Great Regulars: Eleven titles have been chosen for the

£10,000 prize, from Mary Costello's collection of Irish short stories The China Factory, released by small publisher Stinging Fly Press, to Harbach's novel, which follows the story of baseball player Henry Skrimshander and arrives garlanded with praise from Jonathan Franzen and John Irving. For the second year running, Guardian readers nominated a title, this year choosing Sarah Jackson's "assured and mysterious" poetry collection Pelt.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Guardian first book award: the longlist 2012

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Speaking on Radio 5 Live on 30 August, [Zadie] Smith said that she owed her "whole life to books and libraries". The novelist, who joined campaigners fighting to save Kensal Rise library in Brent, said that "like a lot of kids in this country, if you don't have middle-class, educated parents you need to find ways to get books. A lot of people don't have books on their shelves. The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential."

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Zadie Smith defends local libraries

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"To me, it seems disrespectful . . . that a 'wannabe' assumes it's all so easy s/he can put out a 'published novel' without bothering to read, study, or do the research," said [Sue] Grafton. "Learning to construct a narrative and create character, learning to balance pace, description, exposition, and dialogue takes a long time. This is not a quick do-it-yourself home project. Self-publishing is a short cut and I don't believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts."

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Self-published authors react with anger to 'laziness' charge

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