You thought I was kidding about the shark pjs didn't you!

Nos Wener yn y Emporium Cwestiwn

I've a confession to make: I'm a foreigner. Should I mention it in my query letter, or is it something signed only under duress? I don't want to jump the shark by admitting English is my third language. Can an international writer (aspiring one) submit a query to an american literary agent?



Well, you can of course.
And it's really REALLY a good idea to mention you are not a native English speaker if only to let the agent know that mistakes are generally not cause you aren't paying attention. (There are three in this brief missive alone.)

It's going to be incumbent upon you to beguile a native-speaker into reading your work for these little errors and YOU have to agree that you'll listen to what they say.

This goes for UK writers looking to pub in the American market as well.  Some UK-isms are fun but if you tell me you're standing in the garden I think it means something quite different than you do.

And let's not even get into the different defintions of "fanny" which one of my friends discovered the mortifying way in a British pub.

I swore I would buy fewer books this year BUT...

I clicked on the link from Twitter about this blog post because it mentioned my treasured colleague Joanna Volpe.

Then I got to this line: When you’re that young, you don’t realize how beautiful (and fleeting) it is to love things unapologetically.

Then I realized this author is amazing, and I ordered the book.

Yes I could have probably snagged a copy from his publisher, or his agent but yanno, I really REALLY want to show (not just tell!) this author that he is AMAZING!

A recent Lyons Press press release about an NBA non-fiction nominee had some lovely tidbits for writers:


Domingo Martinez Chosen As 2012 National Book Award Finalist For Literary Debut: The Boy Kings Of Texas: A Memoir


First-time author Martinez—whose manuscript was plucked from obscurity from a pile of unsolicited manuscripts—is included alongside four renowned journalists in the nonfiction category. All four of Martinez’s fellow finalists are Pulitzer Prize winners:

Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East (Houghton Mifflin);

Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4 (Knopf) (also a past National Book Award winner)

Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity (Random House);

Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 (Doubleday).




Says author Martinez: “My phone started glowing around 6 a.m. My first thought was, ‘Wow; those bill collectors are starting much earlier nowadays,’ and I ignored it because I didn’t recognize the number, until it went off again about five minutes later and it was my agent, Alice [Martell].

Alice doesn’t mess around: When she calls, it’s important, so I answered. I depend on her to translate most of what happens in this business because I’m so new at it. I mean, I know the National Book Award, but it just wasn’t computing that I was A FINALIST for THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD. What’s really funny is, when you read through that list, it’s almost like there should be question marks behind my name, like ‘Who the hell is this guy??’ ”




Partly a reflection on the culture of machismo and partly an exploration of the author's boyhood spent in his sister’s hand-me-downs, THE BOY KINGS OF TEXAS delves into the enduring and complex bond between Martinez and his deeply flawed but fiercely protective older brother, Daniel, and features a cast of memorable characters—including his gun-hoarding former farmhand Gramma and “the Mimis,” two of his older sisters who for a short, glorious time, manage to transform themselves from poor Latina adolescents into upper-class white girls. In telling his story, Martinez provides a real glimpse into a society where children are traded like commerce, physical altercations routinely solve problems, drugs are rampant, sex is often crude, and people depend on the family witch doctor for advice. The book was published in July 2012.




“When I acquired this book, I knew I had something truly extraordinary in my hands,” said Lyons Press editor Lara Asher. “Domingo is a gifted writer and a phenomenal storyteller and someone that I deeply admire. I am delighted to see him receive the recognition for his talent that he so deserves.”




The judges for this year’s National Book Award for nonfiction are acclaimed writers Brad Gooch, Linda Gordon, Woody Holton, Susan Orlean, and Judith Shulevitz.

Former winners of this award for nonfiction include Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Tom Wolfe, Henry Kissinger, and David McCullough.  The 2012 National Book Award winners will be announced November 14 at a ceremony in New York.

Dijkstra Agency Asserts Representation of Nobel Winner Mo Yan's Backlist

by MICHAEL CADER on OCTOBER 12, 2012 in AGENCY NEWS, INTERNATIONAL NEWS

New winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Mo Yan is listed on The Wylie Agency's website as a current client and, as we reported yesterday, when contacted for comment Andrew Wylie said by e-mail that the agency was "in discussions with publishers in all territories" about Yan's work. (This was confirmed by some publishers reporting from Frankfurt.)

But Sandra Dijkstra at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency reports that "we were Mo Yan's American and international agents from the beginning. Starting with his classic novel RED SORGHUM, we sold his first 6 books worldwide." She notes that "we are very proud to have been there for him from day one, and that his ship has finally come in."

Viking confirms to us that they have the Dijkstra Agency listed as the agency of record for RED SORGHUM. A colleague of Dijkstra's says that they "are aware of Wylie's claims" but "SDLA is, and always has been, the agent for Mo Yan's backlist titles up until 2010."


 (I'm sure neither the Dijkstra Agency nor The Wylie Agency finds it all that funny, but this just cracks me up completely.  It was reported here at Publishers Marketplace.)

toasted I tell ya!

One of the great things about spending time with clients at events like Bouchercon or conferences in their hometown is that you find out all sorts of interesting "real people" details.

For example, the Fabulous Stephanie Evans likes her BLTs on "darkly toasted bread."  (Me too!)


Fortunately we now have pictorial assistance if needed when we place our order:

Of course, this is from one of my favorite websites THINGS ORGANIZED NEATLY and I stole it shamelessly. 

How I will be travelling home from Texas today

thanks to my pal @muchadoabout77 for this!