Writers' careers

The poet Rita Dove was once asked what makes poetry successful. She went on to illuminate three key areas: First, the heart of the writer; the things they wish to say - their politics and overarching sensibilities. Second, their tools: how they work language to organise and position words. And the third, the love a person must have for books: "To read, read, read."

The translator is a writer. The writer is a translator. How many times have I run up against these assertions? - in a chat between translators protesting because they are not listed in a publisher's index of authors; or in the work of literary theorists, even poets ("Each text is unique, yet at the same time it is the translation of another text," observed Octavio Paz).  Read more

An unhappy childhood is a writer's gold mine. This nugget can be traced back to the July 1949 edition of the Partisan Review, a now defunct American periodical devoted to politics and literature.  Read more

At least ten times a day I ask myself, "What the f*ck is wrong with people?"

I suspect I'm not alone in this; we live in particularly trying times and people prove their idiocy or ugliness on the daily.

After this week's Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked "Where are the new male hotshot novelists?" I was expecting to see the article discussing the brilliant fiction by men, in particular men of colour, being written at the moment, but they were only mentioned in passing.