There’s an interesting campaign, launched by the European Women’s Lobby, called ‘50/50 No Modern European Democracy Without Gender Equality‘. The idea is to pressure political parties to put forward electoral lists that with a balanced number of male and female candidates for the next European Parliament elections in 2009, and to persuade Governments to correct […]
Over at the Guardian book blog there’s a debate blowing after a post dealing with Jim Crace’s plans to retire. The post has provoked all sorts of reactions regarding the merits of a writer’s age/youth, many largely missing the point made by Crace. Perhaps the most worrying thing, though, regarding the post is the implication […]
Some posts ago we took up the ‘who’ll be literature’s radiohead’ argument up, suggesting that there are already a number of established authors who have been giving away their work a la In Rainbows – for example the Wu Ming foundation or Mega-bestseller Neil Gaiman. Word comes through (via Lizzy’s Literary Life) of a new […]
The joke that was the decision to press charges against satirist Sabina Guzzanti – in poorer taste than any of Guzzanti’s ‘vulgar’ jabs at Italy’s ruling classes (Vatican included) – has been shelved by justice minister Angelino Alfano. The Italian press, which in its own topsy-turvy way seems to take more offence at satirists like […]
Sad news was reported on Friday, that American writer David Foster Wallace has apparently comitted suicide, at the age of 46. TMO’s very own Shane Barry wrote two perceptive pieces on DFW back in January 2006 (link), approaching the American writer’s work with caution through his collection of stories Oblivion. We reprint the second piece […]
With the speed for which it is world-renowned, the Italian justice system is coming to terms with the words spoken by comedian/activist Sabina Guzzanti from the stage of Piazza Navonna during a protest staged on the 8th of July. It appears that the Procura di Roma will ask the Minister for Justice Angelino Alfano (who […]
Just for the record, this year’s Man Booker Shortlist has been announced: The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh The Clothes on Their Backs – Linda Grant The Northern Clemency – Philip Hensher A Fraction of the Whole – Steve Toltz Perhaps the most […]
I’ve yet to read any novels by George Sanders, but after reading the following passage in an interview between Ben Marcus and Saunders, taken from meaty Believer Book of Writers Talking To Writers, I think it’s about time I did: So, when I’m writing, I am trying to move myself, or impress myself, or prevent […]
I feel more than a little sullied, having finished George and Martha by Karen Finley, and I’ve a feeling that this is one of the desired effects by the author as she pits George W. Bush and Martha Stewart as fictional acerbic lovers holed up in a motel attempting to pleasure themselves in oedipal hi-jinks. […]
The plot thickens. Weeks ago the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay was pre-emptively blocked by the police division in charge of post and communications here in Italy. With a flick of the switch the site became inaccessible (despite the fact, as journalist Alessandro Longo points out that the Pirate Bay has yet to be […]
