The 10 best first lines in fiction

Our guide to the greatest opening lines of novels in the English language, from Jane Austen to James Joyce

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2012/apr/29/ten-best-first-lines-fiction?CMP=twt_gu

Shakespeare's 'co-author' named by Oxford scholars

All's Well That Ends Well has another author as well as William Shakespeare, according to research from Oxford University academics.

Thomas Middleton has been revealed as the most likely co-author, according to in-depth analysis of the play's vocabulary, rhyming, style and grammar.

Professor Laurie Maguire says the latest literary research shows groups of writers working together on plays.

"The picture that's emerging is of much more collaboration," said Prof Maguire.

"We need to think of it more as a film studio with teams of writers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17828729

Literatur in England "Wir versuchen, vom festen Deutschlandbild wegzukommen"

In England wird deutsche Literatur oft auf die Klassiker reduziert, wenige Neuerscheinungen werden übersetzt. Woran das liegt, erklärt die Publizistin Charlotte Ryland.

http://www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/2012-04/charlotte-ryland-interview

Susan Gubar's Closing Chapters

The professor and feminist critic uses literature to understand life—and death

In the fall of 2008, Susan Gubar was enjoying the success that comes from a long and illustrious academic career. She was serving as a special adviser to the provost at Indiana University, supervising a dozen dissertation students, and teaching a graduate course on feminist literary criticism that evolved from the groundbreaking book she had written with a colleague 30 years earlier, The Madwoman in the Attic.

But on November 5, Ms. Gubar went to the hospital experiencing abdominal discomfort and received some shocking news. She had advanced ovarian cancer.

Three days later she underwent a radical surgery called "debulking," in which doctors removed her uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, appendix, and seven inches of her intestines. She has never fully recovered.

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Feminist-Professors-Closing/131611/?sid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en 

 

JK Rowling announces title of first adult novel

Author JK Rowling has announced her first adult novel will be called The Casual Vacancy.

The Harry Potter writer revealed in February that she was working on the book, and said it would be "very different" from her previous material.

The book will be published worldwide in hardback, e-book and as an audio download and CD on 27 September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17693206

Schweden-Krimis auf Arte Warm anziehen, der "Winter" kommt

Düster, ungewaschen, kühl: Der schwedische Kommissar Winter macht seinem Namen alle Ehre, die gleichnamige Krimi-Reihe nach den Romanen von Åke Edwardson verbreitet eine frostige Stimmung. Das würde man gerne cool finden - doch der Plot knirscht wie ein zugefrorener See.

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/0,1518,822764,00.html

Bücher, E-Books und Co. begeisterten 163.500 Besucher

Das gedruckte Buch fasziniert die Leser weiterhin: Nach vier Messetagen schließt die Leipziger Buchmesse mit einer erfreulichen Bilanz. Die Leipziger Buchmesse erreichte das Vorjahresniveau bei den Besucherzahlen mit 163.500 Besuchern, die zum Jahresauftakt der Buchbranche auf das Messegelände strömten.

Auf 69.000 Quadratmetern präsentierten sich 2.071 Verlage aus 44 Ländern einem begeisterten Publikum. Die Ausstellerbefragung des Instituts für Marktforschung, im Auftrag der Leipziger Messe, ergab eine sehr hohe Zufriedenheit der Aussteller. Die Verlage hoben hervor, hier ein direktes Feedback vom Publikum zu erhalten. Die kleinen Verlage freuten sich über das große Interesse, das es auch für noch unbekannte Autoren gab. Nun heißt es: "Auf Wiedersehen!" bis zur Leipziger Buchmesse 2013 vom 14. bis 17. März.

http://www.leipziger-buchmesse.de/