Presented by University of California Television, an hour-long talk delivered by author Jane Smiley. From UCTV’s YouTube description:

The Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres, the comic novel Moo and eight other acclaimed works of fiction, Jane Smiley explores the world of horse racing, and the universal human desire to connect, in her spirited novel Horse Heaven. She talks about Horse Heaven and reads passages from this work at UC Santa Barbara in 2001. Series: “Voices”.

Jamie Grove over at How Not to Write has an interesting and amusing piece about the great tradition of American literary scoundrels. He does, however, stop just short of sanctioning scoundrel-dom:

I’m not suggesting that writers go on a bender to produce great work. Nor am I suggesting that writers take up infidelity or any other vice. However, I believe there is much to learn from the scoundrels of literature. They reflect some of the most powerful forces in human nature and more writers would do well to study their lives and their works closely.

Even so, it’s a fun little piece and a fun site. Check it out.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird voted “best novel of all time“. Oh, and Dan Brown is held in higher regard than Orwell and Tolstoy.

According to new research, the first Arab novelist was a woman.

The strange attraction of Dylan Thomas.

Speculation continues about Ann Leary’s real-life inspirations.

Lucy Hawking on the secrets of great science writing.

“The pure work implies the disappearance of the poet as speaker, who hands over to the words.”

- Stephane Mallarme

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Publishers Weekly makes easy work of sifting for the kiddies.

ID theory takes a thumping from Kenneth R. Miller in ONLY A THEORY: EVOLUTION AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA’S SOUL.

THE HOST by Stephanie Myers gets a thorough write-up in Denver.

The Atlantic Monthly has nice things to say about THE TEN YEAR NAP. Hope Meg Wolitzer’s happy.

Slate’s review of Jean Bathke Elshtain’s, SOVEREIGNTY: GOD, STATE, AND SELF makes me hope the book is so insightful.

An excellent interview with the author conducted by authormagazine.org:

Mr. Popular: Ken Follett breaks book-signing record (and has sold 4 million copies of his latest book in the past several months… jeez).

Brains of the Family: Laura Bush visits the home of Charles Dickens.

Good Kid: High schooler writes letter to Aldous Huxley, wins ten grand and donates it to her middle school.

Keep it in the Family: Sisters each win lit prizes at Australian Book Industry Awards.

R.I.P. Chingiz Torokulovich Aitmatov.

“Literature is the expression of a feeling of deprivation, a recourse against a sense of something missing. But the contrary is also true: language is what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise and silence of nature and history.”

- Octavio Paz

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Andrew Sant’s volume of poetry, SPEED & OTHER LIBERTIES, gets stamped ‘fascinating’ by the Guardian.

They also review a book called, TERROR AND CONSENT: THE WARS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, that looks too interesting to ignore.

And a biography of a horse named Dan Patch (can a horse have a biography?) takes accolades.

Here’s a good list of kids’ books, grouped for age-interest (but not banded for it, for heaven’s sake.)

And more poetry win Montreal’s Asa Boxer to nail shut this weekend.

Happy Father’s Day!

For a daily dose of literary history, few (if any) sites can compete with Today in Literature.

Launched in 2001, TinL posts compelling “on this day in history”-type articles, offering the most recent three days’ worth for free viewing.

But these are only the tip of the iceberg for premium members, who have access to more than 500 stories via their list of writers, each of whom have an author page with invaluable information on their works and lives.

Russia Today interviews the world renowned novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter:

In honor of Father’s Day, eight writers riff on the subject of “My Old Man”.

The BBC gives a thumbs-up to the new Dylan Thomas film, The Edge of Love.

In celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Meghan McCain writes a children’s book about her father.

An interview with Gore Vidal—with answers you could only get from Gore Vidal.

“Here undoubtedly lies the chief poetic energy: in the force of imagination that pierces or exalts the solid fact, instead of floating among cloud-pictures.”

- George Eliot

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Feeling negative in a positive sort of way, so here are a few reviews to send you running for the hills - or, at least, the next aisle over in the bookstore:

Big names, big stinks.

Oh dear. Mr. King makes both links, thus far.

A YA graphic novel trilogy, THE FROG MOUND, is wrapped up, but ‘anticlimactic’ and ‘desiring a stronger conclusion’ leave a bit of a bruise.

The Daily Star found Anne Enright’s, THE GATHERING, disappointing.

Hmmm. This was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Apparently most books are quite good. And my glass, all of a sudden looks just a drop over half full.

Here, have a good one, to end on a high note.

The popular author discusses his battle with Alzheimer’s:

Take the quiz to find out.

The Harry Ransom Center, as part of its “On the Road with the Beats” exhibition (running through August 3 for those who might find themselves in Austin this summer), presents an online version of the questionnaire a young Gerard Malanga sent to poet and publisher Daisy Aldan.

Includes images of the original. Check it out.

Though still in its infancy, this thread is sure to yield some fireworks (at least I hope so… I like fireworks).

In the red corner, a poet who wants nothing more than to assemble a collection of his works to be made available for friends, family and perhaps the odd stranger who might find them interesting.

In the blue corner, a traditionalist who feels that the right to publish poems should only be derived through the approval of self-appointed gatekeepers, namely editors and academics. Without this stamp of approval, he reasons, publication is an “EMPTY and EXPENSIVE” gesture.

To reduce this to an argument about the ethical nuances of self-publishing is to miss the broader issue, in my view; which is to say, “What is the goal of the writer?”

If it is to become a “poet” in the accepted, mainstream sense—lecturing, being included in anthologies, being discussed by critics, then certainly there are protocol pitfalls in self-publishing that rightly should be  avoided.

If, instead, it is merely to have your works read, even by a narrow audience, what harm is there in offering it in a bound volume that can be cracked open for personal enjoyment and placed on a shelf alongside writers who went on bended knee to editors to kiss the ring of the publishing establishment?

Coyote Wild, an online quarterly of speculative fiction, is back with its June 2008 issue, featuring stories by Jennifer Loring, David McGillveray, Bruce Golden. Maria E. Schneider and Catherine Cheek.

Drop by and give em a read, and be sure to check out their archives for lots of back-issue goodness.

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Michael Moore’s “manual for mocking the 2008 presidential election” to be released in August.

Somerset author Margaret Drabble appointed DBE in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honors.

The Guardian matches vacation destinations with the perfect reading material.

The Digested Classic: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Booker contender Indra Sinha goes on a hunger strike in protest over Bhopal tragedy.

“Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul.”

- Joseph Brodsky

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