Afternoon links

Because a severe lack of sleep, extra work this morning and Typepad’s bugginess delayed this by several hours….

First up: the National Book Critics Circle nominations. Galleycat doesn’t just have the nominees (and in fiction, it’s a pretty freaking stellar list, and I’ve read two and hope to read the others in due course) but presents a comparison of accolades between the NBCC noms and the NBA ones. She also tracks down some very amusing snippets from the award launch last Saturday night (on Adrienne Rich’s nomination for the poetry prize: “She’s still alive?“)

Rebecca Caldwell meets Stephen Marche, a young PhD lit student in Toronto whose first novel explores unexpected love, culture clashes and long distance.

January Magazine’s editor, Linda Richards, looks at several books on self-publishing. It’s a road fraught with pitfalls but if you must do so, these will guide you in your quest, so to speak.

Patrick Anderson gushes like I haven’t seen him gush, oh, in a little while. The cause for his gushery? John Lescroart, whom he believes is the best legal thriller writer short of Turow.

John Sutherland, aka the Booker Prize chairman currently muzzled in case he says something he shouldn’t, goes all ranty about the current state of Penguin publishing. Where once they were formidable, well, now they just have serious problems.

When Kate Swann took over the reins at WHSmith, she faced a formidable job, trying to get the retailer to compete with bookstores and supermarkets alike. So what’s her plan? More books, less of that other stuff.

The Independent’s Christina Patterson puzzles over the whole idea of poets in residence. They write poems in police stations and golf clubs! How dare they!

The Freep’s Ron Bernas wanted very much to like Adrian McKinty’s HIDDEN RIVER, but too many problems curtailed his ability to praise the Irish writer’s third novel.

Another day, another sad report on a bookstore about to close. This time it’s Mostly Books in San Bernadino, shutting down after 27 years in operation.

The Glasgow Herald’s Rosemary Goring sings the praises of translators and their ability to render themselves invisible when working on all facets of literature.

The Age compares and contrasts two wildly different success stories in Australian literature — Bryce Courtenay and Peter Carey.

The fabulous Robert Birnbaum chats with Louis de Bernieres at The Morning News about BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS, the time delay, and of course, everything else in between. Nobody interviews authors like Birnbaum. Nobody.

Speaking of interviews, I’ve been sorely negligent in not linking to Dan Wickett’s monster interview of some of the brightest stars in litjournal land. What they say will answer many questions, as well as raising a whole lot of other ones.

And finally, much of my Sunday afternoon was spent at the DetecToday mailing list chat featuring John Rickards, since we’re discussing his debut novel onlist. The transcript’s available now, but honestly, you kinda had to be there.