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Showing posts from 2008

[Interview] Wendy Mewes

Wendy Mewes lives and works in Finistere and has been teaching and writing about history for more than 25 years. Her non-fiction books include Crossing Brittany (2008); The Nantes-Brest Canal: a Guide (2007) and Discovering the History of Brittany (2006) -- which focus on the history and attractions of Brittany. She has also written and published two novels, Moon Garden (2004), a novel of love, growth and natural magic, and, The Five of Cups (2006), which explores explores love, loss and renewal. In this email interview, Wendy Mewes talks about her writing: When did you start writing? I wrote my first ‘book’ when I was eight. It was about ancient Greece and I still have the faded pages of careful handwriting tied together with cotton. I remember consulting many books in the library and my father’s collection and enjoying the process of selecting information and telling things in my own words. Since childhood I intended to be a writer, recognising it as a fundamental p

Interview _ Gary Albyn

Gary Albyn was born in Zimbabwe in 1960 and currently lives in South Africa with his wife and two children. His poems have been featured the anthologies, Forever Spoken (International Society of Poets, 2007) and The Best Poems and Poets of 2007 (International Society of Poets, 2008). His gift book, Manzovo: Place of the Elephants (30° South Publishers, 2008) is an illustrated 110-verse poem that comes with a DVD of the poem recited by the South African Shakespearian actor, John Whiteley. In this email interview, Gary Albyn talks about his concerns as a writer: When did you start writing? I started writing the poem Manzovo: Place of The Elephants in late 2003. The saga of the matriarchal herd just continued to evolve and develop over a period spanning 14 months. Upon completion, and without any notion of publication, I decided to memorize the story in order to be able to recite it to like-minded audiences; people with an abiding love and respect for our environment and nat

[Interview] Rachel Trezise

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Rachel Trezise was born in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales in 1978. She studied Journalism and English at Glamorgan University, and, Geography and History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Her books have won two major awards and have been translated into Italian and Danish. Her autobigraphical novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl (Parthian, 2000) won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. And her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples (Parthian Books, 2006) won the 2006 EDS Dylan Thomas Prize . Trezise is also the author of a documentary about Welsh rock music, Dial M for Merthyr (Parthian, 2007), and a second novel, Sixteen Shades of Crazy , which is due out from HarperCollins in 2010. In this interview, Rachel Trezise talks about her writing: When did you start writing? I started writing at the age of sixteen. I thought I wanted to be a music journalist so I started a fanzine called Smack Rupunzel , interviewing and writing about local bands. Soon aft

Lists _ Blog Novels

Updated March 24, 2010 A growing number of writers are using blogs as a way of making their literary efforts accessible to others. Below are links to some blog novels that we've been able to find. If you know of others, please do send us links and we'll include them here as well. About Ben Adams by Nora A Change in the Weather by Robert Gould [ Interview ] a fucking awful weekend by Albert a million penguins , a collaborative novel by various authors All Saints’ Day Novel (Super-Natural Heroes) by Patricia Herlevi Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman Bartlett House by Patricia J McLean & Duane Poncy Beasts of New York by Jon Evans Blog Love Omega Glee by Wred Fright Brutus Weaver by A. Chatfield Bull City-in-Wonderland by Mel & Al Chaos Fighters by William Chaos Fighters: Cyber Assault by William Colony: Alchibah , a group sci-fi blog novel Corvus , by L. Lee Lowe [ Interview ] County Road by Parker Pruett Dark Inspectre by Jason Kahn

[Interview] Benjamin Stainton

Benjamin Stainton was born in Bury St. Edmunds and grew up in and around the Suffolk countryside. His debut collection of poems, The Jealousies , was published by Bewrite Books in October 2008. In this email interview, Ben Stainton talks about his writing: When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? Quite late really, I was 26 or 27. At that time, I thought of myself as a musician who occasionally wrote poetry, quite badly. Around autumn 2005, I’d written some newer poems that seemed better, a little more assured, so I submitted a few for an anthology called The Soul Gatherer , and the editors accepted one called "9th of October". The Jealousies was being published three years later, to the day. Who is your target audience? As this is my first book, just anyone who reads or has an interest in modern poetry I suppose. I'll be booking myself in for some readings shortly, so my target audience will be whoever's in the room. How would you describe y

[Interview_1] Zukiswa Wanner

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South African author Zukiswa Wanner has a degree in journalism from Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has contributed material to newspapers and magazines that include the Sunday Independent , Oprah , Elle , Juice and Afropolitan . Her debut novel The Madams (Oshun Books, 2006) explores race relations while her second novel, Behind Every Successful Man (Kwela Books, 2008) looks at what happens when husband and wife roles are reversed. Both novels are set in post-apartheid South Africa. In this email interview, Zukiswa Wanner talks about her writing: When did you start writing? I started writing when I was five. As a prospective published writer though, I was kind of pushed into it by South African writer Lewis Nkosi who had seen some of my opinion pieces and suggested that I should consider writing fiction. I told him I was too much of a realist to write fiction and he told me it was the greatest bull he had ever heard. I thought it a challenge and in

[Interview] Harry Hughes

Harry Hughes is an award winning song writer, a professor of psychology and an author. His first novel, The Bait Shack was published by BeWrite Books in October 2008. Hughes is also the subject of the National Book Critics Circle Award nominated book, Home Fires: An Intimate Portrait of One Middle-Class Family in Postwar America (Harper Collins Press, 1992), by Donald Katz. In this email interview, Harry Hughes talks about his writing: When did you start writing? In 7th grade, at the age of 12, I was struck by a desire to both read and write fiction. The book that started it all for me was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World . But the writer who really grabbed me and refused to let go was Edgar Allan Poe . My father had bought me an LP record on the Vanguard label of Nelson Olmstead reading six highly abridged stories by Poe. I played it so many times that my parents were on the verge of breaking it over my head. I then staring reading Poe’s works at full-throttle

Interview _ Group Captain Peter Petter-Bowyer

Peter Petter-Bowyer was born in 1936 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe). He joined the Royal Rhodesian Air Force in 1957 and was a senior operational pilot during Zimbabwe's war of independence. He was also instrumental in designing and producing a range of aeronautical weapons systems that were used in the conflict. In 1980, with the advent of President Robert Mugabe’s rule, Petter-Bower retired as group captain. His autobiography, Winds of Destruction (30° South Publishers, 2008) has been described as "a unique account" of service in the Rhodesian Air Force. In this email interview, Group Captain Peter Petter-Bowyer talks about the concerns which informed his writing. When did you start writing? In 1984, I started recording the story of my life for my family. However, in 2000, friends read what I had written and persuaded me to expand the information as nobody had yet written an autobiography that covered the Rhodesian post-WW2 story of th

[Interview] L. Lee Lowe

Short story writer and novelist, L. Lee Lowe holds an M.A. in English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Heidelberg. She publishes her short stories on the blog, Into the Lowelands . Her debut novel, Mortal Ghost , is also available in a variety of formats online. Readers have the added options of being able to listen to podcasts of the novel or to download it as a PDF file or e-book . Lee Lowe was born in the United States but now lives in Germany. Before that, she spent 18 years in Zimbabwe. Currently she is working on a second novel, Corvus . In this email interview, she talks about her concerns as a writer. Do you write every day? I write every day unless ill, or when family events make it impossible. I begin with checking my email and a few blogs, then reading a new or favourite poem and one entry from an etymological dictionary. After that, I revise what I've written the day before, sometimes more, then write till I've at least reached my

[Interview] Patricia Fry: editorial consultant, publisher and freelance writer

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Patricia Fry is an editorial consultant, a publisher and a freelance writer. She is also president of the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN). In 1983, she set up her own publishing company, Matilija Press and went on to publish over 28 books, among them, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book (Matilija Press, 2000); The Successful Writer’s Handbook (Matilija Press, 2003) and The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (Matilija Press, 2007). Patricia Fry talks about her writing and the work she is doing with authors who want to break into the publishing industry: When did you start writing? I was married with small children when I discovered that I loved to write. I wrote endless letters, stories for my three daughters and poetry for greeting cards. I knew that someday I wanted to write for magazines and I began studying writers’ magazines and the publications for which I wanted to write. But I didn’t start my writing career until my daughters were te