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| Spats, symbols and posthumous publications: 2009, a year in books It was the year when poetry made the front pages - for good and bad reasons - when Dan Brown broke publishing records and when everyone from Mark Twain to Vladimir Nabokov brought out books from beyond the grave. We take a look back at the literary events that hit the headlines in 2009January2009 was the year of Dan Brown, e-readers and poetic spats. Thankfully, Dan Brown is still a few months away, but the other two hit the ground running right at the start of the year. The first sales figures for the Sony e-reader are released and show that Waterstone's sold almost 30,000 of the readers since the launch in September, while downloads of electronic books from the chain's site passed the 75,000 mark. And the Oxford professor of poetry contest kicks off. Names under discussion at this stage include British poets Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion, Simon Armitage, Jon Stallworthy, JH Prynne and John Wilkinson, along with Australian poet Les Murray, US poet Jorie Graham and New Zealand native Fleur Adcock. There is nary a mention of Ruth Padel and Derek Walcott. If only it was to stay that way ... Meanwhile, Wendy Cope rules herself out of the running for the poet laureateship, calling it a poisoned chalice that should be abolished. In other, less fraught, poetry news, Jen Hadfield wins TS Eliot prize for poetry with her second collection, Nigh-No-Place. Sadly, the poet Mick Imlah, who was also shortlisted for the prize, dies this month, aged 52. We also say goodbye to Pulitzer prize-winning poet WD Snodgrass, Rumpole of the Bailey creator Sir John Mortimer and Rabbit writer John Updike. Neil Gaiman makes a start on what will be a vintage year by winning the Newbery for The Graveyard Book while Sebastian Barry wins the £25,000 Costa book of the year award. Joseph O'Neill only won plaudits for his novel about cricket and post-9/11 New York, Netherland, but it does turn out to have been the literary critics' read of choice last year. 2009 is also set to be the year of intriguing library news and it gets underway this month with the jailing, for two years, of an Iranian academic who stripped pages out of ancient books from the British Library. Overseas, there's strife in Asterix world as Albert Uderzo's daughter, Sylvie, accuses the Asterix co-creator of betraying his hero, selling out to the businessmen and denying "all the values" she was brought up with - "independence, fraternity, conviviality and resistance" - after he authorised the series to continue after his death. He responds by calling her accusations "undignified" and an insult to Asterix readers. Turkey restores the citizenship of its most famous 20th-century poet, Nazim Hikmet, over 50 years after it branded him a traitor. And finally, Mills & Boon and the Rugby Football League team up to publish a series of books featuring tall, dark and handsome rugby heroes - minus cauliflower ears - and their glamorous love interests. They promise "jet-set locations, hunky alpha male heroes and hot sex, but in a rugby context."FebruaryJames Patterson remains Britain's most borrowed author, with the top three positions unchanged from last year - Patterson is closely followed by children's author Jacqueline Wilson and the author of the Rainbow Magic series, Daisy Meadows. She may not get much in the way of public lending rights dosh, but JK Rowling can bask in with the adoration of the French – this month the country honours her with the title of knight of France's prestigious Legion of Honour. She also wins Stephen King's approval, albeit in comparison with Twilight's Stephenie Meyer. "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good," opined the horror writer, for whom it's a busy month: King also writes a novella, Ur, exclusively for the new version of Amazon's Kindle. It's a good month for protests, too: Margaret Drabble lets rip about about WH Smith's new deal with BAA, which will see it running all the bookshops in BAA's seven UK airports and Margaret Atwood pulls out of the Dubai literary festival over the 'blacklisting' of Geraldine Bedell's The Gulf Between Us, before declaring that she had been misled, and agreeing to take part in a debate on censorship by video link. It is, as she herself puts it, guardian.co.uk |
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Sex website row 'led to murder' A 25-year-old man murdered his wife after a row about his use of websites for people seeking casual sex, a jury hears. news.bbc.co.uk |
Obama joins honors for slain civil rights leader WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama served plates of steaming hot lunches to the needy on Monday, one of several ways the nation's first black president paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on the federal holiday that honors the slain civil rights leader.... hosted.ap.org |
Tourism firm uses fake Maori performers Europeans and Israelis hired to dress up in traditional costume and perform haka for cruise ship touristsA New Zealand tour operator has admitted hiring Europeans and Israelis to dress up in traditional Maori costumes, poke out their tongues and simulate a haka, or indigenous dance, to lure tourists from cruise ships.The Discovery Heritage Group director, Terina Puriri, who has Maori, German and English ancestry, dismissed outrage over the impostors, claiming she was making a positive contribution to the community as Maori were unwilling to promote their own heritage."Some of our Maori are too slack to promote themselves. Some of our Maori are too lazy to get out of bed to do that," Puriri said."They don't turn up and it's a known thing for Tauranga Maori to do that," she said.Puriri said the foreign performers who worked for her had learnt Maori customs and some of the local language, and had helped build a village on the outskirts of Tauranga, a port city on the east coast of the North Island, where the cruise ships docked."None of my team are backpackers or full-blood Maori. But the tourists love us purely because we are proud of our culture and we look beautiful."She said the critics were merely "splitting hairs".But Maori elder Iria Whiu said Puriri's comments were "highly insulting".Details of the performers emerged after it was revealed that tourists were being charged $NZ5 (£2.20) by Auckland-born John Kairau to have their photo taken with a "Maori in traditional dress" – using their own camera.Puriri's company, which had contracts with some cruise ships to provide cultural liaison and perform on board, was now banned from the ports.The port's commercial manager, Graeme Marshall, said the performers were removed because they had false ID."The representation of who came through the gate into the port did not match up with their identification," he said.Kairau, who drew a Maori design, normally etched into the skin by tattoo, on to his face with a marker pen, had also been asked to leave the wharf.Puriri's performers now wait for potential customers outside the gates."They don't want culture on their port," she said.New ZealandRace issuesNew ZealandToni O'Loughlinguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |