Writing as an enterprise is fraught with hazard

By Candy Gourlay

Alvin Pang at Daunt Books Event

It is still National Poetry Month in America and Canada (the UK celebrates in October) - and I thought you peeps would enjoy the wonderful Alvin Pang poem The Business of Writing which begins with the totally true line 'Writing as an enterprise is fraught with hazard'.

I met Alvin when I recently attended a presentation highlighting Singaporean books at Daunt Books in Chelsea to hang out with SCBWI Singapore friends. I came away with a very plain blue book published by the Croatian publisher Nakladnik, a translation of Singaporean poet Alvin Pang's Other Things and Other Poems (Druge stvari i ostale pjesme). The Business of Writing appeared in the collection.

Picture Books On My Mind

By Candy Gourlay

I made a video about my wonderful day reading
picture books at Foyles

If you follow my author blog, you will know I've had picture books on my mind.

This is because I'm kind of in a mini gap while waiting for the proofs of my next book SHINE which is out in September ... which means I'm trying to write picture books.

Nineteen novels later, Anne Tyler is zen about starting another one ...

By Candy Gourlay

I can't decide which is more stomach curdling, waiting for a book to come out or starting a new one.

I've just handed in copy edits of my forthcoming novel Shine, which according to Amazon is going to be out on the 5th of September.


The listing's been up for three years, and every time I didn't hand the manuscript in when I said I would, Amazon simply moved the publication date along a few more months.