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Litopia After Dark this week has a new format.  Buoyed up by the roaring success of our Summer Specials (thank you all for your wonderful feedback) we’ve incorporated a few of your favourite segments into the regular show.  This week not only do we discuss why there are so few males in the Publishing business, we also play Pitch The Nasty Agent.  Amazon gobbles up yet another massive internet company -  Shelfari, a social networking startup for book lovers - and we chat about our  experience of internet bookshelves before tackling Litopia’s Cry For Help - solving a problem sent in by one of our listeners.  Also a new book by Sarah Lyall called A Field Guide to the British, the the writing week in 60 seconds and the most fun you can have on a Podcast… Toad Suck, Arkansas, Reverse Shuffle Six Card Strip Pokerette (aren’t you even slightly intrigued…?)

On the panel this week are Dave Bartram, Donna Ballman, Eve Harvey and our very special guest, polymath Brian Clegg author of The Global Warming Survival Guide and Upgrade Me.

The Ustream Chatroom (8pm GMT) provided intelligent contributions as ever.  Come along next week and tell us what you think.

Links mentioned in the show…

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Eve brings you today in writing history: Donna brings us the latest news… and don’t forget to let us have your contributions to LITOPIA DAILY via our Open Inbox: www.drop.io/litopia.

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Eve brings you today in writing history: Donna brings us the latest news.

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Eve brings you today in writing history: Donna brings us the latest news.

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Eve brings you today in writing history: Donna brings us the latest news.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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On Litopia After Dark this week The Boston Globe reports that the semicolon is in trouble.  And, dare we say punctuation in general.  Is this the end of civilisation as we know it - or simply the end of dead-end pedantry? And Biographies - an endangered species?  Both the quality and quantity of biographies is falling, says the Guardian.  What do we read into this?  Also, the dumbing down of society.  Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30 says the author of newly-published “The Dumbest Generation” - they’re stupid!  Can this really be true? According to a recent UNICEF survey, Britain is the worst country in the Western world in which to be a child. Theodore Dalrymple says it our “nonjudgmentalism”.  But is his judgement the same as ours?

On the panel this week are Donna Ballman, Dave Bartram and Paul Baker.  The chatroom on Ustream at 8pm (GMT) was erudite as ever, and they contributed magnificently to the show.  Join us next week and give us your opinion.

Links mentioned in the show…

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Donna concludes part two of our news roundup covering the past three weeks: Eve brings us today in writing history.

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Back after our summer break , refreshed ,revitalized and a bit soggy (Peter fell out of his canoe), here we are back with Eve Harvey who’s bursting to tell you about today’s writing trivia and Donna Ballman, who has so much news from the past three weeks that we’re running it over two shows.

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We’re back!  In our first Litopia After Dark of the season we’re talking about the pitfalls of self-publishing and the plunging sales of the gossip magazine.  We also cover freedom of speech as Random House pull a novel by Sherry Jones called The Jewel of Medina.  Our regular Amazon spot is back and this week we look at Audible’s impending launch of an imprint to showcase titles from indie publishers before they’re published and we chat about the built in obsolescence of the Kindle.

On our panel this week are Dave Bartram, Donna Ballman and Martyn Daniels.  You can find Martyn’s last appearance on Litopia After Dark here and visit his blog at Brave New World.

Litopia Daily returns on Monday, tune in to listen to a comprehensive news update.   And we missed you in the Ustream chatroom on Friday (7.30pm GMT), come along next week and join in with the live show.

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It’s the last week of our holidays and Litopia After Dark brings you some stunning interviews from Donna.

David Diaz, Caldecott winner, talks about children’s book illustrating and the relationship between illustrators and writers.
Sid Fleischman, Newberry winner, talks about writing, whether you can tell when you’re writing an award winning book, and how to succeed in the biz.
Adrian Fogelin, children’s writer, tells the good, the bad, and the ugly about the life of the midlist writer, the writing business for folks who aren’t on the bestseller list, and the children’s market today
Molly O’Neill, editor at Bowen Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, gives the editor’s perspective - what happens to that manuscript once you send it and what they’re looking for, plus the ups and downs of starting a new imprint
Marc Zicree, screenwriter and the author of many books, talks about how to succeed in Hollywood.

We’ll be back with our regular live show on Ustream (7.30pm GMT) next Friday.  Look forward to seeing you there.

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Litopia After Dark is on holiday!  But don’t despair.  Since we’re a resourceful bunch we’ve put together a montage of our best bits for your listening pleasure.  So sit back, get a glass of something cold and enjoy!

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