I'm judging the 3-Day Novel Contest and loving it

-
Yep. Novels written in three days by twelve crazy people.

Judged by three crazy people (including me).

The Edmonton Sun writes: "The Bachelor showed off Whyte Avenue as a fine place for romance, amid the sidewalk gum spots and keg apes. Canadian Idol had theatrical locals praying for their amigo's high-end national karaoke run.

"If successful, the new idea of turning the long-running tradition of marathon book writing into a dog (or gong) show has vastly more creative potential than any combination of on-camera uber-dating and cover-singing. Namely, the seeds of permanent literary achievement.

"The goal of Book Television's 3-Day Novel Contest, playing out live this weekend at South Point Chapters on Calgary Trail and 32 Avenue is to ease 12 writers from across Canada through the same number of new, 90-page novels....

"After three days of live updates on national television, the novels will be read and judged by Vancouver's Jenn Farrell and two of our city's best writers - both of whom delightfully write books set in Edmonton. They are Todd Babiak (Choke Hold, The Garneau Block) and Minister Faust (The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad and The Notebooks of Dr. Brain, which will be published by Random House next February). Faust, who will be judging a poetic challenge at 8 tonight, muses on the idea of the literature process being boiled down to boob tube entertainment.

"Why not?" he smiles. "Writing is so solitary I think that some people who want to write are really mystified by it. And there are writers who have contributed to the kind of deceit that we're wizards of some sort. We're not wizards. We just have to work really hard. It's good to show that writing is not some mysterious, secret process, and hopefully it may help people finish their own projects.

"As a writer, you're either held in zero esteem or high esteem, referring to people such as Shakespeare as gods. That's all nonsense. It's work and it can be fun.

"But if the contestants just tear their freaking guts out this weekend," the Minister adds, "right on."

Comments

Anonymous said…
Guts torn out, but not permanently. Was great to talk to you this weekend, looking forward to more, very soon.

mjh
8:03 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mazisi Kunene's “Thoughts on June 26 (South African Liberation Day)”

-
My friend and colleague Gwen Becker pointed out to me how this brilliant poem by South African writer Mazisi Kunene could be read not only in a voice of defiance, but of profound ambivalence. "Was I wrong when I thought All shall be avenged? Was I wrong when I thought The rope of iron holding the neck of young bulls Shall be avenged? Was I wrong When I thought the orphans of sulphur Shall rise from the ocean? Was I depraved when I thought there need not be love There need not be forgiveness, there need not be progress, There need not be goodness on the earth, There need not be towns of skeletons, Sending messages of elephants to the moon? Was I wrong to laugh asphyxiated ecstasy When the sea rose like quicklime When the ashes on ashes were blown by the wind When the infant sword was left alone on the hilltop? Was I wrong to erect monuments of blood? Was I wrong to avenge the pillage of Caesar? Was I wrong? Was I wrong? Was I wr
Read more

Why Tom Zarek Was Right

-
Image
Tom Zarek: Underserved by the otherwise excellent writers. Most of the anti-Gaeta sentiment I've heard is empty chatter, calling Gaeta "a coward" or "power mad" or "a weasel." Gaeta knew less than viewers know about Cylons, and from his perspective, indeed, from any logical human perspective of a character in the story, the mutiny and coup were logical responses to: a) a tyrannical presidential-military cliqu e that based its pursuit of Earth on what was originally a flat-out lie b) the centralisation of power in an unelected president ruling by cynical religious manip ulation which drifted into self-deluded fundamentalist zealotry and a messiah-complex c) an Executive who nearly succeeded in stealing an election d) a miltary strong-man who himself overthrew civilian rule, ruled by nepotism, undermined criminal inquiries he himself launched, and made clear he would overthrow any government he opposed e) a civilian-military clique of master-race Cap
Read more

One of the many reasons we need African teachers in classrooms--we can see excellence in African students that most European teachers totally miss

-
Image
These days I'm thinking, writing, and doing plenty about the need for Africentric education. Below find an e xcerpt from my novel THE ALCHEMISTS OF KUSH , soon to be republished by MVMedia , based on one of my experiences as a teacher of some very smart young African men whose intelligence at discussing, analysing, and writing about literature no non-African teacher had ever bothered to notice or encourage. If you want to read a study of 157,000 US kids explaining why kids of all racial backgrounds preferred African and Latinx teachers to European settler teachers, well, I've got one for you right here . If you'd rather read the short NPR summary, I've got you covered . And now, on with the show: “You two kill me!” said Moon that same night at the Hyper-Market. “I’m really disappointed with you!” Raptor and Jackal, staring at feet, floor, walls, anything. “Well?” pressed the older man. “Brother Moon, what difference does it make?” said Jackal. “We’re still gonna
Read more