Liveblogging The Future of the Book – PCWS

Starting around 8:20p tonight, the widget below will magically turn into a live scrolling thing, on which you’ll see my notes on “The Future of the Book,” a discussion between Sven Birkerts and Maud Newton hosted at Pitt and moderated by Cathy Day. UPDATE: Here’s a bit of background on this event. You’ll be able …

If you’re going to SXSW, you should be Buying In

Reading Railroad, originally uploaded by Kyle Tombstone. I won’t be attending SXSW this year, but if I were there’s one particular talk I would be sure to attend. It’s a book preview by Rob Walker, a columnist for the New York Times Magazine and blogger at www.robwalker.net. He’s a terrific writer and a smart person. …

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

My friend Beth Polen submitted the manuscript for her middle-grade novel, Wish, to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest late last year. She recently received word that the novel has been selected for the semi-finals.

I’ve had the good fortune to read portions of Wish in progress. It’s terrific. The characters are lively and engaging, the plot trips and twists along, and it’s a great read.

You can read an excerpt of Wish and the other semi-finalists, and submit your reviews as well, at Amazon.com. Any reviews you write will contribute to the decision of which books reach the finals, plus if you submit reviews you’ll be eligible to win prizes as well.

What we talk about when we talk about editing

Dept. of Corrections, originally uploaded by p373. Caroline of Pinky’s Paperhaus raises interesting questions about a recent piece in The New Yorker about Raymond Carver, his editor Gordon Lish, and the editing of Carver’s work. The piece is highly critical of Lish, but more importantly it’s unsigned — no indication is made of who wrote …

The long goodbye

Stephen King says goodbye to Harry Potter: When it comes to Harry, part of me — a fairly large part, actually — can hardly bear to say goodbye. I’d guess that J.K. Rowling feels the same, although I’d also guess those feelings are mingled with the relief of knowing that the work is finally done, …

Xtreme Critique Weekend

Coming in two weeks, it’s Fat Plum’s Xtreme Critique Weekend in Greensburg, PA. It’s the perfect writing get-away: a full weekend to focus on your writing and to connect with other writers. You’ll participate in five 3-hour critiquing sessions (each group will have six or fewer writers), receiving feedback from your session leaders as well …