"Five years ago, when Twitter was just another start-up and the iPad was a gleam in Steve Jobs’s eye, the state of print book reviews in this country was undergoing a spectacular and noisy collapse. Newspapers that were failing financially killed off their stand-alone print book sections, or folded them into the entertainment, ideas, or culture sections. They fired staff book editors and critics and cut freelance budgets. Hundreds of newspapers shut down altogether. Many magazines stopped covering books, and the literary quarterlies, for decades the champions of poetry and literary fiction published by independent presses, faced funding challenges as well."
It was an absolute joy to be in Swansea for the opening of the new Elysium Gallery art centre in the city centre, I'm so proud of Jon and Dan and the team who have all worked so hard on this, and over the preceding years and many, many venues... It was lovely to see friends old and new there and nose around the open studios. Do go along and use the cafe, go to events, see the shows... I will be getting involved with some literary things there in the future too... Andre Stitt – Estateless continues at the new space on Belle Vue Way. Music continues at the old venue, now called Down by Here but still programmed by Scott, who is putting on some class acts.
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