“I’ll have a venti mochaccino and an award-winning book, please.”

In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King advises aspiring writers to avoid writing in coffee shops. Canadian novelist Corey Redekop, by contrast, admits that “the majority of [his] writing occurs in coffee shops.” There is undoubtedly a certain clichéd mystique surrounding writers who find inspiration along with a strong cup of Joe at their local java joint; now there’s even a prize for books written in coffee shops.

Yesterday, the Toronto Star published an article about the first annual Coffee Shop Author contest, which recently announced its inaugural winners. The contest winner is Mississauga resident Ranjini George Philip. Second and third place went to Theresa Wouters of Grande Prairie, Alberta, and Ron Stewart of Komoka, Ontario, respectively.

The brainchild of Calgary resident Susan Toy and Oolichan Books owner Randal Macnair, the contest asked writers to register with the Coffee Shop Author website, secure the endorsement of a local coffee establishment, “then pledge to write the bulk of a novel, short story collection, poetry collection or a work of creative non-fiction at the coffee shop between November 2009 and April 2010.” Entrants paid a fee of $30 and the first-place winner receives a spot at the Fernie Writers Conference in Fernie, British Columbia.

From the Star:

Forty-two Canadians entered the online contest, promising to write most of their submissions — poetry, novels, teen fiction — in coffee shops. A few bent the rules and created in local libraries, and in one case, in rural Saskatchewan, an ice cream parlour.

Writing is a lonely pursuit and has always driven writers out of their houses to find companionship — or distraction or inspiration — in public places.

“I’ve been a coffee shop writer for a long time,” says Philip, 46, who taught at Zayed University in Dubai before coming to Canada with her husband and two children three years ago.

“There’s a lot of solitude and I find I work better when there is a buzz of noise around me.”

According to the Star, the contest’s popularity has convinced Toy to expand next year’s contest beyond Canada. It would appear that there are a significant number of writers out there willing to ignore Stephen King’s advice.

Bookmarks: More cuts at Borders, Atwood’s Dubai antics, and more

• Borders announces more layoffs, cutting 136 jobs at their corporate offices
• After bowing out of the Emirates Airlines International Festival of Literature in Dubai earlier this week over concerns of censorship, Margaret Atwood decides she’ll attend after all – via videolink
• Literary Kicks takes a look at a new book of stories inspired by Sonic Youth. The verdict? It’s a teenage riot!
• Tools of Change roundup: A transcript of Jason Epstein’s keynote speech, thoughts from James Long over at the digitalist, and an address by Canadian Bob Young of lulu.com
• U.K. magazine The Bookseller unveils its shortlist of the year’s oddest book titles. Curbside Consultation of the Colon clearly has the edge with its alliteration and gentle surrealism

Atwood spurns Dubai

After agreeing to attend the Dubai-based Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature, Margaret Atwood has opted to stay home instead. Not only that, she won’t even be attending by LongPen. Seems she’s decided to make a statement on behalf of a gay-themed book called The Gulf Between Us, by Geraldine Bedell. According to The Bookseller:

Penguin, which had planned to launch Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us at the event, was informed in September it could not launch the book at the fair, which is due to open on 26th February, because it was anticipated that the book would not get past the censor.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called the decision “deeply regrettable”, while Bedell herself has now written a blog for the Guardian criticising the decision and calling the fair’s objections “weird-sounding”.

In a statement issued yesterday (17th February) Isobel Abulhoul, director of the fair, said: “I knew that her work could offend certain cultural sensitivities. I did not believe that it was in the festival’s long term interests to acquiesce to her publisher’s request to launch the book at the first festival of this nature in the Middle East.”

Bookmarks (Middle East edition)

• In the face of all-too-obvious problems, small publishing houses and modern printing facilities are popping up throughout the Arab world (Bookseller.com)
• Dubai adds a literary festival to its cultural boom (Kipp Report)
• Iraq’s National Library soldiers on after being looted by vandals and neglected by the occupying powers (The Nation)
• An interview with Bahaa Taher, winner of this year’s inaugural International Prize for Arabic fiction (The Guardian)
• Two independent U.K. publishers join forces to create a list devoted to translations of new Arabic fiction (Bookseller.com)
• And finally, an overview of the progress made by all this progress (The Independent)
• Bonus gossip! Tabloid star Salman Rushdie has a new girlfriend, got writer’s block after divorcing Padma Lakshmi, is appearing as a gynecologist in a film, and was lying when he said he loved Islam.

Bookmarks – Paddington the Bear in jail, comic books in Kandahar, bibles in China, and more

Some book-related links:

• Paddington the Bear arrested on immigration charges on 50th anniversary (CBC.ca)
• Comic books handed out in Kandahar to teach kids about human rights (The Canadian Press)
• Speaking of human rights, China to hand out bibles – 50,ooo,ooo of them! – in make-nice gesture (Times of India)
• Making new books out of old (The Register-Guard)
• Bookselling and the gender divide (Mister Aeden Goes To Dubai)
• Who really wrote “‘Twas the Night Before Chrismas”? (Associated Press)