Black Ink

Here is proof that being an English major is not as hopeless as it sounds.  Claire Tomkin, a 21-year-old English major studying at a college in Maryland, has become $53,609 richer after winning the Sophie Kerr Prize:

After winning a $53,600 literary award last month - the largest undergraduate literary prize in the country - Tomkin has outgrown that fear.
"I'm still very critical of my work, but I'm not as shy anymore," said Tomkin, 21, who was named the winner of the prestigious Sophie Kerr Prize during her graduation from Washington College in Maryland...

Her writing career does seem launched: Tomkin now has an agent and has traded in her job at Barnes & Noble in downtown Brooklyn for a more prestigious post at a Manhattan literary agency...

Not that Tomkin is letting the newfound fame and fortune go to her head.
Tomkin plans to invest the winnings, and despite the unanticipated windfall, she still plans to spend the year working to save up to study English in graduate school next year.

I honestly cannot recall my undergrad experience in English Literature ever being as cool.
(via NYDailyNews.com)

It's been an inferno here in Montreal over the last few weeks.  Not only have my cat and I suffered through this scorching heat without any air conditioning or a fan in my apartment, but I've also had the unpleasant experience of negotiating a book contract with people who have a difficult time accepting that writing is actual work and that books are not penned for free.  I bet Saddam Hussein never had to go through this agony.

It's also been hot down in Cuba.  While the US has faced criticism over its treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been demonstrating some questionable behaviour itself.  Sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury has joined an international community of writers and activists who are voicing their disdain for Cuba's Independent Library Project:

Among some of the many thousands of materials burned or destroyed by the Cuban Department of Interior were books on the U.S. Constitution, Martin Luther King, journalism manuals, a book called "Fidel's Secret Wars," and in one case, even a book by Jose Marti, the Cuban hero of independence beloved by most Cubans and often quoted by Castro.

(via WorldNetDaily.com)

There will be plenty of fun this weekend, as Carifiesta (AKA Jump Up, AKA Montreal's Caribbean party) is quickly approaching.  Saturday I will try to catch the last hour or so of the parade and hopefully get photos of the event to boot.

Guess what?  You still have time to submit that short story you shelved three years ago to The Great Canadian Literary Hunt.  Make sure you dust it off.  The deadline is July 1, 2005 and the contest is open to Canadian citizens and residents:

Rules
1. Original, unpublished poems of up to 100 lines and short stories of up to 5,000 words by Canadian citizens or residents are eligible.

2. First place in each category is $750 plus publication in a special literary supplement to the Nov/Dec 2005 issue. Second and third prize in each category is a lovely This Magazine prize pack, plus publication in the literary supplement.

3. Entry fees: $20 for one short story or two poems. Entry fee includes a one-year subscription to This Magazine*. Each additional entry is $5. Entry fees must be paid by personal cheque or money order payable to This Magazine.

4. Entrant's name MUST NOT appear on the manuscript itself. All entries must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet with entrant's full name, address, postal code, telephone number, email address, submission title(s) and category.

5. To receive a list of winners, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Manuscripts will not be returned. Winners will be contacted by telephone.

6. Entrants agree to be bound by the contest rules. Judges' decisions are final.

7. Entries must be postmarked no later than July 1, 2005, and mailed to:
            THE GREAT CANADIAN LITERARY HUNT c/o This Magazine,
            401 Richmond St. W., Suite 396, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8

*This Magazine subscribers will have an additional year added to their subscription term.

Christine Davidson
Editorial/Publishing Intern
This Magazine
396-401 Richmond St W, Toronto ON M5V 3A8
t: 416-979-8400
f: 416-979-1143
toll free: 1-877-999-8447
e: christine@thismagazine.ca
w: www.thismagazine.ca

Email contests@thismagazine.ca if you have any questions.

Contemporary African-American fiction is continuing to be quite popular among Black readers in the US.  The proof can be found in independent bookstores like Karibu.  Although I'm excited to see more Black authors in the US gain more popularity, I'm worried that readers are only stocking their bookshelves with badly written, commercial titles like Bling, Bling, Bling and I'm Dating a Gangster.  I don't care if they have been on the ESSENCE bestsellers list or not, they're cheesy!  I can only hope that these same consumers are reading other types of literature.  Good literature! 
Two African writers in Europe, 20-year-old Helen Oyeyemi, and Mohammed Moulessehoul who writes under the pseudonym Yasmina Khadra, already have books published.  Oyeyemi's book has been released in the US.  I can only hope some readers will be as interested in the two aforementioned authors as they are in the mediocre books that are so ubiquitous these days:

The book, about an 8-year-old girl with an eerie imaginary friend, attracted gleaming reviews and buzz in Britain after its initial publication in January. Ms. Oyeyemi was called "astonishing" in a review in The London Sunday Telegraph and "extraordinary" by The Financial Times, which said she could claim a place among Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri, all English-language Nigerian-born writers. Now, the soft-spoken 20-year-old Ms. Oyeyemi is looking forward to the American release of "The Icarus Girl," which is being released today in the United States by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.

(via The New York Times)

I should have posted this earlier, but better late than never.  I'm a member of the Quebec Writer's Federation and with this membership come the latest news on the literary world in and outside of Montreal.  I heard about this latest tidbit regarding rights for Canadian freelance writers several months ago.  Now there is a fight brewing south of the border.  I'm going to include the notice I received this week in this post.  If you're a freelancer like myself you should act quickly:

To all freelance writers in Canada

Many of you undoubtedly saw the recent full-page ads in the Globe and Mail, National Post and Time Canada about the possible settlement of a major electronic rights litigation in the United States.  According to Me Mireille Goulet, lawyer for the Electronic Rights Defence Committee, the case has some similarities with the ERDC's case against The Montreal Gazette, Southam and its legal successors, including the fact that CanWest Global is part of it.  But because of important differences between US and Canadian copyright law, Me Goulet, as well as attorneys for Heather Robertson, who is also pursuing electronic rights class actions in Canada, advise all Canadian freelance writers who have contributed to The Montreal Gazette or other CanWest Global publications to opt out of the US case.

Opting out must be done by July 15, 2005.

The Literary Works in Electronic Databases  Copyright  Litigation is soon to receive US  Court  approval  for a settlement in the order of 10 to 18 million dollars US.  It will award up to $1,500 per document to freelancers who have registered that document with the US  Copyright Office: such registration is required under US law.  Non-registered  documents  will be treated differently, with a maximum award per document of $60  for a document which originally sold for $3,000.  Non-registered  copyright claims, however, will only be paid after registered copyright claims
have been paid.  This means that if court-approved costs (such as lawyers' and administration fees and legal notices like the Globe and Mail ads), and claims for registered documents amount to more than $18 million, there will be nothiing left to pay non-registered claims.

Canadian copyright law has not required registration anywhere. Under the terms of the settlement, practically all Canadian freelancers will find themselves in the category of non-registered claimants. Therefore they will be paid according to a much-diminished claim schedule, if at all. Furthermore, by agreeing to this settlement, Canadian freelancers waive their rights to claims under any other copyright class action.  This means that when the ERDC's and Heather Robertson's cases are settled, Canadian freelancers who agreed to participate in the US case will not be able to participate in the Canadian settlements.

Me Goulet strongly recommends that all Canadian freelancers opt out of the US  case.  You can do this by letter or by e-mail. The electronic exclusion form, as well as frequently asked questions and  more information about the settlement, is available at http://www.copyrightclassaction.com. If you prefer to exclude yourself by letter, send it to:

Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation
c/o The Garden City Group, Inc.
PO Box 9000, # 6250
Merrick, New York
USA  11566-9000

The editor-in-chief has resigned from Random House to pursue nothing:

"I wanted a new challenge" Karp said Wednesday. "I have great respect for my colleagues and the authors I've had the privilege of publishing. But I want to see what else was out there."

Karp has no specific project planned, but acknowledged that he had wanted more autonomy at Random House, more freedom to acquire the books he wanted. "I want to stretch some muscles, and I've stretched all of them as far as I can here," he told The Associated Press.

(via Yahoo)

Reader’s Digest scored a major celebrity for their magazine, but not without being tortured first.  Tom Cruise has graced the cover, but the Scientology organization was close by scrutinizing every detail of this interview.   Pulling teeth sounds much easier:

With so much bad blood between them, how did Reader’s Digest land a rare sit-down with Scientology’s top celebrity spokesman? By caving in to a long list of bizarre demands. According to well-placed sources at the magazine, to ensure Cruise’s cooperation, the Digest’s reporter, Meg Grant, promised to give “Scientology issues” equal play in her profile of the star, and agreed to enroll in a one-day Church “immersion course.” Before the interview took place, our sources say, the magazine also agreed to submit its questions for Cruise to his Church handlers, who weeded out any queries they deemed inappropriate. But they were still not taking any chances. When the exclusive interview finally took place, one of Cruise’s handlers asked the star the list of pre-approved questions, as Grant recorded Cruise’s responses.

(via Radar)

Thanks to Oprah, William Faulkner is back in the game now in a big way.  Since Oprah’s Book Club announcement Faulkner’s books have obviously been selling quickly.  He’s been a great influence on writers like Toni Morrison.  Now The Christian Science Monitor takes a closer look at Faulkner and his time spent in Oxford, Mississippi.

For those of you who have followed the career of writer Zane, you'll know that she has not only sold millions of her novels, but she is also a publisher.  The catalogue of her imprint Strebor was recently bought by Atria, one of the leading publishers in the US, particularly of crappy African-American commercial fiction.  Sure not all commercial fiction is repulsive, but there is something unsettling about the ubiquitous candy-coloured-Terry-Macmillan-wannabe novels that continue to grace bookshelves.

One of Simon & Schuster's youngest imprints, Atria Books, just got an imprint of its own. The company announced today that it has acquired the back- and frontlist for Strebor Books, a publisher of steamy African-American adult novels. Until now, Strebor has been published independently by one of Atria's own bestselling novelists, the single-named Zane. "This agreement will allow me to focus on what I like to do best," she says. "Writing, editing and discovering new talent—while giving all our Strebor authors the full benefit of Atria and Simon & Schuster's talented publishing staff and expert sales and distribution team."

It's times like this that I fantasize about a world filled with more Jamaica Kincaids, ZZ Packers, Colson Whiteheads, Edward P. Joneses and Zadie Smiths.

(via The Book Standard)

Two American authors are being commemorated through the stage.  One is a new version of a Broadway musical based on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  And in Detroit, the question of Langston Hughes’ sexuality is explored in Hannibal of the Alps.