Competition to reveal Britain's favourite gay novel

Billed as a follow up to the BBC's big read, which aims to 'cross the sexuality divide' ,The Gig Gay Read is a bid to find 'Britain's favourite gay book'
Many of the books such as 'Oranges are not the only Fruit' are already classics, and I would have thought they had already crossed any divide, sexual or otherwise.
Other less known books such as Colm Tobin's The Story of the Night certainly deserve more notice. But does labelling books as 'gay' or 'straight' really do any thing for our apreciation of them?
Read the full article in the guardian, and feel free to comment below:


Guardian Unlimited Books :Competition to reveal Britain's favourite gay novel

Want to have an input into a bestselling novelist's next book?

E-bay and a charity devoted to defending free speech are offering just that opportunity. John Grisham is offering to name a character accordign to the wishes of the hightest bidder and he promises to show the character in a good light. Stephen King is looking for a character in a new Zombie novel.
Read the full story:

Authors Let Bidders Name Characters - Yahoo! News

Books? I've never read one!

This is depressing! Just don't show it to your daughters under 12!

the Mail online | Mail - news, sport, showbiz, health and more | Books? I've never read one, says Posh

Fan Fiction: Reckon you could write the next installment?

No reason why not!
Ed Caesar investigates the growing phenomenon of fan fiction, of 'fics' as they are lovingly known:

Independent Online Edition > Features : app6

Centre to explore and celebrate children's books

Children's books, their history their writing and their authors, get a dedicated museum in London with the opening of 'Seven Stories' in London:

Guardian Unlimited Books :Centre to explore and celebrate children's books

Easons profits grow thanks to purchase of British Bookshops

And Easons plan to continue their expansion- in Ireland as well as the UK
read the whole story here:

Booker Prize longlist announced

Plenty to read, plenty to discusss and comment about for the months ahead. This article in the Independent gives a brief description of each book:

Independent Online Edition > Features : app3

RTE comments on Irish longlisters:

Banville and Barry make Booker longlist

And the official Man Booker website:

Man Booker 2005

Myles Dungan to interview John Irving in Dublin. Public Interview

Author of The World According to Garp, A Son of the Circus and The Cider House Rules, John Irving will be taking part in a Public Interview with Myles Dungan on Wednesday 24th August at 7pm in The Liberty Hall Theatre in Dublin 1.
Contact Rattlebag, RTE for tickets:

Rattlebag - Events
And read an interview with John irving here:
John Irving discusses his latest book with Robert Dawson Scott

Harry Potter author hits back

Every time a new Harry Potter book is launched, the stories in the press about it's author get more fantastic than the magic and wizardry she descibes. JK rowling hits back at the gossip-mongers.
She has also loaned some of her original manuscripts to a children's book museum.


Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Harry Potter author hits back

E-books with expiration dates

Some publishers in the US are to offer college textbooks in digital form at a price lower than the new book. The digital books will be searchable, which is an advantage. But theres a catch! The books will cease being readable after 5 months!

Read the whole article
Coming to campus: E-books with expiration dates - page 2 | CNET News.com

HarperCollins Taps SMS to Promote Children's Novels

Harper Collins is planning to use SMS messaging to promote books by author Meg Cabot, aimed at the lucrative teen market.
A clever marketing tool, or another reason NOT to buy your kids a mobile phone?


HarperCollins Taps SMS to Promote Children's Novels

Penguin's plan to revitalise back list in mass market publishing.

With a view to re-vitalising back-lists, Penguin plans to release a series of 'sampler novels' or 'hot shots'; short, accessibly priced novellas which they hope will encourage readers to go back and buy the rest of the author's back list. And where did they get the idea? i-tunes- which encourage buyers to download singles, only to find that many go back and purchase the full cd.

Read the full story:
Penguin's 'Hot Shots' Repackaged with an Eye Toward iTunes-Style Success

Editors are now an endagered species?

Once respected figures in literary publishing, are editors in danger of succumbing to pressures of time and 'big books'?
Blake Morrison in the guardian gives his view in a great essay, drawing on some of the literary greats to support his view, that if an editor must cut, we should remember that butchers are not hte only profession to wield knives. Surgeons use them rather skillfully aswell.
Black day for the blue pencil

Hughes and Hughes book chain to expand.

Good news for book lovers all over Ireland, as Hughes and Hughes has plans to more than double the size of its chain to 30 over the next five years.
You can never have too many bookshops!
Read the full story in:
Business World

Hyperion to Publish Book with Teri Hatcher

"An inspirational work of non-fiction" to motivate other women over 40 - I bet Bridget Jones has already pre-ordered her copy!!

Read more:
Mickey News �o� - Hyperion to Publish Book with Teri Hatcher

Bridget Jones is Back!!

Bridget Jones, the chardonnay swigging, hilarious singleton amazingly first appeared ten years ago. And now Fielding is to re-start her column. Read more:

Independent Online Edition > Features : app3

Francis MacManus Short Story

It's the twentieth anniversary of the Francis Mac Manus Short story competition.
WIth 6000 euro in prizes, and your story read out on air.
Closing date Friday October 7th. Full details on:
RTE Radio 1 - Francis MacManus Short Story S

Writers will get library royalties from irish libraries

Bringing Ireland into line with the rest of the EU and removing the threat of legal action against them, the government has decided to introduce a scheme similar to the public lending rights in the UK.
Under the scheme, writers would be entitled to a payment every time one of their books was loaned out by public libraries. To read the full story from rte click below:
RTE.ie Entertainment - Writers will get library royalties