Newsletter: August 2006

It's been a hot and sticky July in the UK (the warmest since records began, apparently), but as I write this, on the first day of August, it's merrily pouring down outside, so perhaps things are being restored to their natural equilibrium.

You might have been forgiven for thinking that things were fairly quiet in the UK book world, with just a couple of shortlists announced (for the Forward  and Dylan Thomas prizes), but recently an interesting storm's brewed up around the film version of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane. There wasn't much controversy when the book came out in 2003 - many critics, and many reading groups, loved it - but ever since Ruby Films began trying to make their version, disquiet has been bubbling. Local opposition has arisen in Tower Hamlets, the London Borough where much of the book is set, and there have been co-ordinated protests attracting people from around the country. The protesters claim that Ali's book portrays the Bangladeshi community, in particular people from the Sylhet region, in a negative way. During the last week of July the film company had to take police advice and abandon filming in the real Brick Lane. You can get updates on the situation by checking the EnCompass blog.

If you're a poetry fan, or curious about poetry - and the curious people who write it - then there are two things I should draw your attention to this month. Firstly, if you're reading this before 7th August then there's still time to mail in a question for poet Ruth Padel, who's taking part in our next EnCompass author interview. Just go to our discussion boards and reply to the Padel thread. Also, have a look at my Book of the Month choice for August - it's John Burnside's Selected Poems. High summer is supposed to be the time when we all get to read the hefty novels we've been putting off all year, or the easy reads we can whizz through on planes or beaches. But when the heat is on, and attention spans shrink, what could be better than a poem or two?

Best wishes,

Susan

Susan Tranter, Reader in Residence

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