Posted by kluster on August 24, 2010
Last September we ventured down to Allen & Unwin’s Sydney headquarters for the announcement of the 2009 Australian Vogel Literary Award. Much to our surprise, two burgeoning writers were declared joint winners of the illustrious prize – Lisa Lang for her Utopian Man manuscript and Kristel Thornell for Night Street. Yes, literature is still alive and kicking (hard) in Australia.
A few weeks ago we spied a copy of Lang’s winning manuscript – converted as it was to novel form – atop a pile of books awaiting eyes. We unhesitatingly selected it for visual consumption post haste, interested as we were to find out what exactly it was about this particular offering that set it apart from the 200 other entries received for last year’s award.
Utopian Man, set in 19th Century Melbourne, fictionalises the life story of Melbourne entrepreneur, Edward Cole and the successes and failures that surrounded the world-renowned Coles Book Arcade. It’s a deftly written, humanistic tale of grand ideas and courageous vision. Lang is no stranger to Cole’s ambitions, having previously penned the non-fiction work E W Cole: Chasing the Rainbow (2007), and in this her newest offering she skilfully interweaves this terrific true story with presumedly fictional accounts of life behind the Coles family’s closed front doors. The resulting novel is deserving of the prestigious award bestowed on Lang late last year.
Utopia Man is published by Allen & Unwin.
allen & unwin, australian vogel literary award, utopian man, lisa lang, night street, kristel thornell, coles book arcade, e r cole: chasing the rainbow
Posted by Audrey Lee on July 6, 2010
Wake up and smell the coffee folks, it’s time to put your creative minds to work! Our friends at Moon Rocks magazine are on the lookout for contributions from both emerging and established fiction writers. A great place to embark on your literary endeavours, Briton-born, Sydney-based Moon Rocks Magazine features short fiction, illustration, design and photography from readers such as yourself. That deserves a nod and two big thumbs-up from Kluster.
The theme for the next issue is ‘Night’, so if you have any ideas, check out the submissions page at www.moonrocksmagazine.com for more details.
moon rocks, magazine, writers, fiction, submissions, contributions
Posted by KB on June 1, 2010
In a bit of recent online scuttlebutt, the name of Mad Men lead Jon Hamm came up in connection to the casting of Marvel's upcoming Captain America movie. The chap credited with this rather inspired notion, was comic book artist Alex Ross.
Ross shot to prominence more than a decade ago. The Portland-born illustrator's instantly recognisable, and instantly iconic, depictions of many of the world's most famous superheroes were (and remain) a thing to behold. 'Cause as his rather canny 'Don Draper as superhero' observation kinda suggests, Alex Ross is a dude who thinks about bone structure. A lot. His versions of Supes and Batman et al, actually look like people. Enviably broad shouldered, really really good-looking people, to be sure. But people all the same.
Early on in his career, Ross dispensed with comics publishing's long established and almost universally subscribed m.o. (pencil artwork, overlaid with black ink, then coloured. Three separate processes, often undertaken by three separate practitioners.) In its place he applied water colours, replacing comics' hyperactive, often unlikely proportions, with something akin to photorealism. At times he seems to owe a certain something to the Saturday Evening Post's Norman Rockwell. It is classic American illustration, shot through with nostalgia. Much of the time it looks freakin' awesome.More...
alex ross, dc comics, books, superman, batman
Posted by kluster on May 26, 2010
Night Two of the Even Books Le First Ever Readers Festival was a books-on-film based affair, hosted in the welcoming space that is CuriousWorks.
As our fellow city-mates would be aware, Saturday night in Sydney was a miserable affair. Incessant rain and mid-winter temperatures combined resulted in the creation of a rather unwelcoming conurbation.
Not to be swayed by some blowing winds and a bit of sky water, a group of adventurous literarily-and-film-inclined individuals braved the night, nursing wounded heads as a result of the reportedly raucous activities experienced at the festival’s opening night party, The Library of Unwritten Books at Performance Space at CarriageWorks.
The tone of the event was, suitably, set to low-key. More...
even books, le first ever readers festival, the library of unwritten books, carriageworks, fbi, kate jinx, femminst bookstore, threesome, parker posey, party girl
Posted by kluster on May 7, 2010
What do you get when you cross a Navajo blanket with a pre-war NYC bathroom design? The new OHWOW Book Club store is what. The designer behind this tiny retail space, Rafael de Cardenas says he drew inspiration from both these things when devising the interior.
We're pretty taken with the black, white and aqua colour scheme. Not to mention those deliciously OCD clean lines and the floating feeling you get after staring at the shelving for too long.
OHWOW is located at 227 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10014. It's open Tuesday - Sunday 11am - 8pm.
ohwow, rafael de cardenas
Posted by KB on April 30, 2010
Did you see the program for the upcoming Sydney Writers’ Festival and feel a bit left out? Fear not, there’s a festival on the horizon that’s putting the readers first and foremost.
Even Books' Le first ever Sydney readers’ Festival, held May 21-23, features a series of events dedicated to the art of reading and, of course, to those who practise it. There’s the Library of Unwritten Books, where anyone can submit their stories; Read This Screen, a night where movies meet books (Twilight fans need not apply); and Reading Reclaims Redfern, a roaming readathon through the streets of Redfern.
For all the info, and to find out which of your friends will be getting their reading glasses on, check out the Even Books Facebook page.
sydney readers fstival, even books
Posted by Danni Le Toullec on March 23, 2010
Typography is something that most people take for granted but for some, the curves and shapes of words are an art form. Artist Niels Meulman a.k.a ‘Shoe’ has carved a niche market with his work as a calligrapher, typographer, graffiti artist and designer.
‘Calligraffiti – The Graphic Art of Niels SHOE Meulman’ offers up a visual feast with a side of witty banter. It features some of the worlds’ best typographic works as well as an essay by renowned writer Adam Euwens.
The book gives insight into the inspirations behind each of Shoe's works. To describe Not on a Road, 2009 he explains "This title was taken from a crappy GPS device. Grand-touring on the Autobahn, it would keep on displaying 'Not on a road'. It is an adequate description for people without purpose."
Can’t get enough of all things font? Check out our interview with Brooklyn-based typographer Jessica Hische.
niels meulman, shoe, typography, graffiti art, art book, jessica hische
Posted by Sacha Vukic on December 8, 2009
‘Blog’ is such an ugly word. It’s almost too daggy to be associated with the stylistically elite likes of Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist fame, a dapper American chap who makes the whole computer geek-esque act of creating an online diary, fastidiously updated daily, look very cool and in fashion.
That’s because Scott Schuman is intuitively fashionable. His astute sense of fashion and style, classic, edgy or otherwise veers him towards attractive and superbly dressed strangers on the street, who allow him to take glossy mag-quality pictures of them for his blog.
Schuman is up there with Lily Allen and Chk Chk Boom girl when it comes to internet sensations. Now reaping the rewards sewn in humble Blogspot (and a myriad of other fashion side projects) he is amongst Time magazine’s top 100 design influencers, has a monthly column in GQ magazine, and has turned his blog into a book.
Scott Schuman is in Australia, assessing antipodean style and will be signing his book in Sydney and Melbourne this week. Meet the man behind the blog and maybe get your photo taken.
Sydney
Tuesday December 8
6-9pm
Sass & Bide, 132 Oxford St, Paddington
Melbourne
Thursday 10 December
6-9pm
Sass & Bide, GPO, Bourke St
the sartorialist, scott schuman, sass & bide
Posted by Kristen D on December 2, 2009
Christmas shopping sucks. But it doesn't have to.
You don't need to mall trall with all the screaming snotty kids and nannas. This year, we are going to the very gorgeous Finder Keepers Spring/Summer markets at Carriageworks in Sydney. There we shall browse from a huge range of stalls featuring unique and special homewares, clothing and gifts from some of Australia's most promising designers. Not only will we be basking in the praise from our deeply grateful loved ones, who will be entranced by their truly spectacualr Chrissy gifts, but it's also a chance to support emerging artists and designers. And it really sticks one to Westfield...Ha!
The markets are on Friday evening the 4th of December, and Saturday the 5th of December all day, with live music, great food and, sigh...a bar...CarriageWorks - 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015.
christmas, deals, finders keepers, carriageworks, art markets, crafts
Posted by Miss Kat Jade on October 28, 2009
Sydney's Duke Magazine, known for its independent, bi-annual publication and mad social events, is having a Halloween ho down aka the Mutant Dance Off. Yes, a dance off. The All Hallows Eve eve event combines prizes, booze and the aforementioned monster mash with the ultimate challenge: the quest to crown two revelers king and queen of the dance floor. Solo fliers and couples welcome.
With international dance sensation The House Of Bad Kids rocking out to DJ’s Mike Tyson, National treasure and Sex Azza Weapon, the Oxford Arts factory will turn into a ghoulish monster mash nightmare. Fighting, cheating, lying and scary outfits all encouraged in the quest for dance-floor supremeacy. Get down and Boogie with Duke Magazine on Friday the 30th for a jive, krumping-filled Friday. It’s only $12, fool.
dance, oxford arts factory, duke magazine, the house of bad kids, halloween.
Posted by kluster on October 20, 2009
Bill Cotter’s novel Fever Chart (McSweeney’s), and
Annie La Ganga’s memoir, Stoners and Self-Appointed Saints (Red Hen Press).
Most of the venues at which Annie and I read and signed our books while on our authors’ tour of the States were utterly independent---not links in a chain of bookstores, not attached to a university or house of worship, not N.A. clubhouses, not fronts for illicit hold’em games. Some were so indie they weren’t even bookshops: In Rapid City, South Dakota, we read and signed at a coffee shop to a welcoming, attentive, and enthusiastic group of persons positively boiled in caffeine. Another venue, the KGB Bar in NYC, which trades on the quaint delusion that communism worked (and by that virtue will not sell brands of beer it deems capitalist), was also hospitable and seemed excited we were there. (Two other writers, Ernie Hilbert of Philadelphia, and Greg Sanders of New York, both in the Red Hen Press stable, also read that night, adding another storey of warmth to the evening.) And in Chicago, we read at the Green Mill, a saloon and the birth-hospital of Slam Poetry.
The Green Mill was one of the few events not populated in the majority by friends and shills; more than half were strangers! On hand to listen to people read their writing! Though also generously welcoming, my Green Mill reading did not go well. I write fiction, a genre not often read in places where poetry is expected, so the audience—at first merely disoriented by narrative prose with characters behaving in linear time---began to shift and yawn and politely exasperate. When I hadn’t stopped after five minutes, I became aware of budding menace and hostility. Since I was pretty tired after the 15-hour drive from Rapid City (q.v. above), and thus in no shape to tussle or dodge chucked bottles or endure reputedly gnarly Chicagoan rebuke, I raced through to the end of the planned bit and leapt from the stage to the safety of my booth. The emcee came on and gave me a little shit, and several people afterwards came up to me and said things like “Don’t worry man, it’s okay, happens to everybody,” and “Hey, you weren’t as bad as it seemed,” and “Glad I’m not you.”
Annie, not incidentally, blew the fucking place away. Go buy her book, you.
Bill Cotter
Austin, Texas
bill cotter, annie la ganga, book tour
Posted by kluster on September 30, 2009
Bill Cotter’s novel Fever Chart (McSweeney’s), and
Annie La Ganga’s memoir, Stoners and Self Appointed Saints (Red Hen Press).
Of the many places Annie and I stayed while on our severely budgeted national book-signing-and-reading tour, I noted that only a few of them were not occupied by at least one cat. One of those places was a motel, a form of shelter from which cats and other domestics have been, by tradition and without prejudice, wholly banned. So it doesn’t count. And another place, a couch-surf stop in Salt Lake City, Utah, served merely as a snack bar for a neighbor’s cat. We never so much as glimpsed this animal, whose only witness was a half-noshed bowl of dry vittles on the front porch. So that doesn’t count either.
A moment of simple calculation reveals a startling figure: 82%. That is the percentage of households we visited with at least one cat. Why does this startle? Because the national percentage of becatted households is <34%,* that’s why. More than double.
Wherefore this wildly off-key statistic?More...
bill cotter, annie la ganga, book tour