Furniture for booklovers

The booklovers stool or table is available for 16 euros from Remember Products. It's simple to assemble and can also be used as an occasional table or a bed table or just a simple table...and to save space just disassemble it after use!

Final Call for Entries: Aesthetica Creative Works Competition

The Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is internationally recognised for identifying new artists and writers and bringing them to international attention.

Previous finalists have achieved success and recognition with accolades including: writing commissions from Channel 4, selection to represent Australia in the Florence Biennale, exhibitions at DACS (London), John Martin Gallery (London), Flores Fine Art Gallery (New York), inclusion in the International Drawing Competition exhibition (Poland) and the National Geographic International Photographic exhibition.

The Aesthetica Creative Works Competition represents the scope of creative activity today, and provides an opportunity for both new and established artists to nurture their reputations on an international scale.

The Aesthetica Creative Works Competition seeks entries of Artwork, Photography & Sculpture, Fiction and Poetry. Three winners will be awarded £500 each. Additional prizes include an Olympus E-420 SLR camera and a boutique holiday for two. All finalists will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual, in stores December 2009. Entry to the 2009 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is £10. This allows you to submit up to 5 images, 5 poems or 2 short stories. Closing date to receive Creative Works is 31 August 2009

For full details please visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm

Advice on the carcanet selection process

New this week on Carcanet's audio archive Listen Here! is an interview with Carcanet's Editorial Director Michael Schmidt on submitting poetry to Carcanet Press. Click here to listen to useful advice and information for writers on the selection process at Carcanet.

Autumn events - Centre for New Writing

Unique events from the Centre for New Writing bring the best-known contemporary novelists and poets to Manchester to discuss and read from their work. Everyone is welcome, and ticket prices include a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink (except Martin Amis Public Events).

12th October 2009
Martin Amis Public Events: Literature and Sex - with Will Self
In these hugely popular public events, Martin Amis and guests discuss how literature faces up to major issues of the day.
Discover more about Martin Amis Public Events: Literature and Sex - with Will Self

19th October 2009
Michael Longley and Tom French
Michael Longley is a multi award winning poet and Tom French won the 2002 Forward Prize for Best First Collection for his book, Touching the Bones.
Discover more about Michael Longley and Tom French

22nd October 2009
MJ Hyland and Nick Laird
M J Hyland’s third novel, This is How, was published in July 2009. Nick Laird’s second novel, Glover's Mistake was published in 2009.
Discover more about MJ Hyland and Nick Laird

9th November 2009
Vona Groarke and George Szirtes
Vona Groarke’s new book Spindrift is a PBS Recommendation for Autumn 09 as is George Szirtes’ The Burning of the Books.
Discover more about Vona Groarke and George Szirtes

7th December 2009
Martin Amis Public Events: Literature and Ageing - with Alan Sillitoe
In these hugely popular public events, Martin Amis and guests discuss how literature faces up to major issues of the day.
Discover more about Martin Amis Public Events: Literature and Ageing - with Alan Sillitoe

10th December 2009
Poetry Reading with James Fenton
James Fenton has worked as political journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, war correspondent, foreign correspondent and columnist.
Discover more about Poetry Reading with James Fenton

SEASON TICKET OFFER: Book all five chargeable events this season for £18.00 (£13.00 concessions), 25% less than buying individual tickets.

Tickets can be purchased from Quay Tickets on 0843 208 0500 or www.quaytickets.com , or the Martin Harris Centre box office on 0161 275 8951 (2.00 - 4.00pm on weekdays only). To keep up to date with events sign-up for the e-Newsletter.

Events are held at the University's Martin Harris Centre unless indicated on the 'discover more...' page. Please note that line-ups may be subject to change in unforeseen circumstances.

Arts and Letters Daily

This is a site worth visiting - Arts and Letters Daily offers daily reports of news in art and literature including reviews of new books, essays and articles on language, trends and ideas. According to founder Denis Dutton, Arts & Letters Daily is a web portal for "the kinds of people who subscribe to the New York Review of Books, who read Salon and Slate and The New Republic — people interested in ideas."

Poetry and Knitting - the evidence

Here are a couple of images from the wonderful poetry and Knitting evening organised by Poetica as part of the 'Not Part Of' festival! in July. It was a really popular event - about 60 people attended, 20 of whom were knitters! It was delightful, listening to poetry, with the gentle click of the needles in the background...One amazing person even recited poetry WHILST knitting - wow. Read a review of the event at Dumpista's blog.

Best Book Websites via Internet Resources Newsletter September 2009

Best Book Websites via Internet Resources Newsletter September 2009

On 12th July, The Sunday Times Ingear section listed 10 best book websites. They were:

DailyLit
http://dailylit.com/

Shelfari
http://www.shelfari.com/

Rare Book Room
http://rarebookroom.org/

FreeBookSpot
http://www.freebookspot.in/

Authonomy
http://authonomy.com/

Google Books
http://books.google.com/

Blurb
http://www.blurb.com/

BookCrossing
http://bookcrossing.com/

LibriVox
http://librivox.org/

Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/

Read the reviews of the ten sites above, at the Times Online.

Philip Pullman on How to Write a Book

Philip Pullman shares his writing tips over at the Random House website..."First, make a plan. Get a large piece of paper, the largest piece you can find, and some of those little yellow Post-It Notes. Write down an idea for a scene on each of the yellow stickers and stick it somewhere on the paper. When you have a whole bunch of them, say about forty or fifty, move them around till they are in the best order you can find. That's the plot." Read more...

Argos sells Cool-Er e-book reader

Catalogue company Argos has become the latest retailer to sell an e-book reader. The Cool-Er sells for £189.99 and supports PDF and ePub formats. It has a six inch screen and can have 8,000 page turns on one battery charge.

A website, www.coolerbooks.co.uk, offers more than 750,000 titles for download. The device is also available via the Cool-Er website at the same price. The Cool-Er joins an increasingly crowded market of e-book reading devices. Earlier this month, Blackwell started selling the BeBook device, priced £199, following the launch of an e-book store on its website.

Amazon is expected to launch its Kindle device by the end of the year. Borders' Elonex device has the same price as the Cool-Er and was launched into stores in June and Waterstone's has been selling the Sony Reader for almost a year. Argos also sells the Sony Reader, priced at £224.99.

Free Sites for Audio Book Addicts

Love reading, but hate the strain on your eyes? Then check out the world of audio books. Not only can you enjoy them without a pair of glasses, but you can listen to them while driving, in the shower, and many other places a traditional book won’t go. Got a classic or public domain book you’ve been dying to listen to? Then visit these sites to find it and many other books without spending a single penny.

AudioBooksForFree: The title says it all, you can find thousands of audio books on this site for download at no charge. Choose from fiction, non-fiction, children’s, or even music on the site. Before you download a book, it will also tell you the gender of the author or narrator and if the book has explicit content.

LibriVox: This site provides free audio books from the public domain, many of which involve classic works. Volunteers record chapters on the site, and you can even learn more about becoming one. They also have a podcast to give you the latest in their audio books.

Free Classic Audio Books: You can download your first audio book straight from their homepage. Formats include MP3 and M4B. Sample titles include “Huckleberry Finn,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and “The King James Bible.”

Audiobooks.org: Visit her for a wide selection of audio books at no charge. You can also get links to popular paid books, along with a best seller list. There are even free samples of best selling books for the viewing.

Books Should Be Free: Tough to argue with that, this site delivers just what it promises. They have the most popular downloads available directly on the homepage. Be sure to check out their top 50 books for even more.

Free-Books: This site has a readily available index with 23 choices right on the homepage. These books are available as “read and listen” or as an MP3 download. You can also get other free services on this site such as historical photos and immersion learning.

Project Gutenberg: A leading site for free eBooks, you can also get audio at no charge. Choose from computer generated or human read. You can also download thousands of text only books as well.

Podiobooks: Get serialised audio books in podcast form on this site. There are currently 6,878 episodes available for download in 335 titles. You can check out their most popular selections, or connect with other audio book fans on the site.

Via www.accreditedonlinedegrees.org

The library books nobody wants to borrow

A blog set up by Mary and Holly, two public spirited librarians from Detroit, has become an unexpected internet hit. Books featured on Awful Library Books have been languishing dusty on shelves for years.

Books featured on the blog are real library books, but no libraries are specifically mentioned to protect the submitters. Mary and Holly's criteria for inclusion of titles are simply anything that amuses them. None of the books presented are particularly awful (okay, maybe some are), they are just odd and outdated. Awful Library Books love submissions. Email any scans of covers to awfullibrarybooks@gmail.com

Right...I'm off to, erm, tidy the shelves!

Guardian article on Awful Library Books

Are textbooks history?

In the digital future will textbooks go the way of the scroll? Not yet, maybe, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web.

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the future possibilities and on the same theme this article look at how edupunks are transforming American higher education system.

DNA book case

MYDNA BOOKCASE from joel escalona on Vimeo.

Joel Escalona has designed a bookcase that is definately not for the corner of your room. Joel writes "The books you like, the CD´s you have, the photos you store, and all that objects you put on the bookcase, define a significant part of your personal identity." Unfortunately there will only be a limited number of MYDNA Bookcases made. If you want one email the studio@joelescalona.com.

Three Months in Nepal via Didsbury

At the age of 55, Hazel Roy went to Nepal on a charity trek in the Himalayas and stayed on to teach and travel.

Here she talks about her book, Three Months in Nepal, a moving and engagingly frank account of her experiences

Didsbury Library, Wednesday 16 September, 2pm FREE

Writing Manchester

This unique exhibition designed and curated by Dr Corinne Fowler and Dr Kate Horsley (Lancaster University) covers fifty years of writing in Greater Manchester, which has a growing reputation as the independent publishing capital of the North.

It profiles the city’s most influential writers, publishers and writing organisations, as well as providing an overview of our city’s literary trends and specialisms.

Central Library, 7 September - 17 October

Students Offered Course In Comic Books

About time too! The graphic novel along with its on-screen equivalent, computer games, are to be offered to students as a new university course.

From next month Edinburgh Napier University will become the first institution in Britain to teach writing for graphic novels — books in comic strip form — at Masters level.

There's more about this at The Times.

it's Back! The Big Book Sale @ Central Library

It’s back!

The Big Book Sale

We’re having a clear-out to make way for new stock, so come along and pick up a bargain.

Manchester Central Library, Saturday 19 September, 10-4

The book of light

Surprise everyone with this light in a book. Found at Yanko Designs this cleverly folded lamp springs to life from the hardy white pages of the bound book, powered by a simple low voltage adapter. Designed by Takeshi Ishiguro.

Forgotten Bookmarks

Forgotten Bookmarks Now this is my kind of website - a blog by a used book store employee who chronicles "the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things" found in old books.
(Via Library Stuff)

Margaret Atwood to open Manchester Literature Festival

Manchester Literature Festival returns 15th - 25th October 2009 and kicks off with a fantastic trailblazer event featuring MARGARET ATWOOD at Manchester Cathedral on Tuesday 1st September. The event takes place at Manchester Cathedral on Tuesday 1st September, 7.30pm. Tickets priced £8 / £6 concessions are now on sale and can be booked on 0870 428 0785 or online. This is bound to be a very popular event so book now to avoid disappointment.

The full programme will be announced in early August. Join the mailing list and follow the Festival Blog to keep up to date with festival plans.

You can also catch some of the region's most exciting literary talents on the Rainy City Stories interactive map.

Storytelling at the Britons Protection

Word of Mouth storytellers would be delighted if you will join them for an informal summer evening of tales and stories this Friday. Seated in a circle everyone has the opportunity to spin a yarn, share an anecdote, tell a shaggy dog story, crack a joke or just mull over the fascinating subject of oral storytelling. Those who prefer just to listen are equally welcome…storytellers love an audience!

Friday 7 August is an ideal opportunity for those newcomers who would like to have a go at telling a story, sharing a memory or bringing an episode of history alive, by using spoken word or music.

Meet in the Britons Protection at 7.30 for an 8pm start £3. For more information call Honor on 01925 758856

Meet Michelle Paver at Waterstones

An observant Lit List reader (thanks Alan!) sent in this picture to let us know that Manchester Book Award* finalist Michelle Paver will be visiting Waterstones in the city centre on August 25th.

Michelle was a finalist in the 2006 Manchester Book Award with Wolf Brother, the first in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. The Chronicles series consists of five completed books with the final book, Ghost Hunter, set to be published on 20 August, 2009.

*The Manchester Book Award is run by Manchester Libraries and funded by the Working Neighbourhoods Fund. The project is currently in its fourth year. Each year 24 children's books are whittled down to shortlist of six and young people across Manchester vote for their favourite, either online or in libraries and schools on the Book Award website.

The winner of the award is announced each year at a glittering ceremony at the City of Manchester Stadium attended by pupils from the Manchester's 24 state secondary schools.

Paradox - new Manchester poetry & music night

Lauren Bolger (Editor of Unsung) & John G Hall, have a new poetry and music night called Paradox which will be on the second Saturday night of each month starting on the 12th Sept @ Fuel Cafe Bar, Wilmslow Rd,Withington, Manchester.

The night will include poetry, djs, bands & open mic spots. Each night will be themed :

12th Sept is Joni Mitchell(Pictured) night

10th October is Beat Poets night

14th Nov is John Cooper Clarke night

The night is FREE , but we would welcome donations. If you want an open mic spot or want to share your tunes email john.hall4759@googlemail.com

Fancy managing a brand new Edinburgh bookshop? Read on...

Over at the wonderful Britlit Blog I noticed an advert for a great job so I'm reposting it here. Fidra Books are looking for a book store manager at there new shop in Edinburgh. They want to reach people "who aren't necessarily looking for a new job but who are grabbed by the opportunity to be in at the beginning of establishing an entirely new bookshop." So if you fancy uppingsticks and becoming the manager of their brand new Edinburgh Bookshop, take a look here.