This year’s Booker and Turner prizes tell us artists and even judges are repudiating the winner-takes-all award. It may be time to find new ways to celebrate the artsThe past year has been a curious one for cultural prizes. The Booker, when the judges failed to agree on a single winner, ended up being split between two authors, in a move that broke the rules and has been widely seen as a fudge. The Turner was upended, not by its judges but by its participants. The shortlisted artists asked to be considered as a collective; the result was that this year there were effectively four winners. Other prizes have seen winners splitting their winnings – author Olivia Laing, for example, voiced a similar sentiment to that put forward by the Turner artists, when she won the James Tait Black memorial prize for fiction this summer. Her novel, Crudo, she said, was written “against an era of walls and borders, winners and losers. Art doesn’t thrive like that and I don’t think people do either. We thrive on community, solidarity and mutual support.”It is too early to declare the death of arts prizes. But they are certainly showing some cracks. The James Tait Black is the oldest British literary award, dating back to 1919. But the most celebrated awards, the Booker and the Turner, date from the late 20th century – 1969 and 1984 respectively – and were made household names by institutional or industry backing, sponsorship and a presence on TV. The Costa prize, which started as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-15 18:25:01 UTC ]
The Harry Potter publisher ascribes its record profits to a hunger for affordable diversion. That’s the magic of booksIn the gloom of a UK economy teetering on the edge of recession, a glittering puff of smoke wafted up last week from the publisher that will for ever be associated with Harry... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-04 17:25:05 UTC ]
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The social media platform is revolutionising bookshops and galvanising publishers. Enjoy it while it lastsThe bestselling book in the UK last week, and of the year so far, is an American novel that was published in 2016. If that sentence sounds implausible, the odds are you have not yet caught... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-04 17:25:02 UTC ]
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Like the complex Philippine history the book aims to depict, there is no single sentence that can sum up Albert Samaha’s Concepcion, especially when he renders that history through the lens of his own diasporic family, dating back to his ancestors’ first encounter with Europeans. Though... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Social media is now a vital platform to promote new titles. And that means jacket designs that hit you ‘hard and quick’Last week’s big literary event was not the publication of a new book, the million-pound signing of a celebrity author or the announcement of a prestigious prize. Instead, it was... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-04-18 09:00:04 UTC ]
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Readers respond to a Guardian editorial on the power of picture books to fire adult imaginations as much as children’sWith reference to your editorial on the picture book (The Guardian view on the picture book: not just for children, 19 March), how have we managed, given the evolving economics... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-03-26 16:31:22 UTC ]
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Many publishers are enjoying record sales – but not all. We must take care that those with the biggest names and deepest pockets are not the only beneficiariesAs the weather turns and the days shorten, as trees bend low with fruit and blackberries darken the hedges, bookshops are bracing for a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-23 17:25:02 UTC ]
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Classical music | Priceless reading | Broadsheet Guardian | Vacancy at LBC | Gin and tonicI’ve read my four column inches relating to classical music in Friday’s G2 Film & Music section. I’ve got to be honest, after excellent editorials (The Guardian view on the return of live music: hope... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-14 17:26:19 UTC ]
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Everyone’s favourite stormtrooper will be developing new movies with Netflix – one of several creators who have turned to enabling the work of othersToni Morrison knew a thing or two about stories. In 1994 she saw the “political correctness debate” as being about “the power to be able to define.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-03-15 18:32:03 UTC ]
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This year’s Booker and Turner prizes tell us artists and even judges are repudiating the winner-takes-all award. It may be time to find new ways to celebrate the artsThe past year has been a curious one for cultural prizes. The Booker, when the judges failed to agree on a single winner, ended up... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-15 18:25:01 UTC ]
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The deadline for submission for the coveted FutureBook Awards is fast approaching. So far more than 50 companies, individuals and podcasts have been put forward for the accolades that are to be handed out at FutureBook Live on 30th November. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury warns UK’s exclusive English rights across EU will end, with firms fighting US companies in an open marketThe next generation of British authors could struggle to land a book deal after Brexit, according to the publisher who launched Harry Potter writer JK... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Amazon demonstrated dazzling marketplace power,’ writes Mike Shatzkin, in what he presents as a new narrative on relations between the retailer and the Big Five. ‘Agency in 2010 Was a Strategy; By 2015 a Surrender’ By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson n an interesting... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Annotated version of Adolf Hitler’s opus, which ‘unmasks his false allegations, whitewashing and outright lies’, will debut at 20 on non-fiction chart after publishers received 15,000 orders A new critical edition of Mein Kampf is set to make its debut on German bestseller lists this weekend,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publisher’s chief executive on taking his titles on to fresh platforms, the future for a free NME – and why he has been poring over vintage comicsMarcus Rich, the chief executive of Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK, has been spending a lot of time buried in the company’s vast archives... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pricing has always been a sensitive topic for publishers and libraries, dating back to the advent of “big deal” style e-journal packages and the so-called serials crisis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Accessibility has always been a goal for IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum), dating back to its foundation in 2000. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon MatchBook, which lets customers who've previously bought the print edition of a book from Amazon score a digital copy on the cheap, is now open for business. Months in the making, the new service is a bold plan by Amazon to convert the world's stacks and stacks of books into digital... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Playing with fire is generally considered bad practice -- I know, as a parent I recommend my kids avoid it. Amazon, however has a whole new Matchbook that it can not wait to set alight. In this case, thankfully, there are no pyrotechnics involved -- just some good literature. Today the online... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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