Literary Festivals

Going Dark

2005-11-13T22:25:00.000+08:00

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

2005-10-28T17:56:00.000+08:00

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..."

2005-10-02T23:07:00.000+08:00

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

2005-09-19T22:14:00.000+08:00

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

2005-08-27T08:32:00.000+08:00

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?

2005-08-24T15:04:00.000+08:00

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

2005-08-19T12:28:00.000+08:00

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.

giving good interview

2005-08-17T16:59:00.000+08:00

Which writers do best? This article by novelist and journalist Adam Langer divides writers into five groups:

The Freewheeling Improviser
He/She Who Does Not Suffer Fools Gladly
The Unself-conscious Subject
The Consummate Storyteller
The Genuinely Decent Human Being

What's fun about the article is that Langer gives medals to the authors he's interviewed who best fit these descriptions. Nadine Gordimer told him "ask me a stupid question, I'll give you a nasty answer." Fair enough, says Langer, and gives her bronze medal in the He/She Who Does Not Suffer Fools Gladly category.

Technorati Tags: literaryreviews

What's it like to chair a session at the Edinburgh Books Festival?

2005-08-17T16:11:00.000+08:00

Rule number one: read the book...

See this tremendous article in the Herald

Byron Bay write-up in the Age: "less earnest, more relaxed"

2005-08-16T08:38:00.000+08:00

From one of the panel chairs, journalist Jane Sullivan.

According to the article, writer participation is a key element of what makes Byron Bay fun:

At the big festivals, writers tend to do their gigs, sign some books and disappear. But quite a few writers at this festival turn up in the audience at other sessions, asking questions and making comments from the floor, or just sitting quietly, doing a little professional development. They seem to like taking part as both performers and spectators.

Technorati Tags: literaryfestivals

Is the Singapore Writers Festival Selling Out...?

2005-08-11T22:45:00.000+08:00

...for including bloggers in its line-up. This was the spirit of a story in Singapore daily, Today. The story was useful in fact, but just begins to deal with the issues of programming blogging and bloggers in a writers festival.

Technorati Tags: singaporewritersfestival

Edinburgh off and running

2005-08-08T18:50:00.000+08:00

According to the Scotsman, the Book Festival is off to a record year. Olivier Joly says the Book Festival has already sold more than 50% of tickets, with 130 events sold out. Joly is further quoted "The festival is growing in stature every year and we are on course for our largest festival yet in terms of numbers with more than 200,000 people in attendance. The children's events are selling extremely well and the web traffic is up 50% which is extremely encouraging as many more people are booking online."

what's up in science fiction?

2005-08-07T15:50:00.000+08:00

4,500 people expected for Worldcon 2005 - the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society. See this report in Guardian Books.

lineup announced for 5th National Book Festival, USA

2005-07-31T23:42:00.000+08:00

Included are John Irving, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Safran Foer, Buzz Aldrin, the presidential biographer David McCullough, E. L. Doctorow, Tom Clancy and Sandra Brown. R. W. Apple Jr., Thomas L. Friedman and David Brooks from the New York Times will appear as well. Festival is on September 4th. Johnny Apple is scheduled to be in Singapore at the Singapore Writers Festival on August 30th, so that is some kind of travelling!

Technorati Tags: literaryfestivals, singaporewritersfestival

New South Wales Premier and Arts Minister will be missed by arts administrators - including Caro Llewellyn of Sydney Writers Fest

2005-07-29T18:17:00.000+08:00

According to articlein the Sydney Morning Herald. Gosh, all this praise sounds distinctly unlike most of the ways I hear Australians talk about their politicians...

Promoting local versus foreign writers - an opinion from Australia

2005-07-29T13:02:00.000+08:00

Australia's Books Alive! promotional program has attracted at least one critic, the head of the Australian Society of Authors, Jeremy Fisher.

Fisher says the initiative is spending taxpayers' money to promote overseas writers. 'If it's being funded by money from the Australia Council, then I'd see it as being something which ought to be encouraging the sales and reading of Australian books,' he says.

'The funding was given first in 2001 as part of the Book Industry Assistance Package to assist the Australian publishing industry. Is France promoting the reading of American books in their country? Is the UK or the US promoting the reading of Australian books in their country?

'The answer in all cases is no.'

Apparently some 30 of the authors promoted in the Books Alive program are Australian, with 20 foreigners, including several who are already selling extremely well (like Singapore Writers Festival guest Alexander McCall Smith).

From an industry perspective I would have to say that book importers and bookshops are important elements in the local ecosystem, and that imported books are crucial to the local literary scene. I don't see a problem in promoting them! But perhaps the choice of foreign writers to promote can be more nuanced.

the Beeb wants you - to be a Booker pundit

2005-07-28T13:54:00.000+08:00

Says the venerable Beeb::

"Could you read 20 books in 28 days? Would you like to take part in a new BBC Four programme?
We’re looking for six enthusiastic, energetic and dedicated people to take part in this book marathon for a programme called Bookered Out. You don’t have to be a book worm or a literature buff to take part. Novice readers are more than welcome!

But you have to read every book in the longlist...and probably you have to live in the UK. [courtesy of Literary Saloon]

Writers Festival Guests Behaving Badly...

2005-07-28T00:06:00.000+08:00

Drinking up the artworks and all... See this in the Guardian.

Jeanette Winterson had a good time at the FLIP Festival

2005-07-26T19:03:00.000+08:00

She is a fan of Festivals in general, and makes the point that

It is a little bit strange that reading, which is the most solitary and private of acts, should translate into the gospel tent euphoria of the festival. This has happened because people love to be read to, as they did when they were kids; because they are curious to meet the writers who interest them; and most of all, because they are curious to meet each other. Reader’s groups and dedicated websites are about securing the connections that books suggest. All art is about connection, and in a world that often comes to us in bewildering fragments, the connections that art offers are increasingly necessary.

But she particularly liked FLIP. Among the highlights:

Translations were done in four languages simultaneously, and the tents were packed all day and all night for a fantastic programme that included day-long stories for children. This is not elitist. This is not some rarefied high art — this is art for everyone, and it works.

published in Egypt - from the Al-Ahram Weekly

2005-07-26T18:51:00.000+08:00

Moorish Girl and Literary Saloon both pointed me to this excellent summary of books recently published in Arabic. Actually it is just part of a larger Cairo Review of Books, which is a monthly publication of Al-Ahram Weekly, edited by Mona Anis.

Now this is a writers' meeting... between North & South Korea

2005-07-26T18:47:00.000+08:00

See this article from the INSIDE JoongAng Daily (courtesy of Literary Saloon). According to the article, the writers "also pledged to cooperate regardless of ideology, religion and birthplace. As for the unification process, they believed unification should first be achieved in the literary world."

Actually not a process the literary world is particularly good at - unification...

Salman Rushdie in Brazil

2005-07-22T00:32:00.000+08:00

Courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor. Rushdie's new book, Shalimar the Clown, was launched at the Paraty Literary Festival, in Portuguese, before being published in English. It looks like it was quite a party. It sounds like quite the book...

Tennessee tussles over the Southern Festival of Books

2005-07-21T08:27:00.000+08:00

Interesting article on the funding and political tussles over the Southern Festival of Books. Some 10% of the National Endowment of the Humanities' annual grant to the state of Tennessee is used for the Festival, and so there is considerable pressure to increase the contribution of civic funds, as well as funds generated from the event. The organizers have the option of moving to different cities, and this the funding element is key in this equation.

Writers and book reviews...

2005-07-20T18:19:00.000+08:00

A fine article from the The Observer... We are thinking of a panel on the subject for Singapore Writers Festival. The review culture isn't that great in Singapore, with a paucity of outlets for reviews in any case. But perhaps discussing the author reactions could helped stiffen everyone's resolve to read and write (and publish!) more reviews.

Forward Prize Shortlist is out - see the different news stories at Google News

2005-07-19T14:09:00.000+08:00

Since 1992 they've been giving these awards, for best collection, best first collection and best single poem.

he shortlists are best collection: The Good Neighbour, by John Burnside; Legion, by David Harsent; A Shorter Life, by Alan Jenkins; Woods etc, by Alice Oswald; and Stolen Love Behaviour, by John Stammers.

Best first collection: Intimates, by Helen Farish; To a Fault, by Nick Laird; Lucky Day, by Richard Price; Scattering Eva, by James Sheard; and Marabou, by Jane Yeh.

Best single poem: Passages, by Sarah Maguire; 99 Poems, by Stephen Knight; Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second, by Paul Farley; Buffalo Calf, by Katherine Pierpont; and Seventy Years a Showman, by Peter Scupham.

David Hare on the art of lecturing

2005-07-17T15:00:00.000+08:00

Our writers should read this - on how delivering good lectures is itself a literary art. Published in the Guardian.

OK, one article on HP6: "My Long Dark Night with Harry"

2005-07-17T14:58:00.000+08:00

I post it for what it says about the various sorts of literary events that went with the launch. I think literary festivals still have lots of room to innovate new sorts of events that involve audiences in different ways.

Immigration Problem for Zimbabwaean Writer - threatens to pull out of Edinburgh festival

2005-07-13T08:56:00.000+08:00

The headline is "African poet to pull out of book festival" and it tells of Chenjerai Hove, a Zimbabwaen poet turned away from the UK by immigration officials. His leverage was to threaten to pull out of Edinburgh Festival, later in the year, to which he has also been invited. The Festival is supporting him in his appeal:

Hove is billed as one of the major speakers at August’s Edinburgh International Book Festival and organisers have expressed concern over his possible decision to pull out.

Festival director Catherine Lockerbie said: “We invited Chenjerai to talk as part of the Imprisoned Writers series firstly because he is a writer of great merit and secondly because he is a perfect example of someone who has been persecuted by the state because of words.

“If he were prevented from coming it would be an extraordinary irony because the series, and indeed the whole of the festival, is about promoting freedom of expression and of the imagination.”

The importance of writing contests in the literary ecosystem

2005-07-13T08:50:00.000+08:00

According to this article in the Chicago Tribune "$9.8 million in prize money was awarded in literary contests last year in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, an increase of more than $900,000 from the previous year. The beneficiaries of all that money were 1,071 writers, up from 904 in 2003. And 152 books were published as a result of the contests, a jump from 121 the year before." The source cited is Kevin Larimer of Poets & Writers magazine. Our writing festival in Singapore works closely with the leading short story contest. Contests and festivals should be seen as part of the same larger system, offering diversity but reinforcing each other as well.

Writers make good bloggers, but does blogging affect good writing?

2005-07-12T19:01:00.000+08:00

A meditation by Tom Dolby in the San Francisco Chronicle. One poet tells him "Blogging will ruin your life" and he tends to believe it.

Rushdie uses Flip Brazil Festival for global launch of his latest book

2005-07-11T13:10:00.000+08:00

The FLIP Festival in Parati, Brazil, which opens over the weekend, is certainly making waves. This launch is an interesting development, because Rushdie's book is being made available in Portuguese before it is published officially in English. This must have required some major coordination by Rushdie and/or his agent.

This report from Reuters.
We learn that the Festival was started by Liz Calder, one of the founders of Bloomsbury Press...

Kiriyama Book Prize - 2005 Winners

2005-07-08T18:53:00.000+08:00

Again, I'm a little slow on the uptake, just caught this announcement of the Kiriyama Book Prize - 2005 Winners. Maps for Lost Lovers, by Nadeem Aslam, published in the UK by Fabers and US by Knopf, and Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta, published in India by Penguin, UK by Review and in the US by Knopf. The latter has been on my 'to-read' list for some time.

Stripped Books - Neil Gaiman at the Nebula Awards

2005-07-08T18:42:00.000+08:00

Sorry just saw this wonderful report-in-comics of Neil Gaiman's speech at the 2005 Nebula Awards. One of the points he makes, a meme that has been going around, is that "today's contemporary fiction is yesterday's near-future sci-fi (only slightly weirder and with no obligation to be convincing or consistent)." Think Cloud Atlas.

SA Afolabi of Nigeria wins 'African Booker',

2005-07-07T10:09:00.000+08:00

This from the Guardian . His book of short stories, A Life Elsewhere, is due to be published this year in the UK by Jonathan Cape. A novel, Goodbye Lucille, scheduled for publication in 2007.

Simon Clews is leaving Melbourne Festival?

2005-07-06T18:29:00.000+08:00

This is what we hear on the grapevine. Not yet confirmed.

Locus Awards Winners

2005-07-04T17:35:00.000+08:00

Awards from the scifi and fantasy source, Locus Online News

Some results include:

SF NOVEL
# The Baroque Cycle: The Confusion; The System of the World, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)

FANTASY NOVEL
# Iron Council, China Miéville (Del Rey)

FIRST NOVEL
# Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)

Other winners include Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman (who I just had lunch with today in Singapore!)

Interview with Karen Mountney, Children's Programme Director at Edinburgh Festival

2005-07-01T15:09:00.000+08:00

On the British Council's website. Did you know that the children's programme is as big as the adults'? Events are not just for kids (or for toddlers, parents and young adults), but includes things like Picture Book Masterclasses for illustrators.

The story behind the Port Eliot Lit Festival - and meditations on the festival phenom generally

2005-07-01T08:49:00.000+08:00

James Flint covers the UK summer festival scene for the Telegraph with discussions of two festivals, Glastonbury music festival and the Port Eliot Lit Festival, which Peregrine St Germans runs in Port Eliot, his ancestral seat in Cornwall. It sounds a marvelous festival, and this year's edition features Martin Parr, Louis de Bernieres, Gavin Turk, Ekow Eshun Michael Howells, Richard Benson, James Cauty Michael Eavis, Lily Fraser, Tom Baxter, Mick Brown, Toby Litt, Geoff Dyer, Louis Eliot, Huge Advance, Simon Munnery, Aisle 16, Francis Upritchard, Hari Kunzru and others.

France's literary prizes: Wide open to corruption?

2005-06-29T18:00:00.000+08:00

The Guardian reports on a finding of the French government's anti-corruption watchdog, warning that France's most prestigious book prizes were wide open to corruption. The report says that it was 'difficult to distinguish between jury members, who are generally the authors of literary works, and the houses which publish their books. There is a risk that fair competition rules may be being broken.'

Lack of transparency and the close relationships among publishers, jury members and the pool of authors and critics: this charge could be repeated in many countries!

Melrose? A festival with a place in the universe... and is it philosophically possible to dislike Michael Palin?

2005-06-27T12:04:00.000+08:00

A festival in Melrose, Scotland gets a rave review in the Scotsman for the quality of its programming. History, pre-history and Michael Palin. A sure winner.

Asians at the Edinburgh Festival

2005-06-24T21:43:00.000+08:00

The British sense of the word, "Asians" means what in Singapore means "south Asians". A picture of Rushdie of course, but the story also mentions Vid Mehta, Tariq Ali, Pavan Verma, Pankaj Mishra, Kamila Shamsie, and Suhayl Saadi. Tariq Ali was a major attraction last month in Sydney, and Suhayl will also be coming to Singapore end of August.

Toronto goes for new writers

2005-06-21T23:08:00.000+08:00

The Globe & Mail is covering the release of Toronto's writer list, which includes younger writers like Helen Oyeyemi, who published her first book, The Icarus Girl, last year in the UK, at the age of 21. In addition to Oyeyemi and other "hyped wunderkinds", in the words of the Toronto website, are more traditional "heavyweights", John Irving, Julian Barnes and Vikram Seth.

Newsweek does a round-up of literary festivals around the world

2005-06-20T19:04:00.000+08:00

They mention Brazil, Berlin, Mantua, Edinburgh and Hay. Emphasis, as always, is on to the 'big names'...

Edinburgh ticket sales already reach 30,000

2005-06-20T18:59:00.000+08:00

Well, they do bill themselves as the world's largest book event... Politics and Rushdie were the fastest-selling events. The number of tickets sold online has gone up over 10% of the total.

All the reporting on the Edinburgh line-up - Rushdie gets the headlines

2005-06-19T00:10:00.000+08:00

Here is the relevant page in Google News. Rushdie gets the headlines in the UK press, that's for sure.

Kadare to get his international Booker at Edinburgh - but none of his books available!

2005-06-17T13:11:00.000+08:00

It is not so easy to synchronize prize-giving and the commercial side of literary publishing. Ismail Kadare won the International Booker, but his books are not really available in Edinburgh, where he comes to receive the prize, according to this story in The Scotsman.

Edinburgh line-up announced; includes Salman Rushdie

2005-06-17T10:36:00.000+08:00

And Dario Fo, and Carlos Fuentes...A terrific lineup. Included this year is a series titled "nations unlimited" organized in conjunction with fellow festivals in Norway and Sweden. See this article from Edinburgh Evening News, and this one from the BBC.

Edinburgh vs Hay-on-Wye

2005-06-15T04:00:00.000+08:00

Who is the fairest festival of them all? Good question, but I don't see what Goldie Hawn has to do with it! See this article in The Scotsman.com, about a third of the way down the page.

Scottish Book of the Year Goes to Poet Kathleen Jamie

2005-06-12T10:08:00.000+08:00

For her collection, The Tree House, developed under an Arts Council grant. The Tree House was also shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. It is Jamie's fifth published collection. See this article inThe Scotsman or see the press release from the Scottish Arts Council.

Encouraging writers and readers... in Dubai

2005-06-12T09:56:00.000+08:00

Nusrat Ibrahim, who made her career in publishing outside of the Gulf, has returned and set up the Literary Society of Dubai (www.theilsd.com). Among the activities planned are a series of book signings and a literary festival. The article sets out some of the challenges of trying to encourage writers in English-speaking places on the edges of the English-speaking cultural map. India is held out as the shining example of what can be done (well, I think that is what the journalist means when she talks about "ever-burgeoning Indo-Anglican literature").

Derry Jeffares passes - for many years champion of Edinburgh International Book Festival

2005-06-11T09:34:00.000+08:00

An obituary in Scotland's The Herald. Prof Jeffares was an expert on Yeats and Irish writers. He helped to start the first Commonwealth Literary Conference. He served as Chair of the literature panel of the Scottish Arts Council (the people who funded a certain well-known fantasy writer when she was a single mom), and for many years he was Chairman of the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Chuck Palahniuk: "67 people fainted as I read my horror story"

2005-06-09T08:31:00.000+08:00

A strong audience reaction indeed! This is Palahniuk's account of his promotional tour to the US and UK bookshops. Well, he doesn't seem exactly embarrassed on unhappy about this reaction...
The author has by-lined this piece in the Telegraph, and it works well as promotion for the new book, Hauntings. I guess after they faint, audiences don't feel like asking questions about "where do you get your inspiration?"

Alma, you didn't tell us you were awarded an honorary doctorate fm Simon Fraser U!

2005-06-08T18:55:00.000+08:00

Alma Lee was in Sydney for the Writers Festival Directors meeting, and it was a real treat to talk to her about her Festival, which is one of the most succesful. And according to this article in Straight.com, she has recently been awarded an honorary doctorate for her work on promoting literature in Canada. The full notice is:

Alma Lee receives her doctorate for her role as the founding director of the Writers’ Union of Canada. She is also the founder and director of the Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, and a member of the Order of Canada.

Elinor, 10, Covers the Hay Festival... on the Kids BBC...

2005-06-08T17:52:00.000+08:00

Well, this should bring the demographic average down a bit - a fine story from 10-year-old journalist Elinor, who writes "I met top authors at a book festival". She met Charlie Higson and Jacqueline Wilson. And of course she asked them for advice they might share with aspiring writers like herself.

And the Orange Prize goes to... Lionel Shriver

2005-06-08T07:13:00.000+08:00

See the story in Guardian Unlimited Books .

American author Lionel Shriver tonight won the Orange Prize for fiction with her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Said broadcaster Jenni Murray, who chaired the judging panel: 'We Need To Talk About Kevin is a book that acknowledges what many women worry about but never express - the fear of becoming a mother and the terror of what kind of child one might bring into the world. It's a very courageous book which will resonate with everyone who has had a child or thought about having one.'

Sydney Writers' Festival wrap article from Crikey.com

2005-06-07T14:53:00.000+08:00

An amusing piece (including awards for best- and worst presenters) by Hugo Kelley. Also includes a list of the titles that sold best at the excellent GleeBooks Festival bookshop. Also includes the wrap of Kelley's ongoing festival blog, and, if you read to the bottom, stuff on the midnight King's Cross exploits of various reprobate publishers.

A new kind of literary event - the book slam

2005-06-06T15:03:00.000+08:00

Here the website of "london's best literary nightclub", hosted by Patrick Neate. Book Slam events combine spoken word performance, music and readings in bite size chunks, in a night club setting. A Book Slam event was also part of the Hay Festival. Spoken word artist Francesca Beard, among others, is participating.

International ManBooker awarded

2005-06-06T10:24:00.000+08:00

See this report on Ismail Kadaré's victory from the BBC. See also the official website announcement. Under the rules, Kadaré will now select the winner or winners of the translation prize.

A Festival presenter makes the news - Auckland

2005-06-05T18:21:00.000+08:00

A controversial presenter at a Festival is news, at least according to STUFF which describes itself as "New Zealand's leading news and information website". Not afraid to name names, this article blasts broadcaster Kim Hill's performance at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, which had at least one audience member standing up to protest, and one author refusing to go on to Kim's radio show the next morning. The chemistry with a couple of the guests clearly wasn't great, and Hill kept mispronouncing one author's name. Famously upbeat science writer Simon Singh didn't seem to mind: "I thought she was great, she made it fun. The whole thing would have been a lot more boring without her." The story ends "Festival manager Jill Rawnsley refused to comment." A wise policy Jill!

Alan Hollinghurst interviewed at the Sydney Writers Festival

2005-06-05T13:22:00.000+08:00

The Sydney Star Observer interviews Hollinghurst about his participation in the Sydney Writers Festival. Interesting for what he says about reaching audiences that might be uncomfortable with gay themes. Hollinghurst recently appeared at the Man Hong Kong Festival and its offshoot in Shanghai, and was in Auckland before coming to Sydney.

iCal Calendar of International Literary Festivals

2005-06-05T12:33:00.000+08:00

You can access this calendar two ways - if you follow the link given here you can browse it in html, but for even more jollies, and if you use iCal (or a compatible calendar program), you can subscribe directly from inside the application. iCal users should go to the menu Calendar>Subscribe, and then paste this in the resulting menu box which asks for "Calendar URL"- http://icalx.com/public/schoppert/LiteraryFestivals.ics

If your Festival is not listed, leave a comment here and I'll put it in. Then the update will be transmitted to all subscribers. Pretty cool, huh?

A Canadian View of the Sydney Writers' Festival

2005-06-05T11:56:00.000+08:00

From the Globe and Mail... In Canada it seems, not only does every self-respecting city have a literary festival, so do most hamlets and resort towns. So why then isn't there a literary festival blog? (Well, there is, now...). I was at the Sydney Festival myself, and I must agree with this reviewer, that the outstanding performer of readings from his own work was the Canadian Brian McAdam, reading from his debut novel, Some Great Thing.

Dublin Writers Festival June 16th to 19th

2005-06-05T10:53:00.000+08:00

Here is the homepage of the Dublin Writers Festival. This year there is an emphasis on contemporary German writing.

Prague Writers' Festival 2005 dedicated to Casanova

2005-06-04T11:25:00.000+08:00

According to this article in the Prague Daily Monitor. The 15th international Prague Writers' Festival is dedicated to the literary legacy of Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), and will take place the Czech capital 5-8 June.

Among the invited festival guests are French poet Yves Bonnefoy, Serbian writer David Albahari, French author Michel Houellebecq and renowned Israeli author David Grossman.