The Bookworm Literary Festival and literary groupies

Natalie Handal and Tina Chang, editors (together with Ravi Shankar) of "Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond". ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

The Chengdu Bookworm Literary Festival has concluded and I'm in mourning because the fun is over but glad in a way too as my bank account can't afford any more event tickets and book purchases. C.P. and I had such a good time that we are already looking forward to the next one. This year we both got to moderate one of the events and also show some of the authors around Chengdu. We enjoy doing this immensely as it gives us an opportunity to spend time with interesting, creative people who are passionate about books, writing and life. The authors seem to find it pleasant too. You could say that we are "literary groupies". We've discussed this and have decided that next year we are going to open up our own "escort service" and offer our "services" showing the authors a "good time" while they are here in Chengdu.  Strictly in the "literary" sense of course ;-) 

Ian Buruma, author of The China Lover; Inventing Japan; The Missionary and the Libertine: Love and War in East and West; Bad Elements: Chinese rebels from LA to Beijing and many more. ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Self-publishing and Chinese bookstores

Our local  bookstore, Chengdu ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them.

This is the opening line of a recent article in the New York Times (by Motoko Rich, Jan 27, 2009). Rich goes on to talk about print-on-demand companies and the self-publishing market, which is expanding at a rapid pace at the same time as the traditional publishing industry is experiencing difficulties and is responding by down-sizing. An interesting statistic in the article states that 480,000 books were published in the Unites States in 2008. No wonder it's difficult getting a book sold, let alone making a royalty penny. But of course profit alone is not the sole purpose of the self-publishing business.

British author Patrick Gale lamented at last year's Literary Festival at the Chengdu Bookworm that editors no longer exist and that you've really "made it" if your book gets edited at all. (I have the privilege of having a very good editor, tack Gunilla! Doesn’t mean ”I’ve made it” though). Already in 2005 Blake Morrison wrote about this in The Guardian (link here). 

The publishing world is, as ever, in turbulence and it is all very interesting to follow. I sit on both sides of the fence, both as supplier and recipient (writer, photographer and picture researcher) so can appreciate many angles to the story. It's also extremely interesting to witness the explosion of the publishing market in China. Newspaper kiosks are bursting with glossy mags and newspaper publications. Bookstores are gigantic here, several stories high, with coffee shops and all, just like the American bookstores. People sit in the aisles, reading a book from cover to cover, treating the bookstore like a library. I've even seen people photographing pages of books so they won't have to pay. The staff of these mostly state-run bookstores don't seem to mind. They read the books too. Somehow this all doesn't bother me, as long as people are interested in reading!

Books are special

Thou art alive still, while thy booke doth live, and we have wits to read, and praise to give.

Shakespeare and Company, Paris ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Books are special, I can't live without them. Yesterday I mentioned how I never leave home without my camera, well that goes for a book too, I always carry something to read. You could say that books rule my life. I'm surrounded by books at home and in my workspace, piles and piles of them clutter the floor, bookshelves and book shelves take up wall space in every room (even the kitchen and bathroom). I read all the time and can't fall asleep at night if I haven't read at least one or two lines. I also like to possess books, they make me feel secure, they're my friends, my family. I have a hard time getting rid of books, you don't get rid of family do you? When we moved once friends helping us transport our several thousand strong library commented acidly "can't you borrow these at the library?"

A wall of books is a vision of beauty and comfort to me. The first piece of furniture I ever bought was a bookcase (I slept on a mattress on the floor). We own about 30 IKEA Billy bookcases and bookshelves, as you know, are a science. They have to be able to support a huge weight without sagging. (I can't stand shelves that look like the back of a Vietnamese Sway-back pig.) Billy fits the bill (!), they're both affordable and sturdy if bought in the narrow width. One of my early boyfriends felt very threatened by my bookshelves. Books to him were a bourgeois showcase of intellectual snobbery and he went on to threaten unconditionally that "if we ever live together we're not going to have any bookcases in the living room". Another boyfriend wouldn't let me read in bed. I'm married to neither of them.

 

When I was a child my biggest dream was to work with books, books in any way. I saw myself working in a library or a bookstore and if asked where I'd like to go on an outing it was usually either the library or the bookstore. A visit would make me so excited that a trip to the store loo was the first thing on the agenda before I could calm myself down to actually touch a book.

Books smell good, even musty old paperbacks found at the Salvation Army or in a vacation house. I often buy books by the armful, and love the scent of printer's ink, the gentle breeze of pages fanned in my face, the secure knowledge that that hard lump in my bag on a lonely trip is a sure friend, a new book to read. When I hear that precious libraries of rare books have been destroyed in war times it grieves me almost as much as the human losses. 

That I eventually got to work in publishing was a dream come true. My first job made me happy beyond words, surrounded by friends and colleagues that loved it every bit as much as I did. We didn't just love the word or the image, we could discuss all facets of publishing, going on about typefaces and fonts for hours, the pros and cons of different kinds and weights of paper, even what our book spines would look like on the shelf. 

Finally I became a published author myself. Coming upon my very own book in a bookshop window was a childish "sweetness" that I'll never forget. 

... on the other hand there seem to be far too many lame duck books in this world. Who was it who said "If you want to write a book, don't "?

Bibliotekstjänst recension: Kinesiska symboler

Det är viktigt med en bra recension från Bibliotekstjänst då den ligger till grund för de olika bibliotekens inköp. Min första bok Resa till Kina fick en mycket bra recension och biblioteken svarade med att köpa in ovanligt många böcker - 500 st. Vi får se vad det blir för respons med följande recension av Kinesiska symboler:

"Här förklaras vad som ligger bakom många av de symboler och lyckotecken man möter till vardags i Kina. Omdöme: Ingrid Booz Morejohn har arbetat som reseledare i Kina och är numera också bosatt där. Hon har tidigare gett ut Resan [sic] till Kina (2006). Hon har i denna bok om kinesiska symboler valt att fokusera på åtta grundläggande begrepp, såsom lycka, långt liv, frid och belöning. Först ger hon en mer historisk och etymologisk bakgrund till ordet, tecknet och funktionen. Sedan visar hon vilka djur, fenomen, föremål eller t.o.m. maträtter som förknippas med begreppet och alltså fungerar som ett slags överförda symboler. Här kan vi läsa att sallad är symbol för rikedom medan selleri står för framgång i jobbet. Hon lyckas med denna struktur ge mening på ett djupare plan. Ordets uttal och skrivtecknets utseende visar sig vara nyckeln till symbolvärldens uppbyggnad. Både Kinaresenärer och konstintresserade kan här finna mycket matnyttigt. En kort källförteckning avslutar boken som har ett medryckande språk. Färgfoton av människors vardagsliv ger konkretion. - Ulf Lindgren"

Laiba!

För inte så länge sedan fick jag en kopia av  läroboken Laiba! i handen som jag agerade bildredaktör och (delvis) fotograf för. Den blev riktigt fin och för alla som vill lära sig grundläggande kinesiska kan den varmt rekommenderas. Författarna heter Håkan Friberg och Henrik Bengtsson, Gleerups förlag. ISBN: 9140663833. Försäljningstext från webben:

Lai ba! betyder ungefär Kom med! Lai ba är en nybörjarbok i kinesiska för gymnasieskolan och vuxenutbildningen. Texterna och dialogerna bygger på vanliga vardagssituationer som kan uppkomma när man är i Kina: att introducera sig och sin familj, siffror och telefonnummer, intressen, yrken, mat, shopping, resande etc. Den vanligaste grammatiken tas upp och tränas i många övningar. Boken lär ut ungefär 200 tecken (förenklade tecken). Texterna och övningarna finns inspelade.