Category: publishing

A judge of this year’s Booker Prize reflects on the practicalities of trying to find the best book published this year. “Theoretically, the chance to read 100 of Britain and the Commonwealth’s finest at the rate of three a day (I am a fast reader and I resolved not to hang about with this particular task) ought to prompt all kinds of informed judgments about the state of British fiction here in the foothills of the 21st century. In fact it does nothing of the sort.”

DBC Pierre is shortlisted for the Booker Prize. But the notoriety brought by the Booker has brought to life some of the author’s unsavory past. “The reformed drug addict and gambler admitted to selling his best friend’s home and pocketing the proceeds as well as working up debts of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a scheme to find Montezuma’s gold in Mexico. Pierre is the nom de plume of an enigmatic Mexican-Australian called Peter Finlay, 42, whose chequered past began to catch up with him last month when he was shortlisted for the prize, arguably the world’s most prestigious book award.”

DBC Pierre, who won this year’s Booker, said he would use his winnings to pay off some of his many debts. “The virtually unknown author, who won for his debut novel, Vernon God Little, turned last night’s prize-giving ceremony in London into an astonishing exercise in self-pity. The prize, which is 35 years old, last witnessed such eccentric scenes in 1972 when the winner, John Berger, pledged to give his cheque to the Black Power movement.”

Is the Patriot Act inhibiting online bookselling? “Compared with companies that sell their wares only in stores, online businesses – particularly those engaged in selling so-called expressive materials like books, music and videos – are good candidates for law enforcement requests under the Patriot Act. While off-line customers can avoid creating an audit trail by paying cash for their purchases, consumer anonymity is hard to achieve online, where transactions typically involve credit cards and shipping addresses.”

“The National Writers Union, founded on the premise that freelance writers can organize and demand better treatment from the industry, always seems to be tangled in one internal struggle or another. But this year, as dire economic realities set in, elected officials have been forced to make decisions that will either ensure the union’s long-term survival—or cause it to self-destruct, depending on whose side you line up on.”

DBC Pierre has won this year’s Booker Prize for his first novel. “Pierre, 42, is the third Australian to win the prize in its 35th year, following in the footsteps of Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally. The chairman of the judges, Professor John Carey, said his team chose Pierre by a margin of four to one.”

The BBC is about to name a list of the 100 most-loved books of all time. But the Observer has come up with its own list. “First of all, our list is fundamentally English and inevitably reflects the age, sex and education of its Observer contributors. We started with an intra-office email, inviting nominations for a top 10. The matrix of replies produced a surprising unanimity. Top of the list were the universal favourites: Austen and Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. When a vociferous and influential minority, led by the editor, argued for Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, we had to introduce a few basic rules.”

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the publishing world’s major deal-making event. But the fair is expensive, and increasingly attendees grumble. “Many US publishers have scaled back their presence this year, and the decision of St Martin’s Press (Holtzbrinck) to pull out has been watched with interest. Some key US agents have said that the London Book Fair is now a more crucial event on the trading calendar.”

A 57-year-old Canadian ex-pat was the surprise winner of this year’s Amazon.ca/Books In Canada First Novel Award. Mary Lawson, who lives in the UK, and whose first novel, Crow Lake, has garnered critical acclaim and made the New York Times bestseller list last year, beat out authors Christy Ann Conlin, Aislinn Hunter, Clint Hutzulak, Michael V. Smith, and Marnie Woodrow for the prize.

Is Nancy Pearl America’s most famous librarian? “Ms. Pearl’s fame has its roots in the most elementary function of the librarian: pressing a book into a patron’s hands and saying, ‘Read this.’ She fills many roles, but in each of them Ms. Pearl returns to the same transaction. At the Washington Center for the Book, part of the Seattle Public Library and a sponsor of author readings and events, she oversaw the ‘If All Seattle Read the Same Book’ program, which is essentially one gigantic book recommendation. (The program has since been tried by other cities, including New York and Chicago.)”