Press Room

Dana Jennings, author of Sing Me Back Home, wraps up Titlepage.tv's virtual Q&A series.

(PRWEB) June 10, 2008 -- As part of its virtual meet-the-author series, Titlepage.tv is greeting Dana Jennings, author of "Sing Me Back Home", today.

"Shortly after we went live in March, we got a lot of feedback from visitors, who were excited about the possibility of being able to interact directly with the authors," said Lina Matta, Titlepage's co- executive producer. 

"It took us a couple of episodes to set it up, but, since last month we've invited three authors who'd all previously appeared on a titlepage episode to spend a Tuesday answering questions from our readers. The reaction has been encouraging, and with each Q& A the number of visitors has increased."

The first writer to participate was Keith Gessen, author of " All the Sad Young Literary Men" who answered questions about fictional things that happen to non-fictional people. He was followed by Rabih Alameddine, who wrote "The Hakawati" and had readers in stiches as he described the literary scene in San Francisco. Benjamin Nugent, their third guest, could not escape dealing with questions about "Nerds" but also chatted about his upbringing and his future plans. "The conversation goes wherever the web audience takes it - allowing for an element of surprise," says Matta.

Titlepage.tv, an internet literary talk show was launched in March 08 and is hosted by former Random House Executive Editor-in-Chief Daniel Menaker. The roundtable gathers four authors, to talk about their latest works - books tiltepage believes should be on everyone's reading list. "If you don't have time to read the book, you can always click on titlepage.tv to watch the interviews," says Matta.

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Four acclaimed authors born outside the U.S. heatedly debate the role of one's cultural origin in one's writing, while discussing their latest books on the most recent episode of the literary internet talk show, Titlepage.tv.New York, NY (PRWEB) May 13, 2008 --

"As a person straddling two cultures, I can't tell you how thrilling it was to film an episode in which our guests come to discuss -- at times vehemently -- how much their cultural backgrounds impact on their writing," says Lina Matta, Executive Producer of the newly created literary web series, Titlepage.tv.

Characterizing his third novel, The Lazarus Project, as a post 9/11 book Bosnian-American author, Aleksandar Hemon rejects the notion of the author as an instructor: "I have never thought for a moment that I was the one who was supposed to represent Bosnian culture to Americans. It is not an elective office," says Hemon once described by The Los Angeles Times as a writer who "proved himself as inventive as Nabokov or Salman Rushdie."

"I think your books inevitably will turn out to be the book that one nowadays reads to learn about Lebanese culture or Bosnian culture", says Simon Winchester, the author of newly released The Man Who Loved China, addressing Hemon and Rabih Alameddine, the Lebanese born author of 'The Hakawati', a novel set against a modern-day story of war-torn Beirut.

"I don't want to be pigeonholed into an ethnic category," states Nam Le who was born in Vietnam and was raised in Australia and whose debut collection of stories, portrays characters from Australia, Vietnam, Iran, Colombia, Japan, and America simply.

"With the internet our audience is truly international. The questions our guests raise will hit a chord, and result in much debate," says Matta."Speaking about debate," adds Matta, "today, former guest and author of 'All the Sad Young Literary Men', Keith Gessen, will be in the discussions forum of the website for a virtual Q&A with the viewers on among other things - how writing his book might have 'ruined' his social life. We are growing as a literary community and are very happy that some authors are embracing the internet's possibilities to expand the communication with their readers."

Starting today, Simon Winchester, Nam Le, Rabih Alameddine and Aleksandar Hemon can be seen online at www.titlepage.tv.

Press Release
April 18, 2008

During his appearance on the fourth episode of the new Internet authors' roundtable Titlepage.tv, Edward  Hirsch, the poet and President of the Guggenheim Foundation vigorously appealed to poetry writers--and everyone else--to dedicate more time to reading.

Invited by Titlepage.tv to talk about his latest work, "Special Orders", Hirsch's appeal came upon hearing a statistic offered by Titlepage.tv's host, Daniel Menaker: at some point in their lives, 70% of Americans write poetry.

 "I would like to make that bridge for those 70 percent of the people to understand that if they read they can get something of the same hit, and something of the same feeling and something of the same consolation, as articulated by others. And if all those writers became readers, literature would be in a much healthier place in the United States,"  
Hirsch said. This  passion for literature on his part has many aspects notably  in his  widely praised book "How to Read  a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry."

Adding to Hirsch's plea, Meg Wolitzer, another guest on the program, and the author of "The Ten-Year Nap" said : "You could not say that  70% of the people read poetry. That would be an amazing statistic."  And she added, "There is a need now more than ever to make the case  for why we should read.  And that's what I feel: we have to wear  
 the sandwich board for fiction and poetry."
 
Both comments were made during the taping of Titlepage's upcoming episode: Inside Out, which is scheduled to go online on April 21.

Joining Hirsch and Meg Wolitzer on this program are bestselling author Elizabeth Strout ("Olive Kitteredge”) and debut novelist and renowned literary blogger Mark Sarvas ("Harry, Revised.")

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Long-Time New Yorker Editor, Author, and Recent
Random House Editor-in-Chief Daniel Menaker Will Host

Eight months after leaving Random House, Daniel Menaker is launching an Internet book show, the first of its type on the web in the world.

The show, "Titlepage," for which Menaker will serve as host and editorial producer, will feature four writers discussing their new books in a roundtable format. The debut season will include 6 episodes, the first of which will go live on www.titlepage.tv on Monday, March 3, 2008.

"’Titlepage’ is the perfect way to share my enthusiasm for books and their authors--in an instantly and permanently accessible format--with as many readers as possible," said Menaker. "I've always sought out literary conversations, and I think we can make them surprising and entertaining for anyone who might want to stop by. Editors, particularly editors who are also writers, like nothing more than to share their love of books with others --although the occasional royalty check is also pretty enjoyable."

"Titlepage" is the result of a collaboration between Menaker and Brown Hats Productions, headed by Odile Isralson and Lina Matta. It draws its inspiration from the classic French program "Apostrophes", PBS’s "Charlie Rose," and "Dinner for Five," the actor's roundtable discussion once seen on IFC.

Isralson and Matta feel that bringing the program to viewers on the net made more sense, and was clearly more cutting-edge, than producing it for network or cable television. "The line between screens has become blurred," Matta said. "Computer, TV, iPhone, iPod—they are all the same. People catch their shows whenever and wherever they can. The Internet allows viewers to manage their own entertainment and cultural resources in ways that traditional TV just can't match--such as interactive participation, watching supplementary content, selecting content according to one's own very specific interests, all of which add up to advantages for sponsors and advertisers."

"In other words," Menaker added, "They can choose to fast forward from Steve Martin to Martin Amis."

Isralson made the point that "one shouldn't have to have to live in New York City and pay $150 to some elite festival in order to be part of literary culture. From now on, if we have anything to do with it, you can be having dinner in Gillette, Wyoming, and enjoy a great hour of conversation about writing with your dessert and coffee. And thanks to Daniel, ‘Titlepage’ will be provocative, smart, and fun. I think we'll demolish a great many rules about what a book program should look and sound like."

"Titlepage" will be produced as though for television broadcast, making its quality far superior to most online video programs. Each new episode can be watched on the program's website—in its entirety or in parts—and can be downloaded and viewed on an MP3 player, or transferred to a home theater system for viewing.

To take advantage of the instant responsiveness of the net, the Titlepage.tv website will also offer links to online vendors so that viewers can purchase the books being discussed, and other books by these writers, with a click of their mouse. Visitors can also interact with the show's hosts and guests through comments, discussion forums, and e-mail.

"Authors of all kinds will appear on the program in the coming months," Isralson said. “We are aiming for the greatest possible diversity and variety. We are looking to have poets, novelists, journalists, Americans, foreigners -- we will talk to anybody, about anything to do with books, as long as it strikes us as worth talking about, timely, and deserving of a wide audience's attention.”

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