Emirati YA novelist Noura Noman (left) and German children’s-book writer Kirsten Boie (right)

At the “New Books for Emirati Teens” event on Thursday, Emirati YA novelist Noura Noman and German children’s book writer Kirsten Boie spoke about exciting developments in the world of Emirati children’s literature.

Although Boie read from her German-language book, Alhambra, and Noura Noman read from its Arabic translation, Boie mostly talked not about her own work, but about new work being written by Emirati children’s book authors. Boie had, for the past several days, been leading a workshop for emerging and established Emirati writers.

“I think every country, every culture needs its own children’s literature,” Boie said. She was very happy with the workshop, and said, “If the result is that there are more Emirati writers for Emirati kids, that will be great.”

Some of these works should probably be translated, Boie said, because, “Children are very open-minded, and they love to read about what’s going on in the world.”

Noura Noman, who was working on a story where protagonists travel through the Emirates and there’s a task they need to fulfill in each Emirate, also spoke about how children’s book writers need to play with language. She noted how Dr. Latifa Al Najjar visited their workshop to talk about the Arabic language.

Dr. Al Najjar said, according to Noman, “Cheer up, rejoice, we can use 3ameya [colloquial Emirati Arabic] sometimes. And there was an ovation after this.”

This year’s fair takes place March 28 – April 2, 2012. Visit the Abu Dhabi Book Fair online for more information.

Pamela Druckerman, right, on "Today"

By Erin L. Cox

First, let me preface this piece by saying that I do not have any kids. So, I can be somewhat objective when discussing how Americans raise their children. I agree that shows like “Super Nanny” wouldn’t exist if we were all doing a bang-up job with our progeny, but since this debate doesn’t tend to involve me, I try to stay out of the mommy-melee. Until this week…

On Tuesday, I watched the segment on “Today” for a new book called Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman. Watch here:

First, you must ignore the fact that she’s wearing a beret through the whole segment, which I found distracting. But, once you do that, you realize that she’s suggesting that French parents have some kind of Zen connection to their children that Americans simply don’t possess. We can’t get our children to eat vegetables. We aren’t calm. We don’t take time for ourselves.

Yes, I have often sat with friends of mine who are wrestling with 3-year olds and thought, “Hrm, is that the best way to handle this? Why don’t you just say ‘no?’” And, I do urge my mommy friends to take time for themselves, but with working full-time and raising kids, that can be incredibly hard. But, that isn’t what Druckerman is selling. 

This story smacks of an ex-pat dissatisfied with American culture cloaked in a book claiming to have practical advice for parents. That I just can’t stand.  Yes, American culture is often more focused on “work” than “life.” Yes, Americans tend to want to give our children all of the benefits of life while also providing discipline, which can be a tricky balance, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have common sense, which is the only advice that Druckerman really gives throughout the book.

I allow Druckman her opinion, but all French children are not so astonishly well-behaved. I know a couple of French children who aren’t. Just like all American children aren’t thugs. All American parents aren’t pushovers or task-masters vying for Ivy League schools either. I’m happy to hear her story, but to tout her as some sort of expert or even a sociologist who discovered something unique about French children that American children don’t have and preaching to American parents instead of simply citing this as a memoir of her experiences is sort of ridiculous.

Parents, do you need some help with your kids? Let me recommend two books instead of Druckerman’s: The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine and The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have by Laura and Malcolm Gauld. Out in 2002, The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have actually gives a lot of advice to parents very similar to that of Druckerman’s…but it’s written by two Americans.

When I was last visiting my brother, I noticed a little table in the corner of my nephew’s bedroom. On it were a few bones of varying sizes and one small skull (likely a squirrel). These were treasures he found on hikes and camping trips over the last few months. Like many kids, he is fascinated with animals and their stages of life. Have I got something to show him…

On December 11th, Touch Press, whom we’ve previously profiled, published Skulls, their newest book app that goes inside the office of Alan Dudley and features beautiful 360-degree high-resolution rotations of over 300 animal skulls photographed by Nick Mann. The story behind this extensive collection, the zoology and significance of skulls in various cultures around the world was written by Simon Winchester, bestselling author of Krakatoa and The Professor and the Madman.

Winchester and Max Whitby are longtime friends and when Whitby started Touch Press, they sought out a project to work on together. “I was a geologist before I turned to writing; and topics like fossils, evolution and taxonomy had all intrigued me. So when this idea presented itself, it seemed (though perhaps not quite the metaphor I should use for a Skulls app) a no-brainer,” said Winchester.

Having written several books for a more traditional print audience, writing this app opened up some new arenas for Winchester. “I decided that for this audience — whom I took to be generally very intelligent and technically aware — I would write without compromise, and then hope and expect to be understood. The beauty of app creation — or at least, when working with people at Touch Press — is that the imagery and technological sorcery make the understanding of even the most arcane topics much more likely. Lovely images, clever technology and serious writing make, in my view anyway, for a heady mix.”

Bringing to life Dudley’s office with a 360-degree view of his skull collection, seeing the animals and reptiles both alive and as just skulls, seeing images from around the world of how skulls figure into the culture make this a very unique educational tool. Winchester telling Dudley’s story of how he became fascinated with skulls and how his collection has developed, which has had some legal bumps along the way, makes it interesting for even non-phrenologists.

When asked what part of his research he found most interesting, Winchester said, “I was captivated by the Mexican attitude to death — and skulls, of course; and I loved having the anamorphosis, in Holbein’s famous picture, so cleverly explained to me. Only this kind of new technology could possibly reveal the hidden mysteries of that picture, and it is accomplished here quite brilliantly.”

As writers debate the pluses and minuses of digital publishing, Winchester has plowed ahead. His advice to writers wary of the digital transition, “Fear not! This kind of device suggests only more and more avenues that will be opening up for the likes of us to tell our stories and explain our ideas. Book stores may be nervous, but I also suspect that they, and those who supply ever-lovelier books-as-works-of-art for them to sell, will eventually adapt, and survive. Retail Darwinism will triumph.”

In looking at publishing in general, “Within my skull, a small voice is reassuring me that all will be fine for writers and editors and publishers: the ancient human inclination to tell and talk and say what has been seen and heard isn’t going to vanish away: quite the reverse: this is a revolution, true, just as in Gutenberg’s day, but it is one from which the storyteller and the troubadour can only profit, and the audiences too.”

So, you think there are no more book parties in New York? Well, when you have a banner year like American writer Bradford Morrow with a lot to celebrate, there is.

After not having published a book since his 2007 children’s book, DIDN’T Didn’t Do It, this year Morrow has published:

-The Diviners Tale, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January
-The Innevitable: Contemporary Writers Confront Death, which he edited, W.W. Norton, February
-Fall of the Birds an e-original, Open Road Media, November
-The Uninnocent, hardcover and e-book, Pegasus and Open Road Media, December

And, as if that isn’t enough, Morrow celebrated the 30th anniversary of Conjunctions, the literary magazine he founded.

So, on December 1st, bestselling writer Peter Straub and his wife Susan hosted a party in honor of the publication of The Uninnocent. The report from the party was that it was akin to an episode of “This is Your Life,” with friends and colleagues throughout Morrow’s career in attendance and a jubilant spirit throughout. In this age of literary uncertainty, it is heartening to see a writer have so many projects and such great success. Take a look at some photos from the party.

I was sitting in my office the other day when my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Amazon Italy?”

“Um. No.”

“Oh, is this Amazon at all?”

“No.”

“Who am I calling?”

(Reluctant to give her information.) “Just me. This is my private phone number.”

“Is this Erin at Publishing Perspectives?”

“Yes.”

“Well, when I Googled ‘Amazon Italy,’ your name came up.”

And there was the answer. This writer was looking to contact someone at Amazon Italy about her e-book sales, tried to find a way to contact them via the website (a particularly circuitous rabbit-hole), and finally resorted to Googling “Amazon Italy.” When she did, she landed on our news site and went to our contact page. Because my role has to do with the sales and marketing of the site, I must have seemed the likeliest person to help her.

Because we tag all of our stories with keywords for easy searching and to optimize for search engines (SEO), our site came up when she put those keywords into Google. Obviously, I was not going to be able to get her the sales figures for her book and I explained that to her, but it did make me think of the numerous searches I’ve done that have lead me astray and how to make search engine optimization more precise. Or, is that the point? That by using general terms you get a wider swath of searching.

What’s the best usage? Tell us what you think.

Today, the Los Angeles Times is releasing their first e-book, A Nightmare Made Real, based on a series of articles by staff writer Christopher Goffard. The e-book is an expanded version of Goffard’s two-part series this summer on Louis Gonzalez III, a Las Vegas banker accused of kidnapping, torture and sexual assault.

Available today for Kindle, Nook and iBooks for 99 cents, A Nightmare Made Real is said to be the first in a series of eight to ten e-books that The Los Angeles Times intends to publish. “As a content company, we are enthusiastic about harnessing new mediums and business models that expand the reach of our unique storytelling,” said Times President Kathy Thomson. “The immediacy of e-book publishing allows us to easily adapt Times coverage to a convenient reader experience that’s being heavily embraced.”

It’s the latest in a trend that is seeing newspapers, from the Guardian to La Vanguardia, publishing e-books.

Many nonfiction bestsellers published by book publishers tend to start with original reporting in newspapers and magazines around the country and the world. With newspapers entering the realm of book publishing and cutting traditional book publishers out of the middle, how will this impact a book publisher’s list?

After this post about book trailers, I was inundated with emails and comments about various book trailers that were coming, already came out, and asking some advice on what makes a good book trailer (for that, check out our ten tips for producing book trailers). But, one of the most attention-grabbing videos was from Shelf Awareness: the “Bitchin’ Video of the Day.” Check it out below. I’d love to hear what some of my former colleagues who are featured in the video say about their new post-Snooki transformations:

In the last few years, the world of print has begun using book trailers as a way to grab the digital audience. Some trailers turn the plot of the book into a short film, some play on the theme of the book, and some make you fall in love with the author. Though we’ve asked it before, do you think this marketing tool sells more books? Or, what do you think the publisher/author is aiming at by creating these trailers? 

Here are links to some of my recent favorites that have come through in the last few months. To kick it off, here is a bonus short film set in Paris’ famous Shakespeare & Co bookstore by Spike Jonze (director of Where the Wild Things Are) called Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die by Your Side).

Next up is the book trailer for The Black Prism by Brent Weeks — because of its high production quality, this could be mistaken for a film trailer.

Two films that will make you fall in love with the writers by Shalom Auslander and Julie Klam (or their publisher who is eating cashews in Julie’s film).

And, the truly behind-the-scenes trailer that walks you through the true story behind the novel with Rebecca Chace.

Which kind of book trailer do you prefer?

If you haven’t seen my video yet, one of my favorite adventures in Hall 8 of the Frankfurt Book Fair this year was making postcards in the Moleskine booth. Anyone who knows me, knows I love my Moleskine notebooks (I have about 25), so each year I find myself circling the booth. This year, artists Gilles and Cecilie were there with their custom-made stamps for attendees to make their own postcards.

Photo courtesty of Gilles and Cecilie