IF:BOOK SUMMER UPDATE jubilympicifsobookathon
Dear Friends of if:book,
As the summer of jubilympics and euromeltdown
begins, here’s news of what if:book UK is up to.
Firstly I’m on the panel at a CHORUS+ECHO
debate on the future of publishing at the Sense Loft, 68-70 Wardour Street W1,
May 29th 7pm.
Meanwhile
at this very moment a school in London is in the midst of piloting our first
ifsobook: The Story Park, written for us by David Almond, wonderful
award-winning author of Skellig and My Name Is Mina. ifsobooks are literature
happenings. You read them, watch them, contribute to them, write to them
and they write back to you.
Students at Mill Hill High School are preparing
to send stories to a character called Uncle Joe who will then be responding
personally to each contribution. On Friday if:book associate Lisa Gee filmed
David giving a personal message to young readers about how he
writes.
With help from web developer Eric Waring and
designer Bill Mayblin, at the if:book cafe we’re creating a platform for this and future ifsobooks,
including a very special anthology of poems, funded by the Clore Duffield
Trust, which will build on the work we’ve been doing for the Poetry Society’s
Young Poets Network.
This year if:book UK is joining
with Bournemouth University to develop and raise the profile of The New Media Writing Prize 2012. This international competition, now in its third year, encourages
writers working with new media to showcase their skills. It also aims to provoke
discussion and raise awareness of new media writing, the future of the
'written' word and storytelling.
Winning entries will be published on www.ifbook.co.uk and www.bookfutures, the Bournemouth University websites, The Literary Platform, (currently running an inspired animation competition judged by if:book founder Bob Stein), and showcased at the Awards ceremony, to be held at Bournemouth University on November 21st. The deadline for entries is the 5th October.
Winning entries will be published on www.ifbook.co.uk and www.bookfutures, the Bournemouth University websites, The Literary Platform, (currently running an inspired animation competition judged by if:book founder Bob Stein), and showcased at the Awards ceremony, to be held at Bournemouth University on November 21st. The deadline for entries is the 5th October.
We are looking for
good storytelling (fiction or non-fiction) written specifically for delivery
and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, the web, or a hand-held device such as an
iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, documentary or poem
using words, images, film or animation, and different forms of audience
interaction. New media writing can be made on a laptop and utilise tools such
as blogs and social networks.
I’ll be announcing
the judges of this year’s prize at the
Literary Consultancy’s Writing in a Digital Age conference at the Free Word
Centre on 8th June.
We’re also planning a series of free summer workshops and salons around the UK linked to The New Media Writing Prize 2012. If you’re based outside London and interested in co-hosting a (free) if:book salon this summer/autumn, please let me know.
if:book
UK may be small but we get around.
Over the past few months, I’ve been a judge of
the first Bologna Ragazzi Digital Prize at the Bologna Bookfair; contributed a guest
post to the Arts Council England Libraries Conversation blog, and another for NALD (National Association for
Literature Development) http://nald.org/conference?item=398&itemoffset=4 in the run up to their final conference, The Space
Between Us.
I gave a workshop and talk at The Publishing Impulse conference at Shenkar College, Tel Aviv, organised by art book collective www.possibilityofabook.org and ran a workshop with the digital designer Mushon on Nearlyness and Stopping Points, a very enjoyable experience.
I've spoken at The Leicester Writers Group, at a
meeting of the EU-READ group of European reading promotion organisations;
appeared on Talk Sport discussing the demise of the print edition of
Encyclopaedia Britannica (and have even met someone since who'd heard the interview!); devised The Nearlywriter, a workshop with poet Saradha
Soobrayen at N4 Library Islington;
I ran workshops on collaboration using Googledocs
with each of the writing teams in the making of LEAP!, the INTERNATIONAL 24
HOUR NOVEL, written on and about the
extra day in February with writing teams in London, Delhi, Vancouver and
Kuala Lumpa, downloadable from www.spreadtheword.org.uk and have been asked to collect the first copy of the Australian 24 Hour Book to be produced this June by if:book Australia. I also published the last of my blogs for Arts Queensland's consulation around a strategy for writers.
Back home I hosted an event on immigration and place
with Linda Grant and Romesh Gunesekera; performed as part of the if:book
songwriting group, and was a Poet in the Phone Box at the first Crouch End
Festival.
On June 14th we will launch our third
digital sampler, made with Toni Le Busque and Sasha Hoare, of work by writers on the Jerwood/Arvon
Mentorship Scheme.
This
summer I’m booked to speak at a conference in Bilbao and am appearing at The Sunday Times Festival of Education on June 23rd.
Have
a good summer and hope to see you soon.
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