One of our You Reviewers Samir Rawas has been busy setting up an e-zine called Cecile’s Writers. “We are aiming to promote writers who write in English but whose native language is not English, or writers whose native language is English but live abroad (in a non-English speaking country).” If you fall into that category, I’m sure Samir would love to hear from you. 
Best of luck to everyone at Cecile’s Writers!
- Awards! Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for his debut novel Chinaman.
- The Guardian’s James Smythe is rereading Stephen King books - to get himself ready for the sequel to The Shining, due next year, perhaps? In any case, he’s doing an excellent job at bringing back his memories from reading them the first time, and comparing them to his impressions now. Almost makes this King avoider want to start…
Interview! The Guardian interviews that popular philosopher-with-the-tricky-breves-in-his-name-I-can’t-find-Mac-shortcuts-for, Slavoj Zizek, on the occasion of his latest, Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism.
- Podcast! The Guardian (them again) have one about the future of humanity in a technological world, featuring blogmistress favorite Nick Harkaway, as well as Simon Ings and Ben Marcus. If you want to hear Richard Ford talk about his new book Canada, head on over to this week’s NY Times podcast.
- If you’re looking to increase your vocabulary, have a look at these 17 words used in US Spelling Bees (by 8 year-olds, but don’t think about that).
- Lists! Summer is upon us (if I don’t look outside and ignore my layers of sweaters I can almost imagine it), and so here are 10 Summer Reading Picks from another indie. The Guardian has its Top 10 Art Books. Also, Flavorwire put up Classic Novels and the Filmmakers Who Were Born to Direct Them. I think they got their choices for Lord of the Flies and Catch-22 exactly right (as well as their aside that Werner Herzog should really direct Where’s Waldo? XD).
- And finally, a few pictures from our 40th Anniversary Party last weekend – these ones from ABC The Hague. Thanks to all for celebrating with us!
Tags: ABC's 40th Anniversary, awards, cecile's writers, interview, lists, podcast, Poetry, rereading king books, spelling bee words