Emily Schultz’s Heaven is Small scores film deal

Emily Schultz’s second novel, Heaven is Small (House of Anansi Press, has been optioned by the Gemini award-winning Markham Street Films. Although MSF is best-known for producing documentaries, the company has also worked on several dramas, including Canadian author David Bezmozgis’s debut feature, Victoria Day. From the Anansi e-newsletter:

“I’m starting to feel like my character, Gordon Small,” responds Schultz, “a copy-editor who somehow manages to get his opus out into the living world through unlikely means.” She continues, “Markham Street Films is a stellar company, and I trust Judy Holm [producer] and Michael McNamara [director] will bring out the comedy and the tender moments of Heaven is Small.”

This is the second movie deal for Anansi in just over a month: in July, Gil Adamson’s The Outlander was optioned for the big screen.

Author, journalist Dominick Dunne dies at 83

Hollywood producer turned writer Dominick Dunne passed away yesterday at his home in Manhattan after a battle with bladder cancer. He was 83.

Dunne was famous for his five best-selling novels that centred on scandal and crime in high society, as well as his role as special correspondent for Vanity Fair, where he covered the trials of O.J. Simpson, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and the death of Princess Diana. In the last year of his life, he was devoted to finishing his latest novel, Too Much Money, which will be released by Random House in December.

A eulogy by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, an extensive obituary, and an archive of his articles for the magazine are all on the Vanity Fair website. New York Social Diary has posted a tribute to the author, along with several reader memories, including this quirky comment from Steven Stolman in Palm Beach:

He lectured down here at the Society of the Four Arts – and while wandering down Worth Ave walked into my shop.

I immediately reminded him that I too was from West Hartford – and wished that I had his latest book with me for him to sign – as I was in the middle of it. Alas, it was at my apartment.

He said, “How far away?” “Two blocks …” It was near closing time, so he sat on the sofa in the shop and said, “Let me use your phone and you run home and get the book. I’ll watch the store.”

I made a mad dash to my little place and upon returning – he was still on the sofa – phone in his hand – and said, “Your mother called … and I sold a skirt.”

Atwood, Hornby, and Ellroy kick off 36th season of Authors at Harbourfront

In advance of the 30th anniversary of the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors (IFOA XXX) this October, Authors at Harbourfront has announced the first group of events for the fall season, featuring on-stage interviews, readings, and other special events.

Highlights of the first half of the season include:

• Nick Hornby (Sept. 13): The best-selling British author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and others, will read from his new book, Juliet, Naked, and be interviewed by author and Globe and Mail editor Carl Wilson.
• Stephen Finucan, Victor Lodato, and Damian Tarnopolsky (Sept. 23): Three debut novelists will take the stage to read from their new works. Finucan will read from The Fallen, Lodato from Mathilda Savitch, and Tarnopolsky from Goya’s Dog.
• Margaret Atwood (Sept. 24, Cathedral Church of St. James): In a special off-site event, Atwood will perform a dramatic reading of her new novel The Year of the Flood. The author will be accompanied by a choir singing hymns written by Atwood for the performance.
• Tess Callahan, Liz Jensen, and Lorrie Moore (Sept. 30): A trio of female writers will read from their new books. Callahan will read from her debut novel April Oliver, Jensen from her latest book, The Rapture, and Moore will read from her first novel in more than a decade, A Gate at the Stairs.
• James Ellroy (Oct. 5): The author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia will read from his first novel in eight years, Blood’s a Rover, and will be interviewed by film critic Richard Crouse.

Also included in the first half of the Authors at Harbourfront season is the previously announced 30th birthday party for indie bookshop This Ain’t the Rosedale Library, which will be held on Sept. 16.

Bookmarks: Mockingbird, Hitchhiker’s Guide, and Sony Reader’s Library Finder

Sundry links from around the Web:

• “Author whose books are most likely to be found in Oxfam’s secondhand charity shops” is probably not the recognition Dan Brown was hoping for
• Crayola presents kids’ author Eric Carle with a 5-foot-tall crayon named Very Hungry Caterpillar Green
• Eoin Colfer’s sixth book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “trilogy” is getting its own theme song
• The long-awaited memoir from Senator Ted Kennedy, who passed away last night, will be published in September
• Gizmodo test drives the Sony Reader’s new Library Finder service, which lets you check out e-books from your local (American) library for free, direct to your reader
• Lawrence Hill on To Kill a Mockingbird, and why we should focus more on Canadian stories of slavery, racism, and civil rights

Why your e-books should be free … even though Dan Brown’s aren’t

On his Guardian blog Digital Rights, Digital Wrongs, sci-fi author Cory Doctorow argues the case for releasing free e-books simultaneously with print editions. (Doctorow does this himself through the use of Creative Commons licences.)

A publisher’s publicity and marketing for a book is an excellent way to get it into some readers’ hands, and the word of mouth enabled by freely copyable e-books then acts as a force-multiplier to expand the publisher’s efforts. Whether your “natural” audience is small or large, free downloads generally expand it, by letting readers make informed guesses about who else will like it, and giving those readers a persuasive tool for closing the sale.

On a related note, Random House announced late last week that Dan Brown’s upcoming blockbuster The Lost Symbol will be released as an e-book simultaneously with the hardcover on Sept. 15. Prior to this announcement there was some hope that Random House might challenge Amazon’s $9.99 pricing strategy, but it seems that not even Brown (and his rumored English-language print run of 6.5 million copies) has that kind of clout.

This Ain’t the Rosedale Library’s 30th birthday bash at Harbourfront

Authors at Harbourfront Centre will host a 30th birthday tribute to Toronto indie bookstore This Ain’t the Rosedale Library on Sept. 16. Torontonians are invited to celebrate the store’s longevity with readings from bill bissett, Lee Ann Brown, Eileen Myles, Stuart Ross, and Jowi Taylor. Jazz FM’s Jaymz Bee will host the event, and storeowner Charlie Huisken will talk about his three decades of bookselling.

The celebration will kick off at 7:30 p.m. in Harbourfront Centre’s Brigantine Room, and an after party will be held in the bookstore’s new neighbourhood of Kensington Market at Supermarket. (This Ain’t moved from its longstanding location in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood in May 2008.)

It’s worth noting that the celebration will come only eight days after a more sober 30th birthday celebration: Pages’ send-off bash, Afterword: A Celebration of 30 Years, which will be held at the Gladstone Hotel on Sept. 8.

Pepsi says books make Americans happy

Your glass half-full news for the day: Results from the second annual survey conducted by the Pepsi Optimism Project (yes, the acronym is POP) conclude that Americans are more optimistic about their personal relationships, health, finances, and overall well-being than they were in 2008, and the leading “optimism booster” is books. Although POP’s official press release focuses on the role of live events such as concerts, theatre performances, and speeches, GalleyCat points out that the full results show that 88% of respondents cited books as a key contributor to their optimism, putting it first in a “top optimism boosters” list. From GalleyCat:

Unfortunately, that’s not broken down by categories, so it’s not quite clear whether fiction or non-fiction lifts people’s spirits, so you should probably read a little of both, just to be on the safe side.

Even more surprising is the inclusion of poetry readings in the list of top “optimism boosters,” an option chosen by 56% of respondents, putting poetry ahead of advertising, news, and blogs. Although it’s not clear whether these results refer to writing blogs or reading them, you’re likely still better off picking up a novel than scanning through your RSS feeds, but we here at Quillblog wouldn’t blame you if you made an exception.

Bookmarks: Britain’s most avid reader, library-themed ice cream flavours, and more

Some quirky bookish links from around the Web:

• Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, arguably one of the most message-heavy children’s books, is being made into a 3D CG-animated feature film to be released in March 2012
• Most disturbing celebrity-turned-author news since Lauren Conrad: Jennifer Love Hewitt has two books on the horizon
• A 91-year-old Scottish woman has borrowed nearly 25,000 books from her local library since 1946 – all without incurring a single late fee
• MobyLives pulls out all the stops in a rebuttal to a Baltimore Sun article that suggests not buying books is a good way to save money
• Library-themed ice cream flavours? I’d like a scoop of Gooey Decimal System, please!

Publishers Weekly up for sale … again

Publishers Weekly announced this morning that it’s being put up for sale. Reed Business Information, which publishes over 400 trade publications including PW, Library Journal, and School Library Journal, intends to sell most of its properties in order to escape the uncertain advertising market.

This is the second time that parent company Reed Elsevier has tried to rid itself of RBI: the company put the group up for sale last year, but later took it off the market due to depressed demand. At the time, The New York Times reported on potential buyers for RBI and its publications:

Analysts estimated that Reed Business Information would fetch at least $2 billion. Potential buyers could include Apax Partners, a British private equity group whose Incisive Media division bought American Lawyer Media last year for $630 million.

Some buyers may be more interested in specific titles.

“I think they’ll come out as a group first, and then depending upon market reaction, they may have to bundle some of the publications,” said Michael Parker, a managing director of the merger and acquisition advisory firm AdMedia Partners.

The division’s primary rival, Nielsen Business Media, has also been the subject of sale speculation, although the company denied the rumors.

Kerouac will ruled a fake

A 15-year-long lawsuit over the estate of author Jack Kerouac has ended with a Florida judge ruling that the writer’s mother’s will was fraudulent. When she died in 1973, Kerouac’s mother, Gabrielle Kerouac, left her son’s assets to his third wife, Stella Sampas Kerouac. Since Gabrielle’s death, the Sampas family has maintained control of Kerouac’s manuscripts and personal belongings, but Kerouac’s daughter and nephew believed the will to be a fake and filed a lawsuit in 1994. From the Associated Press:

In an order filed Friday in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court, Judge George W. Greer ruled the will was a forgery. The ruling does not make any decision on who allegedly forged the document.

“Clearly, Gabrielle Kerouac was physically unable to sign the document dated February 13, 1973 and, more importantly, that which appears on the will dated that date is not her signature,” Greer wrote.

Previous estimates have placed the estate’s value at $20 million.