A literary talent show is about to be aired in Italy, but is television the right place to nurture literary talent?Jonny Geller, agent and joint CEO, Curtis BrownAn X Factor for books is about to launch on Italian TV – it had to be Italian, didn't it? – and you can imagine the literati running for cover in horror. It's "reducing the craft to a reality freak show", "further degradation of the cultural value of the word" etc. And yes, the programme [Masterpiece, which broadcasts on Italian channel Rai 3 today, billed as "the first talent show for aspiring writers, competing to... publish their novel with Simon & Schuster"] will probably be vulgar, ill-conceived and wrong-footed. But we need it. We need to allow young people into the secret we have held too closely to our hearts for too long – that books can change your life, that what makes us human is books, that reading is not just for nerds. The National Literacy Trust recently surveyed 35,000 children from 188 schools and one in five is embarrassed to be caught with a book in their hands.On British TV at the moment, there is not one single programme about books or for book lovers. We in publishing bemoan how few people buy books and yet we do nothing to make them feel relevant. In a changing publishing scene where most purchases are made online, where independent bookshops are closing every week and where the chains all feature the same books, we desperately need an entertaining format to ignite the imaginations of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paul Adams, the Google social researcher turned Facebook product manager who's credited with giving Google the idea for circles of friends that it's utilized in Google+, spoke out against his former employer tonight on his blog. Adams protests that Google is blocking the publication of a book he... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/07/2011 - 11:09 The Bodley Head has acquired a non-fiction title about the developmental issues facing Africa, written by the founder of a Ugandan-based social enterprise that supplies processed coffees to the global market. Editor Kay... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 29/06/2011 - 14:20 The O'Brien Press has bought rights to a memoir by "X Factor" contender Mary Byrne. Managing director Ivan O'Brien bought world rights from Will Talbot, at Modest Management. The book, This is My Life, will be published in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 10:13 UK publishers are seeing good growth from ebook sales overseas, particularly in Scandinavia, but they face a looming threat from US ebook companies, which are now setting their sights on English readers in Europe. Though there... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 08:50 Like much of our world, BEA has shrunk but also expanded. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 02/06/2011 - 07:30 Two novelists have been chosen as the winners of the inaugural Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. David Logans Half Sick of Shadows and Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan (no relation) were chosen as joint winners by six judges... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 15:43 HarperCollins has teamed up with ITV1's "The Alan Titchmarsh Show" to find "The People's Novelist". The competition to track down a new commercial fiction talent was launched today (6th May) on the afternoon show and will run through to the autumn.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 15:40 Bertelsmann has acquired digital media agency Smashing Ideas, with the aim of beefing up Random House Inc's digital offerings. The terms of the acquisition were not made public. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As you may have heard, the cookbook sensation of the season, if not the decade, is Modernist Cuisine, a six-volume magnum opus on contemporary cooking principles that will set you back roughly $500. Self-published by Nathan Myhrvoldthe genius founder of Microsoft's research division,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#time ago