Jamie Byng: ‘Listening to letters being read out is quite something’

The Canongate Books boss on the success of Letters Live, performances of notable correspondence by leading lights of stage and screenJamie Byng, 46, son of the 8th Earl of Strafford, grew up in Hampshire and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he joined Canongate Books as an intern and bought out the struggling Edinburgh publishing house two years later, aged just 25. His successes include the UK publication of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker prize in 2002 and sold more than 3m copies. In 2013 he set up Letters Live, “a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence” based in part on Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note books. Letters Live returns to London’s Freemasons’ Hall on Thursday 10 March.How did Letters Live come about?In 2013 we published two books about letters on the same day. One was Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, which is a history of letter-writing. The other, Letters of Note, grew out of Shaun Usher’s website, which compiles great correspondence throughout history. We decided to promote both books by getting people to read out letters in a live setting. Nick Cave had a letter in Shaun’s book and he’s a good friend, so it was very straightforward to call him up and say “How’s about it?” Gillian Anderson went totally nuts for a Katharine Hepburn letter to Spencer Tracy. Everyone I asked who was around – Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Berry, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Robinson – said yes. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Getting a read on the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

More than 400 authors are scheduled over the two days at USC. Writers as varied as Anne Rice and Jeff Kinney will hold court.What do Sugar Ray Leonard, Judy Blume, Betty White, T.C. Boyle, Rodney King, Joseph Wambaugh and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have in common? They're just a few of the high-profile... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble Launches e-Reader Meant for Reading in Dark

Barnes & Noble wants you to take your e-reader to bed. The latest iteration of the Nook, revealed by the book retailer Thursday, is a black-and-white device with a softly glowing backlit screen. It is designed to solve a common problem that co ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Candlelit readings to be held for World Book Night

This year's volunteer givers for World Book Night (23rd April) are being encouraged... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens'

The author's exuberant use of words in private is as vivid as in public.The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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20 Percent of Americans Say They're Reading eBooks

One in five Americans say they've read an ebook in the last year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Those numbers come from a late January survey, they're up sharply from a December 2011 survey. Pew says the jump coincides with a jump in... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One in five U.S. adults has read an ebook, survey says

E-books are catching on quickly, with more than one in five U.S. adults having read an electronic book in the last year. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One-fifth of U.S. adults read ebooks as market booms, survey finds

One in five American adults read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center survey showed on Wednesday. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pew Report: E-reading on the rise

About a fifth of American adults have read an ebook in the past year, a figure likely helped along by the recent holiday surge in the sale of tablet and e-reader devices, according to a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book revolution: We're reading more than ever

A study by the Pew Internet Project finds that consumers who use e-readers are buying more books. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tablet Reading Apps Zite, Pulse Strike Publisher Deals

More tablet experimentation from publishers, this time via reading apps Pulse and Zite. Zite, which already offered readers excerpts from Bonnier's Popular Science magazine, will now be doing that with 20 other Bonnier titles. And Pulse will be bring content from 8 publishers, including Venture... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What To Read On Your New iPad: Fast Company's Retina-Optimized Mark Zuckerberg Cover Story!

The April 2012 issue of Fast Company is now available on the iTunes Store, and it's optimized for reading on the new iPad. The image below shows how much sharper the type looks when viewed on the new iPad with the Retina display. The images are in high definition, too, rasterized at four times... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What He's Reading: Hearst Magazines' David Carey

As president of Hearst Magazines, David Carey devotes most of his reading time to Hearst's 20 titles. He also finds time for personal favorites from other publishers, including Hemmings Motor News (Mr. Carey is a classic-cars buff) and The New Yorker, where he served as publisher. “It's more fun... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'Reading for My Life,' essays by John Leonard

This is a brilliant collection of writings on politics, social and cultural engagement and literary life.Reading for My Life Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Making ebooks even more kid-friendly: the Storia reading app from Scholastic

Scholastic's Storia reading app includes many children's titles previously unavailable in ebook format Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Read Fast Company Magazine On Your iPad

Fast Company is now available to read on your iPad.Starting with the March 2012 issue, Fast Company is offering a digital version of each month's print issue on the iTunes App Store and Newsstand. This is first and foremost a way to read the complete magazine on your iPad, but it also includes... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2012-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Drag; Drop; Read: Apple's New iBooks Author Format

In early January, Apple released iBooks Author, a groundbreaking drag-and-drop ebook authoring environment that promises to democratize the production of complex, structured books, notably including textbooks. But iBooks Author could also presage something else: the eclipse of open ebook standards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nokia announces Nokia Reading at MWC 2012, brings content together, makes it available offline

Among the many goodies Nokia unveiled in its presser at MWC 2012 is a new hub for consuming your favorite written content. Called Nokia Reading, it brings your news feeds, ebooks, and audio books together in a unified, digital magazine-like format that can be accessed on- or offline. The app... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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