What’s in a name? Well, the right letters would help | Noo Saro-Wiwa

I’m used to my name being mangled and botched in every conceivable way, but seeing it wrong on my latest book was too muchIt’s the moment every writer lives for: a box arrives at your door containing copies of the new edition of your book. Beaming with satisfaction, I tear off the binding tape. Years of hard work are stacked and gleaming, ready for display on the bookshelf. But it doesn’t take long for my warm glow to turn frosty. For, when I open the consignment from my US publishers and inspect a copy, I can see that my surname doesn’t look quite right: Saro-Wiwa has become “Saro-Wiva”.Anyone with a complex name will feel my pain. We have resigned ourselves to seeing loose approximations of our names on envelopes, application forms, dinner invitations and event programmes. The issue is so irritating there is even a Facebook support group called “I’m Tired of People Fucking Up My Name” (one of the more polite ways of putting it, in my opinion).So shaky is my faith in society's literacy skills that there is no situation in which I can relax Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #hard work #literacy skills

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