As has been reported elsewhere, the longlist for the Orange Prize was announced yesterday at the London Book Fair. It’s an eclectic list, that includes some interesting choices: Leila Aboulela’s Minaret, Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love, Sarah Waters’s The Night Watch, and of course the two unavoidable Smiths–Ali and Zadie–with The Accidental and On Beauty. The shortlist will be announced on April 26th and the winner on June 6th.
The Morning News has announced the brackets and judges for its 2006 Tournament of Books. Judges include some of my favorite people anywhere, so check it out.
Martin Goodman, who traveled to Zimbabwe to run writing workshops for the British Council, reports for The Guardian about what he has seen of the literary scene.
Shona is the majority language of Zimbabwe, and Ignatius Mabasa, a powerful performing poet, novelist and storyteller, is acknowledged as its top new voice. He explained to me the three generations theory of Zimbabwean writing: the first generation were the teachers, educated in missionary schools, writing with didactic zeal; the second generation wrote to praise the second chimu-renga, the civil war for independence – and then dealt with post-independence disappointments; the third are the “born-frees”. They are emerging from the chrysalis of the 20th century, blinking, self-consciously modern, hoping the world will pay them some heed.
Goodman mentions writers Virginia Phiri, Shimmer Chinodya, Fay Chung, and others, but the piece was too brief to satiate my appetite.
Thanks to David F. for the link.
Also at The Guardian, publisher Nigel Newton (the chief executive at Bloomsbury) rants against Google’s plans to digitize out-of-copyright works and library materials, all the better to sell you those darn ads. Rightfully, I think, he calls those plans a “land-grab” :
There are two aspects to this land-grab. The first involves scanning out-of-copyright work, provided by the great libraries, and surrounding it with such advertising. That’s not illegal, though it is of cultural concern. The second part of Google’s literary predations, in the case of American libraries, involves scanning in-copyright works – for the purpose of publication – without direct prior permission of the copyright holder. That is to say, the author or his or her estate. Google’s decision to scan first and ask permission later with copyrighted works is playing fast and loose. In America, it has already landed Google with a huge lawsuit from publishers.
Newton suggests that, to resist Google, internet users should boycott the search engine and turn to competitors like Yahoo! until Google desists. (Which, of course, won’t work. I mean, how many Google users do you know of who care what happens to authors’ rights?) But the rest of Newton’s discussion on what it really means for a corporation to sell access to someone’s intellectual property without permission makes for a very worthwhile read, so please check it out.
I love Etgar Keret’s dispatches for Nextbook. Here’s his latest one, about how he reacted to a beloved neighborhood tree coming under threat.
When I got home, I saw one of the workers already checking out the designated victim with the tired eyes of an experienced butcher. As I always do at times of distress, I pulled a pad and pen out of my pocket and tried to look like an investigative reporter. I said hello to the tree butcher and inquired whether I might ask his name and the purpose of his visit to the neighborhood. “My name’s Eli and I work with the Electric Company,” the butcher muttered with practiced indifference. “May I ask what your surname is?” I wondered out loud. “No,” Eli replied with surprising honesty, “now scram.” “I am not scramming,” I replied, trying to sound threatening and even wrote on my pad, “Answers rudely.” And I underlined it. Already as a child, I understood that there were kids who threatened to bring their big brothers and there were others who had no big brothers or had completely non-scary big brothers, like mine. Those were the kids who had to make do with a weenie threat like they’d snitch, and they were the ones who, when they get older, like me, turn into the type that threatens to write about it in the papers.
Read all about it here. If you’ve never read the brilliant Keret, might I suggest you read his graphic novel Pizzeria Kamikaze, illustrated by Asaf Hanuka. (Here‘s the Moorishgirl.com review.) If your taste is more literary, then check out Keret’s The Nimrod Flipout, which will be reissued in paperback by FSG next month.
Novelist Nichelle Tramble chats with Daniel Olivas about his novels, children’s books, and other literary pursuits.