News: Obits, Awards, and Derpless In Gawker Media

Several writers left us early April, including Sue Townsend, creator of Adrian Mole and Clarissa Tan, "journalist, gopher, reviewer of TV" at the Spectator in the UK.

The late Clarissa Tan at Readings @ Seksan's, 28 June 2008

I can't remember if this is the same Clarissa Tan who appeared at Readings sometime in 2008, but from a picture I took, she was holding a copy of what looks like the Spectator, so I guess she was. Some of her writings in the magazine can be found here, including the piece she read at Readings, which won her the Shiva Naipaul Prize from the Spectator.

...Right, now for some happy news. First, congratulations to Tan Twan Eng for making the shortlist for the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, which features an interesting line-up. Looks like Tan's not done reaping accolades yet. Will there be more sour-grape munching, I wonder?

And because of its relatively swift rise as a brand, cutting-edge local pulp fiction publisher Fixi won The Bookseller International Adult Trade Publisher Award. Juga kerana berkat rajin hulur tisu, agaknya.


Elsewhere:

• "Authors on rock star-style tours, animations of famous fictional characters, merchandise based on children's stories – all these are now in the armoury of Britain's biggest publisher as it fights back against the decline of the high-street bookseller." In the wired age, Penguin Random House hits the road to bring books to the public.
• From Jason Kottke: A study that says "foraging harvester ants act like TCP/IP packets". Anyone who's a fan of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series might recognise a device that does use an "anternet" of sorts: Unseen University's computer, Hex
• "Life is too short to read a bad book". Too right. So my editing job might be jeopardising my reading, too.
• The new editor of "slangy Internet site" (Gawker) apparently wants it to sound less like a slangy Internet site. Good luck.