Bibliofemme News

A group of American literary bloggers announced last week that they will begin working together in the hope of drawing readers to books they deserve more attention. They are hoping that by promoting certain books they feel will generate deeper public discussions of literature.

The Litblog Co-op, includes websites such as Elegant Variation, Moorishgirl, Rake's Progress and Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, all of which will continue to operate separately, the bloggers say. HOwver they are hoping that through there Read This! Campaign together they will direct the public to worthy reads.

Five of the bloggers will nominate a title each, then the co-op will vote for one to promote jointly. The first title (four will be selected each year) will be announced on 15th May, on the group's website.

Mark Sarvas, who drew the project together, described the effort as less an award program than a conversation starter.

"We want to shine a light on literary fiction likely to get overlooked and lost in the shuffle," said Sarvas, a writer who runs the Elegant Variation from his Santa Monica apartment. "The mission is to see what happens when 10 to 20 lit bloggers get behind a title and push hard. Does it make a difference?"

The online community, Sarvas said, remains disappointed by the "pack mentality" of mainstream media outlets, which tend to give much of their attention to the same titles. There has also been criticism about the "sameness" of National Book Award nominees.

The Co-op members limited their choices to literary fiction, short stories and graphic novels for the first round, but Sarvas said that everything about Read This! is open to change.

More information: http://www.lbc.typepad.com

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