Thursday, August 04, 2005

Gems in the Slush Pile

Zafar has linked to a very interesting article about how UK publishers are finding new talent in unexpected places. Go read.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

One wonders if all of those "unexpected places" happen to be in Britain :)

bibliobibuli said...

Undoubtedly, since this was a piece written in a British newspaper. There's lessons we can learn here too though, especially about ways to help new writers.

Porty, I hope you don't mind me saying so, but it seems to be that you are angry at the world about something ... and I'm interested to know what it is. Wanna tell?

Anonymous said...

Actually, I'm pretty mad about a lot of things. I think if you look through the past posts you might get an idea. There are so many things I want to say, but in the end what will it be but spew ?

This is just a place where I have a kindred spirit, where I can say "onomatopoeic" and not get a blank look (or have someone ask me what that is).

I'm not sure why Britain would be an "unexpected place" to find writers. I mean, English is the native language there, they've been speaking it for hundreds of years. To NOT find a country full of writers there would be more "unexpected" don't you think ? :)

bibliobibuli said...

Porty - Hey, you got a blog! Look forward to dropping by to read your sound offs ...

This is just a place where I have a kindred spirit, where I can say "onomatopoeic" and not get a blank look

You can say onomatopoeic with total impunity here. We will chinkle together.

To NOT find a country full of writers there would be more "unexpected" don't you think ?

Like here you mean?

Is the English language declining globally? There are still enough great writers around to make shivers run down my spine. If you miss Joyce, please read Jamie o'Neill. Also have you read Annie Proulx?

Nanowrimo - their machine only counts the words, you submit the actual manuscript in coded form so no worries about someone stealing your story. I had a really good time doing it last year. Why don't you come along to the next MPH Writer's Circle meeting on the 20th August when Chet and I will be talking about it?

Azizi Ali being called one of the biggest names in the local writing scene.

Azizi has worked hard for his success ... but yes, I know what you mean!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it interesting that you call him a success ? he's not a "sell out" ? it seems to me that you measure in terms of popularity and wealth. I'll have to look out for the other authors, but starving writers can't afford that many books, actually. I'm not sure anyone is nearly as good as Joyce though. I'd like to see anyone do "wanton desire" as well as he did at the end of the movel (and I'm not talking about noodles or soup either.)

bibliobibuli said...

Nope. Success. This is what he wants to do and he's good at it.

I am not interested in this kind of writing myself but.