Archive for September, 2009
(Re-posting)
A one-week writing retreat at Tŷ Newydd, the National Writers’ Centre for Wales. Organised by Chroma (UK). £350£250 all in (not transport) with this year’s tutors, Robert Glück and Achy Obejas, for
a week of workshops, one-to-one tutorials, winding rivers, wild Welsh seas and writing writing writing.
price includes tutorials, workshops, writing-time, great food, the sea, the river, long walks in the woods, inspirations, muses, and more!
Workshops with focus on the hard nut of story telling. Explore struggle and conflict, desire and stakes, and work towards framing questions to deepen the engagement with your work.
5 – 10 Oct 2009. Limited places left.
If only I wasn’t on the other side of the world. Achy Obejas, omg!
September 30, 2009 at 2:49 am
Elisa Rolle, a reader from Italy and fan of gay-men fiction, is establishing a LGBT Award, tentatively named The Rainbow Award.
Further information can be found here, including categories, publishers and eligibility guidelines. http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/799266.html :
Categories:
Fiction
1) Contemporary
2) Contemporary Erotica
3) Fantasy
4) Futuristic
6) Historical
7) Historical Erotica
8) Paranormal / Horror
9) Paranormal / Horror Erotica
10) Mystery / Thriller
11) Coming of Age / Young Adult
12) Comedy
Non Fiction
13) Biography / Memoir
14) History
15) General Non Fiction
16) Poetry
17) Travel
Special Category: New Author
All the categories are split in Lesbian (L), Gay (G) and Bisexual/Transexual (BT). Please if you submit a book specify if it’s for G, L, or BT (for example Contemporary Gay, or Mystery Lesbian).
Now is the time to fill up the categories with the candidatures (campaigning). For the 2009 LGBT Rainbow Awards I will consider ebooks or print books released between September 2008 (included) and August 2009 (Included). I’m not against the idea to consider also re-releases (maybe a previous ebook released in print, or viceversa; or a reprint of the same book from a different publisher).
Can you please help me in this task? If you are a publisher I’d like to ask you to forward the request to your authors, if you don’t feel to fill up the categories by yourself. And if you are an author, and you have a yahoo group or similat, I’m asking you to not being selfish, and to forward the request to your fellow authors. And if you are a reader, please try to nominate also books that maybe you didn’t like so much, but that someone else would probably like to vote.
Next Saturday I will post a blog for each category with the titles you have helped me to find. People will be able to vote for a month from Saturday and for t he first week I will also accept other candidature. It’s obvious that, books already in the categories have more chance to be voted (hint to publishers and authors to submit their books).
Categories with less than 5 candidatures will be compacted or deleted: if you are an author or reader of L and BT fiction / non fiction, please forward this message since I have not the same connections in those fields I have with the gay fiction community.
You can reply to this email, or forward my email address to whom you think could help or is interested. Instead, if you are thinking to post something in a public space, please give the link to this post
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/799266.html
I would prefer to not see my email address too much exposed.
Thank you to you all, and I hope to hear from you or your colleagues soon.
Elisa Rolle
September 30, 2009 at 2:41 am
The LLF has released a statement in response to the uproar caused by their new Lammy eligibility guidelines (see my previous post). I’m pleased they’ve actually acknowledged the issue – reaction on the interwebs hasn’t been positive for them, y’know – but after I read the statement by Katherine V Forrest (long may she live), I’m still confused. I’ll post my thoughts about the LLF statement in a day or two, this weekend has been too busy.
Clarification of Lambda Literary Foundation Policy Guidelines of Nominations, 2009 Lambda Literary Awards, from Katherine V. Forrest, Interim President, Board of Trustees
September 25, 2009 – The Board of Lambda Literary Foundation, under the leadership of Christopher Rice, spent much of last year discussing how our literature has evolved, and the actual mission of the Foundation given the perilous place we find ourselves in with our drastically changed market conditions. We also took into consideration the despair of our own writers when a heterosexual writer, who has written a fine book about us, wins a Lambda Award, when one or more of our own LGBT writers may have as a Finalist a book that may be the only chance in a career at a Lambda Literary Award.
We discussed two essential questions: who we are, what we are here to accomplish. We discussed every single word of this, our Mission statement: The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives.
Lambda Literary Foundation is a service organization for our writers. Our LGBT family of writers. We celebrate those who support our writers, those in all the allied areas of our literature: our readers, publishers, booksellers, publicists, agents, etc. We celebrate straight allies of every kind and always have throughout our history, with the Bridge Builder Award, Small Press Award, Publishers Service Award, Editor’s Choice Award, among other awards and acknowledgments, and we’ll continue to do so.
Today we continue to be excluded in heterosexual society as we have been historically. Our books are taken from the shelves of libraries all over the country and even from the website of Amazon.com this year. It is more difficult to be an LGBT writer now than it has been in many decades, more difficult to make any income from our written words, much less a living. Publishers have closed, stores have closed, the markets seem to be shrinking with each passing day. It seems more urgent than ever that LLF be as active and supportive a service organization as we possibly can be for our own writers, and that’s what we’re working on, with a Board that could not be more passionate in our commitment. We will soon have a new, far more comprehensive website connecting all segments of our publishing world, and we’re determined to restore our Writers Retreat for emerging writers, the single most important initiative we’ve undertaken next to the Lambda Literary Awards.
As to what defines LGBT? That is not up to anyone at Lambda Literary Foundation to decide. The writers and publishers are the ones who will be doing the self-identifying. Sexuality today is fluid and we welcome and cherish this freedom. We take the nomination of any book at face value: if the book is nominated as LGBT, then the author is self-identifying as part of our LGBT family of writers, and that is all that is required. There are many permutations of LGBT and they’re all welcome as that LGBT term we’ve all adopted makes clear.
We hope this will clarify our policy and answer some of your questions and concerns. We welcome your comments.
Contact: Tony Valenzuela, info@lambdaliterary.org
This appeared the same time as the announcement that the President of the Board of Trustees, Christopher Rice, had resigned immediately and that Katherine V Forrest was the acting President in the interim. The Board is being advised by an interim Executive Director.
September 28, 2009 at 1:27 am
The NYTimes thinks that by Judge Chin allowing a four-month stay requested by the Authors Guild and the APA, it means the settlement is as good as gone. I don’t know about that. I think Judge Chin is waiting to see what comes out of the French case against Google when it recommences in December. In the meantime, you can bet Google will try to salvage it, and we’re in for another scrutiny of the next set of settlement terms.
[via AFP]
September 25, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Sydney, heck the state of New South Wales, got a gritty taste of the outback today. A low low pressure system whipped up high winds and brought tons of dust to the east. You can see pictures here and here. The colour is real. Brisbane is affected too and possibly New Zealand tomorrow.
We also got some hail and a couple of small earthquakes hit Melbourne.
September 23, 2009 at 3:17 pm
In the same way Viagra was supposed to help men with sexual dysfunction, this orgasmatron is designed for women who can’t orgasm. But as history shows, we know who’ll be rushing to use it and it won’t be them.
The Spinal Orgasmatron lets users come at the touch of a button. Instant happy, as they say, but unlike vibes, you won’t have to wait for the buzz to get you there because the device is connected to your nervous system via wires inserted into your spine! I think a User Caution should be printed in large letters on the box, also insertion by medical professional should be advised.
Price could be around USD12K but you’d save on dinners and intimate apparel. Perhaps there’ll be an iPhone app that lets you set it off remotely ‘coz this one doesn’t quite do the job on location. I can just hear it now, “Dammit, out of batteries!”
[LA times via other places.]
see more Fail Blog
September 21, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I’ve been pretty faithful to iphonebookshelf for mobile reading but it couldn’t handle a couple of badly designed PDFs (not it’s fault), so I’ve decided to give Stanza a whirl now that their beta desktop app is more stable. For the curious, the eReader app is also on my phone but I haven’t used it yet. I’ve been reading on paper so yeah I’m bouncing between formats. I’ve always got a book or magazine in my pocket.
September 21, 2009 at 12:18 am
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
This is a recurring theme for me and will continue until LLF moves with the times.
For background to this post, read my criticism against the LLF for excluding e-books and international queer lit from their awards (the Lammies). Basically, if you’re not in North America and don’t write English, you’re not queer worthy enough.
LLF has released their guidelines for next year’s Lammies. Changes! but not enough and some may think for the worse. Current guidelines are posted on their site but I’ll repeat the eligibility requirements here for posterity as the guidelines change every year. Emphasis are mine.
The Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF) seeks to elevate the status of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives. (Lambda’s mission statement)
ELIGIBILITY
· In determining whether a book should be submitted for consideration, it should be noted that the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on the LGBT content, the gender orientation/identity of the author and the literary merit of the work.
· The book must be published and distributed (i.e. available in bookstores or online) in the United States during 2009.
· Self-published books are eligible.
· Reprints of previously published paperback, hardcover or electronic books are not eligible. Second (or later) editions of a book are not eligible for consideration. A book that has been republished by a different publisher after its initial publication is not eligible.
· The book must be published in English. Translations from other languages into English are accepted, as long as the U.S. publication occurs during 2009.
· Books available in eBook format alone are not eligible.
Is this progress? LLF will now accept books only available from online stores (all bow to Amazon) as long as US readers can get them. Self-published books are eligible.
On the other hand, pure ebook publications are still barred (i.e. still discriminated). Yes, I’m spewing but unsurprised. Where would LLF be if they weren’t ultra conservative? Speaking of conservative, this statement worries me:
… the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on the LGBT content, the gender orientation/identity of the author and the literary merit of the work.
Is that in descending order of priority? LGBT, I notice, doesn’t include intersex or queer identification. What does taking into account the gender orientation or identity of the author have anything to do with literary merit or promoting excellence in LGBT writing? What would the panel do with such information assuming they can get it? Most importantly, literary merit is last on the list!
Pardon me but this makes the LLF appear creepily inward looking and self-rewarding, for themselves and their network again. Only.
September 17, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Keith Floyd isn’t very well known by today’s celebrity standards, outside of the UK and those of use who get BBC programs, but I am very fond of him and his shows.
Keith was one of the early celebrity TV chefs, starting his career in the 70s, and he was a card. Always dapper in Europe (cross between James Bond, an aristocratic pimp and schoolboy maitre d’, he drove a convertible if he could) and increasingly dishevelled in hotter climates. Keith went everywhere the BBC sent him. He visited far nations, inner villages, royalty, celebrities, docks, fields, cellars…anywhere that had space for his glass of bevy and a stovetop. He had a fast and casual way with cooking, very aware that time was limited, and his speedy speech ensured you had to pay attention. He poked fun at everybody including himself and was not afraid to show his failures. He didn’t take too much to nosh being posh. He’s cooked with chefs and housewives and he loved the good life.
Keith Floyd was a true travelling gourmand. I’m a bit saddened by his passing but delighted he left a chatty, witty legacy of the food scene over the last four decades.
Links: Keith’s website, autobiography series and Times article.
September 16, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I’ve been so busy with bbqs that I forgot to post about a new page we’ve established at Read These Lips’ blog.
September 15, 2009 at 3:07 pm
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