Yet another bank holiday and yet more heavy rain, someone should lobby the government to get our public holidays spread out a little bit.
However, whatever the weather this coming weekend should be a good because we're off to the Hay Book Festival, once grandly described by Bill Clinton as the Woodstock of the mind.
As always it will be interesting and hopefully we'll come away with some helpful lists because that's what life is all about these days. So where does Hay fit in terms of book festivals, is it in the top 5? Well, I don't know, but it is definitely the number one best book festival held in Hay.
However, whatever the weather this coming weekend should be a good because we're off to the Hay Book Festival, once grandly described by Bill Clinton as the Woodstock of the mind.
As always it will be interesting and hopefully we'll come away with some helpful lists because that's what life is all about these days. So where does Hay fit in terms of book festivals, is it in the top 5? Well, I don't know, but it is definitely the number one best book festival held in Hay.
FEATURED POST
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Do We Need A List Of Books You Must Read?
Lists are everywhere these days. Even though they can be entertaining do we really need to have lists to tell us what we need to do, to read? Are you less than you should be, intellectually diminished if you don't pay attention to the "must" and "should"? And then there's the tendency to lie in order to impress. Do you think lists should be a guide to essential literature? Have you read a book from a list that you wish you didn't? Have you claimed to read a book just to impress? | |
| Read the Full Post & Leave a Comment | |
| LITERARY ROUNDUP |
The 8th International Welsh Poetry Competition 2014, Wants Your Entries!
There is just one month left to send your entries for this year's competition with a closing date of 15 June 2014. This year the competition's judge is Welsh poet and environmentalist John Evans. They are looking for exciting new talent to compose a poem of less than 50 lines, in English. Prizes are: 1st Prize - £400, 2nd Prize - £200 and 3rd Prize - £100, plus 17 runners-up will be published on their web site and in a future anthology. |
Giddy Limits Poetry Competition on "Retirement"
Giddy Limits are trying to raise awareness of a small poetry competition being held via their online magazine for over 50s.
It's open to all and the theme is "Retirement Poems". Poems can be any length or style. The winner will be included in a new ebook collection of Retirement Poems and receive a prize of £50.
Giddy Limits are trying to raise awareness of a small poetry competition being held via their online magazine for over 50s.
It's open to all and the theme is "Retirement Poems". Poems can be any length or style. The winner will be included in a new ebook collection of Retirement Poems and receive a prize of £50.
Annual Templar Pamphlet & Collection Awards
The ninth Templar Pamphlet & Collection Awards are open for submission of full length pamphlet manuscripts until Monday 16th June.
From the submissions received, three pamphlets will be published and up to fifty poets will be published in the annual Templar anthology. These publications will be launched at the Derwent Poetry Festival in November 2014.
From the submissions received, three pamphlets will be published and up to fifty poets will be published in the annual Templar anthology. These publications will be launched at the Derwent Poetry Festival in November 2014.
This award has been going for 16 years and is for first-time writers in all genres, writing in English or translated into English. The deadline to submit is the 6th of June with a first prize of £10,000.
| FAVOURITE READS | |
The World According to Garp by John Irving
John Irving's fourth novel published in 1978 is a joy to read. Funny, often darkly so, it follows the life of Garp from his unconventional conception through school, college, university and the ups and downs of married family life. As always Irving offers up life from an unusual perspective, and some of the set-pieces, particularly a rather eye-watering car crash will stay with you long after you have finished the novel. | |
Also visit our selection of favourite books and tell us your top choices.
| INTERESTING TIDBITS & NEWS |
The New Chipolte Rage: Burritos With a Side of Literature
Author or "Eating Animals" and a vegetarian, Jonathan Safran Foer was bored one day while eating his burrito at Chipolte, the Mexican fast-casual chain. He thought what if all the restaurant's customers had something interesting to read on their Chipolte cups or bags that would enhance their eating experience. To make a long story short, with Chipotle CEOs backing, he selected an eclectic group of writers in terms of styles that created different kinds of texts and the Chipolte cup and bag were born - as an extra service to the customer. Foer's reasoning for going forward with this venture is : "...800,000 Americans of extremely diverse backgrounds having access to good writing. A lot of those people don't have access to libraries, or bookstores. Something felt very democratic and good about this." To the writers out there reading this, what do you think - could this be a new outlet for your writing? |
Poetry Slams That Pack A Punch
Poetry slams seem to be quite popular these days and have developed into a performance art that challenges status quo. Here's five of them that air their woes and leave the listener with a powerful message.
The Cell Phone Novel Is On Its Way - Care To Try It?
Popular in Japan with leading cell phone novels getting multi-million views, they're crossing the continents and are making their way across Africa and Europe. What is a "cell phone novel" you might ask. Well, the cell phone has become a medium for a new literary form that offers a series of short chapters, each less than 200 words.
Reading fans are fanatic and this community is very supportive and passionate of both the writers and the format. It seems to work well for English-language verse or even a stream-of-consciousness prose to name a few possibilities.
If you're curious to see what they're about, English-language cell phone novels outlets can be found at TextNovel.com and on the iPhone app eMobo.
Reading fans are fanatic and this community is very supportive and passionate of both the writers and the format. It seems to work well for English-language verse or even a stream-of-consciousness prose to name a few possibilities.
If you're curious to see what they're about, English-language cell phone novels outlets can be found at TextNovel.com and on the iPhone app eMobo.
This piece reinforces the premise that short is sweet, especially after the above article. Recently and to the surprise of most, many mainstream literary prizes have been awarded to short story writers. This fact along with a proliferation of high profile short story specific prizes has garnered the interest of big-name novelists. So, should you be concentrating on short stories?
| NEWS PICKS |
Hay Festival Attracts Big Names
Running from the 21st of May until the 1st of June, this is the first year that the Hay Festival is being covered by the BBC. The program is diverse with some very familiar names and has plenty to attract. Having been there many times, it's well worth it. If you can't make it, check out BBC's coverage. |
Developing Countries Filtering Water With A "Drinkable Book"
A worthwhile project undertaken by the humanitarian group "WaterisLife", books are being sent to developing countries with unreliable water sources.
The "Drinkable Book" serves two purposes. When it's read like a normal book, it educates people on how dangerous contaminated water can be. Then the specially designed pages act as inexpensive and effective water filters that last up to four years.
See it in action here. Pretty interesting...
The "Drinkable Book" serves two purposes. When it's read like a normal book, it educates people on how dangerous contaminated water can be. Then the specially designed pages act as inexpensive and effective water filters that last up to four years.
See it in action here. Pretty interesting...
Who Was the Real-Life Hercule Poirot?
During the first world war Jacques Hornais, a real-life Belgian policeman came as a refugee to the West Country and lived close to Christie's home. Apparently Agatha Christie has always said that her inspiration for the character of Poirot came from a Belgian refugee. A little digging into the connection has been done and it could be true or not - the jury is out.
Edward St. Aubyn's new novel "Lost for Words" is very satirical about book awards, thinly disguising the Man Booker Prize as his Elysian Prize. As he was writing the book, he didn't expect to win any prizes but as irony would have it, he won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
INTERACTION
| Submitted Writing & Writing Challenges | |
We have an entry for this month' s writing challenge:
A Recollection From Childhood: Entry #1 - Olney Robin's father, Bob, walked behind carrying even more tackle. The two boys picked spots next to each other so they could at least chat if the fish were scarce, but Bob walked another fifty yards down the river to ensure he got some peace and relaxation, out of sight from the two lads. | |
| Take a look and leave your comments. | |
Feedback to previous writing submission and challenges are always appreciated by the writers.
Leave your comments for any or all of the writing submissions here.
If you'd like to submit your own writing, you can always do so here.
If you live in the London area, why not try the writing group "Writers Together"? They seem very open and inviting.
| Virtual Readers' Group | |
A bit of a twist in this month's readers' group book:
"A Kind of Intimacy" by Jenn Ashworth Did Annie surprise you? Read it and share your thoughts about it. If you know anyone who belongs to a reading group that would be interested in profiling it on our site, please direct them here. | |
| YOUR WORDS | |
Many thanks to Mark at the Word for his post: "Do We Need A List Of Books You Must Read?" | |
SIGNING OFF WITH: Haruki Murakami
"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."
