David Maybury | Blog

Kevin Myers got the letter of the week - from a librarian responding to this:

Does not a state-subsidised library in a small town undermine the chances of an economically viable bookshop surviving nearby, especially during a recession? For then, people will choose to borrow books for free, rather than buy them.

My new favourite librarian (Aine Beausang, Roscrea, Co Tipperary) hit back with a well thought-out response - go have a read. (Library closures in the UK get a mention in The Independent UK)

And sticking with the Irish Independent comes news that the Irish Book Awards are running a competition with PJ Lynch - and the chance to win the shortlisted books from the awards. Details are here.

The Times UK has Oxford Literature Festival fever - with more big interviews. Nicolette Jones talks to Clara Vulliamy (Illustrator, children’s writer and Shirley Hughes’ daughter). And John Carey talks to George Orwell’s son, Richard Blair.

Daisy Goodwin previews the Off by Heart verse-reciting competition finals (similar to the Poetry Aloud competition)

In the Guardian Julia Eccleshare reviews Petr Horacek’s Elephant, Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monk’s What the Ladybird Heard and Emily Gravett’s Dogs. Siobhan Dowd’s Solace of the Road is reviewed by Frank Cotrell Boyce -

Stories are chains of consequence, one thing leads to another. But some of the most sublime stories end when an act of grace or love that means “it ain’t necessarily so”. Abraham doesn’t have to sacrifice Isaac. The Green Knight has the right to decapitate Gawain but barely nicks him with his sword. The prodigal son thinks he has spent all his father’s love but discovers that it is endless.

Dowd’s glittering career fits more or less into the fearful gap between diagnosis and death. Here’s a story about a journey which is equally fearful but which turns out to be worth it, thanks, as Holly says, to people who “did something to help me and asked for nothing back”.

And last but by no means least (one I missed from last week) Owen Vaughan talks to Tim Sale (the man behind Heroes, and much much more).

Two things. I can’t think of another show where art drives the plot. Other shows might have featured art in an episode but the art wouldn’t be part of the storytelling of the entire show. Second, I only have at most two seconds of screen time for any particular image so what I do has to have an immediate impact. My comic book background is invaluable for that because a comic book artist is trained to make an immediate impact with their work. Their primary job is to make the reader want to know what’s going on and that’s my primary job on Heroes. I hope the series survives. - Tim Sale