Pablo Nerida’s body is to be disinterred in order to ascertain if he was poisoned by orders of the Pinochet regime rather than having died from a heart attack while suffering from cancer of the prostate. Suspicions were first voiced by Neruda’s chauffeur and although they are not backed by Neruda’s widow they have not died down. It is unclear if a post mortem will be able to establish definitively how he died. The Wikipedia article on Neruda gives as good background as any and there’s a piece on the decision to disinter in today’s Guardian.
Jeff Hill
Jeff Hill’s talk took place on 26 March in our Bishop’s Castle shop/office, having been delayed. It was renamed ‘Writing the Game: in praise of masculinity’ and took the audence on an erudite and entertaining tour of various books that have used sport as their dominant theme over the last two hundred years. It was remarkable that sport could be made more so much more interesting than is usually the case by someone who has, by his own admission, no interest in sport for its own sake.
Agatha Christie
The Agatha Christie Miscellany by Cathy Cook (The History Press, £9.99) is just out. There’s a good piece in the Independent on the book and on Agatha’s writing methods by the ‘Blagger’. Crime is an interesting genre from the point of view of the self-publisher, it has the advantage of a well-established niche.
Wellcome Trust Science-Writing Prize 2013
To date we have helped with the publication of little that could be considered scientific, but there’s no harm aiming high. The Wellcome Trust are finalising plans and procedures for the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2013. Publishers are permitted to submit up to three books or manuscripts. The Trust is obliged to narrow the field but since only 1% of manuscripts submitted to publishers are subsequently published by them (historically this includes books self published by Jane Austen, James Joyce, Beatrix Potter and Edgar Allen Poe to name but four of many), the Trust is using a very blunt instrument in order to reduce its workload.
Apple apologises to China
Given the number of e-books being read on iPhones and iPads and other such Apple devices, Apple’s relationship with Chinese readers is no longer a matter of of purely academic interest to self-publishers. There’s a good piece in today’s Huffinton Post regarding Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook’s recent apology to Chinese consumers. Writers of e-books are in the hands of some very large slavering beasts these days when it comes to territory and availability.
Royal Ballet
A new book by the injured ballet dancer Andrej Uspenski Dancers, published by Oberon Books, gives an unusually informal record of ballet dancers behind the scenes. For those of use who like dancing but are overawed by the professionals, it’s good to see their human side. There’s a good review by Jane Shilling in the Telegraph.
Fay Kanin
Fay Kanin
Fay Kanin the Hollywood writer, died 27 March 2013, was blacklisted by House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s. There’s an excellent obituary by Ronald Bergen in the Guardian.
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