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Published June 10, 2009

Midweek Miscellany, June 10th, 2009

#BCTO09 — BookCamp Toronto organiser Mark Bertils’ stream of links about the event at his blog Index//mb. There is also a  list of related press at the BookCamp wiki. I will try and organise my jumble of thoughts about BookCamp sometime… soon… (ish).

The Book Seer — A nice little web project from James Bridle and the chaps at Apt Studio. Tell it what you’ve read and it will suggest what to read next based (currently) on LibraryThing and Amazon recommendations. James has more about the project at Times Emit.

Cultural Life — An interview with Granta magazine’s newly appointed acting editor John Freeman:

We need to expand how we define what it means to publish great writing. This means reaching readers in the way that they want to hear from us. Such as having a print edition for people who treasure the beauty of text and the photo essays on the page; having a dynamic website for those who want to read us online; having a Kindle or iPhone-compatible edition for people who want to read stories in the palm of their hand; sending out links by twitter to readers who want to know the moment new stories appear; hosting events and conversations and parties for people who want to interact with the magazine in person. The challenge is to make sure that none of these respective endeavors cheapens or reduces the complexity and integrity of the work we publish.

Passion and Daring — Ben Myers at The Guardian is heartened by  Canongate winning  publisher of the year.

Frightening But Cute — Illustrator Axel Scheffler,  talks about drawing the much-loved Gruffalo in a video interview also for The Guardian. Which reminds me — I’ve been meaning to link to Terrible Yellow Eyes for a while. It’s a collection of artwork inspired by Where the Wild Things Are (Robert van Raffe‘s contribution to the project pictured below).


Plastic Banality — Author Warren Ellis’ unique take on the “dubious virtues” of  e-books in Wired. Not for the sensitive or the faint of heart:

[W]hen print was king, we would speak of “reaching an audience”. We would talk of doing these things via advertising, or appearances – which were when you’d show up somewhere in the real world, deface books with ink and communicate using small mouth noises… This has changed in fairly savage ways. The complex net of processes designed to take your money and give it to me is kind of ragged, what with newspapers collapsing and the concept of authority being passed… to, in 2009, a Twitter post from the sainted Stephen Fry. It was great to get a review in a music paper (remember those?) and it was amusing to see Oprah recommending Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to housewives, but here’s the new audience mediation: Stephen Fry popping up on your bloody iPhone to tell you he’s enjoying reading The Watchmen graphic novel.

And finally…

I’m rather charmed by The Mandate Press’ customizable letterpress calling cards. I have always wanted a business card set in blackletter… But what literary theme should they add to their list I wonder?

You can see more of The Mandate Press’ lovely work on Flickr (via The Strange Attractor)

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Published June 3, 2009

Midweek Miscellany, June 3rd, 2009

I’m a little fatigued by all the inevitable post-Book Expo harping, hand-wringing and hubris, so please  forgive me if today’s links are a little light on book-book stuff…

Community Organizer — The New York Observer profiles John Freeman, the new editor of literary journal Granta:

Mr. Freeman believes in the inevitability of books—even if, as he will lay out in his forthcoming manifesto for Scribner, The Tyranny of E-Mail, the Internet is engendering in the people who use it habits that distract them from reading. This is the salve he has to offer a chapped and chafing industry. As people cry doom, he’s there to hold hands and assure them that it’s not that bad.

Cover Versions — Starting with Olly Moss‘ Video Game Classics, Design Week looks at the trend of remixing just about everything to look like vintage 1960’s paperbacks.  What Consumes Me has a nice round-up of recent mash-ups (thx James!). And, if that wasn’t enough, Drawn! points to the another recent example: classic records reworked as classic Pelican paperbacks.

Which leads rather nicely to Emmanuel Polanco‘s Saul Bass inspired design for Moby Dick:

Throwing Down the Gauntlet — As widely reported elsewhere, Google are preparing to sell e-books according to the New York Times.

Making Mistakes — A fascinating interview with designer Paula Scher talking about creative failure at Psychology Today:

If you find yourself defending yourself and protecting yourself and being outraged about what’s around you, you’re in trouble. That doesn’t mean some things aren’t genuinely outrageous. But you have to ask yourself: Why are you outraged by something? What are you hiding from? What are you defending?

And, on a not dissimilar note…

Use It or Lose It — Indispensable creative advice from ad exec Dave Trott (via Mark McGuinness on Twitter):

If we wait for the right opportunity it won’t happen. It’ll stay in our drawer until the world has passed it by. Times will change and newer, more exciting things will be happening. Now it looks old and tired. Now it’s too late.

If we don’t find a way to make it happen, if we don’t take a chance and overcome lethargy and embarrassment to do it, it will disappear.

Students always ask me what I think they should do.

I tell them, “The answer is always the same two words: ‘everything’ and ‘now’.”

Everything and Now… Everything and Now…

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Published May 15, 2009

Paul Auster Granta Interview

“A lot of hesitation, stopping and starting, and re-thinking” — Author Paul Auster talks about his new book Invisible and his writing process with  Granta magazine’s US Editor John Freeman.

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