Wednesday News: RIP Tanith Lee, Sydney Writers Festival, BEA welcomes Chinese delegation, and marriage equality in Ireland

JanetPublishing NewsBEA / cultural exchange / Fantasy / horror / Ireland / marriage equality / obituary / Tanith Lee / writers festivals / YA8 Comments

Tanith Lee Was An Indispensible Fantasy Author – As you may already have heard, Tanith Lee died on Sunday; she was only 67, and was still writing, despite the fact that she could not get any of her recent work published (see her own explanation below). There are several posts paying homage to Lee’s incredibly diverse and prolific career as a writer of fantasy, horror, and even children’s literature, among other genres and venues. As the i09 piece notes, “there are so many Tanith Lee novels, and so many memorable stories, that Lee has multiple separate fandoms.” NPR also has a nice post up, with a great description of Lee’s work as inclusive of everything from “tales set in historic Venice to vampire stories and re-imagined folklore. In other stories, she blended modern life with elements of horror and magic.” The cynic in me wouldn’t be surprised if some of the works she could not get published during her lifetime now find their way to a publisher.

[M]ost of the so-called big publishers are unwilling even to look at a proposal. They aren’t interested in seeing anything from me, not even those houses I’ve worked with for many years. Where any slight interest in my turning in a book exists, I find I must work inside certain defined formulae. And to me that’s one of the arch inspiration-stranglers. I have at this time no new book, adult or Y.A, either out or due to come out, let alone any contract to produce a book for any of the main companies. And besides that only a couple of things are scheduled to appear from small, if reputable and elegant houses.

I must add, that doesn’t stop me actually writing. Writing is one of the most important things in my life. I have, so far, a cupboard stocked with 3 completed never published novels – contemporary, horror, 2 short (original) story collections, and proposals for 4 books, 2 of them adult fantasies. I’m just now finishing another novel. –i09 & NPR

Sydney Writers’ Festival 2015 – Beyond Dukes and Damsels (live tweets) – Kat from BookThingo has posted a nice collection of tweets from the Romance panel at the Sydney Writer’s Festival, which took place this past week. Here’s a link to the official Festival site if you’re interested in checking out the program as a whole.

On Saturday, the Sydney Writers’ Festival has, for the first time since I started paying attention (which, admittedly, hasn’t been that long) included romance authors in the program, to talk about romance books. The panel was hosted by the super-smart Jodi McAlister, and featured Kate Cuthbert, Avril Tremayne and Victoria Purman. –BookThingo

BookExpo America Hosts Chinese Delegation In Historic First Cultural And Commercial Exchange – So it’s time for BookExpo America again, and this year the event features a “cultural exchange” between the U.S. and China, including the attendance of a Chinese delegation and a number of related events, from a photo exhibition to a US-China publishing forum, to presentations by several prominent Chinese authors, including Mai Jia, Feng Tang, and Xu Zechen. Given the growth of the publishing industry in China, there could be some interesting collaborative opportunities.

This year’s BookExpo America (BEA) for the first time hosts a Chinese delegation as part of its Global Market Forum (GMF) initiative, bringing the world’s largest market to U.S. shores and kicking off more than a dozen events to take place across New York City. The Chinese delegation at BEA will be the largest international delegation to ever attend the event, with more than 500 professionals representing more than 100 publishing companies, along with 26 of China’s most distinguished authors. The cultural exchange will include a series of panels and activities at BEA as well as offsite events open to the general public. It will also be highlighted by the appearance of several notables including Wu Shangzhi, the Vice Minister of State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television; Cui Tiankai, the Ambassador of China to the United States; Zhang Qiyue, the Consul-General of the Chinese Consulate in New York; Penny Abeywardena, NYC Commissioner of International Affairs; and Robert Holleyman, the Deputy United States Trade Representative. –WSET

WATCH: The Moment Ireland Said ‘Yes’ to Marriage Equality – With all of the news and analysis of Ireland’s historic vote in favor of marriage equality (yes, USians, you CAN have a whole country legally sanction marriage equality!), this seven minute video from Raymond Braun, featuring Irish vlogger Riyadh K and his family, is pretty amazing, especially when Braun records the Dublin celebration of the vote. And as this map from Vox shows, support trended regionally but was still pretty broad. 

But by the time the final votes were counted Saturday, Braun’s lens captured the moment when victory for equality was declared. Don’t miss the poignant moment at the four-minute mark, when Riyadh K’s dad barely holds back his tears, lamenting his initial negative reaction to learning his son was gay.

Then watch in the video below as Braun, HRC’s Cobb, and Riyadh K join thousands gathered in Dublin to ring in a new era of genuine equality for same-sex couples on the Emerald Isle. –The Advocate & Vox

Janet

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

→ Janet