Warp and Weft: The Brightweavings Newsletter

April 2009

Hello, all.

Happy Spring to everyone. Seems a good time to share some breaking news as well as odds and ends that have been added to the site. A quick note, however - the newsletter sign-up list is close to 3000, but many of those addresses are now defunct and I've been slowly but steadily deleting those that have 'bounced back' as undeliverable. If you have changed or will change your address in the future and still wish to receive the newsletter, please be sure and update us. We wouldn't want you to miss out on announcements like this...

GGK News
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>We are delighted to announce that YSABEL has been optioned for feature film development! Here is a portion of the press release:

Toronto, Ontario - April 13, 2009 - Maryke McEwen of Kinetic Productions and Jeanne Strømberg and Alan Hausegger of StrømHaus Productions are pleased to announce that they have optioned the feature film rights to Ysabel, Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay's critically-acclaimed, best-selling novel.

Kinetic Productions Inc. is an independent film and television production company owned by Maryke McEwen, who has produced more than 300 hours of award-winning television. McEwen's credits include Scorn, an MOW for CBC, which premiered at the Vancouver Film Festival and garnered a Gemini for Best Television Movie; The Diary of Evelyn Lau, featuring Sandra Oh in her first screen appearance and the long-running CBC series, Street Legal currently airing in repeats on Bravo!

StrømHaus Productions Ltd. specializes in literary adaptations for the feature film market and is co-owned by Alan Hausegger and Jeanne Strømberg, who have over 25 years of film and television experience. Their credits include Marine Life, a film adaptation of the highly acclaimed collection of short stories by Linda Svendsen. Starring Cybill Shepherd, Peter Outerbridge and Alexandra Purvis (Leo Award), Marine Life had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is distributed by Alliance Films.

The deal was negotiated by Debbie Wood of Westwood Creative Artists.

>Audio editions

Work is moving along steadily on adapting many of GGK's works to audio format. YSABEL, read by Kate Reading, is already available through Penguin.com or Audible.com and TIGANA, read by Simon Vance, should be available very soon. LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN is currently in production, being read by Holter Graham, and SONG FOR ARBONNE is being cast right now.

>Special edition

TIGANA was selected by Penguin Group (Canada) to be one of 15 contemporary classics which have been released in a reworking of their traditional Celebrations livery from the 1930's and 1940's. See the Penguin Group website for the full list. "As someone old enough (alas!) to remember, and honour, the worldwide cachet of the originals, it gives me real pleasure to have TIGANA appear in Penguin's classic orange and white as part of this celebration. It feels like a link to enduring fiction, Penguin Canada's own statement about lineage and tradition." -Guy Gavriel Kay Anyone interested in a signed copy of this limited edition--or many other in print Canadian editions--can contact Book City in Toronto at 416.469.9997.

>GGK appearances

GGK was one of the Guests of Honour at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando this March. His keynote speech was a variant of an ongoing interest in and concern with the increasing obsession with using the inner lives of real people in fiction. Here are links to previous speeches on those topics - 'Reflections on an Ethical Society' ( http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/privacy.htm ), and 'Home and Away' ( http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/globe.htm ).

GGK will be attending Worldcon in Montreal - http://www.anticipationsf.ca/ . There are a number of denizens who are planning on attending at least a couple of days between August 6th and 10th of this year and of course, the more the merrier. We'll start a thread on the forums soon to discuss meeting up at the convention with anyone who can make it. We'd love to meet some familiar friends and new faces!

New on Brightweavings
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>GGK's words

The second piece dealt with issues of fan and author interaction and 'relationship' that have also been brought up in the BW forums, specifically as relates to online author presence. GGK synopsizes it himself: "A few recent online incidents regarding authors and readers on the Web are just too revealing to pass up a chance to consider them." You can read the rest of the article, "Release the Fans!", here: http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/releasethefans.htm

>Art Gallery

We have two new cover artworks added to the site.

-TIGANA has been re-released in the U.S. in trade paperback with gorgeous new cover art - http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/americatigana.htm. (For those interested, the artifact used in the design is the Battersea Shield, currently in the British Museum).

-And here is the lovely Russian edition of YSABEL - http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/russianysabel.htm.

We also have a new piece in the reader's art section, Anne-Marie Broughton's portrait of her vision of Leyse of the Swan Mark: http://www.brightweavings.com/artgallery/anne-marie.htm

>Papers

Patricia Gagné's undergraduate essay, "Comment naissent les héros?", has kindly been translated by Morgon Mills, and has been added to the student papers in the scholarship section. http://www.brightweavings.com/scholarship/howareheroesborn.htm

In the Forums
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It can get a bit quiet between books, but there are a few 'Deb's Café' denizens who will stretch the bounds of what may be considered 'tangential' to provide distraction whilst we wait. Here are a few links to help you while away the time - please add your thoughts, they are always welcome!

As mentioned above, there was some discussion on the site on the topic of how technology has changed author/reader relationships (this newsletter being just one example!) - http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/2/143040.html?1231025483

Stephen Saunders started a thought-provoking thread on what might be one reason GGK's novels are so meaningful for so many readers. Stephen posits "I was trying to put my finger on what mysterious elements propelled Kay's work - and I was specifically thinking of Tigana, Arbonne, and Lions here - into the realm of meaningful for me, but was lacking in these other fine works. It took awhile, but one of the differences I stumbled across was that Lynch's and Rothfuss' stories deal with individuals and groups, but Kay's also deal with national identity. And not just any, but a national identity that is intimately tied with art, culture, music, and meaning." He then asked "what is it about a national identity - one steeped in art, culture, music, beauty, etc - which makes those books so meaningful? What's being tapped here?" What do YOU think is being tapped? Do you agree, of is there something else which sets these novels apart, makes them more meaningful to you? http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/2/143046.html?1232514929

And of course there are, as always, a number of new 'fun' threads, if you're in a less cerebral mood. If you're aware of the phenomenon of 'Facebook Status', a few denizens came up with some amusing "GGK character is...." suggestions -

Or, you could try your hand at creating another 'motivational' poster to join those our resident jester, Alec shared with us - http://www.brightweavings.com/forums/messages/2/143045.html?1232957634

And that's the news from Brightweavings. Until next time,

Elizabeth

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