Kennedy's gift for writing but said the constant shifting
between three narrative modes never quite worked for her.

Much of the novel's action takes place in the head of main character Alfred Day. Day misses the war, misses the crew of the Lancaster bomber he served on and even the
prisoner-of-war camp he was held in. It is 1949 and he has landed a role as an
extra in a PoW film being shot in Germany.

Kennedy, who was last night compared to James Joyce by Trollope, also has a sideline in stand-up comedy, which she has said is an analgesic for her.
She dislikes talking about herself. In an interview with the Observer last year she said: "I have
sex about once every five years. I've lived alone since I was 17. I am
slightly tired. My life is not comfortable to me. But I am philosophical."

Jonathan Ruppin, promotions manager of Foyles bookshops , said Kennedy's win was "long overdue recognition for one of Scotland's outstanding talents".
Aside from the glory which comes from winning the prize there is the undoubted sales boost.
Amazon yesterday highlighted the astonishing sales spike of O'Flynn's novel, which it said was outselling the other books seven to one, and seems to be a hit with book groups across
the UK .

Overall, Simon Sebag Montefiore, winner of the biography category with his work Young Stalin, has enjoyed the biggest sales over the year. Last night's winner can expect even
more sales joy.
The other two works competing unsuccessfully last night were Jean Sprackland's volume of poetry, Tilt, and Ann Kelley's children's novel, The Bower Bird.

BOOKMAN'S BEST BOOKS FOR 2007

Today on Radio New Zealand National's Nine to Noon I talked about my favourite reads from 2007.

Here are the titles discussed:

HEAT - Bill Buford - Random House

MISTER PIP - Lloyd Jones - Penguin

700 PENGUINS - Penguin

THE INDUSTRY OF SOULS - Martin Booth - Dewi Lewis

LOOKING FOR DARWIN - Lloyd Spencer Davis - Longacre Press

PHONE HOME BERLIN - Nigel C0x - VUP

JAMIE AT HOME -Jamie Oliver - Michael Joseph

EAT FRESH - Annabel Langbein - AL Books

If you would like to listed to my comments go to:http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon

Click on book reviews.

I think the audio will be available for the next day or two.

Stiff competition for new Scottish novel prize

Michelle Pauli writing in The Guardian on Tuesday January 22, 2008

If the bookies are proved wrong tonight and AL Kennedy fails to walk off with the Costa book prize, all hope is not yet lost for a gong for Day. Her second world war novel has been shortlisted for a brand new Scottish book award, the Clare Maclean prize.

However, she is up against some stiff competition for the £3,000 purse, given to the Scottish writer who has "written the best novel in the previous year". Former Whitbread award-winner Ali Smith is in the running with Girl Meets Boy, her contemporary retelling of the myth of Iphis and Ianthe, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, along with fellow Whitbread winner Alasdair Gray for Old Men in Love, a collection of fragments purporting to be the posthumously published work of a retired Glaswegian schoolteacher.

One of Scotland's favourite sons, the bestselling author Iain Banks is up for the
prize, too, with The Steep Approach to Garbadale. Set in the Scottish
highlands, the latest mainstream novel from the author of The Wasp Factory
and the Culture science fiction series (as Iain M Banks) is a family saga
with political overtones. John Burnside, meanwhile, may be better known
for his poetry - he has been shortlisted for the Forward and TS Eliot
prizes and is a previous Whitbread poetry award-winner - but is a
contender here with The Devil's Footprints, his lyrical, brooding novel
about memory, guilt and secrets. Finally, Dan Rhodes is in the running
with his Pembrokeshire-set novel Gold, a funny and touching tale of a
young Welsh/Japanese woman and her annual month-long stay in a small
coastal village.

The prize commemorates the life of Glaswegian Clare Maclean, who taught creative writing and was, according to her partner Mike Gonzalez, "an extraordinary reader".
Gonzalez, who is professor of Latin American Studies at Glasgow University
is joined on the judging panel by Rosemary Goring, literary editor of the
Herald, and Rob Maslen, senior lecturer in English literature at Glasgow
University.
The winner will be announced on March 15 at the Aye Write! festival in Glasgow.

Now in its third year, the festival takes place in the city's Mitchell Library and
features over 200 authors, including Hanif Kureishi, Louis de Bernières,
Tony Parsons, Joanne Harris, Blake Morrison and Hollywood star Kathleen
Turner.

The London Book Fair, Earls Court, London, UK Monday 14th – Wednesday 16th April 2008.

The London Book Fair is the world's leading spring publishing event for the trading of rights, bookselling and book production services and brings together over 23,000 authors, agents, scouts, editors, publishers, wholesalers, booksellers and librarians from over 115 countries over its 3 day duration.

The London Book Fair is the ideal location to learn about the global publishing industry and London - an international publishing hub and cultural centre in itself.It is a place to do business, network with peers and clients, meet new contacts, learn about latest developments and have an enjoyable experience.

To register as a visitor, and for more information on The London Book Fair go to http://click.email-publisher.com/maajEwoabEnyQaDZvJXeaeQxXH/

DOES THE WORLD NEED BOOK PRIZES

John Sutherland, writing in The Daliy Telegraph suggests a way of narrowing the gap between book prizes and readers.

The book prize jamborees never stop.

The first major literary gong of the New Year - the Costa award - will be doled out on the 22nd and the panel of judges for the 2008 Man Booker Prize has recently been announced, with Michael Portillo at the helm.
While the Costa selects the winner from various categories - debut fiction, fiction, poetry, non-fiction and children's books - the Booker is rather less ecumenical. One issue in particular will have caused Ion Trewin's Booker administrative committee concern as they reviewed their lacklustre 2007. 'Does the damned thing matter any more?' was a question asked more than once. So does the world (the reading world) need the Man Booker Prize?
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Howard Davies did not endear himself with his broadside against the reviewing establishment - a comment that will go down in Bookerlore, alongside John Berger's 'stuff your prize money' and Selina Scott's 'have you read them all?'

It may, indeed, be time for an overhaul of the system. Davies's remark about the perceived cosiness of reviewers, although he seemed not to be aware of it, boomerangs on him.
What are reviewers, after all? They are judges, advising readers how to choose among the huge over-supply of fiction barraged every week into the public domain.
And what is the Booker panel? It is exactly the same thing: judges, advising the public where they can best invest their valuable time and energy.
Newspaper reviewers are authorised by literary editors, at an average £250 per 1,000 words. Man Booker judges are authorised by Ion Trewin's committee, at £7,000 for chewing through 120 titles. De te fabula, Howard.

There are alternative judicial systems: systems which draw less on the Old Bailey model than the reality TV show. The Quills Prize, based in New York, has devised an elegant and adventurous judging system which, I think, Trewin and his coadjutors could think about as they review the moth holes in their own.
Why, the Quill governing board (made up of book trade people, editors, authors and TV people) asked, are the judgments that come from below - as reflected in bestseller lists - so different from those on high? 'I rejoice to concur with the common reader,' said Dr Johnson. Why doesn't the literary judging establishment so rejoice?

The Quill Awards are designed to bring juries and judges, bestsellers and 'quality' books closer together. The prize-winners are announced, like Man Booker's, in October - as the long nights come in and fireside reading beckons.
A panel of editors from Publishers Weekly select five nominees across 19 categories of popular book (from classic audio fiction, through graphic novels, science fiction, to three age-categories of young reader's book). Then the 'Quills Voting Board', comprising 6,000 invited booksellers and librarians, cast their votes for the winners. And, at a third stage, any interested reader from the general public can cast their online vote at www.QuillsVote.com. The three polls are then weighted and totted up to decide the winners.

It all climaxes, Man-Booker style, at a gala black-tie event at New York's Lincoln Center. The full list of last year's winners can be found on the Quill website.
In fiction, Debut Author of the Year was won by Diane Setterfield, with The Thirteenth Tale. The General Fiction winner was Cormac McCarthy, with The Road. The Romance category was Angels Fall, by Nora Roberts (which was also 'Book of the Year'). Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, as read by Sissy Spacek, was the best audio book. Laura Lippman and Patrick Rothfuss won Mystery and SF respectively.

The Quill machine may seem over-engineered. But it works. And it is less of a wild turkey shoot than the Man Booker, where winners (as last year) come from nowhere and, all too often, go back there in terms of sales and common reader approval.
It might already be too late for this year but it would be easy for Man Booker to set up something analogous to Quill - and spread its interests across, at least, several fictional categories (do romance, science fiction, or crime novels have any chance? Camels and needles is easy by comparison).
The grand panjandrum panel could make their 'shortlist' and the final judgments thrown open to larger constituencies. Perhaps even Dr Johnson's common reader. Over to you, Ion.

Editing of Frost Notebooks in Dispute

Now a recently published compendium of his personal notebooks is coming under attack from two critics who say that the editor of the volume, Robert Faggen, mistranscribed hundreds, if not thousands, of Frost’s words.
Mr. Faggen, a professor and chairman of the department of English at Claremont McKenna College in California, published his book, “The Notebooks of Robert Frost,” last January. In the 809-page volume from Harvard University Press, Mr. Faggen collected the contents of 47 of Frost’s notebooks as well as some loose pages that are stored in archives at Boston University, Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia.
The volume, which represents the first time the notebooks have been published in their entirety, was widely praised by reviewers. For scholars and fans of Frost’s work, the notebooks, filled with poetry fragments, lists, lecture notes and tangential musings, provide insight into his thinking and creative process. In a review published last February in The New York Times Book Review, David Orr, who writes frequently about poetry, wrote, “Any Frost reader will benefit from Faggen’s thoughtful introduction and be intrigued by the way in which concepts from these largely aphoristic journals animate the poems and vice versa.”
But in a review published in October in Essays and Criticism, a British literary journal, James Sitar, who recently completed his Ph.D. in editorial studies at Boston University and is now the archive editor at poetryfoundation.org, the Web site of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, said he reviewed four of the original Frost notebooks housed in Boston University’s archives and found “roughly one thousand” errors in Mr. Faggen’s work.
“Broadly speaking, then, publication of this edition is a great occasion, and readers and scholars should be grateful,” Mr. Sitar writes, “but their excitement about this new material may be lessened when they notice, as early reviewers have not, that the transcription is untrustworthy.”
Most other reviewers have not compared Mr. Faggen’s work with the original notebooks and therefore have no way of knowing whether some of the more obscure passages or spelling and grammatical mistakes are Frost’s or Mr. Faggen’s.
But one other critic, William Logan, a poet and English professor at the University of Florida, also compared Mr. Faggen’s transcriptions with about 30 pages from the original notebooks, this time from the Dartmouth archives. Like Mr. Sitar, he concluded that Mr. Faggen’s work is filled with errors.

For rest of story.........

1941 photo of Robert Frost (above) from Wikipedia website.

Borders To Launch Online Book TV Channel With Simply Media
Borders Pres Release 22 Jan 2008

Borders Books is to launch an Internet television channel at www.borders.co.uk featuring interviews with bestselling authors; news on the latest books; and offering readers the chance to upload video of themselves reviewing books. The content will also appear in a daily programme on satellite TV channel, Simply TV (Sky channel 196) as well as being included in a weekly email to 700,000 Borders customers.

The move is in collaboration with Simply Media, owner of www.bookzone.tv, which will now be re-branded as 'Borders Book Zone'. Simply Media will produce weekly programming for Borders fronted by Nina Sebastiane (ex ITV1's 'Loose Women') and Samantha Norman (ex VH1 and LNN's 'London Tonight').

'Borders Book Zone' will launch with an archive of more than 100 interviews with authors such as Ian Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Michael Connelly, Martina Cole, Katie Fforde, Gary Rhodes and Jane Moore. Each week, new content will be added.

Borders is re-launching its website in the spring at the same time it starts doing its own online retailing, currently provided by Amazon.co.uk. When a user searches for a book, relevant videos will also appear, allowing them to watch these in high resolution, on demand, in a Flash media player.

David Kohn, Commercial Director of Borders (UK) Limited said: "The move into video content will clearly differentiate www.borders.co.uk from any other book retailer and make it a destination site for book lovers, as well as offering a new marketing tool to publishers. We are delighted to be working with Simply Media, as they have the experience and knowledge to create something that will stand Borders apart from all other book retailers."
Leon Hawthorne, Chief Executive of Simply Media's channels and production arm (Simply Productions) said: "Borders is in the vanguard of retailers to embrace the power of online video content as a marketing and communication tool and to fully integrate it into their ecommerce. What Borders is doing today, other retailers will find they must follow or be left behind in this digital age."

"From working with other online sites such as ivillage and Boots we know the power of video and how it can engage viewers and drive response to commercial propositions" commented Henry Scott, CEO of Simply Media. "We are delighted to be working with Borders to drive their online presence forward."

SPEND $100 ON BOOKS CHALLENGE

While I was staying with my daughter and her family in NYC over the Christmas/New Year holidays they gave me $100 to spend for them on a selection of books that they should own and that would form the basis of a home library.
This was quite a challenge because they already have an extensive collection of books in their apartment but I was excited by the challenge and set off to the wonderful Strand Books which is not far from their home. Here is what I bought, with the brief reasons I gave them as to why the titles had been selected:

Because you should have it, especially today:

THE ESSENTIAL KORAN: The Heart of Islam, Harper San Francisco (list $14.95, Strand $4.95)
Translated & presented by Thomas Cleary

Because they are Kids classics:
A WRINKLE IN TIME, Square Fish (Holzbrinck
Publishers) (list $6.99, Strand $6.29) Madeleine L'Engle
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, Harper Collins (list $6.99, Strand $1.95)
Katherine Paterson ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, Puffin (list $3.99, Strand $1.95) Lewis Carroll

Because they are classics:
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Vintage Classics (list $7.95, Strand $5.95) Jane Austen JANE EYRE, Wordsworth Editions (list $6.95, Strand $3.95), Charlotte Bronte, THE AVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Penguin Classics (list $7.00, Strand $5.25) Mark Twain

Because they are modern classics:
THE GREAT GATSBY, Scribner (list $12.95, strand
$5.95) F. Scott Fitzgerald
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, Harper Perennial Modern Classics (list $13.95, Strand $4.95) Betty Smith (foreword by Anna Quindlen)
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, Scribner (list $12.00, Strand $4.95) Ernest Hemingway
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, Harper Perennial Modern Classics. (list $14.95, Strand $11.21), Gabriel Garcia Marquez
DEATH IN VENICE, Ecco (imprint of Harper Collins) (list $12.95, Strand $5.95) Thomas Mann

Because of the new coffee maker in the apartment:
A GRANDE GUIDE TO STARBUCKIAN ZEN, Innovations Press (list $5.95 Strand $1.00) Tiffany Ivy

Because of Philip Pullman’s superb books and "The Golden Compass" movie that we had just seen:
EXPLORING PHILIP PULLMAN'S HIS DARK MATERIALS, St Martin's Griffin (list $9.95, Strand $5) Lois H.Gresh

Because of your addiction to movies (they sometimes go several times a week!):
CHICK FLICK ROAD KILL: A Behind The Scenes Odyssey Into Movie-Made America, Seal Press (imprint of Avalon Publishing Group), (list $15.95, strand $1.00) Alicia Rebensdorf

Because of your love of cooking fine,fresh food:
OLIVES: Cooking With Olives and Their Oils, Ten Speed Press, (list $17.95, Strand $7.95) Ford Rogers
A MEAL OBSERVED, Knopf (list $23.00, strand
$5.95) Andrew Todhunter
CHEF'S SECRETS: Insider Techniques From Today's Culinary Masters, Quirk Books (list $16.95)Strand $9.50 As told to Francine Maroukian

Because it is election time (and also Isabelle knows who JFK
is and his importance in US history):
HOMEGROWN DEMOCRAT: A Few Plain Thoughts From The Heart of America, Penguin, (list $12.00, Strand $1.00) Garrison Keillor
JOHN F. KENNEDY HANDBOOK, MQP Publications (list $22.50, Strand $5.95), Gareth Jenkins

Because it's a fine hardcover and a superb example of 'crime' fiction:

THE POLISH OFFICER, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion) (list 17.00 pounds, Strand $5.95, Alan Furst.

It was great fun doing this. To make the money go further I bought mainly books that were discounted. As I said to them at the time if I was to go back tomorrow I would probably end up with a completely different set of books. I’m pleased to say though that they were delighted with my choices and that I didn’t double up with any titles they already owned.

Always fun spending other peoples' money!

Nominees for 2008 Edgar Awards Announced in PW

Mystery Writers of American has announced the nominees for the 2008 Edgar Allen Poe Awards, which honor the best mystery books and television productions released in 2007.

The winners will be announced at a banquet on May 1 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in New York.. Here is a list of all the nominees in the books categories.

BEST NOVEL
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)

Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)

Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)

Down River by John Hart (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins – William Morrow)In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group – Viking)Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent’s Tail)Robbie’s Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)
BEST FACT CRIME
The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F.Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi (W.W. Norton and CompanyChasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook (HarperCollins – William Morrow)Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit by Kevin Flynn (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson (Penguin Group – Viking)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational by Maurizio Ascari (Palgrave Macmillan)Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave Macmillan)Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press)Chester Gould: A Daughter’s Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)
BEST SHORT STORY
“The Catch” – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)“Blue Note” – Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)“Hardly Knew Her” – Dead Man’s Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade Publishers)“The Golden Gopher” – Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books“Uncle” – A Hell of a Woman” by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)
BEST JUVENILE
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin – Dial Books for Young Readers)Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney(Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – Atheneum Books for Young eaders)Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – Simon Pulse)

MR.MUGGS THE LIBRARY CAT

Dave Gunson Scholastic $17

Here is a fun picture book for kids up to the age of eight and for librarians of all ages!

Mr.Muggs has life organised and is allowed to live in the library so long as he keeps the rats at bay.But Mr.Muggs has a secret.............

Well done Dave Gunson, and Scholastic.

Can’t Tell a Book by Its Cover, or Even Its Title, It Turns Out

By Joanne Kaufman writing in The New York Times

When Missy Chase Lapine, author of the cookbook “The Sneaky Chef” that suggests ways to hide fruit and vegetables in dishes for finicky children, was angered by the publication of “Deceptively Delicious,” a similar book by Jessica Seinfeld (a k a Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld), she had recourse. This month, she sued for copyright infringement and defamation.

But when Raymond Sokolov, the restaurant columnist for The Wall Street Journal, saw that a new food book was coming out with the same title as the cookbook he had published more than 30 years ago, all he could do was stew because book titles cannot be copyrighted.
In 1976, Mr. Sokolov wrote “The Saucier’s Apprentice: A Modern Guide to Classic French Sauces for the Home.” Published by Knopf, the book is now in its 16th printing and Mr. Sokolov, who is also food and wine columnist for the magazine Smart Money, continues to get modest royalty checks.

A few months ago, courtesy of a friend in the publishing industry, Mr. Sokolov learned that W. W. Norton had on its spring list “The Saucier’s Apprentice: One Long Strange Trip Though the Great Cooking Schools of Europe,” by Bob Spitz, author of the highly regarded “The Beatles: The Biography.” (For the record, the humorist S. J. Perelman published an essay called “The Saucier’s Apprentice” in The New Yorker about two decades before Mr. Sokolov’s book).
There are many instances of books with the same titles: “March” by Geraldine Brooks and “The March” by E. L. Doctorow; “Gone” by the mystery writer Lisa Gardner and “Gone” by the mystery writer Jonathan Kellerman; “Leap of Faith” by Danielle Steel and “Leap of Faith” by Queen Noor of Jordan, to name a few.

But in Mr. Sokolov’s view, it’s one thing to duplicate another author’s use of a common phrase or expression and quite another to echo a play on words, particularly when both books are in the same genre. “I think it’s just in bad taste,” he said. “I looked into it, and I’m certain that this was not a blunder, that Norton knew about the existence of my book.”
Mr. Spitz said that he came up with the title when he was working on the proposal for his “Saucier’s Apprentice.” He added that until recently, he had no knowledge of Mr. Sokolov’s title, which is listed on Amazon.com. “I interviewed a lot of people in the food industry for my book,” Mr. Spitz said, “and not one of them mentioned there was already something else with that title. I thought it was a stroke of genius, but as it turns out it was Ray Sokolov’s stroke of genius.”
Nach Waxman, the owner of Kitchen Arts & Letters, a shop on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, said Norton was wrong to keep Mr. Spitz’s title. “It’s derivative of a book that is still in print in the same field and that has 30 years’ standing,” he said.

Mr. Sokolov said he hoped Norton would “promote the hell out of the book and that a confused buying public will buy my ‘Saucier’s Apprentice’ instead of Spitz’s.”
Although he is not now working on a book, he said, “I am thinking about one, and maybe I should call it ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ ”

DEATH NOTICE IN NZ HERALD Tuesday 22 January, 2008

Judith Ann BARNES

On Saturday 19 January 2008, as the result of an accident.
Greatly missed by her family including the late Paul Barnes, and Daniel, Felicity and Katie, Victoria & Michael, Jake, Patti, Charlotte,, Hope and Piper.
We are grateful for the love and support of her many friends.

A service will be held at St,Matthew-in-the-City, Hobson Street on Thursday 24 January at 3.00pm followed by a celebration of her life at 14 Horoeka Ave., Mt.Eden.
All communications to Daniel phone 09 360 7552.

The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger 2008
Winner: Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton; photo: Steven Hum

The twenty-third Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing, has been awarded to the best-selling American novelist, Sue Grafton.

The presentation of the award, made for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing, will be made by M. Arnaud Bamberger of Cartier and will take place at a champagne reception at the Gore Hotel, Kensington, London SW7 on May 7th 2008. Tickets will be available nearer the date.
SUE GRAFTON was born in Kentucky in 1940, the daughter of mystery writer CW Grafton. After receiving a bachelors degree in English Literature from the University of Louisville, she worked as a TV scriptwriter before her Kinsey Millhone alphabet series of PI mystery novels found success. The first in the series, A is for Alibi was famously inspired by her own divorce. “For months I lay in bed and plotted to kill my ex-husband, but I knew I’d bungle it and get caught so I wrote it in a book instead.”

Three of Ms Grafton’s novels have won the Anthony Award at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention; she has won three Shamus Awards, and in 2004 received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award given to a California writer whose work raises the standard of literary excellence.

All the books in the Kinsey Millhone series are set in the fictional Santa Teresa, CA, which Ross Macdonald used as an alternative name for Santa Barbara in his novels. Ms Grafton plans to carry the series all the way through to Z. The latest number one best-seller, T is for Trespass, was published in the US in December 2007 and will be out in Macmillan hardback in the UK in April 2008. Ms Grafton’s novels are published in 28 countries and in 26 languages, including Bulgarian and Indonesian, although she has consistently refused to sell the film and television rights, claiming her experience as a screenwriter “cured” her of the desire to work with Hollywood.

On hearing of the award, Ms Grafton said: “News of my being named the 2008 recipient of the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger so astonished me that I thought at first it was a practical joke. The note from my British publisher, Macmillan, was typically understated: 'I have some good news from the Crime Writers' Association. They would very much like to award you the 2008 Cartier Diamond Dagger at a ceremony in London on 7th May in Kensington.' Good news !?! I read the message three times and then checked the e-mail address just to verify that it had been intended for me. The publicity director was gently inquiring if I might attend the ceremony. I am absolutely delighted to respond that I'll be there with bells on, as they say over here. I'm thrilled with the news and honored at the prospect. I confess I'm still slightly worried there's an error in the works, but I'll be there nonetheless.”
Sue Grafton's website is http://www.suegrafton.com/

The Cartier Diamond Dagger
As the name suggests, this coveted award is sponsored by Cartier, who have done so since its inception in 1986. The CWA committee selects writers nominated by the membership. Nominees have to meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality.

The first winner, in 1986, was Eric Ambler. Subsequent recipients have been P.D. James, John le Carré, Dick Francis, Julian Symons, Ruth Rendell, Leslie Charteris, Ellis Peters, Michael Gilbert, Reginald Hill, H.R.F. Keating, Colin Dexter, Ed McBain, Margaret Yorke, Peter Lovesey, Lionel Davidson, Sara Paretsky, Robert Barnard, Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin and Elmore Leonard.
Last year's winner was John Harvey.

Footnote:

Bookman Beattie, a huge fan of Sue Grafton and her protagonist Kinsey Millhone is thrilled with this win and offers Sue Grafton warmest congratulations. Well done Sue.

By the way T is for Trespass is available in NZ from Macmillan , RRP $38.00

Headhunters line up for Guinness records

James Ashton writing in The Times:

AN American leisure group that boasts the world’s largest collection of shrunken human heads is vying to buy Guinness World Records, the bestselling book of record-breakers.
Florida-based Ripley Entertainment which grew out of a newspaper cartoon strip of fascinating facts entitled Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! is among a field of four for the publication.
Guinness World Records is being sold by Hit Entertainment, home to children’s characters Bob the Builder and Barney the Dinosaur.

Ripley already licenses the Guinness World Records brand from Hit to operate seven tourist attractions under its banner, mainly in America.
Sources say that leaves it well placed to meet the asking price of up to £60m.
The company is better known at home for its 30 Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! attractions, which house weird and wonderful exhibits such as shrunken heads, 16th-century torture devices and African masks. It will open one in London’s Trocadero this summer.

Guinness World Records makes an annual profit of about £5m.

See Wikipedia website for history.

Publisher buys bookshop in bid to beat big chains

ONE OF Scotland's largest publishers has bought the first in a series of independent bookshops in a bid to thwart the big chain domination.
Hugh Andrew, managing director of Birlinn Press, rescued Elgin bookshop Yeadons from closure and is keen to open other shops as he attempts to revive the once thriving independent industry.

Birlinn Press, which publishes best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith, believes the previous Executive turned its back on the book sector, allowing out-of-town shopping centres and faceless chains to crush the Scottish independently run shops.

The small Elgin store, scheduled to open in the autumn, is considered the last independent Scottish bookshop with the exception of John Smith, which now runs university bookshops.
Andrew, who started his career in book retail with James Thin, will run the shop as a separate business, with discounted titles and "cross fertilisation" with his publishing company.
"I had been thinking about this for some time and when the final closing signs went up we just got straight in, as it was now or never," said Andrew.

"There is a reaction now against everything being done through giant chains, shopping centres and done on price. But you only have to see the success of farmers markets and look down south, where the independents are flourishing. There is no reason why this can't happen in Scotland. In the 19th century, Edinburgh was the biggest publishing centre in the world, and we have just gone so far backwards and no-one seems to have cared or noticed."

Andrew described working with the previous Scottish government as "like wandering into a swamp", their "stagnant disinterest" most recently allowing home-grown retailers Bargain Books to close.
He added: "It is going to take a lot of money to turn it round and that's what I really intend to do - make it a flagship shop. If other possible sites come up we will look to invest, but retail isn't in a happy state at the moment."
Scottish author Alasdair Gray welcomed any possible revival, describing it a "queer state of affairs" when Scottish universities are flourishing yet the country has "hardly a publisher or bookshop to call its own".

Gray said: "Independent publishers and independent bookshops are necessary for any country in a healthy state. It is a question of getting variety."
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead expressed his delight that the bookshop in his constituency is to remain. The secretary for rural affairs and the environment said: "Yeadons is an institution in Elgin. Bookshops are of both economic and cultural importance to the local community."
The SNP government points to plans to cut business rates to ensure smaller stores can compete with large chains and out-of-town shopping centres.

Waterstone's welcome Yeadon's survival. A spokesperson said they wanted to see a vibrant high street where they co-exist with independents.

NEW STEPHEN KING NOVEL

King finds fright on Florida's coast

By Erica Noonan in The Boston Globe
January 19, 2008

DUMA KEY By Stephen King, Scribner, 611 pp., $28 -

US publication date Jan.22

Stephen King has built a literary genre of putting ordinary people in the most terrifying situations. Aside from some recent tedious diversions into Gothic westerns and B-movie cellphone zombies, he's the author who can always make the improbable so scary you'll feel compelled to check the locks on the front door. His latest novel, "Duma Key," is a welcome return to that kind of narrative.

Edgar Freemantle - who thanks to a terrible accident and a faithless wife has already had a pretty awful year - is badly in need of some R&R in Florida and a healthy dose of art therapy. But instead of peace and quiet, he gets an evil force channeling itself into some menacing paintings and a downright spooky oceanfront rental.
Edgar is not your prototypical King hero (usually a nice-guy teacher or writer from Maine). He's a bit edgier, a self-made construction entrepreneur in Minnesota whose prosperous life comes to a crashing halt - literally - when a crane smashes into his pickup truck at a job site. He suffers brain and body damage, loses his right arm, and endures months of agonizing rehab just to learn to speak normally again. Controlling his rage is another problem, less easily solved, and his wife abruptly ends their marriage after 25 years.
Adrift and heartbroken, Edgar takes his psychiatrist's advice and gets a fresh start on a remote area of the Florida coast called Duma Key. He returns to a long-abandoned hobby of sketching and painting, something he can do even with his recent injuries. He's a southpaw, King reminds us, a detail that will prove crucial later. Edgar's art soon attracts enough notice to earn him a gallery showing and critical acclaim, and he makes some friends along the way. Recovery, and a new chapter of life, actually seem possible.
This being a King story, we have to start wondering where the fright factor is lurking. It comes at us in several ways, fueled by the creepy, sad history of Elizabeth Eastlake, a lifelong Duma Key resident now in the throes of Alzheimer's. Then Edgar's art takes a turn for the strange: He's transported into a trance-like premonition state in which he produces macabre pictures, waking up with only the fuzziest memory of who - or what - held the paintbrush.
The book centers on the themes of unleashed creativity and the degeneration of body and mind, a topic that King, 60, who suffered devastating injuries after being hit by a van in 1999, mines with hard-won insight.
Edgar's band of misfit friends, and his two loyal adult daughters, prove to be both salvation and emotional Achilles heel, as the story rushes to a surprisingly uplifting conclusion with shades of "The Shawshank Redemption."

"Duma Key" is an interesting contrast to King's previous novel, "Lisey's Story," a character-driven tale about the widow of a famous writer. In pre-publication interviews, King's editor, Chuck Verrill, has said "Duma Key" was an expansion of a 2006 short story called "Memory," intended as a divorce-centered bookend to that story of marriage. But readers will find that the new novel leaves its comparatively ponderous predecessor far behind. At its core it's a horror story, but with enough emotional complications to keep you turning the pages.

Potter creates memorial sculpture for historian & author Michael King

Story in New Zealand Herald Monday January 21, 2008 By Shenagh Gleeson

The memorial to Michael King is in a reserve at Opoutere, near Whangamata. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Coromandel potter Barry Brickell knew the writer Michael King only fleetingly.
But his esteem for King, who died in a car crash nearly four years ago, was enormous.
Now a memorial sculpture created by Brickell has been erected on a reserve overlooking Wharekawa Harbour, a favourite spot of King's and his wife, Maria Jungowska.
The couple were killed when their car crashed and burst into flames off SH2 at Maramarua on March 30, 2004.

They lived at Opoutere, just north of Whangamata, for about 10 years.
Brickell, who operates his pottery alongside his Driving Creek Railway in Coromandel, said he wanted to create a memorial to King to acknowledge his great contribution to New Zealand literature.
"I regard him as an extremely important literary person. I think he's the most important literary figure since Janet Frame. His History of New Zealand is beautifully written and a great indigenous history."
The renowned potter spent two years corresponding with King's daughter, Rachael, discussing the idea and its implementation. He came up with a form that met the family's approval.

There are four separate tiles, one bearing a quote about Opoutere from King's 1999 book, Being Pakeha Now:
"In the rise of mist from the estuary and the fall of rain, in the movements of the incoming and outgoing tides, I see a reflection on the deepest mystery and most sustaining pattern in all of life. That of arrival and departure, of death and regeneration."

Brickell hand-modelled the tiles out of Driving Creek clay and used "a lovely old-fashioned stamp letter set" for the words, which were in-filled with white slip.
The second tile features a dinghy with a fish on the bottom, reflecting King's love of rowing out into the estuary for a quiet spot of fishing.
The tiles were fired in one of the Driving Creek wood-burning kilns and then set into a concrete plinth.
Brickell says he brushed the concrete to expose the aggregate and give it a stone-like texture. On the back are two bird tiles. The plinth was installed at the reserve on a hill under a tree just over a week ago by a group of family and friends.
Brickell said the group had a picnic and it was a relaxed and jovial occasion - as King would have wanted.