Book Publishers Videos

Posted in AUDIO Publisher Interviews on October 27th, 2009 Roderick âRockyâ Stinehour is a very pleasant, accomplished gentleman from Vermont. Heâs also recognized internationally as a printer of high repute and a designer of beautiful, scholarly books. His career spans over much change in printing technology and the way in which books are produced and distributed. In 1950, after graduating from Dartmouth College, he, along with his wife and brother, established The Stinehour Press in the village of Lunenburg, Vermont. From modest beginnings the Press flourished thanks to persistence, vision, and the ability to attract skilled passionate co-workers; due to the quality of its books, the company will long be remembered as one of Americaâs finest scholarly publishers. I visited Rocky in the âNortheast Kingdomâ recently. Listen here to our conversation

Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) was born in Armenia in 1908. His photographer uncle, George Nakash, brought him to Canada in 1924. After apprenticing in Boston with John H. Garo, Karsh settled in Ottawa in 1932, where he began his professional career. By 1936 he was photographing visiting statesmen and dignitaries, among them President Franklin Roosevelt. His December, 1941 portrait of a bulldoggish Winston Churchill, symbolizing Britainâs wartime resolve, brought Karsh international attention. Among the most widely reproduced portraits in the history of photography, âChurchillâ was also one of the first to carry the famous Karsh of Ottawa copyright. I met recently with Jerry Fielder, Curator and Director of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh to talk about Karsh and the books that contain his works. Please listen here:

Terry Griggs is the author of a collection of short stories, Quickening, which was nominated for a Governor Generalâs Award, and two novels, The Lusty Man, and Roguesâ Wedding, shortlisted for the Rogers Writersâ Trust Fiction Award. She has also written two books for children, Catâs Eye Corner, shortlisted for a Mr. Christieâs Book Award and a Red Cedar Award, and most recently a sequel, The Silver Door. In 2003 she received the Marian Engel Award. Born on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, she currently lives in Stratford, Ontario. We met recently in Ottawa to talk about her latest âfarce noirâ comic mystery novel, Thought you were Dead, and, as a result about: cartoons, dead flies, Nabokov, Pninâs zany, self-mocking speech and ways, fending off intimacy, how comedy sharpens your judgment, wordplay, names and book titles, the male-female divide, ambiguity, contained chapters, Philip Larkin, naked women on book covers, and The Monkeysâ Michael Nesmithâs mother who invented liquid paper. Please listen here:

This from Contemporary Writers: Zoe Heller was born in London in 1965 and educated at Oxford University and Columbia University, New York. She is a journalist who, after writing book reviews for various newspapers, became a feature writer for The Independent. She wrote a weekly confessional column for the Sunday Times for four years, but now writes for the Daily Telegraph and earned the title âColumnist of the Yearâ in 2002. She is the author of two novels: Everything You Know (2000), a dark comedy about misanthropic writer Willy Miller, and Notes on a Scandal (2003) which tells the story of an affair between a high school teacher and her student through the eyes of the teacherâs supposed friend, Barbara Covett. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for fiction, and was recently released as a feature film, starring Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench. We met recently in Ottawa to talk, âcompanionablyâ about her latest novel The Believers. Please listen here:

Nino Ricciâs first novel, the best-selling Lives of the Saints, won international acclaim and a host of awards, including, in Canada, the Governor Generalâs Award for Fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and in England, the Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Prize. It was followed by In A Glass House and Where She Has Gone, which completed the trilogy that Lives of the Saints began, Testament, co-winner of the Trillium Award, and, The Origin of Species which won Ricci his second Governor Generalâs Award. Born in Leamington, Ontario, to parents from the Molise region of Italy, he completed studies at York University in Toronto, at Concordia University in Montreal, and at the University of Florence, and has taught both in Canada and abroad. We met recently at the Blue Met Writers Festival in Montreal to talk about his most recent work: a brief biography of Pierre Trudeau for Penguinâs Extraordinary Canadians series. Topics covered include the Italian Canadian attachment to Trudeau and the Liberals, immigration, gun slingers, alluring leadership qualities, fear of failure, media strategies, bilingualismâs mixed legacy, the Charter, budget deficits, the pride of being Canadian, and philosopher-kings. Please listen here:

Meir Shalev, (pictured above with his sister) one of Israelâs most celebrated novelists,was born in 1948 in Nahalal, Israelâs first moshav. He is a bestselling author in Israel, Holland, and Germany; and he has been translated into more than twenty languages. His novels include A Pigeon and a Boy, Fontanelle, Alone In the Desert, But A Few Days, and Esau. Russian Romance (The Blue Mountain) is one of the top five bestsellers in Israeli publishing history. Shalev is often compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Prizes he has won include the Juliet Club Prize (Italy); The Chiavari (Italy); and The Brenner Prize of 2006âthe highest Israeli literary recognition awarded for his novel, A Pigeon and a Boy, published in the US by Random House in 2007. I met Meir at The Blue Met Writers Festival in Montreal recently. We talk here about, among other things, television, satire, The Daily Show, great sentences, labels, Gogol, gardening and farming. Please listen here:

Clarkeâs Bookshop, the most famous in Cape Town, specializes in selling southern African books to universities and libraries that teach and have an interest in same. Established in 1956 by Anthony Clarke, the Long Street shop today remains much the same as it was 50 plus years ago: filled with book-lined, wooden-floored rooms spread over two levels containing an eclectic mix of new and used, rare, out-of-print, academic and popular books sold to customers local and institutions foreign. Catalogues filled with books from among other countries Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana and South Africa itself, go out to the likes of Yale University, the Smithsonian Institute and the African Studies Centre in Holland, twice a year. I spoke recently with owner Henrietta Dax who for more than thirty years has ventured forth annually to Mozambique, the US, the UK, and other more exotic locales buying, selling, bartering and stockpiling books she thinks will appeal to her customers. Please listen here:

Open Letter is the University of Rochesterâs literary publishing house. â It is dedicated to connecting readers with great international authors and their works. Publishing twelve books a year and running an online literary website called Three Percent, Open Letter is one of only a handful of U.S. organizations with a commitment to cultivating an appreciation for international literature.â âChad W. Post is the director of Open Letter, a press dedicated to publishing literature in translation. He also runs Three Percent, an online blog and review site focused on international literature. Prior to starting Open Letter, he was the associate director at Dalkey Archive Press. In addition, he co-founded Reading the World, a unique collaboration between publishers and independent bookstores to promote world literature.â We talk here among other things about the dominance of great non-English speaking novelists, Roberto BolaÃo, Julio Cortazar (Hopscotch is one of Postâs favourite novels), Jose Saramago and the phenomenon of one-foreign-author-at-a-time, reasons for the success of 2666, why American authors have the inside track, how economics works against translation, and the opportunities that exist in publishing foreign authors. Please listen here: (Apologies for the rather abrupt ending). Copyright  2009 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

Stephen Johnson is Managing Director of the recently formed South African publishing firm Random House Struik. We talk here about the merger, the independence of SABC (the state owned South African Broadcasting Corporation), Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, Random House Struikâs political power, Apartheidâs banning of Anna Sewellâs Black Beauty, the current governmentâs under-funding of libraries, political corruption and the loss of early promise, Apartheid by other means, freedom, story-telling and other explanations for South Africaâs flourishing publishing sector, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Jacob Zumaâs shower head, and plans Johnson has for the future of his company. Please listen here: Copyright  2009 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

JENNY HOBBS is a novelist and freelance journalist who lives in Franschhoek, South Africa. She is the author of four novels, Thoughts in a Makeshift Mortuary, The Sweet-Smelling Jasmine, The Telling of Angus Quain, and Video Dreams, four non-fiction books, and short stories published and broadcast locally and by the BBC. She reviewed books for many years and has written for and worked on TV book programmes, both as a presenter and interviewer. Sheâs also the Literary Director of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, now in its third year. The event has enjoyed success from its opening page. Last year the Commonweath Writerâs Prize chose Franschhoek as the place to announce its winner (Canadian Lawrence Hill). We talk here about how the Festival came about, and what it takes to make it happen.

Dawn Arnold is Chair of the Frye Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick. Jane Urquhart, Wayne Johnston, Neil Smith, Alexandre Jardin and Miriam Toews are among the many authors who will participate in this yearâs ten day event. Dawn and I talk here about the history of the Festival, Northrop Fryeâs thoughts on imagination and new worlds, the benefits to children of learning more than one language, how writing affects understanding, Moncton strip clubs, Acadie, French language childrensâ authors, Richard Ford, classroom visits, and inspired students. For more information on this yearâs Frye Festival please click here. Please listen to our conversation here:

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Books Editor Bob Hoover has written about books with the paper for more than 20 years. We talk here, at a noisy diner in the shadow of the Heinz ketchup factory, about the role of a books editor, Pittsburghâs lively literary arts scene, blogs, the 800-900 review copies Bob receives each month, and keeping readers current about everything book related. We also talk about Bobâs connection with authors David McCullough and Michael Chabon, and his disconnect with Philip Roth and Paul Theroux; about Ernest Hemingwayâs Cuban home, and the reviewing genius of John Updike. Please listen here: Copyright  2009 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

I was in Chicago recently and met with Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director (since July 2002) of the American Library Association. According to The ALA Constitution the purpose of ALA is ââto promote library service and librarianship.â Stated mission is âTo provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.â In 1998 the ALA Council voted commitment to five Key Action Areas as guiding principles for directing the Associationâs energies and resources: Diversity, Equity of Access, Education and Continuous Learning, Intellectual Freedom, and 21st Century Literacy. Subsequent strategic plans added to these: Advocacy for Libraries and the Profession, and Organizational Excellence. Keith and I talk here about, among other things, these principles, the benefits of belonging to the ALA, simple actions librarians can take to improve their libraries, the future of the book, the future of libraries, video games, copyright, digitization, the recent Google settlement, library fines, libraries as social centers, amalgamation of libraries and archives, access to databases and dead links, the importance of libraries as purchasers of non best-selling books, and the bounce-back of literary reading. Copyright  2008 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

Jessa Crispin is editor and founder of Bookslut.com a monthly web magazine and daily blog dedicated to those who love to read. We provide a constant supply of news, reviews, commentary, insight, and more than occasional opinions. Author Jana Martin describes her this way: Certainly sheâs a reader, a great reader, and she knows how to make one good party after another, whether in a beer-poster-clad upstairs room at the Hopleaf or Bookslut. Sheâs a hostess for all of us, a sundressâd impressario. In that way she belongs on the same hearty category as Mike McGonigal: self-made, peripatetic, generous but with standards and boundaries. The other thing is that, like McGonigal, she gives off a slightly timeless vibe: a bit San Francisco 1950s, a bit Chianti in Greenwich Village, a bit rockabilly, a bit Christinaâs World. We met at her home recently in Chicago, and talked about, among other things, the origins of Bookslut, her underemployment at Planned Parenthood, ex-boyfriends, blog advertising, hiring writers, shrinking book review sections, writing for oneself, inexplicable successes, the name âBookslutâ and thoughts of changing it, Somerset Maugham, favourite novels, and the future of blogs.

A lifelong resident of Illinois, Levi Stahl works at the University of Chicago Press. For the past three years he has maintained a literary blog, Iâve Been Reading Lately. He has written for the Poetry Foundation, the Chicago Reader, the Bloomsbury Review, the New-York Ghost, the Quarterly Conversation, and McSweeneyâs Internet Tendency. His short fiction has recently been published in the New York Moon. Levi is also an editor with Joyland - Chicago edition (heâs currently accepting submissions from current and/or former Chicagoans. For more information, you can e-mail him at levistahlATgmail.com) We met recently in Chicago to talk about his role as publicity manager for the University of Chicago Press. Early on we talk about copy writing and appealing to as many different audiences as possible, about tours and dealing with the media, about differences between university and mainstream publishers, Modernism, Robert Graves, black and white comedy teams, and finally, about the role Levi played in getting the UCP to re-issue a series of Richard Stark (pen name of Donald Westlake, who, sadly, died the day before we conducted our interview) âParkerâ mystery novels, most notably The Hunter, which, though stained through with violent âthuggeryâ is, according to Levi, very well written, and filled with insight into humanity. Copyright  2008 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

Today is Family Literacy Day! Literacy is defined as âthe ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities at home, at work and in the community - to achieve oneâs goals, and to develop oneâs knowledge and potential.â Four out of 10 adult Canadians, age 16 to 65 - representing 9 million Canadians - struggle with low literacy according to Statistics Canada. This means they are denied the pleasures and benefits of, among other things, reading literature. Literature, as John Carey puts it in the final chapter of his book What Good are the Arts?, enlarges your mind, and it gives you thoughts, words and rhthms that will last you for life. With this in mind, we talk to Margaret Eaton, President of the ABC Canada Literacy Foundation about what is being done to help those who live with illiteracy to overcome this obstacle. In so doing we discuss the impact of the Internet on reading habits and the income of freelance writers, the future of the book, blogging, publishersâ business models, and bringing the U.K.âs successful Quick Reads program,which commissions authors (including Ruth Rendall, Joanna Trollope and Richard Branson), to write exciting, short, fast-paced books specifically for adult emergent readers, to Canada. Margaret is now looking for well know Canadian authors to write true crime, and how-to titles, both of which were very popular in England. I immediately suggest William Deverell, and a canât miss how-to topic: Seven Steps to Phenomenal Sex. Please listen here:

See how easy it is self publish and distribute your book with www.bookpal.com.au and see some its recent self published successes Author: bookpal

See how easy it is self publish and distribute children books with www.bookpal.com.au and see some its recent self published successes Author: bookpal