Thursday 18 December 2008

It has to be done...

It is that time of year when Festive wishes are tossed around like autumn leaves... so here are our handful of well-wishes for all of you.

Hoping you have a restful, peaceful, cheerful Christmas and a productive and plentiful New Year.

2009 is the Birmingham Book Festival's tenth year - so we are happy to receive suggestions for events and activities to mark the occasion. We hope you will all be there to celebrate with us. We see year ten as a milestone year for the Festival - a time for the culmination of some of the changes we have been initiating over the preceding years and the chance to plant the seeds for growth for the future.

We are also sad to say goodbye to Lucy Wood, the Festival's Write On! Project Manager. Lucy is moving south to pursue new projects. She will be much missed by friends and colleagues - good luck Lucy!

Merry Christmas.

Friday 21 November 2008

If you have been to the Festival in 2008, please take a moment to fill out our short online survey. Your feedback helps us to improve and continue to programme with zest and originality!

Take our Online Survey

Thursday 13 November 2008

Legendary Jack Kerouac manuscript on display in Birmingham

COMING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM - BARBER INSTITUTE
The Famous 1951 Scroll Manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road
Exhibition date: 3 December 2008 -27 January 2009

Coming to the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham: an exhibition featuring the original typescript manuscript of On the Road - the world-famous On the Road scroll of 1951, timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the book's publication in the UK and Eire (1958). The scroll typescript is the most expensive literary manuscript in the world.
Much of the fame of On the Road resides in large part in the way the first full version of the novel was composed.

Jack Kerouac undertook three weeks almost non-stop typing on eight sheets of teletype paper taped together to form a continuous roll of paper 127 feet long - so Kerouac did not have to pause to feed new paper into his typewriter in order to preserve better the rush of his inspiration. The result was a particular 'spontaneous' style marked by energy, vitality and directness. It is based on Kerouac's autobiographical experiences and, unlike the published version, does not disguise the protagonists under pseudonyms. Thus William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady are all directly named.

The scroll consequently has an iconic cultural status, which secured a winning bid of 2.5 million dollars at auction.

Jack Kerouac remains one of the best-known and most popular post-war US writers, one with a truly global reputation. His books remain in print throughout the world. His popularity spreads worldwide: for example, he is very popular in Japan - almost as popular as in the UK and the USA . His most famous book, On the Road is generally regarded as the founding text of the so-called Beat Generation-a movement which featured, besides Ginsberg, Burroughs and Cassady, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane DiPrima and many others.

Other events supporting this exhibition include:
A two-day conference on Jack Kerouac, the Beats and the Post-Beats, Friday 12 and Saturday 13 December 2008. Go to http://www.kerouac.bham.ac.uk/index.htm <http://www.kerouac.bham.ac.uk/index.htm>

A film showing, in conjunction with the conference, on Friday 12 December in the Arts Building, University of Birmingham, featuring a working edit of Nic Saunder's new film, 'Curses and Sermons', the second collaboration between Michael McClure and director Nic Saunders (who will attend the showing and take Q&A after the screening -- visit: www.14167films.com <http://www.14167films.com/> ) and a showing of 'Pull My Daisy'.

A 'British Beat' poetry reading in the Underground Bar , Guild of Students, University of Birmingham and featuring Ian Macmillan, David Tipton and Jim Burns -- compered by John Lucas

This exhibition is funded by the University of Birmingham with additional contributions from the University of Birmingham's US Alumni Fund and Waterstones.

Contact name:
Dick Ellis
Dept. of American & Canadian Studies
University of Birmingham
Birmingham B15 2TT
United Kingdom
r.j.ellis@bham.ac.uk
www.uscanada.bham.ac.uk

Congratulations to Maura Dooley

The Festival team is delighted to hear of Maura Dooley's collection Life Under Water being shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2008. Maura has delivered some beautiful readings to Birmingham Book Festival audiences in the past, and has been shortlisted for this prize before, with her 1996 collection Kissing A Bone. She stands amongst an impressive line up, including another previously shortlisted poet, Mark Doty, and the recent winner of the Forward Prize, Mick Imlah.

The Full Short List:


Moniza Alvi - Europa (Bloodaxe)
Peter Bennet -The Glass Swarm (Flambard)
Ciaran Carson - For All We Know (Gallery Books)
Robert Crawford -Full Volume (Cape)
Maura Dooley - Life Under Water (Bloodaxe)
Mark Doty - Theories and Apparitions (Cape)
Jen Hadfield - Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe)
Mick Imlah - The Lost Leader (Faber)
Glyn Maxwell - Hide Now (Picador)
Stephen Romer - Yellow Studio (Carcanet)

The winner will be announced on 12 January. Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, is chair of the judging panel; his fellow judges are Lavinia Greenlaw and Tobias Hill.

We wish Maura the best of luck!

Sara

Monday 10 November 2008

Books we like lately...

Some of our recent or remembered reads:

Zugzwang, by Ronan Bennett.

Never Never, by David Gaffney.

The Good Plain Cook, by Bethan Roberts (which is currently shortlisted for the Spread The Word Prize, and can be voted for here: http://www.spread-the-word.org.uk/pages/books-2009/book-detail.asp?BookID=39 ). Bethan's first book, The Pools, is also excellent.

Notes From An Exhibition, by Patrick Gale.

New Territories...

Welcome to our brand new blog! Thinking it was about time we moved into the 21st Century, we have finally relented and are going to try and do 'one of those blog things'. We can't promise we'll update it every day, or even every week, but we do promise to maintain contact with the outside world and thus keep our eyes, ears and minds open to new ideas and activities.

Keep up with the latest happenings in the office of the Birmingham Book Festival and Write On! Adventures In Writing. We'll share some ideas, some frustrations, some successes, or just our thoughts on the world...and keep you informed as we head perpetually down the road towards the next event...!

This seems like a good place to post pictures of Festival events, too, so look out for some of those, as well as links to other blogs and websites we think you might like.

The Festival's website can be found at http://www.birminghambookfestival.org. When listings for 2009 are available (Summer 09, exact date tbc) you will be able to book tickets and view full details on there. You can join our mailing list there, too.

Keep Reading..

Sara