Lit News Round-up: 6 October 2012

Quirky food artists Bompas and Parr, who specialise in designing weird and wonderful culinary experiences on an architectural scale (notably with jelly), have created “The Waft that Woos“—a mirror maze navigable only by nose, as you follow the scent of what they call the “Shakespearean love oil”. Influenced by Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, you can catch it for free at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon from 6 October to 7 April 2013. The dynamic duo have also invented: a Willy Wonka-style flavour-changing gum that changes flavour as you chew; a chocolate waterfall; and “Alcoholic Architecture”, where gin infuses the air like mist. Like magic!

Frankenweenie

The 56th London Film Festival kicks off soon at the British Film Institute in Southbank, from 10 to 21 October. Some adaptations of great literature to look forward to: Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein twisted for an animation film: Young Victor’s dog is killed in a car accident, but the boy finds a way of bringing the canine back to life with a bizarre science experiment), Mohsin Ahmad’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations, and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Rushdie will be at the BFI on 15 October at 6:30pm to talk about the process of adapting his Booker Prize-winning novel.

The director of We Need To Talk About Kevin has secured financing for her sci-fi film Mobius, which retells the tale of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick in an unusual setting: outer space.

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe will star in another film adapted from a novel, but this project is a million miles away from the Harry Potter franchise. Radcliffe takes up the lead role in an adaptation of Joe Hill‘s 2010 novel, Horns. His character wakes up one day and discovers a pair of horns protruding from his head, and it gets stranger still as these ghastly pointed features provides him with the power to discover other people’s darkest emotions and thoughts.

To mark National Poetry Day on 4 October, London’s Piccadilly Lights were emblazoned with words from the poem I Am The Song by the Cornish writer, Charles Causley. Faber also celebrates by giving away an audio download of sixty poems from Carol Ann Duffy’s anthology, Jubilee Lines.

Myrmidon and Canongate are to co-publish one of this year’s Man Booker prize shortlisted books, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, to help it reach the widest possible audience. Deborah Levy‘s Swimming Home, another shortlisted book published by a small press, And Other Stories, has also been co-published with a mainstream publisher, Faber & Faber, to meet major demand for the book.

Emily Ding

About Emily Ding

Emily joined Litro in April 2012 as Literary Editor & Web Designer. She made over the website and introduced new developmental and editorial features to strengthen Litro's online presence. She left her position in January 2013, taking a backseat as Contributing Editor to concentrate on writing. She is a freelance journalist with a special interest in travel writing and foreign reporting (with an inclination for Asia and Latin America), and is now based in Malaysia. English is her native language, but she also speaks Mandarin and Spanish, having spent 2007-08 travelling in Central America.

Emily joined Litro in April 2012 as Literary Editor & Web Designer. She made over the website and introduced new developmental and editorial features to strengthen Litro's online presence. She left her position in January 2013, taking a backseat as Contributing Editor to concentrate on writing. She is a freelance journalist with a special interest in travel writing and foreign reporting (with an inclination for Asia and Latin America), and is now based in Malaysia. English is her native language, but she also speaks Mandarin and Spanish, having spent 2007-08 travelling in Central America.

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