This year has been a year of Film Festivals from French to German and now the Spannish. But the best plays are still with Czech accent as Tom Stoppard rocks the rocks of the Sydney Warf Theatre of Cate Blanchet fame on Thursday in the row F In 2008 Tom gave Australia one of his finest plays Rock 'n' Roll. Jan, the Czech student, lives for rock music; Max, the English professor, lives for Communism; and Esme, the flower child, is high. By 1990, the tanks are rolling out, the Stones are rolling in and idealism has hit the wall. Stoppard's sweeping and passionate play spans two countries, three generations and 22 turbulent years, at the end of which, love remains-and so does rock 'n' roll. Utopia of Indian and Czech connections: Mal and Joe
CODA: Australia – My New Home - new book about the life stories of Australian Czech and Slovak community members has been published. This book is the product of two years of research by the Kratochvíls’ amongst the Czech and Slovak communities in Australia. It depicts life stories and experiences of Czechs and Slovaks who were accepted by Australia as exiles and lived in the capital city of Canberra, and in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. It focuses on life in refugee camps in the US zone in Germany, which a large number of refugees passed through in the 1950s, the inception and existence of Czech communities and their clubs operating in Australia (for example, Sokol, Orel, scout and outdoor clubs and associations, sporting clubs, and Jewish organizations), Czech community periodicals and magazines published in Australia, theatre, and Czech and Slovak radio broadcasting. For further information or purchase of Austrálie – můj nový domov / Australia – My New Home please contact Mr Jan Kratochvíl by email – krat3@volny.cz or the Czech Embassy in Canberra.
Ach, An Antipodean Letter of the year: With planning and thought, our films can be adopted by the caring and shown to the intelligent - Australian films deserve better than doing battle with blockbusters
From little things big things grow Building a Big SHACK
USA Today looks at the success of William Young's self-published THE SHACK, a wrenching parable about God's grace.
Co-published with Brad Cummings under the banner of Windblown Media, with assistance from author and former pastor Wayne Jacobsen, they say they have 880,000 copies in print, 750,000 in distribution, and we're talking to New York publishers. USAT reports: Published a year ago and promoted by snowballing attention on Christian radio, websites and blogs, The Shack ($14.99) is now in mainstream bookstores and Wal-Marts nationwide, and the trio behind it are talking to Hollywood about a possible film deal
• Aim at 'spiritually interested' sparks 'The Shack' sales ; [As expected, Amazon filed suit with the Supreme Court of New York to "challenge the constitutionality of a newly enacted New York State statute that requires out-of-state internet retailers, with no physical presence in New York, to collect sales and use taxes." Amazon Sues Over Proposed NY Tax; So far former Houghton Mifflin publisher Janet Silver has moved Monique Truong, Peter Ho Davies and John Pipkin to Nan Talese, and Silver doesn't officially start as editor-at-large until May 1 - I called Janet and she sent us a list of the authors she had worked with and the ones who'd said they wanted to come with her, if not immediately then eventually. We ran down the financials and ... we made an agreement with her that she would stay up there in Massachusetts. It was all done in a rather good fashion. Which Authors Will Follow Janet Silver to Nan Talese? ]
• · the blog of the national book critics circle board of directors Commentary on literary criticism; Guest Blogger: James Frey James Frey is "guest blogging" at Amazon's Omnivoracious this month--and maybe he's doing other media, too. "Two big things for me this month. One is that I am guest-blogging on Amazon all month. The other is that my new novel, Bright Shiny Morning, comes out on May 13th. Will check in now and then with updates, stories, impressions. I'll be doing some press, and will be on tour for a couple weeks." Press-Shy Frey Will Blog for Amazon
• · Seattle's Jackson Street Books will close at the end of the month as the owners retire I Been Healed and so can you!; This year's PEN World Voices Festival in New York City, themed Public Lives/Private Lives, features over 170 authors coming from all around the world. World Voices Invigorates NYC: Everyone has a story
• · · Memoirs should explore some sort of new ground, challenge and explore notions of truth and telling the truth, how we remember and how these memories relate to universals. At the very least, they should tell a good story Newest memoir from Augusten Burroughs has too much bite ; My father himself used to read the published correspondence of authors he was interested in, as well as their diaries and memoirs The letters of men of letters; Burn After Reading
• · · · Memoirs rose in popularity during the '90s on the backs of such books as Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes." Now they're in such demand that, in 2007, more memoirs were accepted by publishers than debut novels Everybody has a story -- but is it worth telling?; The author of the much-touted memoir, Love and Consequences, about a foster child who escaped gang life in South Central Los Angeles, Margaret Seltzer (who wrote under the pseudonym Margaret Jones), turned out to be a white woman who grew up in wealthy Sherman Oaks (the part where “Desperate Housewives” is filmed) Fake Memoirs and the New Racial "Passing"
• · · · · Your crazy life story could translate into mega publishing bucks. But is it true? Here's a foolproof way to tell Put Your Memoir to the Test!; THERE he could be when Parliament resumes next week busily tap, tap, tapping away on his laptop, composing his memoirs as question time drones on. Tap dance to immortality: A Million Little Pieces of Deception
• · · · · · These memoirs dig deep into the heartbreak, humor of divorce "How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed" | Memoirs of a divorcée Mamas, don't let your daughters grow up to marry narcissists; As a literary genre, a memoir from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning "memory", or a reminiscence, forms a subclass of autobiography: Everyone has a story, but not everyone puts it in writing. Now, my story is out there … floating Cold River When fiction is not enough