Danuta profile picture

Danuta

All you need to know about publishing: http://www.danutakean.com

About Me

I am a freelance arts journalist who knows more about the book world than is healthy. My website, http://www.danutakean.com has all my past articles and information on everything from getting a literary agent to how to make a bestseller, plus gig and film reviews. Loves: gigs and films (note, not movies). Hates: people who talk through gigs. get back to Weatherspoons you chattering wenches!

My Interests

Music, film, books, politics, walking and travelling

I'd like to meet:

Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder....if I need to explain we shouldn't be talking.

Music:

From the National to Nouvelle Vague. Curtis Ellers, the world's angriest banjo player, rocked my boat at the 12 Bar; Langholme Slim made me jump for joy at Borderline; and The National made me cry, again, at Koko. What is rocking my boat at the moment? Sufjan Stevens, the Loose Collective, Ryan Adams, the Raconteurs, the Editors....Like I say, so little time..... The Smiths always top my chart. Top of my Hate Parade: people who talk at gigs. SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!!!!

Movies:

The Appartment, Some Like it Hot, Sunset Boulevard, Days of Wine and Rose, Rear Window, Matter of Life and Death, Now Voyager, the Red Shoes, Night of the Hunter, Seven Samurai, Drunken Angel, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gene Kelly, Fred Astair, City of God, The Constant Gardener, Mary Poppins, Good Night, and Good Luck, Brick, Donnie Darko, M Hire, Amelie...these are a few of my fabourite things....

Television:

no time to watch car crash trash, though I will always find an hour for Oddiewatch

Books:

Mukarami, the Moomins, Patrick Neate, John Banville, Ian Rankin, Ray Bradbury, Philip Pullman, Douglas Kennedy, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Molesworth, Jake Arnott, Antony Beevor, Thackery, Wilkie Collins and Hoskins's The Making of the English Landscape.

Heroes:

Mslexia, me mum, Steven Patrick Morissey, Billy Wilder, Nelson Mandela (I shook his hand!), George Clooney, JK Rowling, Any artist, especially those without money or connections, who keeps going and breaks through.

My Blog

New blog posts

Now I am back blogging I have posted a couple of pieces that may be of interest. First one on Maria Rejt, one of the best crime editors in the UK talking about how she finds new authors. She s behind ...
Posted by Danuta on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:18:00 PST

Im back and this time Clarkson gets it!

I haven't been around for ages...but now I am back. The reason for the long absence is that I had a baby in July and she has rather taken up my time. Anyway, sorry. I've posted a new article on my web...
Posted by Danuta on Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:33:00 PST

New Rules for Small Publishers

I have written an incredibly long blog about what authors should watch out for when approached by small publishers and new start ups. It is written in response to the failure of The Friday Project, th...
Posted by Danuta on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:10:00 PST

Why is publishing so white?

I have now written two reports on the lack of representation of black and minority ethnic people within UK publishing. The first was four years ago and made depressing reading. I found that the handfu...
Posted by Danuta on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:13:00 PST

Blame the mother?

Had a bit of a rant on my website about the coverage of the two working class mothers whose daughters have gone missing/been murdered recently. Sometimes I think the Revolution ain’t never gonna...
Posted by Danuta on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:05:00 PST

The joy of tax

The latest issue of the Author had a very good piece in it about tax. It was close to home as I was - due to morning sickness - very late doing my accounts this year. One of the things that you don't ...
Posted by Danuta on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:53:00 PST

Flashfiction and write your own blurbs

Now if I am lucky, this blog will appear, but MySpace has been rubbish and so I have no faith - I have tried four times now to post this.....Anyway, please have a look at my website, where I have post...
Posted by Danuta on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:37:00 PST

Dreaming of having your book published? There are some things you need to be aware of&

I have posted on my website an article I wrote for the Public Lending Right pamphlet. Writers talk, which has been sent to MPs among others to lobby for the better treatment of writers. Here is an ex...
Posted by Danuta on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:11:00 PST

Niursery criomes and Madeleine McCann

I have posted a blog on my website based on an interview I have just done with Scarlett Thomas, author of The End of Mr Y, for Mslexia. She talked about narrative archetypes and the way the Madeleine ...
Posted by Danuta on Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:33:00 PST

misery memoirs

I've posted a piece about misery memoirs on my website, www.danutakean.com, which appeared in today's Daily Mail. Basically, I have said it is time that these books stopped. They are getting ever mor...
Posted by Danuta on Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:58:00 PST