Getting published

The New Writing Partnership, a new literary arts organisation in East Anglia, ran its first programme of workshops and events this month for "emerging writers, publishing professionals and others in the literary world", reports Christina Patterson in The Independent. The aim of the event, according to its director, Trevor Davies, was to "create a new interface between writers and the writing world".

"Nobody should be publishing all these books," says Andrew Franklin, publisher of the mega-selling Eats, Shoots & Leaves. "I wish fewer people would write and fewer people would publish books." Others on the panel are less gloomy, but the fur flies when the discussion moves to money. Franklin calls agent David Godwin "a Thatcherite" and Godwin's cheeks go scarlet. Eyes shine with excitement. Next year, we agree, it should take place in a gladiatorial arena.