Flogging it

Instead of sending his manuscript to agents or publishers, aspiring novelist Mark Vender took it to the Hay Festival. In Colombia.

Vikram Seth is also at the festival. He talks about the arduous process of finding a publisher for his novel in verse, The Golden Gate, which was rejected 20 times before it found a home. But when I speak to him later, he's inspiringly circumspect. Talking about the plight of unpublished writers, he says, "the world is not against you. It's indifferent."

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