Who was the first author to write a novel on a word processor?The days of writing novels with pen and paper are long, long gone. There is always a transition period between old and new technologies, so who was the first author to write a novel on a word processor? asks Adam Clark Estes.
Culture / The Arts / Books
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: how the so-called experts always get it wrong
It’s that time of the year again — the time that pundits make predictably erroneous predictions about the coming year.
#lessambitiousbooks
Perhaps because writers and lit lovers are as ubiquitous on twitter as pictures of cats on the net, there are some pretty awesome literary hashtags doing the rounds and #lessambitiousbooks is one of them, writes Bethanie Blanchard.
Nobel committee on JRR Tolkien: great stories, poor prose
Secret discussions held by Nobel prize juries are released to the public half a century after awards are distributed. Fresh docs from the 1961 award reveal the judges were unimpressed with JRR Tolkien’s prose, reports Alison Flood.
D Publishing agreement: third time lucky?
A third version of a controversial author contract from self-publishing venture D Publishing has been released but it still has serious problems, writes Bethanie Blanchard.
On reading and re-reading and not reading
The dawning of a new year is an appropriate time to reflect upon our own reading goals – especially in this, the National Year of Reading. What will yours be — trash, the classics or something else? asks Crikey’s book aficionado Bethanie Blanchard.
The 2011 Crikeys: the best in film, music, books, TV and stage
We went searching for the most page-turning books, the funniest TV, the smartest theatre, the best books and music and film. After naming the best in politics, policy, media and business, we present the 2011 Cultural Crikeys.
Famous authors and their bookshelves
What do the personal libraries of famous authors look like? What lines their shelves, and how do they feel about the digitalisation of books? Maria Popova takes a look at ‘Unpacking My Library: Writers and their Books’.
‘Authors Beware’: an Interview with Steve Rossiter, editor of The Australian Literature Review
Dymocks Books have launched a new author driven self-publishing arm, the D Publishing Network. Criticism has been widespread and Australian Literature Review editor Steve Rossiter, who spoke with Bethanie Blanchard, has been at the forefront of it.
How writers can help other writers
Tis the season to be jolly — and generous — so if you’re a writer, why not help other writers? Chuck Wendig from Terrible Minds lists 25 ways wordsmiths can share the love.
Rundle's ruminations: The war decade, the Enlightenment armed, and 101 uses for a dead Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens was a well-known journalist, based in the US, and quite the bon vivant, or so I hear! He died last week. Perhaps some of you knew this already.
Pod and Prejudice: W H Chong’s favourite podcasts of 2011
W H Chong presents his favourite podcasts of the year, which include Crikey’s Canberra Calling, the BBC’s World Book Club and The Guardian’s Politics Weekly.
book reviews Women of Letters — beautifully nostalgic
Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire’s Women of Letters seeks to revive ‘the lost art of letter writing.’ There are some funny and beautiful pieces in this collection from writers who have spoken at Women of Letters events, writes Bethanie Blanchard.
Joan Didion’s Blue Nights — intensely personal exploration of grief
How does one write about grief? Joan Didion brings her own bad dreams to Blue Nights, a novel about her daughter’s death described with such close detail it makes you wince, writes Bethanie Blanchard.
Top 20 best-selling children’s books
What do The Cat in the Hat, Scuffy the Tugboat and The Tale of Peter Rabbit have in common? They’re all kids books, yes, and they’re all listed in the top ten best-sellers of all time.
Miracle on Collins Street: a feast of hungry readers
In this era of economic fogginess, at this transitional moment of reading and book-buying technology, a bookshop opening stuffed full of hundreds if not thousands of hungry readers is something of a miracle, writes W H Chong.
Bad sex in good fiction: UK Literary Review award
A modern retelling of the legend of Oedipus, featuring a character who spends 12 hours of lovemaking with his mother, took the top gong in the UK Literary Review’s 2011 Bad Sex in Fiction Award, reports Emma Mustich.
Authors pick the best LGBT books of 2011
This year has been a bad one for book retailers and, partly as a result, argues Band of Thebes, a bad one for LGBT books. Here is their survey of favourite queer reads sourced from over 90 authors.
Kerouac’s long lost novel found and published
The first novel of beat legend Jack Kerouac was considered lost forever. The Sea is My Brother has now been released by Penguin, but how excited should we get about a book the author made no attempt to publish? ask Claire Allfree.
Book industry report just the first page in publishing reform
Reforms proposed by the Book Industry Strategy Group are long overdue but don’t go far enough and may be difficult to implement, according to industry players and authors.
Re-writing literary history: what happens when you kill the main character
Harry Potter author JK Rowling recently announced that she nearly killed off sidekick Ron Weasley midway through the series. Jon Methven examines what would happen if some of literature’s favourite characters had been edited off the page.
Google launches ebooks in Oz
Aussie readers can now purchase an enormous range of Google ebooks directly from Google, as well as bookseller partners including Booktopia and Dymocks.
Melbourne Uni to hive off bookshop to private operator
The University of Melbourne will abandon control of its 80-year-old bookshop and put it out to tender amid a torrent of red ink flowing through Australia’s stricken bookselling industry.
Criticism: a battle ground for ideas and power
Criticism is like public affairs and politics in the sense that it’s not just about ideas but power and influence. Richard Brody discusses two writers: one changed critics, the other changed the cinema.
Johnny Depp on his “explosive pal,” Hunter S. Thompson
“Shit, man, we must build a bomb!” yelled gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson at Johnny Depp the day they met. Depp recounts his experiences with the eccentric legendary writer to The Daily Beast.
