Going Dark

yesterday I learned that Singapore Writers Festival will not run in 2006, as had been discussed. Next festival will be in 2007. Not sure if I'll be involved, but with this in mind, I'm taking a break from this blog (well, I had been pretty quiet lately as you've seen!). If you want to keep up on literary happenings around the world the best single site I can recommend is The Literary Saloon at the Complete Review. A must-bookmark.

Not sure when I'll be back, but thanks for reading.

Good summary of the Vancouver Festival

Although it reads as if it were delivered in a single breath... Sounds like a lot of fun, despite the strikes and labor actions.

"a British phenomenon that is going global..."

Well now! Do we agree Vancouver and Adelaide? This is the view of Tatler Editor Geordie Greig, in a recent piece in the Sunday Times. He counts 207 literary festivals in the UK alone, and points to some new ones coming up in Morocco and Goa, India. He also makes the remarkable claim that 24 couples married after meeting at the Hay Festival. Now there's a selling point!

«Good festivals are like W. H. Auden’s definition of poetry: 'To be like some valley cheese, local, but prized everywhere.'»

Carlos Fuentes at the Berlin Festival

Carlos Fuentes' speech on the wonders of the novel, at the Berlin Literary Festival, is available here from sign and sight, a site that advertises itself as presenting "arts, essays and ideas from Germany". He talks about the novel, "a privileged place of incertitude".

Technorati Tags: literaryfestivals

Singapore Writers Festival launches

So it may be awhile before I blog again here! We had a great opening panel, with Peter Goldsworthy, Wei Hui, Nuri Vittachi, Rudhramoorthy Cheran, and Rattawut Lapcharoensap. It is a tradition in Singapore to start off with a panel representing writers working in several of Singapore's languages... the host was Singaporean writer Philip Jeyaretnam, who did a terrific job. For more news on the Singapore Festival, please see the Festival website, and in particular the Chairman's blog.

Technorati Tags: literaryfestivals, singaporewritersfestival

Edinburgh on its way to a new record?

The Scotsman is are reporting that the 2005 edition will break attendance records set last year. After the first week the count stands at 108,000 people - 17 per cent more than a year ago. Recordings and transcriptions of some of the key events are already available on the Festival website.

Moorish Girl blogs Breadloaf

One of my favorite literary blogs is Portland, Oregon based Moorish Girl, aka Laila Lalami, whose Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits will be out in the US in October. She's attending the Breadloaf Writers Conference, on a workstudy scheme, and is blogging the event.