Vittachi

Real opportunities for writers

SEE THESE YOUNG FOLK? They represent a real opportunity for the publishing industry. I'm really excited about growth in the sector in Asia: click below to find out why.

Virgin Comics' India series

WELCOME TO THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH. This is Ayodha, final dwelling place of humanity in a new comic book series called Ramayan 3392 AD.

Revolution foments

SOMETHING IMPORTANT for the world of literature is happening at a meeting of ordinary people in an ordinary room in a place 99 per cent of people have never heard of.

Still on the road

YOUR HUMBLE NARRATOR is still on the move. Yesterday was Hong Kong. Today I am in Singapore (writing this in an airport coffee shop) before getting on a plane to go to India.
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  Singapore is changing. There's a widescreen TV at the front entrance of the shop opposite me and it has been flashing the word STEAL in large letters for more than an hour. I assume it is some sort of promotion for a video game or a movie (there are bits of action scenes in the background, behind the word). Or perhaps the Singaporeans have decided to let their hair down a bit?
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Today, the new regulations for travelling with liquids comes into force. It's a pain -- toothpaste and aftershave are among the things you cannot take with you any more! Fortunately, there was a bit of good-old-fashioned Hong Kong entrepreneurialism came to the rescue. Watson's has immediately started selling 100ml empty plastic vials. That's the most you can take of any liquid or gel. So you can empty some of your stuff into them. So you all just have to stand there in the middle of the airport like mad scientists juggling liquids in vials until they are all under 100ml. Somehow doesn't make the airport feel safer, but the opposite...

City to City

IF IT'S THURSDAY, it must be Munich. I am on a city-by-city tour, waking up in a different hotel bedroom every day. What a strange thing a writer's way of life is. Part of it is very lonely -- sitting in silence at the computer for days on end. And the other half is just the opposite -- audiences, interviews, autograph sessions. One hears stories of authors going on tour and finding themselves in obscure towns suffering the humiliation of no one coming to see them. But this tour has been very well-organised, and the turn-outs have been fine at every location. Having just logged on for two minutes, I have been summoned to meet a literary agent downstairs, so will sign off here. My other life seems a million miles away!

OJ Confesses and other book news

OJ Simpson's book is going to be printed after all, and is likely to be couched as a confession... Vittachi gets a sign from the heavens... Soo to leave literary festival... new book download ventures starts... click below for a news round-up.

Writer besieged in Cologne

PEOPLE LIKE A LITTLE exotic spice in their menus these days. At least, that’s the only explanation I can give for the amazing evening I had last night.

Edible books

PEOPLE IN HONG KONG are producing edible books. It's for a giant tea party which gets people to focus on books and reading, while raising funds for the hungry and the homeless.

On the road again

DEAR READER,
Thanks for taking an interest in the life of a lowly writer. I'm not sure if reading this diary will inspire you or put you off writing all together!

DESPITE ALL THE big names in town, the high points of a writer's life can be surprisingly simple and low-glamour. I spent yesterday evening with Mary Chen's book group, and had a wonderful time: This is what it is all about -- spending time with real readers who enjoy real books.
     And then today (Friday) I was given 140 six-year-olds to entertain with stories (for a whole hour!). It sounded terrifying, but turned out to be enormous fun. I tested out all my storytelling skills, getting them to alternate between screaming with laughter and hanging on to every whispered word in pindrop silence.
    At four o'clock in the morning I shall be getting up to head off to the airport (I have to check in at 5 something) to go on my European book tour. So this site may not be updated for a few days.
  KEEP WRITING!

Guys, our day is done

MEN ARE ON THE WAY OUT in the publishing industry and many others. The array of impressive female talent at the launch last night of Imprint, an anthology by the Hong Kong-based Women in Publishing Society, is a reflection of much bigger changes in society.