Graham Holliday's Blog, page 11

signed

I popped along to the Post Office in downtown Dakar last Friday. It’s nearly 20 km away from where we live. Dakar is huge. The signed contract for my second book should be with the publisher in New York later today. A year and a half ago, I sent my first ever book contract from […]

galley giveaway

I offered a signed galley of Eating Việt Nam, delivered in a hand sketched envelope together with an airmail letter to Twitter users last weekend. These are the names of those who entered. Scroll down to see who won. I sketched the front of the envelope just before the winner was revealed. I like the […]

win win win

Eating Vietnam galley. In hand drawn envelope. @ reply to win. Before Sunday midnight. Names in hat. 1 winner pic.twitter.com/0DTAArHsoi — Graham Holliday (@noodlepie) December 12, 2014 Wanna win a book? Go tweet.

new horizon

My second book contract arrived this morning. It’s 19 pages long. It’s with a big publishing house. I sign it today. By this time next year, I will have written a total of three books. Back when I was a reporter, I never imagined writing even one book. So, you know, that’s really rather good […]

make notes all day

What about the practicality of writing, from taking notes through to finishing the manuscript? How do you keep notes? What is your writing process? I have a small notebook and I make notes all day. I don’t have a tape recorder. I take notes. Then at night, I write up my notes, write up the […]

1989 paul theroux interview

This is an interesting interview with the author Paul Theroux. This conversation between George Plimpton and Paul Theroux, part of a collaboration between 92Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center and The Paris Review, was recorded live at 92Y on December 18, 1989. link Photo of Leeds train station by me.

wet markets of hà nội

Today, I sat down to look at this news story again. It discusses the disastrous 21st century renovation of a number of Hà Nội’s wet markets. Hà Nội’s Municipal People’s Committee has admitted defeat in its attempts to drive traditional wet markets into purpose built modern facilities. The authorities planned to convert, 39, often historically […]

illustrator works

Yuko Shimizu, whose illustration accompanies the review of Haruki Murakami’s novel “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” on the cover of the (New York Times) Book Review, explains her process. link Shimizu’s blog is fantastic. Just the kind of blog posts I like. Insightful, informative and personal. There are a tonne of posts […]

cows

Typical 7AM in Dakar, Senegal.

sunset

The sun went a bit Alva Noto in Dakar this evening. See below. Photo by me, video not.