Bookmarks

Hemingway in Havana

The imposing figure of ‘Ernest Hemingway’ multiplied by six doubles, who for their resemblance to the novelist won a contest in the U.S., surprised Cubans and tourists alike as they strolled the streets of Old Havana and visited places long identified with the American writer.

This is one of the novelties of the 14th International Hemingway Colloquium dedicated to the author of “The Old Man and the Sea”, which opened last week at the Palacio O’Farrill Hotel in the historical centre of Havana, where more than 100 scholars, professors and admirers of Hemingway (1899-1961) from the U.S., Canada, Japan, Italy and Ireland met to discuss his life and works.

Comics in festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival casts an eye this year on a unique form of literature — comics and graphic novels that have endeared themselves to “children” from the age of three to 103.

The world’s biggest annual book festival also celebrates its 30th anniversary from August 10 to 26 with more than 800 events with authors, literature and ideas from around the world in the heart of Edinburgh. Eighty authors attended the inaugural gathering in 1983.

The book festival runs parallel through August with the International Festival and Fringe, both dating back to 1947, the Royal Military Tattoo on the Edinburgh Castle esplanade, and a broad range of art shows during which the city’s population more than doubles in size.

Digital singles

For book lovers short of time, Penguin Books has launched e-singles — short and digital-only reads.

Beginning with 20 stories by Sudha Murthy and a series of short stories from up and coming authors such as Ravinder Singh, a bouquet of 47 e-singles will be the initial offering. The catalogue will later include poetry, short non-fiction, plays and fiction.