Dan Coxon

Some of you may remember that last November I taught a writing workshop at Write-O-Rama, the full day of workshopping that Hugo House offers several times a year in Seattle. I'm pleased to say that Write-O-Rama is back again on Saturday June 2nd - and yes, I'll be there again, waving pens at whiteboards and handing out random pieces of paper. This time my workshop is on interviews - how to conduct them, what to ask, and how to write them up as feature articles afterwards. If you're in one of the two sessions held on Saturday you'll learn the different kinds of interviews, how to adapt your techniques to these different formats, how to sneak in those awkward questions - plus how to PIMP your interview. Gotta love that acronym. Here's the official blurb on the workshop: Writing and Conducting Interviews   with Dan Coxon, 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. Want to interview and write about your favorite author/band/artist, but don’t know where to start? This workshop w

Good news for readers in the UK, and for any Brits who follow this blog. Until now Ka Mate: Travels in New Zealand has only been available in the UK as a Kindle ebook, or imported from the US at inflated prices. That's no longer the case, however, and from today Ka Mate is also available from Amazon.co.uk in paperback. That's right - you can finally get your hands on an authentic British version of my travel writing debut. Even if you have an imported copy, I'd suggest that you buy a British one too, just for completion's sake... The paperback is priced at under ten quid, so it won't break the bank. In fact, it's only 48p more than Tom Daley's autobiography. And it wasn't ghostwritten. Go figure. You can buy Ka Mate: Travels in New Zealand from Amazon.co.uk here . (NB: The books in the photo aren't a special UK edition of Ka Mate . They are in fact some particularly snazzy Union Jack boxes from MiaBellaCasa.co.uk. If you like them you c

Next time you slide a slip of paper between the pages of your book, spare a thought for the humble bookmark. Bookmarks have been around since the 13th century, when they were used to mark points in the long medieval scrolls of the period. Most were of the clip-on variety that seems to have come back into fashion recently (isn't it funny how these things come around?), and several examples have survived to the present day. By the 18th century books (mainly Bibles and prayer books) were starting to appear with fabric strips sown into the spine, as a way of saving the page without damaging the fragile paper. You still get these in some 'classic' editions - although you probably didn't realize that they're a throwback to the 1700s. It was in the 1850s that the modern bookmark truly came into existence, however, with the increased production of modern-style books. These detachable bookmarks were similar to the modern concept - a slip of paper or other material th