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Concern
at level of libel award against Independent group
The
National Union of Journalists in Ireland has expressed grave concern at
the level of damages awarded to communications consultant Monica Leech
in her action against Independent Newspapers. NUJ Irish Secretary Séamus
Dooley said the record damages of €1.87 mwere “disproportionate
and bore no relationship with reality.” more
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Norwich
may be UNESCO City of Literature
---------------
The
City of Norwich will bid to become England’s first UNESCO City of
Literature by 2010. Norwich readers, writers, libraries, the University
of East Anglia, bookshops, printers, museums, media, the city and county
councils and Arts Council England are all involved in the bid. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
27june09
319
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Recent
News
---------------
Press freedom affirmed in Belfast
---------------
Journalist
Suzanne Breen won the right to withhold material relating to the Real
IRA from the state, in a landmark ruling on press freedom on June 18,
2009 in a Belfast court. At Belfast Recorders Court, Judge Thomas Burgess
ruled Breen's life would be at risk if she handed over interview notes
and other information connected to an interview she conducted with the
Real IRA after it killed two British soldiers in March, 2009. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
20june09
318
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Justice looks into Google deal
---------------
Google
may be facing a new threat to its plan to digitize millions of books.
The United States Department of Justice is reported as beginning an inquiry
into a $125m settlement the company reached with publishers earlier this
year. Under the terms of the deal, the company agreed a payout to publishers
to settle a 2005 suit filed over the company's decision to digitize copyrighted
works. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
13june09
317
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Ulysses for £275,000
---------------
If
it’s June there has to be a Ulysses story. So, if you have
a rare first edition of James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses
it could sell for as much as £275,000. That is the price paid for
the Dubliner’s book by a private buyer in London at an antiquarian
book fairs, this week. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
06june09
316
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Journalist faces jail
---------------
Journalist
Suzanne Breen faces jail in Northern Ireland for refusing to hand her
notes to the police. The Northern Ireland editor of the Dublin-based Sunday
Tribune is resisting an order to surrender confidential sources of
information relating to articles about the Real IRA. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
30may09
315
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No citizen journalism on the world
---------------
The
BBC World Service has ended Your Story its citizen journalism
project. The service invited participants around the world to submit ideas
for stories and news reports. Ot ended for want of funding. more
©
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30may09
315
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Samuel Johnson money cut
---------------
The
prize fund for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction has been reduced
by £10,000.
Now in its 11th year the award is said to be the richest non-fiction prize
in the UK.
Previously worth £30,000 to the winner, the prize has dropped to
£20,000. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
23may09
314
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Ivy twittering at 103
---------------
More
than 4,000 people signed up within two days to read the Twitter postings
of a 103-year-old woman in Britain. Ivy Bean lives in a care home and
had some 4,800 friends on the social network Facebook before she switched
to the shorter form of Twitter, which encourages users to post messages
with a limit of 140 characters. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
16may09
313
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Richard
& Judy ends for now
---------------
The
influential Richard & Judy chatshow is to be dropped from digital
television in the UK, from July. The ending of the show puts the future
of the Richard & Judy Book Club into question since there will be
no TV show to underscore the club’s selection of books. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
16may09
313
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Libraries reduce book budgets
---------------
Authors
are seeing purchases of their books being reduced in Irish public libraries
as a result of the economic downturn. Libraries in Co Monaghan were told
the new-book budget of €165,000 was suspended.In Galway city and
county’s 30 libraries funding was cut from €550,000 to €100,000.
more
©
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16may09
313
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No buyer for Irish papers
---------------
Johnston Press has called off the sale of its Irish newspaper business.
The
group had sought to sell its 13 regional papers in the Republic
But, the publisher said prices offered were not high enough to make a
sale. more
©
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16may09
313
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Google settlement changes
---------------
The
federal court overseeing the Google Book Search Copyright Settlement in
the United States extended the opt-out deadline in the case from May 5,
2009 to September 4. The Booksellers Association repeated its warning
that the settlement between Google and the US Author's Guild and the Association
of American Publishers results in Google being handed a monopoly. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
02may09
311
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Twittering away
---------------
More
than 60 percent of Twitter users stop using the micro-blogging service
a month after joining, according to Nielsen Online research. Users write
messages to one another to a limit of 140 characters, which is about the
length of two average-size sentences. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
02may09
311
more news stories here
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Writers reading in Dublin
----------------
The
Irish Writers' Centre is launching a series of writing weeks in a continuing
effort to re-position the centre The Dublin city centre faced a survival
challenge when the Arts Council unexpectedly dropped its grant to the
centre. The weeks are designed to offer the chance to participate in creative
writing courses, seminars, literary events and workshops. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
02may09
311
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New
Simon & Schuster website
--------------
Simon
& Schuster UK launched a new website on Mayday. More than 100 authors
contributed exclusive original content to the site and more material will
be added daily, said the publisher.
For detail, see the website
.
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
02may09
311
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----------------
----------------
Sharks appear at newspaper
office
----------------
Australian
journalists are used to dealing with sharks in their trawl through the
flotsam and jetsom of daily life.
However, when a live shark was left lying at the front door of the town's
Warrnambool, Victoria, Standard newspaper staff had no idea of any person
that wished them any harm or wished to send them any type of message.
Still. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
25apr09
310
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Press Gazette lives on
----------------
Press
Gazette, the magazine and news website for journalists, has been
saved from possible closure after being acquired by publisher Progressive
Media. Online news coverage and on Press Gazette's network of
blogs has resumed. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
25apr09
310
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----------------
Recent
News
----------------
Telling Tales on air
----------------
A
new programme for writers and writing will air on West Dublin Access Radio
on May 9. Telling Tales will use the resources of writingclub.org and
askaboutwriting.net to broadcast news of writing and opportunities for
writers and storytellers on the community station.
The show will include interviews with storytellers, or writers in the
news, each week. more
© www.askaboutwriting.net
18apr09
309
more news stories here
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Has the book come in yet?
----------------
Have
you ever waited and waited for a book to be returned to the library so
you could borrow it ? An anonymous borrower sent a Portsmouth library
a £20 donation after keeping one of its book for 32 years. But has
still not returned the book on railways. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
18apr09
309
more news stories here
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Working safely with children
----------------
The
Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon has posted some guidelines for
sole practitioners on its website, in response to requests from the arts
sector. The code of practice aims to provide support and guidance to artists
working with children and young people in a solo capacity as practitioners,
facilitators or tutors. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
04apr09
307
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Cost-cutting Playboy withdraws
----------------
Playboy
magazine, famed among men for its great articles, is to streamline operations
across the company. This will include the elimination of additional positions
and reduction of other expenses, said the company. Latest news from the
troubled publisher is that from Mayday onwards it will leave its Fifth
Avenue offices to integrate its operations elsewhere. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
04apr09
307
more news stories here
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Dracula
to attack Dublin
----------------
Dracula
will be seen all over Dublin throughout the month of April. His re-appearance
may cause terror and dismay amongst native and visitor alike.
The creation of Dublin writer Bram Stoker, the account of the vampire
Count Dracula’s life has been in print since 1897. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
28mar09
306
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Dead man’s words sell
----------------
It
seems to be a good career move to die if you wish to be paid lots for
your writing.
Letters written in the 1930s by George Orwell who died in 1950 were sold
last week at auction, in London, for £84,000.
The letters discuss the writing of his first two books. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
28mar09
306
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Writers Centre takes action
---------------
The
board of the Irish Writers Centre has
acknowledged its responsibility for mistakes made in the past that led
to its €200,000 Arts Council grant being suddenly withdrawn in January,
2009. Action has been taken in response to the withdrawal of financial
support. Founder
members Jack Harte and John F. Deane have agreed to return to the Board.
more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
28mar09
306
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----------------
Facing the book
----------------
More
people are using social networking sites than are using email, according
to a new survey. A Nielsen survey of users' habits found 65.1 per cent
of web users use web email; but 66.8 per cent log on to social network
sites. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
28mar09
306
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Authors to get library payments
----------------
Authors
may now apply to receive payments when their books are borrowed from public
libraries in Ireland.
The Public Lending Remuneration Scheme was established with exchequer
funding.
Writers and illustrators and translators who register their books with
the Library Council may be eligible to receive a payment each time the
book is borrowed from one of the country’s 358 public libraries.
more
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----------------
Arts Council cuts Creative Writers Network funding
----------------
The
Arts Council in Northern Ireland has cut financial support to the Creative
Writers Network CWN. This £ 60, 000 cut in literary support means
two salaried posts will terminate by the end of March, said CWN in a statement.
CWN is seeking a review of the decision. here
©
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28feb09
302
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New books pile up
----------------
More
than 300 new titles were published every day in the UK in 2008. There
are now more than five million English-language books available to readers
in the Nielsen Book database which logs books published in Ireland and
the UK. Add in another three million for other countries and the number
rises to eight million published titles. more
©
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14feb09
300
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Who
lived where in 1911
----------------
In
just two years time the centenary of 1911 will be noted with new books
and programmes. The authorities in both Ireland and the UK have opened
online access to the 1911 census returns. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
07feb09
299
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----------------
Arise
Sir Terry the Writer
----------------
Author
Terry Pratchett is to receive a knighthood from the Queen of England for
his services to literature. The writer has sold more than 60 million copies
of his books and has been translated into 37 languages. The author of
fantasy makes up a quarter of the books on a list of permanent sellers
with titles from his Discworld series. more
©
www.askaboutwriting.net
03jan09
294
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Pulitzer Prizes to include online-only publications
-----------------
The
Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, which honour the work of American newspapers
appearing in print, have been expanded to include text-based newspapers
and news organizations that publish only on the Internet, the Pulitzer
Prize Board has announced. more
©
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13
Dec08
292
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===============
older RePorTs
----------------------------
Booksellers
net just two per cent
more
Barking
Mad is loosed more
Waterstone’s guide to getting published more
Freelance
fees ready reckoner ready
more
A Writer's Earnings more
------------------------------
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