A Work in Progress

… but wait, you say, what can we expect of Litro’s new blog and events section? How silly of me. Let me explain: I have no idea. Well, okay, some idea. When first meeting with Ocean Media publisher Eric Akoto to discuss the new role, he explained that Litro was looking for a sort of literary girl about town. ‘Like Holly Golightly!’ I exclaimed to a friend the next day. ‘Julie, my dear,’ she replied, ‘you do remember that Holly Golightly was an escort?’ Indeed! So let’s make that analogy a bit, erm, looser.

As literary girl about town, I’ll be popping into book launches and author readings, reviewing whatever new books I can get my hands on, and exploring art exhibits and other events that blur the lines between literature and other media. Expect brief round-ups here on the blog along with previews of artists and events that we just have to call your attention to immediately as well as pedantic asides where our inner grammar fiends are let loose and snarling (yes, yes, I am on a failing one-woman mission to eradicate the LOL). Meanwhile, the back pages of each Litro issue will likely be reserved for more in-depth reviews, features, and interviews.

Which reminds me: during those initial sessions in which your Litro staff laid out plans for the future of Litro’s event coverage (the phrase “take over the universe” may or may not have been used), our fearless publisher mentioned author interviews as an arena into which we might expand our coverage. For example, he said, Salman Rushdie has a new book out and it made the Booker longlist. So you might interview him. Right. So I would just, you know … interview … Salman … Rushdie. Would your confidence in your events editor be shaken were she to admit that the first thought that came to mind when picturing that scenario was of the cringe-inducing book launch scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary (‘Lord Archer, yours aren’t bad either.’)?

Surely Litro could do better. Salman? (Salman’s publicists?) Phone us.