Air New Zealand has safely delivered me home with some semblance of sanity intact. Only some though. The rest I leave in a trail from my 31 hour flight of Prague-Frankfurt-London-Los Angeles-Auckland. I am not sure who plans the seating on Air New Zealand flights but I am considering offering them some advise through analogy of passengers to typography: you just can’t have some letters spread out in haphazard fashion with excess space, and others badly kerned into a mush. Guess which category I was in? The badly kerned mush.
I chose ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ as my in-flight reading. The book has been translated from French and I typically love translated works… the language seems to overflow with adjectives and elongated sentences that are almost convoluted in their composition. It delights me. However by page 44 of the Hedgehog I felt like I couldn’t focus on the convolution, and considered sacrificing the book to muffle the snores of my next-door passenger. By page 59 (and a set of ear plugs and two glasses of pinot noir later) I felt that all the discussion of phenomenology was a little too introspective for my tired, emotional, displaced and overworked soul. So I ordered another glass of pinot and closed the Hedgehog.
Fear not, I will return to it, as rumour has it the book is hard to obtain in NZ. So my copy has moved from potential snore-suffocating weapon to piece of literary treasure. I even took it out to dinner last night and flouted it round. It is like the literary version of name-dropping. I am also hunting for a copy of Herta Muller’s books… preferably the Nobel Prize winner but anything will do. (I feel quite connected to Herta since we stayed just around the corner from her when she won the award. When you are from a small isolated island at the end of the world this connection is comparable to being friendly neighbourhood pals. I really should have taken her some scones.) But why oh why does it take so long to get great books to New Zealand? Fellows, can we save Australasia from literary doom and do something about this?
On that note, I have contributed to literary liberation this week with the long awaited launch of Jandal Prints on the Globe. This has by far been the longest project I have ever worked on. It is almost as if the material of the book: short stories and photography by young New Zealanders travelling the world – came to life. This book has had misprints, been lost at international ports, and through the journey tears have been spilt, much laughter enjoyed and friendships formed. It sounds a bit cheesy but read the book and you’ll get it. Some of the stories are sad or serious, some hilarious and refreshing. The launch was a huge success and we have almost sold the first print-run. People came from as far as Abu Dhabi, Australia, and of course, Whanganui. We had a few TV crews there, and I must thank the Media 7 crew in particular for interviewing me in a dim corner to attempt to hide my severely jet-lagged appearance. At first they said “Ohhh, this light is not good for you!” I then explained that I had just been on a 31 hour flight post a (famous, if you watch the dregs of Irish TV) fellowship, and also had a touch of the flu (they were extra understanding when I said that the flu started from a South African, another case of poisoning) and that it was probably me, not the light that was bad. So I was ushered into a dark corner to give my interview and hopefully appear somewhat respectable.
I am refusing to settle back into any semblance of a comfort zone and “get back into routine” after my exciting publishing life of extravaganza of late. I am determined that literary life will remain enlivening. In saying that my email inbox is out-of-control with unread mail and I have spied a giant box of paperwork with my name on which no-one has been brave enough to pass on to me yet. However, tomorrow I am off to Wellington for an appearance on the Good Morning show.
Paperwork is so out of vogue, anyway. Book-dropping is where it is at.
Here I am on my last day in Germany. I am very sad to be leaving. Tears may occur like the time I saw Gutenberg.
I spent the last week recovering from (and talking about) the fellowship. Firstly Cesky Krumlov, a small Czech town which I fell in love with and if anyone ever needs to get away, take a good book, a camera, a bottle opener and head to www.krumlovhouse.com. Then on to Prague where I spent my time in awe at architecture and continuing my quest to find Europe’s finest vino. Had some pleasant surprises and major disappointments… all in the name of research. It’s a tough life.
After the intensity of the fair and the fellowship I swore I had had enough books forever (or maybe just till Christmas). However in Cesky I read all the books I had on me, and then had mild hyperventilation when I realised I was carrying nothing to read. Luckily (and to the frustration of my travelling companions) I discovered Shakespeare & Sons and have re-stocked my luggage with books to read on the long trip home.
It has been a life changing six weeks: all I have learnt about publishing, the friends I have made… oh, and the fame!… I met an Irish man in Prague who said he had heard about The Fellowship on the news. We’re famous, fellows! Even if it was just a slow day in Irish media. I board my flight today a different person than I arrived. Thank you everyone who has taught me and befriended my on my time here.
And now, I am off to board the first leg of my flight… where I will be consuming ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ and hopefully a riesling. I have checked in two huge bags but still have to wear a good chunk of my clothing as books take priority in the suitcase. Yes, I resemble the michelin man or rather someone who has eaten too much German hand-cheese.
Next update: New Zealand!
What a whir, blur, buzz and furore. The Frankfurt Book Fair is over for 2009.
I do not think I have ever been so tired in my life… traipsing round the international halls by day (58 000 publishing people, kind of a mix of joy and nightmare) and networking, dining and wining by evening. It was like the world and their books in eight continental halls. One day I recollected I had breakfast with China, trained with South Africa, meetings with Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Italy, coffee with Hungary, lunch with Israel & the Czech Republic, fleed some hustling American booksellers, tried to hunt down the Irish, drinks at the Australian stand then a quick sprint to drinks at Mexico before the international fellowship dinner at a Persian restaurant. I lost my voice. Caught the South African/Brazilian flu. Fell asleep at the Mexican stand. (Not during their drinks, you’ll be pleased to know). Collected even more books and catalogues than I will need in my life. (Well, at least until the next fair). Discovered that it is ok to lie when it comes to Hungarian authors. And learnt more than I thought my brain could capacitate.
It was a sad ending to the weekend, farewelling my fellows. When will we meet again? However I am very glad to have my first fair over with because now I know how to construct a glorious strategy for the next fair. (I did have voiceless, exhausted moments this week of thinking there would never be another fair for me, but that was a lie like the ones to the Hungarian author) All fellows have all dispersed to our varying corners of the world now.
Except me. I am off on holiday to Cesky Krumlov.
This morning I met two fellow New Zealanders in our small Berlin hotel. What a delight to hear some familiar accents. On the fellowship we are 16 people from 15 countries with 11 different native languages. Needless to say much is lost in translation, especially with a strong kiwi accent to battle with. Ever time I say “better” people think I am saying “please” and the other day someone asked me if I had been to Egypt and I thought they were asking me to “Eat s**t”.
More or less though we are a communal group, bound by our intensive experiences zooming around Germany to visit vital publishing houses then networking over some steins, bretzels and German sausages (I have managed to by-pass the latter thus far). White German sausage can never be eaten after 12 pm. It’s a rule.
I have been collecting every piece of literature we are given, in fear that all this knowledge will all out of my brain as the fellowship progresses. The more experienced of the fellows are warning me to leave all the paper work behind because by the end of the 3 weeks I will apparently need a small New Zealand boat to transport everything back.
Berlin has been a crash-course in history for me. The city had a contrasting vibe of contemporary funkiness and eerie history. I skipped history in school so felt incredibly ignorant visiting all the sites of sadness, war, destruction and death with no background knowledge. Although I need nothing more to fill my plate, I now have a mission to become more informed on world history.
Tomorrow, starts the setup for the Frankfurt book fair. If you can, imagine 25 rugby halls full of publishers, forums, languages and books books books. I can’t quite imagine it yet. You have to bus or train between the halls, and I am bound to spend the first day getting lost and collecting more paperwork for my boat back to NZ.
Speaking of boats we are about to board onet to cruise down the River Main (? I also skipped geography in school) to wine, dine and network.
I know I shouldn’t say it, especially on the cusp of the most important networking event for publishers in the world – the Frankfurt book fair itself – but I am a little networked, and bretzeled, out.
Oh well, it’s too late in the day to eat White German Sausage so at least I won’t have that to contend with tonight.
It is the end of an 18 hour day in the Berlin publishing world, and I write from my top story hotel in the Literatur Hotel. We arrived in Berlin to the news that Herta Muler had won the Nobel Prize, and also to learn she lives around the corner from our hotel. This is like the publishers version of celebrity-touring Hollywood.
The final day in Munich was spectacular – an Indian summer day in which we meandered through the English Gardens to publishing house appointments, sipped beer in the shade, and to top it off I sighted the Gutenburg Bible!!! Although exclamation marks are out of vogue, this statement deserves many. Seeing the Gutenberg Bible (!!!) is such a rarity and a dream. I never imagines I would see it. I almost cried. Truly. (I also took an abundence of photos but before I am attacked by fellow book lovers around the world, it was without the flash and with the greatest of respect to Gutenberg).
The Germans/other fellows now think I am even more of a mad New Zealander… emotional over old books, from the country with 40 million sheep and 4 million people and the inventors of bungy-jumping, and also because I lug a huge suitcase around Germany which I fill with beautiful books and catalogues – all in German. My German vocabulary still extends only to “I am New Zealand Man, Please, Thank you, Weine Weiss, Cheers”.S o I still cannot read my German books and my suitcase is now dangerously overweight (“Danke”, by the way, to Sherif – Egyptian superhero -who lugged it up to the top story today).
Topping of my Munich highlights was time in “Poetry and Truth” a specialsied wine and book store. Imagine! Possibly one of the most delicious places I have visited in my life, especially as it combines my two greatest passions. All up, an emotional day for a bookoholic.
This morning we flew to Berlin, which so far seems incredibly “cool”. Probably just as well after I was loosing some street-cred crying over books and almost fainting with delight at Poetry & Truth. A quick tour of Berlin and then off to Onkel & Onkel which was creative and inspiring (but far too cool to cry at), and of course I had to buy more books. Then on to Textunes, which Marlies – our Fellowship moderator- is CEO of. I think they may take over the world at Textunes?! You heard it hear first anyway.
After dinner and discussions and some more weine weiss, I am back at the Literatur Hotel. Too scared to check emails as I know they will be bursting at the seams with proofs to check and media dates, book fair events and orders gone awol in New Zealand. So, I am off to read my German books and get some valuable sleep before an even longer day tomorrow…
What an incredible place! It is an amazing city to be in, and to be continuing my epic publishing tour. I have no time to write now, it is half past 12 (about 3 hours past my bed time and coupled with my new found passion for the two German delicacies as pictured below, this is NOT helping the jetlag).
Today was such an interesting combination of publishers which had me quite opinionated on the world publishing market and our place in it! But more on that tomorrow. For now, sleep is much needed and I just wanted to postthe link to the “official” Frankfurt Fellows Blog:
http://www.book-fair.com/en/blog/fellows/
Yes – here I am in my small hotel room in Frankfurt! Since touchdown at the fellowship welcoming, the time in the hotel room has been rare… our programme certainly maximises every second. Already I feel saturated with information and I cannot believe how much I have learnt.
The jetlag is a tad debilitating – despite my few days I spent in London first, and the relatively uneventful 26 hour flight (minus having to repack my bags for customs, having my duty free sauvignon blanc purchases confiscated by American officials and then spending NZD$270 on a taxi ride in London traffic) I still feel incredibly dislocated from the timezone. This does not help my struggle with the German language: I spent my first day here proclaiming to everyone that I was “Man from Zealand“.
Today was a whir of international presentations from the other fellows and local publishers. Everyone seemed to give an incredibly astute and balanced perspective on their national book market. My speech was more like an overtly-patriotic sales pitch as to why the rest of the world should do more business with New Zealand. The only way I could have sold us more would have been to dress up like a Lord of the Rings character… but by now everyone knows I am just Man from Zealand and not really from Hobbitville.
Post this, we took a literature tour of Frankfurt. It was awfully insightful, if not a tad dramatic: all stories of executions, illicit affairs, prostitutes, jail escapes, murders and burning books. Clearly the tour-guide needs some lessons from myself on being a one-sided national partisan. I did tell him he could come to New Zealand to take a Lord of the Rings tour.
Continuing the Frankfurt experience we ended the tour-de-frankfurt-historical-calamities at a roudy bar where we sipped apple wine (an aquired taste which I am working on) and ate a substance which translates to “hand cheese with music”. Apparently this is only served in the Frankfurt region. Funny that.
Tomorrow we will have another 13-hour day networking, learning and living the publishing dream. Before I drag my jet-lagged and apple-wined body into my small hotel bed (maybe they did think I was from hobbitville?!) I have a few random facts of the day:
* The Frankfurt Book Fair existed even before printing did !!
* Brazilian books are some of the most beautifully designed objects I have seen in my life
* The sixth most favourite activity of Germans (according to a 2009 survey) is “To drive in the car”
* And finally, always beware of “edible” substances called head cheese with music.
Until tomorrow… Gute nacht from Frankfurt x
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Whats%20New/Information/News%20Archive
Ah, blogging. It is not for lack of wanting that I have neglected my new-found passion for blogging. Like most things in my life, everything is done in extremist manners. So now that I am logging back in to blog, prepare to be inundated.
I have also joined twitter, and feel very cool and technological and now. I am not though. I have two followers, one of whom I think is a spammer. Like blogging, I have been thinking of ingenious tweets for sometime, but when I finally joined I drew a blank… a mix of stage fright and publishers block. (Generally cured with a glass of good NZ Sauv). And it seems a little too late to tweet about the Google books settlement like everyone else did. (I opted out by the way…. On second thoughts announcing that probably would have been an original tweet.)
Next week I am off to London in preparation for the Frankfurt Fellowship. I am terribly disorganised but equally excited. In the mean time I am up to my elbows in proofs, freight and press releases. We are currently, and finally, on the home run of organising the launch for Jandal Prints on the Globe. I arrive back from Switzerland the day of the launch, which sounds awfully exotic until one thinks of jetlag, my propensity to miss planes, and the fact I will be homeless upon my return.
Again, probably nothing a good NZ Sauv won’t fix. Plus the launch is going to be a h i t, given that it is part of NZ Book Month, and the lovely Jane and Rachel (probably my only two blog readers) are doing a marvellous job on PR. And of course, the obvious fact that the book is fabulous.
Watch this space.
It’s been a week of proofs, previews and photos which don’t quite fit the page in my publishing world. It’s also had a touch of the multinational: celebrating American Independence Day, organising a Chinese translation, finishing my read of ‘The Italian Wedding’ (Nicky Pellegrino) and attempting to learn a little German for the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair. So far I can say: “I’d like a glass of wine. I have brown shoes. Where is the soap? It is cold and windy”.
All this after eight hours of a singing German audio CD.
So, I’m a poor auditory learner. This confession leads into another: I have never listened to an audio book. I see their place and purpose. I just….don’t see how I could be enthralled in the same way as that addictive page-turning joy of the “traditional” book. A book is more than the words: it is the size, the feel of the paper stock, the spacing of typography, the font combinations. I have been known to bore many an unsuspecting dinner party audience with this passionate discussion.
However I am captivated by the way multi-media formats will shape the future of the book. I may cling to my paper stock and debossed covers, but I welcome the opportunities digitalisation offers. I am a firm believer the “book” as we have historically known it will never become extinct in it’s entirety. There is too much history, status and meaning. But there is also space to utilise technology and turn the book into a truly interactive experience.
That said, my missions for the next week:
- Read ‘The Book is Dead: Long live the Book’ by Sherman Young
- Listen to an audio book
- Learn a few German phrases that extend beyond wine, the weather and footwear. (As essential as these topics are).
And by the way, ‘The Italian Wedding’ by Nicky Pellegrino is well worth a read. I easily fell into the world of the Martinelli family and the drama and discoveries that procure as they piece together where they all come from and where they all stand. A book to curl up with under the winter duvet. I am now pining for a trip to Italy to indulge in melanzane alla parmigiana and lounge about the piazza.
Einen schönen Tag allerseits…
Renee
