Fourth Estate is running an Anonthology
By Paul Biba
As part of its 25th anniversary the Fourth Estate is running this event. All reading is done through your browser, which not something I would ever do, but for those who can tolerate reading on a computer screen it looks like fun.
When you go into a bookshop, how often do you look for the author’s name before you look at the title? How much value do you place on literary prizes, or Richard and Judy stickers? Do writer’s reputations matter? Should they? Can you really judge a book by its author?
The Anonthology is an experimental project to assess the importance placed on name and reputation over quality of writing. Amongst the writers contained within we have Orange and Genius Prize winners, Booker and Pulitzer Prize nominees. We have one author who’s sold over half a million copies, another who’s written over fifty books. But can you tell which is which? And how does it change the reading experience, not knowing if the author is young or old, male or female?
If you consider yourself something of a literary detective, you might like to try to work out who wrote what. If you do, we’d love to hear from you. We’ll even offer prizes to the winner worth over £100.The correct answers will be entered in a prize draw, the winner of which will receive five special editions of some of Fourth Estate’s most well-known titles, published to celebrate Fourth Estate’s 25th anniversary. And remember to keep checking back to the website as we reveal who wrote what.
You may be surprised.
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:36 am
Hi Paul,
Glad you think the anonthology looks like fun. We are in fact printing several thousand copies of the magazine that will be available – for free – at places around the UK, including the Hay festival and several independents. If your local bookshop is not stocking it, why not ask them to order it in?
And Paul – if you’d like a printed copy yourself – do please email me at the email address suppied, with your postal address, and I’ll pop a copy in the post!
Best,
Katy
July 18th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Great publication. I’ve written a detailed review of it at the website address on this comment.