Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Charlie Kaufman to adapt Chaos Walking Trilogy

News has just broken that Charlie Kaufman will write the scripts for the film adaptations of Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking Trilogy.
Kaufman previously adapted 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' and 'Being John Malkovich'
Lionsgate will produce.

More Here......

Friday, April 13, 2012

Government response to Library Tendering questions

Following my recent blogpost and letters to Brian Hayes and Phil Hogan on the subject of Library Tendering processes, Brian Hayes has responded with confirmation that the County Councils do indeed have discretion with regards the award criteria;

"While the National Procurement Agency has produced a standardised set of procurement and contract documents these do not contain predetermined award criteria.  As it is up to the individual contracting authority to determine the award criteria in any tender competition, the contracting authority should be in a position to provide more detailed information regarding the tender process"


So it would appear from Minister Hayes' reponse that Local Authorities may at their discretion, consider a range of elements in a tender submission such as how many people are employed in the region, what extra services does the Library Supplier offer, what is the past record of the Library Suppliers and what other businesses / jobs are supported by the Library supplier in the region.  Not just the few cents off the cover price then!!
It would also be within their remit to simplify the extememly turgid legal documents that are the tender applications.

My Top 5 Alex Rider Villains by Anthony Horowitz

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Walker Books and Little Island reviews in Irish Times

Anna Carey reviews Bob Graham's 'A Bus Called Heaven'
Robert Dunbar reviews Russell Hoban / Alexis Deacon's The Soonchild,  Tim Wyne Jones' Blink and Caution
From Little Island,  Robert reviews 'Large Mammals, Stick Insects and Other Social Misfits' from Felicty McCall and Kevin McDermot's 'Valentina'


Weekend Review
7 Apr 2012

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Irish Libraries cut out Irish Book Supply

The tender for supply of BOTH fiction and non-fiction books to DLR ( Dun Laoghaire, Rathdown), Fingal and Dublin South ( worth approx €750k) has just been awarded to Bertram Library Services in the U.K.

The local authorities will perhaps save a few cent on each book initially through this deal but I suspect they will lose out on many other benefits.  Irish Library suppliers work with publishers representatives to bring authors to tour libraries and they also sponsor library events around the country.   Irish Library Suppliers employ hundreds of people, support Irish publishers and Irish authors and illustrators and of course their business supports many jobs in the areas of indigenous publishing and foreign publisher representatives and agents.

Northern Ireland Libraries used to buy via UK Library suppliers and I had to deal with so many queries from Libraries in that area asking why certain books were not available.  Well they were available but not from the UK Library suppliers who were not focused enough on this market.

In summary, if the €750,000 is spent with UK Library Suppliers, none of this  money will return to the Irish Economy.  If the same sum is spent with Irish Library Suppliers, half of the €750,000 will return to the Irish economy through margins, marketing spend and commissions from publishers.

UPDATE
This blogpost was quoted in The Irish Examiner on 9th April 2012.