article_text
stringlengths 294
32.8k
⌀ | topic
stringlengths 3
42
|
|---|---|
Home
News (Image credit: European Parliament) The European Parliament has been a vocal supporter of universal chargers with USB Type-C connectors to reduce the amount of electronic waste produced by the bloc every year. This week the European Parliament formally ratified (opens in new tab) the new law under which virtually all mobile electronics sold in the EU in the coming years will have to support USB-C charging.Starting from 2024, all smartphones, tablets, game consoles, headphones, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, e-book readers, portable speakers, and cameras sold in the EU will have to come with a USB Type-C port for charging. Starting from Spring 2026, the rule will extend to laptops.The law will apply to all portable electronics that require power delivery of up to 100 Watts, which means that not all laptops will be required to feature a USB Type-C port for charging. So, for example, high-performance gaming notebooks will not need to use USB Type-C charging. Furthermore, it does not look like the EU will force companies like Apple to eliminate their proprietary charging connectors (such as those with MagSafe plug) but will only require all laptops to support USB-C.The EU's common charger initiative does not end with wired USB charging as the bloc wants to harmonize interoperability requirements for wireless chargers to ensure interoperability tween devices from other suppliers and avoid the technological 'lock-in' effect by the end of 2024.To help the end user make more informed decisions about which power bricks to buy for their devices, the EU will also demand hardware companies equipped with chargers and electronics with appropriate labels that reflect the capabilities of new power bricks.The EU believes that universal chargers will help EU citizens to save up to €250 million per year on unnecessary power brick purchases and eliminate about 11,000 tonnes of e-waste annually in the block. Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Silicon Valley’s Applied Materials on Monday to highlight White House support for the company’s just-announced $4 billion project in Sunnyvale to speed development of advanced computer chips, help rebuild the lagging U.S semiconductor industry, and make the U.S. less dependent on foreign-made chips.
Harris, speaking to an audience of hundreds of technology industry workers and leaders at a company campus in Sunnyvale, said new federal incentives created by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act enabled the Applied Materials project. Harris did not specify what incentives the Santa Clara-based company, which makes chip-manufacturing equipment, is to receive.
“As indispensable as semiconductors are today, they will be come even more important in the future,” the East Bay native said, citing the technology’s role in solar and wind power technology, satellite networks for high-speed internet, and artificial intelligence applications in medicine and agriculture.
The CHIPS and Science Act directs $280 billion in spending over the next decade, with $200 billion for commercialization and research and development, and $53 billion for semiconductor manufacturing, R&D and workforce development, plus $24 billion in tax credits for chip making.
The silicon chip, the technology that gave this region its name, is today made mostly overseas. Harris’ visit reflects the White House’s push to reverse the decline in U.S. chip making, to support national security, the economy and the nation’s tech industries. The U.S., once a major player in chip making with 37% of the world’s production in the ’90s, now makes 12%, according to an October report from consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, which has projected the size of the semiconductor market at $1 trillion by 2030. Pandemic-related supply chain snafus, particularly of the chips used in cars, highlighted the perils for the U.S. of heavy reliance on overseas-made semiconductors.
Applied Materials, along with Lam Research in Fremont and KLA Corporation in Milpitas, is among the world’s top chip-making equipment manufacturers, and chip-design titans Nvidia, Apple and Google keep Silicon Valley at the forefront of chip development, even as the manufacturing has largely moved overseas.
Silicon Valley companies are “the global leaders in semiconductor design,” said Sean Randolph, senior director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.
Applied Materials’s project, though not making semiconductors, will help build up domestic chip making by “leveraging the expertise here in the Bay Area to accelerate the manufacturing process in the U.S. and globally with our partners,” Randolph said.
Harris’ visit comes a day after China banned chips from Idaho-based manufacturer Micron, and as U.S. tech and political leaders fret that China’s threatening behavior toward Taiwan could lead to disruption of chip flow from Taiwan, which makes most of the world’s chips, and nearly all the most sophisticated ones.
The new Applied Materials “EPIC” facility, slated for completion in early 2026, with the $4 billion spent over seven years, is to include a sterile room bigger than three football fields where chipmakers can have a dedicated space to work with “next-generation technologies and tools,” and university researchers can collaborate with chip-industry professionals, Applied Materials said.
“By investing in manufacturing capacity we will create a more resilient supply chain,” CEO Gary Dickerson told the crowd assembled under and around a large tent on a company campus in Sunnyvale.
Applied Materials said it expected building the facility to employ up to 1,500 construction workers, and that EPIC would create up to 2,000 new engineering jobs, and potentially thousands more in related industries.
The amount the company intends to spend will depend on what level of funding it receives via the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, it said. Applied Materials last year received a $30 million grant from the State of California intended to help the firm obtain Chips Act funding.
Quickly advancing artificial intelligence and the transition to cleaner energy are among tech industry trends that will accelerate chip demand in coming years, said Prabu Raja, president of Applied Materials’ semiconductor products group.
The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in August, has spurred major investment announcements by companies expecting to benefit. Micron, anticipating “grants and credits made possible” by the act, said in August it would spend $40 billion through 2029 to build up memory-chip manufacturing in the U.S. Also in August, semiconductor firms GlobalFoundries, until recently based in Santa Clara and now headquartered in New York, and Qualcomm of San Diego announced a partnership said by the White House to include $4.2 billion to make chips in GlobalFoundry’s New York plant.
Iconic Santa Clara chip maker Intel is working to complete a deal announced last year to buy Israeli semiconductor maker Tower Semiconductor, which owns factories in Newport Beach and San Antonio, Texas, as well as in Japan and Israel.
Harris appears to have been put prominently out front in the White House’s messaging on technology, meeting with industry CEOs earlier this month and warning of risks from generative AI. In August, she visited the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland to promote the U.S. space industry, after in December convening the Biden administration’s first National Space Council meeting. | Tech Industry Trends |
Although the U.S. government has imposed extensive restrictions against the Chinese high-tech industry in a bid to prevent the latter from obtaining advanced chips and wafer fab equipment (WFE) made by American companies, Chinese entities can still get what they need using various loopholes, a report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has revealed. SMIC's high-volume production of 7nm chips illustrates that Chinese companies can definitely overcome U.S. sanctions.
The measures imposed by the U.S. administration in Oct. 2023 have notably impacted China's artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and semiconductor sectors, in general — but loopholes and China's adaptive strategies have undermined their overall effectiveness, reports The Register.
The China export rules imposed last year require U.S. companies and individuals to secure licenses for selling equipment and technologies used in producing non-planar transistor logic chips on 14nm/16nm nodes and smaller, 3D NAND with 128 layers or more, and DRAM memory chips with a half-pitch of 18nm or less. These regulations also extend to foreign firms exporting U.S.-originated components.
However, tools that are used to make 28nm chips can be used in production of 5nm ICs and neither makers of WFE nor the U.S. government can control how these tools are used.
"With BIS using a 14nm restriction limit, importers are often able to purchase the equipment if they claim it is being used on an older production line, and with limited capacity for end-use inspections it is difficult to verify the equipment is not being used to produce more advanced chips," the report reads.
The report outlines a number of significant enforcement challenges and loopholes. For example, it shows how Chinese chipmakers are acquiring tools for producing chips that are only marginally behind the target technology nodes, bypassing the intent of the bans. They can still equip their fabs with fairly advanced tools and produce chips that are close to those being regulated.
Another way Chinese companies have managed to continue producing advanced chips is by procuring tools from countries other than the U.S., before sales were restricted. Chinese companies were able to purchase advanced tools from Dutch and Japanese companies for about a year after the U.S. first imposed restrictions.
Perhaps the best example of how Chinese companies have been evading U.S. sanctions is Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co.'s high-volume production of the advanced Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 9000S application processor using its 2nd Generation 7nm process technology. The company can apparently produce a boatload of such chips using tools that it obtained before it was blacklisted and WFE that it managed to acquire after it was blacklisted (using various loopholes).
Stay on the Cutting Edge
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
In a back room inside Boston’s social club the ‘Quin House, venture capitalist John Werner made a statement that evoked cheers and a round of applause.Stanford University (and Silicon Valley) might have won “web2,” he said, referring to companies like Google and Facebook, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (and Boston) would win “web3.”If Werner said that anywhere else in the city, he might have been met with puzzled looks. What is web3, anyway? (Hold that thought.)But the managing director of Cambridge-based Link Ventures was surrounded by a group of entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders who believe we are on the brink of a tech revolution. And they were gathering the night before a conference designed to cement Boston’s place in a new industry based on crypto tech.The event was called the Imagination in Action Web3 Summit. It took over the top floor of the MIT Media Lab last week and was the first of six similar events set to take place over the next two years, in Boston, San Francisco, and Davos, Switzerland. Werner, who convened the guest list, said multiple times throughout the day that people who travel to every location at least once will receive a chia pet.Get Innovation BeatBoston Globe tech reporters tell the story of the region's technology and innovation industry, highlighting key players, trends, and why they matter.“Web3 ... there’s a lot we have to figure out,” he said during his opening remarks. “Is it hype? Is it real? Is it a mirage? We’re here to examine the possibilities.”An image from the Imagination in Action Web3 Summit, held at the MIT Media Lab on June 30.Courtesy of John WernerHe said his web3 summits would be much different than crypto conferences like Consensus, which he said drew “snake-oil kind of sales people” to Austin, Texas, last month.“We don’t want to be known as that place,” Werner said.In fact, the summit was more Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference-esque. But while that conference, hosted by an investment bank, convenes Internet moguls like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, Werner wants his summit to draw the top people building web3, a future version of the web based on blockchain technologies and principles.The high-level difference between web2 and web3 is who owns — and profits from — data. Proponents of web3 want to build an Internet where individuals have more control over their own data and how it is used.“We think the next Google or Amazon could be two people who met here today,” Werner said.The vibe of this summit was different, compared to other crypto-related gatherings that tend to be dominated by young guys in t-shirts, hoodies, and baseball caps. This one felt a bit more conservative and included older men wearing dress shirts and khakis.A photo from the Imagination in Action Web3 Summit at the MIT Media Lab on June 30.Courtesy of John WernerAnd whereas other conferences are known for parties that last until the early hours of the morning, the event at MIT started before 9 a.m. and concluded around 6 p.m.“I didn’t meet a single crypto bro, and for that I am grateful,” one person wrote in a post-event feedback form.At this point, no one knows where web3 will go — or what role MIT or Boston will play in its future. But at least some people might walk away with a chia pet.Anissa Gardizy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @anissagardizy8 and on Instagram @anissagardizy.journalism. | Tech Industry Trends |
October 13, 2022 5:30 AM Gaming is the top form of entertainment among young folks.Image Credit: Bain Interested in learning what's next for the gaming industry? Join gaming executives to discuss emerging parts of the industry this October at GamesBeat Summit Next. Register today. Bain & Company predicted that the game industry’s global revenue could grow by more than 50% over the next five years to $300 billion. In a new research report, the global consultancy said the industry growth is accelerating thanks to heavy engagement of younger gamers (ages 13 to 17) who spend about 40% more in video game environments than with any other form of media. To me, it’s interesting to see a big firm like Bain pay attention to games, as it hasn’t done as much research on the sector in the past. (James is going to be one of the scores of speakers at our GamesBeat Summit Next 2022 event on October 25-26 in San Francisco; you can use Dean50 for a 50% off discount.) This prediction looks at gaming’s own internal growth factors, and it isn’t necessarily being slowed by weak macroeconomic trends. In fact, it’s growing faster than any other kind of entertainment, said Andre James, global head of Bain’s Media and Entertainment practice, in an interview with GamesBeat. In fact, those other forms of entertainment will lose time to gaming. While gaming’s growth rate sounds high, it’s about 9% or 10% a year, which isn’t blazing fast but sounds good as other industries contract. But James notes it is very good growth for an industry that is already around $195 billion in size. To put that in perspective, the global TV market is around $259 billion. “That bullishness on the market is really driven by underlying dynamics,” James said. Consumer demand for games is growing, technology is advancing quickly, and monetization models are taking off. And this is before you count the potential of gaming’s foothold in virtual worlds — collectively called the metaverse — which is far ahead of other metaverse apps. “If I’m looking at a sector over the next five years, the gaming industry has some really attractive fundamentals that even in macroeconomic slowdowns,” James said. Andre James of Bain & Company.Investors have caught on and so they have poured more than $240 billion into game investments since 2019. Those investors include the likes of Netflix, Saudi Arabia, Embracer Group, Griffin Gaming Partners, Makers Fund, Galaxy Interactive, Tencent, Microsoft, Sony, Transcend Fund, Bitkraft, NetEase, Epic Games and more. It is interesting that Bain is predicting that kind of inexorable growth for gaming even though we have come off some very unpredictable years. Gaming boomed in the pandemic as people sought to escape social isolation, sending growth numbers above 30% in 2020. That settled down and revenues grew around 10% in 2021, and now the industry is contracting as gaming feels pressure from inflation, supply chain shortages (now easing up), a global economic downturn, the war in Ukraine, a crypto winter, and a crash in the prices of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). “Obviously, with COVID-19 there were a lot of curve balls for lots of different industries, including gaming,” James said. “We’re still working through some of that. It’s a little bit more back to normal. There are countervailing forces, like supply chains starting to work their way through. The turbulence was real and will probably still have some impact. But when I go back to those underlying dynamics of technology, consumer behavior, monetization — we do think those are undeniable truths that ultimately will fuel the growth of the business in a healthy way over the next five-plus years.” Three trends changing gaming Global gaming could grow 50% in five years to $300 billion a year.According to Bain, the gaming industry has obtained more than $240 billion in investments just since 2019. Compared with slightly older gamers (18 to 34 years), younger gamers are more comfortable in virtual environments, and just over half of the ones surveyed by Bain say they prefer hanging out with friends in a game, rather than in person. “It is very undeniable that younger demographics are spending significantly more time on gaming than any other type [of entertainment]. And while all of us get busy, as we get older, we do think a good portion of that behavior will carry forward,” James said. “You’re just growing up with gaming.” Bain says three industry trends are contributing to these changes: The Matrix Awakens artificial city. It’s free with Unreal Engine 5.Technological advances: Increased processing power and reduced latency are enabling developers to create larger virtual worlds that run on any device, Bain said. Advancements in game engines are becoming a key development platform for other entertainment experiences, and improvements in 3-D graphics may transfer to applications beyond just the gaming industry. “You can get more things to more people in a more powerful way. So technology we do think is really enabling a lot of that growth,” James said. Games can access greater 5G connectivity, enabling developers to create larger virtual worlds that run onany device. Genshin Impact from miHoYo is one of the most recent games to take advantage of this development. Virtual and augmented reality are beginning to deliver experiences that live up to the hype and at more competitive prices. One indicator: More Meta Quest 2 headsets have been sold than Xbox Series X and S combined, Bain said. Advancements in game engines (principally Epic Games’ Unreal and Unity) are making it easier to develop higher-fidelity games, inviting more developers into the mix. They’re also becoming a key development platform for other entertainment experiences, and improvements in 3-D graphics may transfer to applications in other industries such as healthcare and construction, potentially opening new revenue streams. Game investments and acquisitions are on the rise.Metaverse-style experiences: Consumers are hungry for more immersive virtual environments, giving technology and media companies an opportunity to hold players’ engagement across various experiences, Bain said. Live virtual events, e-sports, and socializing are already part of the mix. Other media experiences and commerce will follow. These virtual worlds have certain characteristics that make them well-suited to become platforms for new experiences. They’re immersive, but overlap with the physical world. For example, a person may share an identity across different games or across the virtual and real-world environments. They’re persistent; when a user logs off, they continue to exist. They typically allow some level of customization for users, and they often have an e-commerce element that’s important for monetizing that customization. As noted above, our research finds younger players (13 to 17 years old) very comfortable in virtual worlds, and more likely than older players to believe they’ll spend more time there in the future. Developers should note that cross-play is also important to many of these players, who are 30% more likely to value “interoperability between devices,” compared with older players, Bain said. James noted that everybody’s definition of the metaverse is different, and so it isn’t easy to figure out how large a slice gaming will have in the metaverse. But with companies like Roblox and Epic Games, it’s clear that game companies have a leading role in the metaverse. “I think games will lead us into the metaverse, though by no means will it be the only driver,” James said. “No one else has built massive global virtual worlds as an early incarnation of the metaverse.” You can draw or sculpt with the Meta Quest Pro.New monetization models: More than a decade ago, hardcore gamers were skeptical of free-to-play games as attempts to over-monetize them. But the gaming market grew by 10-fold thanks to the low-entry barriers of free-to-play on mobile. Now it is 78% of game revenue, and the free-to-play model itself has advanced with ad-operated becoming more accepted on mobile, and in-app purchases becoming more differentiated. The economics of free-to-play are likely to further explode as virtual-world games become a foundation for the numerous other monetizable experiences. More games are also using blockchain technology to enable ownership of characters and accessories. The economics of free-to-play are likely to further explode as virtual-world games become a foundation for the numerous other monetizable experiences (for example, live virtual events, commerce) and more players join the metaverse. Subscription models are emerging, following other forms of media that have shifted from paid bundles to individual subscription services. However, this model has received a lukewarm response from gamers, due to the different way games are consumed compared with other media — fewer titles engaged more deeply, Bain said. Challenges The talent war is real.Investing in talent: Asked what every gaming CEO should be thinking about, James said, “Talent.” The supply of top talent isn’t keeping pace with demand, an imbalance that is set to worsen as gaming studios lose developers to big technology firms. Bain is encouraging game developers and publishers to prioritize certain areas for success as gaming becomes a foundation for both media, and nonmedia, experiences. “Though gamers have historically trended younger, our data suggests fewer gamers are aging out,” said James. “This shift in behavior brings challenges, as well as opportunities, for game developers and publishers who are faced with increasing consumer demands within virtual and nonvirtual environments. Our research shows that there are three trends that are changing the industry, as well as four areas gaming studios should prioritize to ensure success.” Most video game company executives surveyed by Bain cited talent as their No. 1 priority; yet, tech and video game companies are losing developers to big tech firms, whereas big tech companies pay about 20% more. Simply paying talent won’t be enough. Companies will need to develop more thoughtful talent strategies around recruitment, onboarding and training, to attract and retain the right talent. “Making these experiences and creating these games is an incredibly complex process. And you really need the right team and core creative team, technical team, bringing it all together,” James said. “I do think getting the right talent is the biggest constraint in growth. The competition for that talent doesn’t just exist within gaming, but extends into tech and broader media.” One critical aspect of talent strategy is to ensure that the smartest and most ambitious people remain engaged. For some, just working on a large franchise and moving it forward will be enough to satisfy their need for meaningful work. Others may lose interest in a project that endures too long and will focus on the next big thing. Understanding the differences and how to meet these demands will become more important as companies seek to hold onto their most essential employees. Aside from talent, other constraints on gaming will be regulation and data privacy initiatives. Not to mention the fact that many big tech companies take a 30% free from game developers on their distribution platforms. Geopolitics Bain noted it its earlier tech report that the U.S. and China are detangling due to world geopolitics such as the war in Ukraine, where China is perceived as siding with Russia and the U.S. is beginning to withhold technology. The gaming market hasn’t seen that kind of frostiness between the U.S. and China, but the big presence of game companies in both Ukraine and Russia has certainly disrupted the business, not to mention wrecked the lives of so many people. I suspect geopolitics will play a bigger role in gaming in the future. I also think that it’s clear that geopolitics will make it hard to achieve a truly global game business, and that might slow growth. It could also give some areas that are behind a chance to catch up with other regions. Geopolitics is a sword that cuts many ways. Blockchain’s opportunity Shrapnel is a multiplayer FPS with blockchain technology.More games are also using blockchain technology to enable ownership of characters and accessories. But the use of blockchain technology in games is still new and predominantly the reserve of crypto fans. To successfully grow beyond a fringe part of the gaming market, developers will need to focus first on the player experience rather than the marketplace, Bain said. In the long run, these different monetization models will increasingly live in harmony. While some premium games will still charge for the initial purchase, free-to-play will be the dominant model, complemented by in-game purchases and subscriptions, Bain said. “It’s true that blockchain has not really resonated with gamers,” James said. “With time, business models will evolve and there will be developers who can really engage all gamers.” Younger gamers [ages 13 to 17], however, seem like they’re more willing to engage in experimentation such as immersive metaverse experiences, he said. Some of those will come with blockchain attached. “I think blockchain and what it enables inside gaming can enhance the gaming experience,” James said. “It is in its early days. A lot of what we saw on some of the blockchain games was more about people who are trying to corner the market on NFTs. They were not true gamers. The technology will definitely embed itself into more games, but it’s an evolutionary trend over time. It will transcend some of the short-term volatility that we see in cryptos and NFTs.” It’s interesting to see the presence of hundreds of companies in the blockchain gaming space — a number which many say is ridiculous — from the perspective that Bain has of the larger Web3 market. In an earlier tech report for 2022, Bain found there were more than 4,000 firms in the blockchain space that raised more than $80 billion through June 2022. That investment level has dropped thanks to the market volatility, but bigger and bigger companies are getting involved and game companies should be aware of that. If your rule is to follow the money, then these figures are illuminating. Meeting rising expectations from investors and consumers Yuga Labs’ First Trip to Otherside took place on July 16.To make the most of the above trends, Bain encourages game developers and publishers to pay close attention to four areas that will differentiate future winners within the industry. These areas include: Scaling to billions: Large, virtual-world games are expensive to build, starting around $80 million to $300 million. They are heading toward a price tag of $1 billion by 2027. To recoup operational costs, game companies can scale by investing in platform technology, or through partnerships. Deal activity in the gaming sector is on the rise, with gaming software and financial investments being the fastest-growing segments. Companies will need to expand their M&A skills. If you don’t play this game, your competitors will outstrip you. Joel and Ellie look good, if not very different, in the upgraded The Last of Us.Good franchise management: Don’t launch New Coke when you’ve got Classic Coke. It’s more important than ever to develop meaningful and compelling intellectual property (IP). Most gaming companies need to gain experience in strategically managing a franchise across genres, technologies, and regions. Good franchise management puts the fan at the center of decisions. Franchise management increases engagement. As games get bigger, more expensive, and longer lived, it’s more important than ever manage the franchise over decades. Historically, franchise management has focused on extending a game’s life span through expansions, sequels or, more recently, recurrent content drops in live service games, Bain said. Big games like League of Legends, Pokémon, and Witcher have shown the potential of going beyond the game into TV, movies, and other media. The global reach and attractive demographics of the gamer audience make it especially attractive to Hollywood and marketers more broadly. But most gaming companies need to gain experience in strategically managing a franchise across genres, technologies, and regions. Good franchise management puts the fan at the center of decisions, Bain said. When deciding what to do next, the most important criterion is, “what will engage fans more?” rather than which product is ready to launch or which IP is most developed. Investment decisions will balance how much to spend on the game itself and how much to spend on the franchise beyond it, Bain said. I would note that Sony has received a lot of criticism for doing remakes too often. New partnerships will be essential, and although deals will share common contours, each one requires its own diligence and management. Investing now in effective franchise-management capabilities can help game companies prepare for the global media deals in their future, Bain said. A Decentraland landscape.Enhancing customer engagement: You have to get them coming back, or you may wind up like Decentraland with 38 daily active users, I say. Bain said that, as the uses of the metaverse expand and reach scale, players will need to be taken on journeys beyond just the game. Customers will expect the ability to move seamlessly between gameplay, socializing, and commerce, in physical and virtual worlds. Companies need to establish a proactive approach to building community. Customer experience takes players beyond the game. Bain said video game companies will need to go beyond just the game and related media. Identity, wallet, and memory of lived experiences will all need to move seamlessly with the consumer across devices and platforms. Every touch point has to recognize the consumer and enable a total seamless experience (e.g., one registration, one avatar). Cyberpunk 2077.The individual customer journey will also need to be highly personalized. With myriad possible media and nonmedia experiences, companies have to curate a journey that engages consumers based on what they love. This journey only begins at consumer interactions with the company. With the rise of out-of-game communities like Discord and Reddit, user-created content on TikTok and Twitch, and gaming influencers such as Valkyrae and Asmongold (66% of US teens follow influencers), companies need to establish a proactive approach to building community. “This is the moment for game companies to bet big and advance to the next level,” said AndersChristofferson, partner within Bain’s Media and Entertainment practice, in a statement. “Developers and publishers will need to sharpen their focus if they want to continue to thrive in an environment that’s becoming a greater part of our daily lives.” One of the important points is that it won’t be a winner-takes-all model, Bain said. There’s room for success across the spectrum, from high-resolution immersive games (such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Horizon Forbidden West) to low-cost, indie, and pixel-art games (like Stardew Valley and Among Us). The ubiquity of mobile phones means that even free-to-play casual games will draw huge numbers and add significant revenue to the markets. However, large, virtual world games, played by fewer but more engaged gamers over multiple platforms, are likely to contribute more to the industry’s profits, given the monetization opportunities throughmicrotransactions within games, and through other media experiences, virtual events, and commerce. And compared with slightly older gamers (18 to 34 years), younger gamers expect to spend more time in virtual worlds, more time with augmented and virtual reality games, and more time watching e-sports. They’re more comfortable in virtual environments, and just over half of them prefer hanging out with friends in a game rather than in person, Bain said. Though gamers have historically trended younger, our data suggests fewer gamers are aging out. This change will likely be supported as gaming becomes the foundation for other media and nonmedia experiences. So the demographic trend only gets stronger over time.GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. | Tech Industry Trends |
Canon recently introduced its nanoimprint lithography (NIL) tool that can be used to make chips on a 5nm-class process technology, and compete against ASML's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools. Apparently, Canon is looking to price its tool at a fraction of that of ASML's EUV litho machines, which could democratize access to advanced chip production for smaller chipmakers without vast resources, according to Bloomberg.
"The price will have one digit less than ASML's EUV [litho tool]," said Fujio Mitarai, chief executive of Canon, in an interview with Bloomberg. " I do not expect nanoimprint technology to overtake EUVs, but I’m confident this will create new opportunities and demand. We are already fielding many inquiries from customers."
Today's EUV systems with a 0.33 numerical aperture cost more than $150 million. Canon implies that its NIL lithography machine will cost around $15 million, which will open doors for smaller companies to make chips on advanced production nodes. However, the final pricing is yet to be determined and even Canon itself does not believe that nanoimprint lithography will replace traditional EUV and DUV scanners.
Conventional deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography systems project a circuit pattern onto a resist-layered wafer using a special photomask. By contrast, nanoimprint lithography (NIL) utilizes a mask (or rather a mold) that has been patterned with the circuit design, which is then directly stamped onto the resist on the wafer. This stamping method bypasses the need for an optical system to transfer the pattern, which may lead to a more precise replication of the complex circuit designs from the mold to the wafer. Theoretically, NIL can create intricate two-dimensional or three-dimensional circuit patterns in a single step, potentially reducing production costs as well. There is a catch though. While photolithography allows the processing of entire wafers at once (albeit in multiple steps) NIL is a serial process and may be slower.
Furthermore, a significant concern for NIL is its tendency to pick up defects because of the direct contact between the mold and the substrate during the imprinting step. Any particles or impurities on either the mold or the substrate can introduce flaws, potentially compromising the manufacturing process's yield and dependability. Avoiding this requires stringent process management and an ultra-clean environment to ensure a uniform quality of production.
Canon's entry into the market comes at a time when geopolitical tensions have led to a ban on the export of ASML's EUV and advanced DUV systems to China. This embargo has inadvertently created a potential niche for Canon's new offerings, which were not explicitly included in Japan's tightened chipmaking export controls implemented in July. But the head of Canon believes that the company will still be unable to ship its tool to China since it allows for the production of chips below 14nm, and such tools may require export licenses from the Japanese government.
"My understanding is that exports of anything beyond 14nm technology is banned, so I do not think we will be able to sell," said Mitarai.
Stay on the Cutting Edge
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Hackers and data miners continue to become more sophisticated, malicious and just plain greedy. Even the general public has become aware of security threats and incidents that splash across news headlines.
In other words, you don't have to be an enterprise IT pro to understand the latest security risks. That's the easy part.
The hard part is understanding who is at risk, why and when you might fall prey to an attack, how pervasive attacks are and what types of threats are most likely to occur. Also important is understanding the costs and consequences associated with attacks, technologies that prevent a cybersecurity attack, and the fallout once an attack or data breach has occurred. The following cybersecurity statistics should help you to understand the risks, ensure network security and -- just in case -- create an incident response plan.
Cybercrime and cybersecurity statistics
Before diving into the specific types of cyber attacks, you need to understand how much data is involved. By 2025, humanity's collective data will reach 175 zettabytes -- the number 175 followed by 21 zeros. This data includes everything from streaming video and dating apps to healthcare databases. Securing all this data is vital.
The main goal for cybercriminals is to acquire information -- name, passwords and financial records, for example -- that is then sold on the dark web. As explained below, attacks can happen at any time and both individuals and organizations are victims:
This article is part of
- Perhaps no cybersecurity trend has been bigger in the last several years than the scourge of attacks related to the supply chain. Cyber incidents, such as the breach at software management vendor SolarWinds and Log4j in the open source world, put organizations around the globe at risk. Analyst firm Gartner predicted that by 2025, 45% of global organizations will be impacted in some way by a supply chain attack.
- The volume of reported vulnerabilities continues to rise. The HackerOne 2022 "Hacker-Powered Security Report" found that ethical hackers were able to discover over 65,000 vulnerabilities in 2022 alone, up by 21% over 2021.
- Cybersecurity measures in place by businesses, governments and individuals are increasingly being rendered obsolete by the growing sophistication of cybercriminals, according to "The Global Risks Report 2022" from the World Economic Forum.
- The cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $8 trillion in 2023 and will grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025, according Cybersecurity Ventures' "2022 Official Cybercrime Report," sponsored by eSentire.
- While businesses try to protect their own sensitive files from attack, customer information is stored in vulnerable databases all over the world. Identity fraud losses tallied a total of $52 billion and affected 42 million U.S. adults according to "2022 Identity Fraud Study: The Virtual Battleground" from Javelin Strategy & Research.
- It takes an average of 277 days for security teams to identify and contain a data breach, according to "Cost of a Data Breach 2022," a report released by IBM and Ponemon Institute.
- Cryptojacking is incredibly prevalent, growing by 230% in 2022, according to Kaspersky Lab.
- The same study noted that most hackers earn variable amounts from cryptojacking, with an average of approximately $1,600 per month.
- According to the IBM "Cost of a Data Breach 2022" report, data breaches involving lost or stolen credentials take longer to identify and cost $150,000 more than the average data breach.
- The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported the volume of complaints in 2021 as 847,376, an all-time high. Total losses from those complaints totaled over $6.9 billion.
Cybersecurity issues and threats
There are many types of security threats. Unlike a breach, a security incident doesn't necessarily mean information has been compromised, only that the information was threatened. The biggest types of security threats are malware, ransomware, social engineering, phishing, credential theft and distributed denial-of service (DDoS) attacks:
- The human element is the most common threat vector; it was the root cause of 82% of data breaches, according to Verizon's "2022 Data Breach Investigations Report." The human element especially plays a role in phishing attacks and stolen credentials. Phishing is often delivered via email; these attacks trick a user into clicking a link or providing information that can lead to exploitation.
- One bright note is malware: Mobile malware infections declined in the third quarter of 2022, to 5.6 million, according to a report from Kaspersky Lab.
- Ransomware attacks are a constant threat affecting all sectors, and it's only getting worse. Kaspersky Lab reported that the percentage of users impacted by targeted ransomware doubled in the first 10 months of 2022.
- Phishing attacks increased by 61% in 2022, according to the "2022 State of Phishing" report from SlashNext. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) reported that in the third quarter of 2022, it observed a total of 3 million phishing attacks, representing the worst quarter ever observed by the group.
- Among the most pernicious types of email attacks in 2022 was the reemergence of advance fee fraud scams, which rose by over 1,000% in the third quarter of 2022 according to the APWG. In an advance fee fraud scam, an unsuspecting user is promised a windfall if they are able to pay an advance fee upfront.
- The maximum attack bandwidth for DDoS attacks grew by 57% to 957.9 Gbps in the first half of 2022 compared with the second half of 2021, according to Netscout's 2022 "DDoS Threat Intelligence Report," with a total of just over 6 million attacks globally. Across the world, attacks actually decreased by 9% in the Asia-Pacific region. Comparatively, DDoS attack frequency in North America increased by 2%.
- One of the largest DDoS attacks in 2022 was a 2.5 Tbps attack reported by Cloudflare in the third quarter of the year. Cloudflare also reported a rising trend of ransom DDoS attacks, which were up 67% year over year in 2022. In a ransom DDoS attack, the attackers claim they will only stop an attack if they are paid a ransom.
The cost of cybercrime
Cybercrime can affect a business for years after the initial attack occurs. The costs associated with cyber attacks -- lawsuits, insurance rate hikes, criminal investigations and bad press -- can put a company out of business quickly:
- Part of maintaining a high level of security is ensuring non-security employees know how security affects their day-to-day activities. Building a security awareness training program is a necessary part of any company's security strategy. Employees ranging from associates to CEOs are constantly inundated with phishing emails. When you have mobile and IoT devices in your environment, creating a mobile incident response plan is a must. The cost of data breaches will rise from $3 trillion each year to more than $5 trillion in 2024, according to the "State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2021" report from Accenture.
- A single attack -- be it a data breach, malware, ransomware or DDoS attack -- cost companies in the U.S. a median of $18,000 in 2022, up from $10,000 in 2021, with 47% of all U.S. business suffering a cyber attack in some way, according to the "Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022."
- The average total cost of data breaches in 2022 was $4.35 million, according to the IBM/Ponemon Institute report mentioned above. Breaches in the healthcare industry were the costliest at $10.10 million on average. Breaches in the U.S. were the most expensive at $9.44 million.
- Though 43% of attacks are aimed at SMBs, only 14% of these businesses are prepared to defend themselves, according to Accenture.
- Excluding the Department of Defense, the U.S. government has budgeted $10.89 billion on cybersecurity spending for 2023. The Department of Homeland Security is set to receive roughly $2.6 billion in 2023.
- More than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023, an increase of 175% from 2018.
- By 2027, global spending on cybersecurity training will reach $10 billion, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. As the number of online users increases, insider threats are as equally significant as threats from outside the enterprise. Training employees to recognize security threats and report them can bolster your cyberdefense strategy.
Headlines from the cybersecurity industry
Plenty of security news broke in 2022. Hackers and cybercriminals ruthlessly attacked businesses and individuals alike. But cybercrimes aren't the only news security experts should consider from 2022. Here's a look at some of the major industry trends related to incident response, attacks and testing:
- According to VMware's 2022 "Global Incident Response Threat Report," 66% of organizations have seen a deepfake The report also found that 65% of organizations reported an increase in cyberattacks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- The FBI's Cyber's Most Wanted list features over 100 individuals and groups that conspired to commit the most damaging crimes against the U.S. These crimes include computer intrusions, wire fraud, identity theft, espionage, trade secret theft and many other offenses.
- China has quietly cornered the virtual private network (VPN) market, said security research firm VPNpro, which didn't want this news kept private. Six Chinese companies own 30% of VPN providers, and 97 of the top VPNs are run by 23 parent companies, many of which are based in countries with lax privacy laws. That's not a great way to keep the private in virtual private network.
- Organizations are conducting more application security testing scans than ever before, according to the Veracode "State of Software Security, Volume 12" report. In 2021, most firms were scanning applications approximately three times a week -- up from three times a year in 2010.
- Managing mobile device security is another challenge. Devices that have been rooted or jailbroken, along with devices that likely had malware installed, are one form of risk. Another mobile risk comes from the growing volume of SMS-based business email compromise According to the Federal Communications Commission, the volume of unsolicited text messages was three times more in 2022 than it was in 2019.
The skills shortage
The cybersecurity industry has an employee and skills shortage. But don't lose heart, faithful security pros: Joseph Blankenship, a research director for security and risk at Forrester Research, suggested organizations look inward for current employees who might be well suited for security careers, and then recruit and train them for those new roles. There might be plenty of individuals out there -- such as networking admins, developers, systems engineers and even security analysts -- with the chops needed for the job.
The U.S. government is also working to improve the recruitment process. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is among the most active government agencies that is recruiting for IT talent. In 2022, the agency had over 150 open cybersecurity positions.
Additional security employment statistics include the following:
- At the end of 2022, there was a security workforce gap of 436,080 jobs in the U.S. and 3.4 million globally, according to the 2022 "(ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study."
- The "State of Cybersecurity 2022" report from ISACA stated that 62% of organizations feel they are understaffed in terms of cybersecurity professionals. Adding further insult to injury, that study found that 60% of organizations have trouble holding onto qualified cybersecurity staff.
- That same survey reported the primary reason cybersecurity staff leave is that they are recruited by other companies. Other top reasons employees leave, the survey said, are high work stress levels and lack of management support.
- According to Symantec, two-thirds of cybersecurity decision-makers feel like quitting. The skills gap is partly due to the fact that security experts are leaving their jobs at an alarming rate. Symantec also found that four in five security professionals said they are burned out. Survey respondents said they feel set up for failure in a profession where the everyday role is reaching a state of chronic overload.
- Cybersecurity is a high-salary field to work in, particularly in North America. The (ISC)2 study listed the average salary for a cybersecurity professional in North America as $134,800. That figure drops to $93,535 in Europe, Middle East and Africa and falls even lower in Latin America to $22,185.
If the previous statistics have you lying awake in the middle of the night, here's a statistic to help you sleep: According to the "2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey" by TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, 52% of organizations said they plan on increasing IT spending in 2023, with cybersecurity being a top priority.
"With an expected increase in criminal activity, organizations will need to invest strategically in areas like vulnerability management and security hygiene -- both internally and throughout their supply chain," stated Dave Gruber, cybersecurity principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. | Tech Industry Trends |
Not all startup founders have the opportunity or desire to move to Silicon Valley, New York, London, ... [+] Beijing, or any of the other big startup hubs. Yet, being part of a thriving startup community provides huge benefits. In this article, we talk about how to find a way to connect to these ecosystems remotely. getty It’s common sense that being part of a thriving startup community can bring immense advantages to your own project. Yet, not all startup founders have the opportunity or desire to move to Silicon Valley, New York, London, Beijing, or any of the other big startup hubs. In this article, we’ll talk about how to find a productive compromise. Paul Graham, one of the founders of Y Combinator, talks in his blog about the concept of the Milanese Leonardo. The idea is that there is no such person - all the great Italian renaissance painters are from Florence. Surely, there were people with plenty of talent in 15th century Milano, yet they weren’t able to realize their talent as well as their fellow Florentine painters. “At any given time there are a few hot topics and a few groups doing great work on them, and it's nearly impossible to do good work yourself if you're too far removed from one of these centers. You can push or pull these trends to some extent, but you can't break away from them. (Maybe you can, but the Milanese Leonardo couldn't.)” Graham says in his blog. The principle is fully applicable to startups. Being connected to a thriving ecosystem is a crucial factor for the success of any startup project.
Yet, the Milanese Leonardo didn’t have access to the internet. To benefit from the advantages of startup ecosystems without moving there, it’s interesting to consider the exact factors that make it more likely for a startup project to succeed in one geographical spot compared to another. Access To Knowledge
Success in any field is achieved based on accumulated knowledge. Startups and the tech industries in which they thrive have their own specificities, and being part of a community with a deep pool of accumulated expertise makes a huge difference. It’s hard to be successful in a high-value-added field if you have to start by reinventing the wheel, so access to fellow successful startup founders, mentors, and knowledgeable partners is an advantage that’s hard to compensate for. To get access to knowledge, you can do two things. First, you can actively consume the informational content created by people who have been successful in what you want to do. Paul Graham’s essays are a great example. Second and much more importantly, you need to search for a personal connection with people working in your industry and located in thriving hubs. Communicate online, connect on social media, participate in forums, and consider traveling to hubs and events to create these connections naturally. If you are serious about building a tech startup, it’s a great idea to create a strong connection with at least one investor, mentor, or partner located in an active startup hub. This person will serve as your bridge to the community not only in terms of knowledge but also in terms of connections.
Connectedness and Access To Talent
Attracting startup talents is no easy task, so it helps a great deal if you live in a community where you’ll get acquainted with such people.
After the pandemic, however, remote work became much more standard, especially for developers. Building a remote team is almost mandatory if you are not located in a startup hub. You simply wouldn’t have access to high-quality talent locally, which would make your growth much harder.
Access To Capital
Last but not least, most VCs and angel investors with successful investment track records are located in startup hubs. This makes it easier to fundraise if you live and work there yourself. Some investors even say that they don’t invest in companies that are not located within driving distance.
Let’s assume you have already solved your access to knowledge and connections problem, which is a big part of the reason good investors add a lot of value to early-stage projects. If you are only interested in capital, then fortunately it is likely that your local government is trying to stimulate and develop an active ecosystem, and the main way they are doing that is by providing financing to SMEs.
The capital available wouldn’t be close to the amount of capital circulating in startup hubs, but the competition for it would be smaller. If you manage to build good traction, then it is possible to find funding locally, which would in turn help you get high-quality talent.
The three aspects we mentioned above form a positive feedback loop. The easiest way to benefit from them is to be part of a thriving startup ecosystem, but if that is not an option, then you can try to use the power of online connection and remote work to compensate and put yourself in a similar position. | Tech Industry Trends |
The best marketing podcasts in 2023 are coming your way, each offering fresh insights on how you’ll make this year productive and bountiful.
The best marketing podcasts in 2023 are coming your way, each offering fresh insights on how you’ll make this year productive and bountiful.
Today, podcasts are making noise in the digital environment as a new way of learning new things, keeping updated with trends, and sourcing innovative ideas.
Marketing podcasts often cover the hottest topics—from NFTs to QR code generator platforms and other software—to show companies how they can improve their marketing strategies.
We have compiled 25 podcasts you should listen to and stream to learn how the best marketers guarantee success so that you’ll also achieve your marketing goals for 2023.
25 best marketing podcasts you should listen to in 2023
On the hunt for new marketing strategies and ways to improve your campaigns? Check out these top marketing podcasts to listen to on Spotify and other streaming platforms:
1. Stay QRious
Host: QR TIGER
Topics: QR code marketing, sales and marketing
The Stay QRious podcast focuses on releasing the best marketing content revolving around QR codes—their best use cases, sales and marketing strategies, and more.
They tackle topics on different QR code solutions, including how to use QR codes in various industries and how to best promote products by creating QR codes using the most advanced QR code generator online.
Expand your marketing knowledge by tuning in to this podcast and learning to implement modern marketing strategies with QR codes.
2. Social Media Marketing Podcast
Host: Michael Stelzner
Topics: Social media marketing
Stelzner collaborates with social media marketers and experts on this podcast to discuss successful marketing strategies.
Aside from offering tips to optimize social media marketing strategies, they also happily share insights and opinions on the latest news in social media marketing.
3. Online Marketing Made Easy
Host: Amy Porterfield
Topics: Online marketing
This podcast provides practical advice for business owners wishing to expand online, covering various digital marketing topics, including content and email marketing.
Amy Porterfield shares her experiences to determine what worked and what she would do differently. She also invites marketing experts to share their perspectives on developing a successful digital marketing strategy.
4. The CMO Podcast
Host: Jim Stengel
Topics: CMO, Marketing
The CMO Podcast dives deeper into the role of the chief marketing officer.
Jim Stengel, the former CMO of Procter & Gamble, aims to discuss and give insights to understand the CMO’s function within a company and how this role impacts the entire consumer experience.
He has collaborated with the top marketers at major companies, such as Crocs, The UPS Store, and Deloitte.
5. Social Pros Podcast
Host: Jay Baer and Adam Brown
Topics: Social media marketing
In this podcast, Jay Baer and Adam Brown sit with weekly special guests to discuss the secrets to success on social media.
Throughout 430 episodes, they interviewed marketers from businesses like Ford, MTV, and IBM to provide a variety of social media perspectives across industries and target audiences.
6. The Marketing Book Podcast
Host: Douglas Burdett
Topics: Latest marketing literature
This podcast channel discusses the most recent marketing literature by interviewing various authors about their most recent book releases regarding marketing or sales.
Burdett digs into each book’s key ideas, gains additional perspective on facts that caught his attention, and develops a rapport with his guests during the sit-down, giving you just enough information from the book’s content.
7. Marketing Over Coffee
Host: Christopher S. Penn and John J. Wall
Topics: New media, marketing & technology
Hosts Christopher S. Penn and John J. Wall discuss the most recent developments in technology and marketing each week on their podcast channel.
They also invite experts to talk more about interesting and relevant topics, like how to time content or organize a virtual event. They also provide questions that can help direct your marketing plan.
8. The Digital Marketing Podcast
Host: Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers
Topics: Current trends and tools
Professional marketers Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers tackle the latest marketing news, tools, techniques, and strategy developments by interviewing global experts and sharing their insightful thoughts.
As one of the best podcasts for marketing, this channel provides advice on content production, audience intelligence tools, and more subjective debates about social media toxicity and business culture.
9. Happy Market Research
Host: Jamin Brazil
Topics: Market research
With a focus on all facets of market research, Jamin Brazil speaks with guests about turning discoveries into plans.
During the session, Brazil focuses on each guest’s area of expertise to give the audience essential advice and noteworthy takeaways.
10. Perpetual Traffic
Host: Kasim Aslam and Ralph Burns
Topics: Paid traffic on Facebook, Twitter, Google AdWords, and social media platforms
In this podcast, Kasim Aslam and Ralph Burns discuss the effective ways to generate leads and sales using paid traffic.
They interview guests who bring their expertise to the program and share their experiences in their fields. Their podcast channel gives listeners a practical and all-around view of the latest paid media news and trends.
11. Marketing School
Host: Neil Patel and Eric Siu
Topics: Marketing, current industry trends
If you’re looking for the best podcast for modern marketers, listen to the Marketing School podcast channel by Neil Patel and Eric Siu.
This podcast delves into a wide range of relevant topics and current trends, including hiring procedures, marketing and advertising strategies, business tactics, branding, content development, and more.
The co-hosts examine market trends and provide practical marketing advice by drawing on their experiences as marketers and business owners.
12. This Old Marketing
Host: Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose
Topics: Current industry trends, marketing
This Old Marketing covers the latest news in media, marketing, content marketing, and digital content weekly.
It also discusses different aspects of marketing and gives you helpful information that will help you understand marketing and current trends.
Listen to this podcast to see their expert analysis of current market developments.
13. Unthinkable
Host: Jay Acunzo
Topics: Creativity, Marketing
Unthinkable has top-notch production standards and storytelling, which makes it a highly recommended marketing podcast.
The atmosphere is an ideal fusion of case studies and friendly conversations; you’ll hear the opinions and experiences of people from many facets of the business and creative professions.
14. Everyone Hates Marketers
Host: Louis Grenier
Topics: Marketing, product marketing, branding, content marketing, CRO, marketing psychology
In this podcast, Louis Grenier teaches marketers how to produce strong results without turning to sleazy approaches in his weekly episodes. It covers timeless issues like consumer research, marketing strategy, and brand positioning.
15. Market Your Genius
Host: Nikki Nash
Topics: Marketing and brand-building
Marketing guru Nikki Nash encourages listeners to learn more about marketing and brand-building on her podcast by sharing worthwhile episodes on various marketing topics.
The idea for the podcast came from her book of the same name, which serves as its foundation: bringing out your inner genius to achieve successful business results.
Key themes include increasing productivity and developing a positive outlook.
16. The Product Marketing Show
Host: Content Beta
Topics: Product Marketing
You’ll hear a variety of viewpoints from thought leaders and marketing experts interviewed in each episode of The Product Marketing Show.
On this channel, you learn about various areas of product marketing as they discuss how to develop strategies, scale up, and grow through product marketing and customer education.
17. Generation Builders
Host: Mariam Hakobyan
Topics: Growth Marketing
Generation Builders is a promising marketing podcast that deals with various growth marketing topics. They feature talks with the most talented personalities in product, growth, and community.
18. Ethics in Marketing
Host: Mikhail Myzgin
Topics: Marketing ethics
If you’re looking for a podcast to help you achieve your marketing goal without compromising moral standards and consumer beliefs, this is your top choice.
In this podcast, he explores the “boundaries of persuasion” in marketing and spreads awareness about unethical marketing practices.
The episodes give marketers a brand new perspective on marketing more ethically.
19. Everything Is Marketing
Host: Corey Haines
Topics: Marketing
Debuting in early 2021 and having more than 50 episodes to its credit, the Everything is Marketing podcast by Corey Haines—the founder of the online marketing platform Swipe Files—is an extension of his expanding online marketing community.
A range of guests and topics are covered in each episode, from Laura Lopuch’s discussion of cold email outreach strategies to Daniel Mitchell and Andrew Gazdecki’s discussion of purchasing and expanding a Shopify SaaS app.
20. The Copyblogger Podcast
Host: Tim Stoddart
Topics: Digital marketing, writing, SEO
This podcast generally revolves around content marketing, hence the word ‘copyblogger’ in its title. It also covers paid advertising, email list-building, the craft of writing, SEO, and creativity, among others.
This channel draws inspiration from various sources, including trending news stories, popular Twitter threads, and guests who defy convention.
21. The Smart Marketer Podcast
Host: Molly Pittman, Ezra Firestone, John Grimshaw
Topics: Digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing
This is one of the best digital marketing podcasts. You can learn from the hosts’ shared experiences and success stories—Molly Pittman, Ezra Firestone, and John Grimshaw.
The previous episodes covered paid advertising tactics, book recommendations for business professionals, and email marketing tactics.
22. Niche Pursuits
Host: Spencer Haws
Topics: SEO, Affiliate marketing
This podcast unveils the secret to finding niche business ideas, ways to make money online, and side hustles.
Host Spencer Haws talks with niche website owners about their successes, failures, and strategies in each episode, which lasts about 60 minutes.
Try listening to this podcast, which might be your go-to source to learn how to make money with niche affiliate websites.
23. Duct Tape Marketing Podcast
Host: John Jantsch
Topics: SEO, Branding, entrepreneurship, content marketing
This podcast revolves around business marketing strategies, resources, and tactics, such as developing a network of strategic partners, branding with purpose, and devising clever ways to fuel your referral system.
Each episode lasts more or less 20 minutes. John Jantsch invites influential guest speakers to discuss more on branding, entrepreneurship, content marketing, and SEO.
The topics also extend beyond marketing to inspire and motivate listeners, which makes listening to this podcast channel worthwhile.
24. The Martech Podcast
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Topics: SEO, mobile app marketing, content marketing
This podcast combines marketing and technology, diving into various topics in both fields. It also highlights the world-class stories of influential marketers in different industries.
Expect to learn advice on scaling business processes, selling mobile apps, and enhancing your content production strategy with SaaS.
25. Marketing Speak
Host: Stephan Spencer
Topics: Digital marketing, content marketing, copywriting, SEO
Marketing Speak features expert guests, each covering a specific marketing topic. Listeners will broaden their knowledge and develop skills in various digital marketing facets.
Along with the entertaining stories are helpful tips, tricks, and valuable insights from the top digital marketers.
Why you should start listening to the best podcasts for marketing today
Get away from the outside noise and feed your brain with marketing insights and the latest trends by listening to podcasts.
No matter the time of day, you can listen to podcasts that spark your interest. It’s free and available on popular audio streaming platforms like Spotify, iTunes, and Google Podcasts.
Expansion of marketing knowledge is just one thing to gain from listening to podcasts. And there’s a lot more to gain.
Here are some reasons why you should start listening to podcasts today:
1. Learn from experts in various fields
Listening to podcasts is the perfect way to learn about various topics from leaders in different fields. You get to gain knowledge and insights from their experiences.
Many podcasts exist for marketing, finance, fashion, business, technology, and more industries. You can learn something new and noteworthy with podcasts every day.
2. Productive leisure time
You can listen to podcasts whether you’re taking a break from work, doing household chores, making breakfast, or whatsoever. Whether it’s a chill day at home or a work day, podcasts can make your time worthwhile.
As marketers, fueling your creative juices and staying on top of things is important. It’s a good thing you can do it in your leisure time.
You can learn while doing other tasks since you can play it in the background anytime and anywhere. You can check things off your to-do list and learn new things simultaneously.
3. Source of inspiration and motivation
Some podcasts focus on sharing inspiring and motivational content. People share valuable and remarkable stories on podcasts that inspire and motivate listeners.
Marketers experiencing creative blocks can get fresh ideas and perspectives from industry experts. They can then apply these ideas to their strategies.
Feel free to listen to podcasts if you feel down or burned out from working.
4. Mental health improvement
According to studies, podcasts improve attention span, stimulate mental imagery, and boost mental health. Many people also find podcast listening more therapeutic than reading or watching.
It’s also worth noting that many podcasts now focus on promoting mental health improvement.
5. Better listening comprehension
People frequently struggle with effective communication; everyone wants to talk, yet they aren’t willing to listen. As communication is a two-way process, it is imperative to develop better listening skills.
Most people don’t realize that listening is also an active process since you must digest the information and create ideas and opinions—all while listening to the stimuli, which in this case, is a podcast.
You get to be more attentive and pick out the crucial details, especially with interesting and intriguing podcasts.
6. Keep up with current trends
Stay informed about trends and news worldwide and in your field by listening to podcasts.
You can obtain up-to-date information about current issues, controversies, timely and valuable discussions, and events in your industry and worldwide.
With podcasts, you’re on top of the trends and will never be left behind as people strive to share the latest and most relevant content.
7. Contributes to self-development and overall growth
Podcasts help you have a broader perspective in various areas of knowledge.
Many podcasts promote self-development and overall growth by sharing the most helpful and valuable tips on achieving the best version of yourself.
Different podcasts tackle different topics—personal growth, career, or financial freedom. Whatever phase you’re in, there’s always a relevant episode for you.
8. Free education and entertainment
“Learning is not confined to the classroom.” Multiple media for learning now exist, from videos and infographics to audiobooks and podcasts.
Streaming a podcast is just like listening to a teacher in class. The difference is you get to choose the time, place, and pace of your learning. And by the way, it’s free.
There are also entertaining podcasts about comedy, storytelling, and shared hobbies like cooking and gardening.
9. Best digital marketing podcasts are accessible and convenient
With podcasts, you don’t have to go out, pay, read, watch videos, or join lengthy lectures just to learn or get entertained. You don’t have to buy books or resources.
You can easily access various information. You only need the Internet and any device like a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
And the best part is you can download and save episodes on your device to listen on the go—while you’re jogging, doing house chores, or riding the bus.
10. Reduce screen time
What’s great about podcasts is that they’re a fun substitute for visual media. It’s an escape from mainstream media, which likely strains your eyes or triggers sensory overload.
Podcasts need little to no exertion. Since you only need to listen, you can do plenty of productive things rather than browsing the Internet on your phone or devices all day.
QR code generator as a tool for modern marketing strategy
The constantly-changing market trends and customer behavior challenge marketers. To make things even harder, most consumers have extremely short attention spans, averaging only 8 seconds.
Most people use smartphones daily for many purposes, including communication and information access.
They have become used to living fast and on the go, so marketers must adapt and realign their strategies to meet this new standard.
Here’s when QR code marketing comes along.
Adding QR codes to print or digital media allows consumers instant access to campaigns, promotions, and special offers.
And the best part? It only takes a smartphone to scan them and access their data.
QR codes in marketing campaigns offer information with a single scan. For marketers, this is an excellent strategy to launch engaging promotions, monitor the efficacy of the ads in real time, and retarget consumers.
Today, marketers use QR codes in various marketing campaigns and collaterals, such as magazines, flyers, brochures, TV ads, billboards, posters, banners, merchandise, product labels, and more.
Many marketers, advertisers, and brands have recognized the power of QR code marketing strategy. Big brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, L’Oréal, Lacoste, Nike, and Zara have used QR codes in their marketing campaigns.
The purpose and uses of QR codes are in alignment with ever-evolving consumer behavior and their modern demands, which is why it is best to use them as part of any marketing strategy.
Modern uses of QR codes
Here are some modern QR code uses you can try:
Podcast channel
You can create a URL QR code for your podcast channel to lead scanners directly to streaming platforms. They can instantly listen to a newly-launched episode with just one scan.
Rich banner ads
Promote all your social media channels by adding a social media QR code on your rich banner ads to boost reach and engagement.
Video kiosks
Encourage people to interact with your brand by integrating visually attractive QR codes on your video kiosk. These will help catch people’s attention.
‘For Sale’ signs
Provide more details on products or services using QR codes. It could lead to an image gallery to showcase the details of the product for sale.
Email newsletters
Increase email newsletter engagement and increase sign-ups by integrating QR codes. Email marketers can create QR codes and add them to promotional emails to lead readers to the email newsletters sign-up page.
Wine bottles
Use your wine bottles to explain the delicate process of making and aging your wine to guarantee the best for your consumers. You can embed a video in a QR code and print it on the bottle label.
Tags on clothes
Depending on the material, there are different ways of washing and caring for clothes. What works for cotton may not work for silk.
Provide detailed instructions or tips by adding QR codes to clothing tags.
Coffee cups
Promote your company, brand, and coffee products using QR codes on your collectible coffee cups.
Vehicles
Use a vCard QR code to give details on vehicle services and contact numbers to maintenance personnel so people will only have to scan when needed, especially in emergencies.
Recipes in magazines
You can provide a video tutorial on recipes, as people lean more toward videos when it comes to cooking. They just have to scan the QR code to watch the video as they cook.
Tattoos
Tattoo QR codes are a thing, and they’re a brilliant way to embed a hidden meaning, story, or memoir.
Here’s a tip: you can use a dynamic QR code so you can still change the embedded data even though the tattoo is already permanent on your skin.
Wedding invitations
Modernize your future wedding invitations with QR codes to show details like specific directions to the venue, motif, attire, and even prenup videos.
Invest in QR code marketing with QR TIGER QR Code Generator today
The best marketing podcasts can be your new source of fresh ideas and valuable insights to improve your marketing strategies.
Enjoy listening to experts in various industries as they tackle a wide range of practical and relevant topics. Also, don’t forget to take note of helpful tips while listening.
Listen to Stay QRious, a podcast by QR TIGER QR code generator, to learn more about QR code marketing and ways to improve your sales and marketing strategies.
Prepare to say toodles to lousy and boring marketing campaigns in 2023 and embrace the modern and creative way of delivering the best value in the market. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Future) Now that Europe, Japan and the U.S. are luring chipmakers to their shores with incentives and tax breaks in a bid to disrupt Taiwan's and South Korea's monopoly on leading-edge chipmaking, Taiwan is fighting back. Taiwanese government on Thursday approved tax breaks for high-tech companies that conduct research, development and manufacturing operations in the country.High-tech companies that invest huge amounts of money in R&D in Taiwan will be able to lower their income tax by 25%, according to the new amendment approved by Taiwan's Ministry of Economy on Thursday, reports Bloomberg. Also, the government will give a 5% tax break to companies that purchase advanced manufacturing equipment. At press time it was unclear how much Taiwanese companies need to invest in R&D or production tools to get the tax cuts and which R&D and manufacturing equipment the government considers advanced enough to provide the tax breaks. By implementing new tax breaks, the Taiwanese government hopes to attract companies like TSMC that does both R&D and manufacturing in Taiwan (and will therefore receive a 30% tax break). It also makes Taiwan more attractive to companies like Alchip, which designs chips in Taiwan (which is set to receive a 25% tax break if it invests enough in R&D), and Micron that operates two major fabs filled with boatload of expensive wafer production equipment (which is set to get a 5% tax cut). What is no less important is that the new tax breaks make Taiwan more alluring for huge high-tech companies like AMD, Intel and Nvidia, which invest huge amounts of money in R&D and have development centers in India because of low costs. If they establish similar operations in Taiwan, that will be a win for the country as engineers tend to earn good salaries. Taiwan's government does not exactly follow its peers from the U.S, Japan and Europe with direct subsidies and tax breaks for chipmakers. There are dozens of fabs on the island already, many of them are gargantuan TSMC's gigafabs (with production capacity of 100,000 or more wafer starts per month) and loads of them produce chips using leading-edge nodes. Those fabs are not going anywhere, companies like TSMC, Micron, UMC and other chipmakers will keep upgrading and expanding them for years to come. So, what Taiwan might need more is to lure more research and development operations to the country. More innovations will inevitably strengthen Taiwanese semiconductor production industry over time. When Morris Chang founded TSMC in 1987, he got $100 million from the Taiwanese government in exchange for a 49% stake. Other foundries that followed Chang's steps also got money from the government which understood importance of the semiconductor industry in general and contract chipmaking in particular. That was essentially Taiwan's analog of the CHIPS act implemented some 35 years before the U.S. Apparently, the government of Taiwan feels confident about semiconductor manufacturing industry in the country, but wants to lure in more scientists and engineers to strengthen it with innovations. Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
PhonePe launched the Indus AppStore Developer Platform on Saturday, promising no platform fee or commission on in-app purchases as the Walmart-backed fintech races to win Android developers in Google’s largest market.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup said developers can start registering and uploading their apps on the “made-in-India” app store, which supports 12 Indian languages and features a login system that revolves around phone numbers.
PhonePe will not charge developers any listing fee for the first year but move to a “nominal” cost thereafter, it said. It will not levy a commission on in-app purchases, it said. The startup said it has set up an India-based team for providing support to developers, a feature that may appeal to many local developers who have been frustrated with Google’s slow and U.S. timezone work hours.
TechCrunch reported about PhonePe’s plan to launch the app store in April. The startup, which has raised $850 million in recent quarters, has been working on the app store for years and internally sees it as a strategically crucial move, according to people familiar with the matter.
Indus Appstore Developer Platform’s launch comes at a time when many Indian businesses and startups have grown frustrated with Google, whose Android mobile operating system powers 97% of all smartphones in the country.
But despite the market size, app developers in India have always been forced to work with only one App Store for distributing their apps, said Akash Dongre, CPO & Co-Founder, Indus Appstore, in a statement.
“Indus Appstore hopes to provide app developers a credible alternative to the Google Playstore – one that is more localized and offers better app discovery and consumer engagement,” he added.
PhonePe said it will offer a range of additional features that developers can’t find on other platforms, including real-time analytics, deep insights on industry trends, and competitor analysis.
More to follow. | Tech Industry Trends |
Advanced Micro Devices made history this year when it surpassed Intel by market cap for the first time ever. Intel has long held the lead in the market for computer processors, but AMD's ascent results from the company branching out into entirely new sectors.In one of the biggest semiconductor acquisitions in history, AMD purchased adaptive chip company Xilinx in February for $49 billion. Now, AMD chips are in two Tesla models, NASA’s Mars Perseverance land rover, 5G cell towers and the world’s fastest supercomputer. “AMD is beating Intel on all the metrics that matter, and until and unless Intel can fix its manufacturing, find some new way to manufacture things, they will continue to do that,” said Jay Goldberg, semiconductor consultant at D2D Advisory.But a decade ago, analysts had a very different outlook for AMD.“It was almost a joke, right? Because for decades they had these incredible performance problems,” Goldberg said. “And that's changed.”CNBC sat down with AMD CEO Lisa Su to hear about her company’s remarkable comeback, and huge bets on new types of chips in the face of a PC slump, fresh restrictions on exports to China and shifting industry trends.‘Real men have fabs’AMD was founded in 1969 by eight men, chief among them Jerry Sanders. The famously colorful marketing executive had recently left Fairchild Semiconductor, which shares credit for the invention of the integrated circuit.“He was one of the best salesmen that Silicon Valley had ever seen," said Stacy Rasgon, semiconductor analyst at Bernstein Research. "Stories of lavish parties that they would throw. And there's one story about him and his wife coming down the stairs of the turret at the party in matching fur coats.”AMD Co-Founder Jerry Sanders poses at the original headquarters of Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, in Sunnyvale, California, in 1969AMDHe also coined an infamous phrase about chip fabrication plants, or fabs.“Jerry Sanders was very famous for saying, ‘Real men have fabs,’ which obviously is a comment that is problematic on a number of levels and has largely been disproven by history,” Goldberg said.As technology advances, making chips has become prohibitively expensive. It now takes billions of dollars and several years to build a fab. AMD now designs and tests chips and has no fabs.“When you think about what do you need to do to be world class and design, it's a certain set of skills," Su said. "And then what do you need to do to be world class In manufacturing? It's a different set of skills and the business model is different, the capital model is different.”Back in the '70s, AMD was pumping out computer chips. By the '80s, it was a second-source supplier for Intel. After AMD and Intel parted ways, AMD reverse engineered Intel’s chips to make its own products that were compatible with Intel’s groundbreaking x86 software. Intel sued AMD, but a settlement in 1995 gave AMD the right to continue designing x86 chips, making personal computer pricing more competitive for end consumers.In 2006, AMD bought major fabless chip company ATI for $5.4 billion. Then in 2009, AMD broke off its manufacturing arm altogether, forming GlobalFoundries.“That's when their execution really started to take off because they no longer had to worry about the foundry side of things,” Goldberg said.GlobalFoundries went public in 2021 and remains a top maker of the less advanced chips found in simpler components like a car’s anti-lock brakes or heads-up display. But it stopped making leading-edge chips in 2018. For those, AMD turned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which now makes all of AMD’s most advanced chips.Catching IntelAMD only has major competition from two other companies when it comes to designing the most advanced microprocessors: Nvidia in graphics processing units, GPUs, and Intel in central processing units, CPUs.While AMD controls far less GPU and CPU market share than Nvidia and Intel, respectively, it’s made remarkable strides since moving away from manufacturing and reducing capital expenditure. Meanwhile, Intel doubled down on manufacturing last year, committing $20 billion for new fabs in Arizona and up to $100 billion in Ohio, for what it says will be the world’s largest chip-making complex. But the projects are still years away from coming online.“Intel is just not moving forward fast enough," Goldberg said. "They've said they expect to continue to lose share in next year and I think we'll see that on the client side. And that's helped out AMD tremendously on the data center side.”AMD’s Zen line of CPUs, first released in 2017, is often seen as the key to the company's recent success. Su told CNBC it's her favorite product. It’s also what analysts say saved AMD from near bankruptcy.“They were like literally, like probably six months away from the edge and somehow they pulled out of it," Rasgon said. "They have this Hail Mary on this new product design that they're still selling like later generations of today, they call it Zen is their name for it. And it worked. It had a massively improved performance and enabled them to stem the share losses and ultimately turn them around.”AMD CEO Lisa Su shows the newly released Genoa CPU, the company's 4th generation EPYC processor, to CNBC's Katie Tarasov at AMD's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on November 8, 2022Jeniece PettittAmong the Zen products, AMD’s EPYC family of CPUs made monumental leaps on the data center side. Its latest, Genoa, was released earlier this month. AMD’s data center customers include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft Azure.“If you looked at our business five years ago, we were probably more than 80% - 90% in the consumer markets and very PC-centric and gaming-centric,” Su said. “As I thought about what we wanted for the strategy of the company, we believed that for high-performance computing, really the data center was the most strategic piece of the business.”AMD's revenue more than tripled between 2017 and 2021, growing from $5.3 billion to over $16 billion. Intel's annual revenue over that stretched, meanwhile, increased about 25% from close to $63 billion in 2017 to $79 billion last year.Geopolitical concerns and PC slumpAMD’s success at catching up to Intel’s technological advances is something many attribute to Su, who took over as CEO in 2014. AMD has more than tripled its employee count since then. Su was Fortune’s #2 Business Person of the Year in 2020 and the recipient of three of the semiconductor industry’s top honors. She also serves on President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science on Technology, which pushed hard for the recent passage of the CHIPS Act. It sets aside $52 billion for U.S. companies to manufacture chips domestically instead of overseas.“It's a recognition of just how important semiconductors are to both economic prosperity as well as national security in the United States,” Su said.With all the world’s most advanced semiconductors currently made in Asia, the chip shortage highlighted the problems of overseas dependency, especially amid continued tension between China and Taiwan. Now, TSMC is building a $12 billion 5-nanometer chip fab outside Phoenix.“We're pleased with the expansion in Arizona," Su said. "We think that's a great thing and we'd like to see it expand even more.”Earlier this month, the Biden administration enacted big new bans on semiconductor exports to China. AMD has about 3,000 employees in China and 25% of its sales were to China last year. But Su says the revenue impact has been “very small.”“When we look at the most recent regulations, they're not significantly impacting our business," Su said. "It does affect some of our highest-end chips that are used in sort of AI applications. And we were not selling those into China.”What is hurting AMD’s revenue, at least for now, is the PC slump. In its third-quarter earnings report earlier this month, AMD missed expectations, shortly after Intel warned of a soft fourth quarter. PC shipments were down nearly 20% in the third quarter, the steepest decline in more than 20 years.“It's down a bit more than perhaps we expected,” Su said. “There is a cycle of correction which happens from time to time, but we're very focused on the long-term road map.”Going customIt’s not just PC sales that are slowing. The very core of computer chip technology advancement is changing. An industry rule called Moore’s Law has long dictated that the number of transistors on a chip should double about every two years.“The process that we call Moore's Law still has at least another decade to go, but there's definitely, it's slowing down,” Goldberg said. “Everybody sort of used CPUs for everything, general purpose compute, but that's all slowed down. And so now it suddenly makes sense to do more customized solutions.”Former Xilinx CEO Victor Peng and AMD CEO Lisa Su on stage in Munich, Germany, at theAMDThat’s why AMD acquired Xilinx, known for its adaptive chips called Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs. Earlier this year, AMD also bought cloud startup Pensando for $1.9 billion. “We can quibble about some of the prices they paid for some of these things and what the returns will look like,” said Goldberg, adding that the acquisitions were ultimately a good decision. “They're building a custom compute business to help their customers design their own chips. I think that's a very, it's a smart strategy.”More and more big companies are designing their own custom chips. Amazon has its own Graviton processors for AWS. Google designs its own AI chips for the Pixel phone and a specific video chip for YouTube. Even John Deere is coming out with its own chips for autonomous tractors.“If you really look underneath what's happening in the chip industry over the last five years, everybody needs more chips and you see them everywhere, right?" Su said. "Particularly the growth of the cloud has been such a key trend over the last five years. And what that means is when you have very high volume growth in chips, you do want to do more customization.”Even basic chip architecture is at a transition point. AMD and Intel chips are based on the five-decade-old x86 architecture. Now ARM architecture chips are growing in popularity, with companies like Nvidia and Ampere making major promises about developing Arm CPUs, and Apple switching from Intel to self-designed ARM processors.“My view is it's really not a debate between x86 and Arm," Su said. "You're going to see basically, these two are the most important architectures out there in the market. And what we've seen is it's really about what you do with the compute.”For now, analysts say AMD is in a strong position as it diversifies alongside its core business of x86 computing chips.“AMD should fare much better in 2023 as we come out of the cycle, as their performance gains versus Intel start to become apparent, and as they start to build out on some of these new businesses,” Goldberg said.Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Correction: "And we were not selling those into China," said Lisa Su, AMD's CEO. Her quote has been updated to reflect a typo that appeared in an earlier version of this article. An industry rule called Moore’s Law has long dictated that the number of transistors on a chip should double about every two years. An earlier version misstated the rule. | Tech Industry Trends |
The "creator economy" is catching the attention – and wallets — of notable VCs.
Creator-focused startups are raising millions of dollars.
Here are the pitch decks that 21 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds.
The phrase "creator economy" skyrocketed as a buzzword in 2021 as creators, VCs, and entrepreneurs rushed to cash in on a booming industry.
More than 70,000 people used the phrase online between January and September 2021, according to United Talent Agency's IQ department, which tracks influencer-industry trends.
Money spent by marketers in the influencer-marketing industry is estimated to exceed $4 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence — but the creator economy now extends far beyond marketing.
Fueling this rapid growth is the millions of dollars being invested into startups like link-in-bio service Linktree (valued at $1.3 billion earlier this year) or affiliate marketing platform LTK (valued at $2 billion in late 2021). Creators themselves are getting investors, too, and groups — like esports team Faze Clan — are going public.
In 2021, more than $5 billion was invested into creator-focused startups in the US, according to The Information.
And while investors may be looking at slightly different factors now that the greater market has cooled off, they are still looking for startups creating practical tools for creator businesses.
For instance, July — a creator economy startup with a mission to simplify the brand deal process — announced in December a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six fund.
So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck.
Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that is more of a "conversation guider," cofounder and CEO Tony Tran told Insider.
"My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?" Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)
Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different decks depending on the type of investor or fund they were pitching to.
"I had two different versions, depending on the fund," said Jessica Wolf, Skye's CEO and cofounder. "If I knew a fund was more into pre-seed, all about the founder, I had one deck. But if I knew that they were a numbers person, I would use another one."
But every startup has a different approach.
Insider talked with founders who've pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.
Read the pitch decks that helped 21 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:
Read the original article on Business Insider | Tech Industry Trends |
How This New Style of Ecommerce is Transforming Online Business
Ecommerce is complex and time-consuming, and Done For You (DFY) services offer a way to outsource day-to-day operations to professionals, saving you time, money, and stress. It allows entrepreneurs to focus on other aspects of their business while experts take care of the operational tasks, leading to higher conversion rates and increased revenue potential.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Ecommerce has become one of the most popular ways for entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses and reach a global audience. However, managing an ecommerce store can be complex and time-consuming, especially when you don't have the expertise and experience.
Fortunately, the rise of done-for-you (DFY) ecommerce has made it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to get their ecommerce business off the ground while saving you time, money, and stress. This is because it allows you to outsource the day-to-day operations of your online business to experts who are experts.
As someone who has spent eight years in digital marketing, I've seen firsthand how DFY ecommerce has revolutionized how businesses operate online. This industry-altering solution is streamlining the ecommerce process and scaling businesses beyond 7 and 8 figures.
As the owner of a DFY agency, I'm excited to share my insights in this article on how this game-changing system can help entrepreneurs overcome common challenges and enable them to focus on what they do best — running their businesses.
Who can benefit from DFY systems?
DFY systems have become increasingly popular in the ecommerce industry due to the convenience they offer to entrepreneurs. DFY systems are for those who want to start an online store but lack the time, skills or resources to do everything themselves.
DFY system helps entrepreneurs to set up an ecommerce store while saving time and energy. This is because instead of worrying about designing a website, setting up payment gateways, managing inventors or shipping products to customers, all of these tasks are taken care of by experienced professionals who specialize in ecommerce.
Even if you already have an online store but are struggling to scale your operations, a DFY system can help you streamline your day-to-day operations and take your business to the next level.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced business owner, DFY systems can help you grow your ecommerce business without worrying about the technical details and other nitty gritty. By allowing professionals to take care of the operational tasks, you can focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing and sales.
Let's explore five reasons why entrepreneurs should consider DFY systems and how the system has transformed how entrepreneurs run their businesses online.
1. Time-saving
You don't have to worry about handling your day-to-day tasks with a DFY service since all of these tasks are taken care of for you. This frees up your time to focus on other aspects of your business or to spend more time with your family.
For example, imagine you run a small business selling handmade jewelry. With a DFY system, you can hand over the technicalities of the website and order fulfillment to a team of experts, leaving you more time to design new jewelry pieces.
2. Cost-effective
Building an ecommerce store from scratch can be expensive, requiring a significant amount of money to hire designers, developers and marketing experts. However, with a DFY system, you only pay for the services you need, and you can scale up or down as your business grows.
For instance, let's say you're a startup selling fitness equipment. Instead of hiring an in-house marketing team, you can work with a DFY agency with a proven track record of success in the fitness industry. This saves you money while providing high-quality marketing services to help you reach your target audience.
3. Expertise
DFY systems provide access to experienced professionals with years of experience. They are well-versed in the latest industry trends and best practices specializing in ecommerce, including web designers, developers, marketing experts and order fulfillment specialists.
For example, let's say you're a small business owner who sells skincare products. By working with a DFY agency, you can rest assured that you'll be in good hands with experts specializing in the beauty industry and can help you optimize your product pages, write compelling copy and design eye-catching visuals to attract potential customers.
4. Scalability
A DFY system allows you to scale your business quickly and efficiently. As your business grows, you can easily add new products, expand your customer base and increase your revenue without worrying about all the technical details.
5. Higher conversion rates
DFY ecommerce solutions are designed to get you higher conversion rates and convert more visitors into paying customers. By leveraging time-tested practices, DFY ecommerce solutions can help entrepreneurs maximize their revenue potential and increase their return on investment.
All of these elements work together to create a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience for customers, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and increased revenue for the entrepreneur.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the rise of DFY is truly revolutionizing how entrepreneurs run their businesses online. By outsourcing the technical details and day-to-day operations of their ecommerce store to experienced professionals, entrepreneurs can save time, money and stress while maximizing their revenue potential and increasing their return on investment.
As the ecommerce industry continues to grow and evolve, it's clear that DFY ecommerce is the future. Entrepreneurs who fail to take advantage of this game-changing system risk falling behind their competitors and missing out on the opportunities presented by the rapidly expanding ecommerce market | Tech Industry Trends |
Every year you get the chance to attend one or more IT and tech conferences from a variety of fantastic options. These tech events put you in touch with some of the best industry professionals, plus the opportunity to boost your career through networking. And you get a preview of all the up-to-the-minute technologies.
You may have missed out on in-person tech events during 2020 and 2021, but it seems like things are looking better for 2022 and 2023. With literally hundreds of events to choose from, you might be wondering, “Where do I even start?”
We’ve gone ahead and composed an extensive list of the most noteworthy tech conferences taking place in 2022.
The DEVOPS Conference November 1
Hybrid/Copenhagen, Denmark
Everyone in the DevOps community, from executives and managers to engineers and programmers is at the DEVOPS conference. Using real-life situations, you’ll find out how good decision-making and tools provide DevOps customers with a top-quality experience.
Web Summit 2022 November 1-4
Lisbon, Portugal
Founders and CEOs of tech firms, startups, policymakers, and heads of state gather in Portugal at what is considered one of the world’s top tech events, Web Summit, to talk about the current state of technology and where new technologies are leading us.
Customer Success Festival Sydney November 3 & 4
Sydney, Australia
Prominent experts from companies taking the lead in practical CS strategy gather at the Customer Success Festival for networking opportunities and to share ideas that will boost your confidence.
AI Summit Silicon Valley 2022 November 3
San Francisco, USA
You can find some of the most significant digital stakeholders from an array of companies at the AI Summit in Silicon Valley. Get a chance to talk with these leaders and learn more about the world of artificial intelligence.
TestJS Summit November 3 & 4
Virtual
Are you a QA or software developer wanting to update your best practices for JavaScript testing and enhance your skills? TestJS Summit will do just that and more, including updating you with what’s new from premium products core teams.
Africa Tech Festival 2022 November 8-10
Cape Town, South Africa
Africa is experiencing a renaissance in digital transformation and the Africa Tech Festival facilitating the conversation and debate with decision makers. The launch of 5G connectivity will be one of the highlights at the 2022 event.
2022 Denver CIO Executive Leadership Summit November 8
Denver CO, USA
HMG Strategy Executive Leadership Summits take place from New York to San Diego and this time Denver, Colorado will host this quality summit where networking and best practices are paramount to creating strong leadership, quality management and innovative development in both tech and in your career.
Zoomtopia 2022 November 8 & 9
San Jose CA, USA
Customers, partners, analysts and IT professionals wanting to learn more about this well-known videoconferencing software should check out this hybrid event.
Build Stuff 2022 November 9-11
Hybrid/Vilnius, Lithuania
This software development conference was set up with software designers, web developers, founders and academics in mind. “The Future Beckons Us Home” is the theme for the 2022 event.
MLOps Summit November 9 & 10
London, UK
You are provided with the opportunity to further develop your expertise with your machine learning workflow. Trailblazing companies will lead the way in helping you establish best practices and solutions with the objective of gaining a basic insight into MLOps and its various functions.
Mobile DevOps Summit November 10
Virtual
Welcome to the first ever Mobile DevOps summit! Over 2,500 mobile practitioners and business leaders from around the world will discuss specific obstacles mobile developers encounter. From tracking app performance to finding strategic solutions, come talk with thought leaders and industry experts from the mobile world.
AIBC Summit November 14-18
Malta
AIBC Summit’s flagship event is bringing 4 key industries together under one roof: iGaming, MedTech, Web3, and Affiliation.
Software Architecture Gathering November 14-17
Virtual
If you’re a software architect, then this is the preeminent conference you should be at. Some of the top players in the industry will be lending their technical expertise to developers, professionals in quality assurance and system analysts. You’ll also learn to refine your solution structures in your IT tasks.
PASS Data Community Summit 2022 November 15-18
Seattle, WA; USA
In 2022, PASS is all about reunions. Previous acquaintances will reconnect, and new relationships will develop, along with the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s best in the data platform community. Attend the event either online or in person.
European Big Data Value Forum 2022 November 24-26
Prague, Czech Republic
This event aims to round up business developers, industry experts, policymakers and researchers throughout Europe to offer their practical insights. The objective? To make headway with policy initiatives, as well as industrial and research operations specific to data and AI.
Big Data Conference Europe 2022 November 24-26
Virtual
A two-day conference that tackles the areas of High Load, Data Science, Big Data, Machine Learning, and AI with a series of technical talks. Attendees can look forward to hearing the speakers discuss their experiences, what makes for best practices and how they successfully dealt with unique challenges by relating real-life scenarios.
AWS re:Invent November 28 – December 2
Las Vegas, NV; USA
This Amazon Web Services conference is the biggest gathering of the cloud community in the world. AWS products and features are the main attraction. Attendees can look forward to gaining insight into cloud strategies, operations, security, IT architecture and infrastructure, as well as developer productivity.
ESPC22 November 28 – December 1
Copenhagen, Denmark
ESPC22 (European SharePoint, Office 365, and Azure Conferences) provide first-rate Microsoft Learning that won’t break your wallet. No matter where you are in the world, you can catch it live or on-demand with over 100 sessions from a variety of experts who include Microsoft team members, independent industry leaders, most valuable professionals (MVPs), and remote desk service operators (RDs).
Quantum World Congress November 29 – December 1
Washington, D.C.; USA
Of all the tech conferences out there, this is the first one to focus on quantum computing. Innovators, researchers, tech developers and experts will gather in this immersive environment in order to boost the significance of the quantum industry.
Enterprise AI Summit November 29 & 30
Auckland, New Zealand
This summit will direct attention to the latest innovations in AI and how ML and DL can help to modify how businesses are run. Learn how AI-led automation implements ML and DL to provide business owners with sophisticated data.
5G Expo Global December 1 & 2
Hybrid/London, UK
The 5G Expo wants to shine a spotlight on some of the most innovative technology currently in development. With over 200 exhibitors and 250 speakers sharing their knowledge and experience, attendees can look forward to learning valuable industry tips.
AI & Big Data Expo Global December 1-2
Hybrid/London, UK
A number of guest speakers across different industries will elaborate on current advancements taking place in AI and big data. Next generation tech and strategies are placed front and center for you to learn how best to incorporate big data and AI with your business to help it grow successfully.
Cyber Security & Cloud Congress Global Hybrid/London, UK
Cyber Security & Cloud Congress conference is the UK’s largest free cyber security event. Security professionals and CISOs will learn about AI innovation and developments on the current market, and how to work at solutions for the challenges they face.
Product-Led Summit|London December 1 & 2
London, UK
A summit that endeavors to bring an expanding community of product-based professionals, product development experts and founders to listen and learn from some of the best business and industry leaders out there.
Cisco Live APJC December 6-9
Melbourne, Australia
Every year, this event sets out to deliver the know-how, skills and networking options for Cisco solutions. Some of the highlights include keynotes from Cisco execs, technical breakout sessions and a program stacked with networking and certification possibilities and entertainment.
The AI Summit New York December 7 & 8
Hybrid/New York City, USA
Do you want to rub shoulders with some of the big AI industry disruptors and creatives? The AI Summit in New York will update you on current trends in businesses that successfully implement AI into their model. Enhance your understanding of how best to integrate AI into your business needs in order to take your company to the next level.
Conferences we mentioned but already happened
Scala Con 2022 October 4
Virtual
The masterminds that brought you Scala eXchange and Scala Days have come together to create Scala Con. If you’re looking to understand more about the operative programming languages used by such influential companies like Hootsuite, Netflix, Disney, Airbnb and Sony, then this is the virtual conference for you.
Berlin AI Summit October 4 & 5
Berlin, Germany
This conference aims to assemble AI industry leaders to discuss and review the latest research and practical applications for AI, along with business implementation. Two tracks are available for attendees: the Enterprise AI Summit and the Deep Learning Summit. Speakers will highlight their expertise to deliver the latest news on industry trends. You will also have the opportunities for networking with like-minded professionals.
2022 St. Louis CIO Executive Leadership Summit October 5
St. Louis, USA
Tech conferences like this HMG Strategy Executive Leadership Summit provide the best in thought leadership discussions. You can gain novel insight into the most effective practices and learn from true-life stories of success when it comes to leaderships, management, tech and career development.
Evolve Technology Conference October 5
Las Vegas NV, USA
Top-notch IT leaders and innovators will share practical knowledge when it comes to influencing both the corporate and IT world. Be inspired to not only learn but to share, associate with others and have a little fun too.
Infoshare October 6
Hybrid/Gdańsk, Poland
This is the largest CEE conference dedicated to emerging tech, startups and business with the option of attending virtually or in person. Come and increase your knowledge of business trends, digital marketing, tech innovations, Web 3.0 and Tech4Good.
North Star October 10
Dubai, UAE
If you’re looking for a global tech conference that looks to disrupt the world of startups, North Star is where you should be. This event sets the path for success for those wanting to create a startup. They point the way for innovators in the technology industry to drive the future.
GITEX GLOBAL October 10
Dubai, UAE
The Middle East’s largest conference for business leaders in tech. This year’s event will gather movers and shakers and other technology leaders to debate and confront emerging ideas, exhibit the latest products and determine upcoming trends.
GlueX 2022 October 10
Miami, USA
You can attend immersive workshops that focus on developing your productivity and increasing profitability in the domain of tech innovation. Get involved in discussions with thought leaders and gain actionable insights to take your company to the next level.
RTE2022 — The Largest Real-Time Engagement Conference October 10
Hybrid/San Francisco, USA
Attend this conference, powered by Agora, in real-time and get connected to the most groundbreaking tech, tools and people in the industry. Join savvy business leaders and tech experts online or in-person as they bring you up to date on the future of voice, video IoT, VR/AR, and human engagement.
Black Tech Fest October 10-14
Hybrid/London, UK
Black Tech Fest puts a spotlight on building an inclusive technology industry. More than 5000 people will get together in London to consider how black innovators put the focus on the intersection of inclusivity and tech.
Google Cloud Next ’22 October 11
San Francisco, USA
Google Cloud Next 2022 provides over 200 sessions featuring a variety of keynote speakers, as well as Google executives, to keep you informed on the latest, updated cloud services. Diverse topics from applicable machine learning to service scale and digital maturity are covered at the event.
Reuters MOMENTUM October 11 & 12
Hybrid/Austin TX, USA
With the goal of raising the quality of life with the use of technology, this two-day event merges stimulating technologists with groundbreaking businesses from around the world.
AI in Healthcare Summit October 13 & 14
Boston, USA
There have been tremendous tech developments in AI and ML systems and tool which are shaking up and reforming the pharmaceutical, healthcare and diagnostics industries. Such developments involve image grouping, machine learning (ML), and speech and text recognition.
2022 Washington, D.C. CIO Executive Leadership Summit October 13
Washington, USA
Thought leadership is the driving point at the HMG Strategy Executive Leadership Summit. Be a part of the discussion with industry experts who provide effective knowledge related to administration, tech and career progression and of course, leadership. October 13 & 14
Virtual Conference
Customer engagement that results in successful business relationships is changing at breakneck speed. At this virtual event will help you take on any obstacles you encounter by developing strategic expertise.
MLCONF: Sharing Lessons Learned in Machine Learning Best Practices October 17 & 18
New York, USA
Data science can be a complex field. MLCONF takes a deep dive into machine learning. algorithms, tools, and platforms used to work out any issues that come up when organizing and analyzing super large data sets. On October 14, specialists will host a virtual meeting.
Guiding CIOs and IT Executives to Accelerate Digital Business October 17-20
Boston, USA
In this version of the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™ 2022 conference, you will examine ambitious enterprise technology with its insights and best practices currently influencing future trends in IT and business. Wanting to learn how to implement IT strategies on key initiatives? Then grab your ticket for this Gartner digital workplace summit.
SOPRA Banking Summit 2022 October 17-21
Virtual
Global banking is changing fast. The SOPRA Banking Summit sets out to address this by offering market leaders a platform to discuss and find solutions to sustainable growth. Listen to industry experts and executives from banking, finances and fintech as they impart what they know to help anticipate the future of banking and finance.
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™ 2022 This is one of those top tech events where innovations in technology and business strategy meet visionary leadership. The opportunity for both a formal and informal networking experience allows you to interact with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from various industries and regions. Gartner experts and industry leaders deliver inspiring keynotes and captivating sessions.
Coalesce 2022 by dbt Labs Hybrid/New Orleans, USA
This year’s conference aims to develop the method of analytics engineering. At Coalesce, data professionals can enhance their knowledge and widen their networking pool.
Oracle CloudWorld 2022 October 17-20
Las Vegas NV, USA
Would you like to find out more about cloud infrastructure and applications solutions that fit in with your one-of-a-kind professional demands and business requirements? Oracle’s CloudWord is the up-and-coming international conference you need to get to. Clients and partners can exchange ideas and sharpen their much-needed skills. You’ll not only have access to demos for never-before-seen products, but Oracle experts will provide interactive training and certification sessions.
BCI Summit: Corporate Innovation BCI Summit is a private event created for enterprise data leaders, innovation heads, CVCs and principal technology founders. Attention is given to enterprise data’s top ten challenges and game-changing solutions are reviewed and finalized.
The BFUTR Global Tech Summit October 19-20
Toronto, Canada
This is North America’s biggest and Black tech summit—over 20,000 savvy Black technologists get together for three days to network and form a complete community of Black executives and supporters dedicated to a global content metamorphosis.
iNNOVATE Tech Show October 19-21
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
If you’re looking to find out the current trends on AI, drones, digital health, food tech, fintech, robotics and more, check out the event that draws trailblazers and thought leaders—the iNNOVATE Tech Show. The stage is set for Asian brands to exhibit and launch new products and market themselves.
AI Accelerator Summit|Boston October 20
Boston, USA
AI Accelerator Summit is busy with their AI Hardware Tour which draws industry leaders in AI hardware and architecture from the biggest companies across the globe, along with Boston’s most intriguing AI Chip startups. You’ll get the opportunity to hear about their success stories, experiences and professional struggles.
ZapConnect October 20
Virtual
Find out more about the various possibilities in the realm of no-code and automation with virtual events like Zapier’s one-day conference which takes place entirely online.
Computer Vision Summit October 20
Boston, USA
Big name companies and electrifying startups are sharing their tech experts with the aim of revealing what they know when it comes to designing, installing and scaling cutting-edge vision technologies. Their objective is to establish substantial business value.
Money 20/20 October 23-26
Las Vegas, USA
During the past year, Money 20/20 boasted more than 8000 attendees from 2,800 companies and this year, they plan to continue the ‘biggest conversation in fintech’ featuring standout industry names. Global leaders in fintech and financial services come together to deliver opportunities for networking and learning what lies in store for the fintech landscape.
CXL Live October 25 & 26
Possibly the most globally recognized CRO event. CXL Live features a new addition to the lineup—B2B growth. It’s not just about keynotes, the spotlight is on networking and building solid professional relationships. Event organizers will facilitate mini-group discussions so the relevant people can get the most out of the networking event.
Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2022 October 25-28
Hybrid/Singapore
The startup-centric government agency, Enterprise Singapore, is the driving force behind this flagship event to be held at the Resorts World Convention Centre in Singapore. Global industry leaders, investors and other movers and shakers will hold a variety of in-person and online events.
BMC Exchange 2022 October 25 & 26
Virtual
A quick review of what BMC Exchange had to offer in 2021 reveals an event where you can customize the format in order to select and organize career-specific content by choosing appropriate tracks and sessions. Current technology issues were addressed by means of keynotes and sessions drawn from particular case studies.
Elevate 2022 October 27
Hybrid/New York, USA
A three-day event organized and held online by industry experts wanting to create change and renovate the world and the workplace. Gain a better understanding of how to manage change in an unpredictable 21st century.
Up Your Game with Practical Tech Conferences
Attending one of the above-mentioned conferences will surely deepen your knowledge when it comes to the most current developments and innovations in technology, no matter if you’re a CEO, IT professional or someone working in the tech industry.
Take your time to read up on the variety of tech conferences out there and pick the ones that will help you to enhance your skills and reach your career goals. Want to take your business to the next level or looking for inspiration to get going with your startup? Then buy a ticket for one of these fantastic tech events!
If you enjoyed reading this article about tech conferences, you should read these as well: Virtual Event Best Practices You Need to Implement
Marketing Strategies for Ticket Sales Maximization
How to Add a Virtual Events Calendar on Your WordPress Website | Tech Industry Trends |
Officers of the Center for Innovation and Development of Defense Technologies of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, together with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov, presented the Ukrainian situational awareness system Delta at the NATO Tide Sprint 2022. Tide Sprint is one of NATO’s key events, where experts, scientists, and developers from more than 30 countries exchange experience and opportunities for adapting the Alliance to technological changes.
Ukrainian participants were invited to share their experience of using digital solutions, drones, and brand-new C4I software that gave them an advantage on the battlefield during the war with Russia. In particular, the updated version of the situational awareness system Delta was presented. According to the developers, few Alliance member states have their own products of such quality, and they are only in the progress of creating their analogs of the program. Delta is a cloud solution already implementing NATO standards and the latest industry trends, such as a cloud native environment, zero-trust security and multi-domain operations, said another Delta developer Major Serhii Halchynskyi. He noted that other Tide Sprint participants talked about architectural approaches and state-of-the-art solutions already in use at Delta or in the final stages of implementation. “We clearly understand that the formula for success is interoperable processes, people and technology, innovators in their environments, which contribute to moving forward,” Serhii added.
According to the developers, Delta provides a comprehensive understanding of the battle space in real time, integrates information about the enemy from various sensors and sources, including the intelligence, on a digital map. Delta does not require additional settings and can work on any device – on a laptop, tablet or a mobile phone. The Delta tool and services are built according to NATO standards, so the system is compatible with similar solutions used by the armies of the Alliance member countries. That is why there was increased interest in the Ukrainian delegation on behalf of the other NATO Tide Sprint participants, Ukrainian officials noted. Source | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Nvidia) Preliminary specifications of Nvidia's performance mainstream GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card indicate that the board won't be as power hungry as the company's high-end offerings, with a short PCB that will fit nicely into compact PCs. Meanwhile, even though this product is likely to join the ranks of the best graphics cards, its performance and specs may be lower than some might desire. Hardware leaker @Kopite7Kimi late on Tuesday said that that Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 Ti will be based on the AD106 graphics processor with 4352 CUDA cores that will be paired with 8GB of 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory using a 128-bit interface. The product will consume around 220W — not a lot by today's standards — and the reference card is said to use a "very short" printed circuit board, which will make it easier to install into compact PCs. Meanwhile, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition will continue to use the notorious 12VHPWR power connector. Why does a 220W part even need a 16-pin connector with the potential to deliver 600W? We'll leave that for the readers to debate.Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series SpecificationsSwipe to scroll horizontallyRow 0 - Cell 0 GPUFP32 CUDA CoresMemory ConfigurationTBPGeForce RTX 4090AD1021638424GB 384-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X450WGeForce RTX 4080AD103972816GB 256-bit 22.4 GT/s GDDR6X320WGeForce RTX 4070 TiAD104768012GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X285WGeForce RTX 4070AD104588812GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X250WGeForce RTX 4060 TiAD10643528GB 128-bit 18 GT/s GDDR6220WNvidia has not confirmed and of the specifications for its upcoming products yet, so take them with a grain of salt. Meanwhile, based on preliminary specifications of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 revealed last week, it looks like the gap between the RTX 4060 Ti and the RTX 4070 will be quite significant. Assuming more or less similar clocks, we are talking about at least 26% less compute performance from the 4060 Ti, which is substantial. Considering the improvements of the Ada Lovelace architecture over the Ampere architecture, as well as higher clocks enabled by TSMC's 4N fabrication technology, we may expect the AD106 GPU and the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti board to feature significantly more compute horsepower than the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. However, its memory bandwidth of 288 GB/s will be a whopping 41% lower compared to its predecessor. The 32MB L2 cache should help to mitigate the difference, but the question is whether it will eliminate cases when the new GeForce RTX 4060 Ti will lag behind the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in high resolutions and/or with antialiasing enabled. Perhaps worse, even the vanilla GeForce RTX 3060 carries 4GB more memory than the upcoming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, which is a bit odd. Given the 128-bit memory bus and a relatively small number of CUDA cores, we presume Nvidia designed its AD106 primarily with laptops in mind. Regardless, we already felt the 8GB of VRAM on the 3060 Ti, 3070, and 3070 Ti was becoming a limiting factor, and that was two years ago. A mainstream performance card launching in 2023 and still using 8GB of memory feels almost insulting to gaming enthusiasts. Using AD106 for a GeForce RTX x060 Ti part will of course allow the company to increase its profits, but from a gamer's point of view, what matters is performance and ability to play games upcoming games. We expect the 4060 Ti will easily surpass the existing 3060 Ti, thanks to its substantially higher clocks, but we'll have to see how it stands up to other GPUs once it launches. Of course this is all unofficial and preliminary information that may not be accurate or final. Nvidia may change its plans as it gets closer to the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti launch, or the specs might be for a laptop variant. But for now, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti looks rather pale and may only match the existing RTX 3070 Ti. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: TSMC) In an interview, a vice prime minister of Taiwan said that TSMC had already made a strategic decision about where to build its fab capable of producing chips using 1nm-class (10 angstroms) fabrication technology in the second half of this decade. Still, these chip production facilities will be costly.TSMC fabs that will make chips using its 1nm-class production nodes will be located near Longtan Science Park near Taoyuan, said Shen Jong-chin, vice prime minister of Taiwan, in an interview with Economic Daily (opens in new tab) (via Dan Nystedt (opens in new tab)). Of course, TSMC's plans have to be made official, and a lot may change by the time the world's largest foundry commits to the plan, but it looks like the company has already disclosed its general intentions to Taiwanese politicians.Two major semiconductor production projects will create thousands of well-paid jobs, but they will also require investments previously not seen by the industry.The vice prime minister estimates that TSMC must invest around $32 billion in a 1nm-capable fab. That's up from around $20 billion for N5 and N3 (5nm and 3nm-class) fabs that the company currently operates.So far, TSMC has outlined plans to start making chips using its N2 (2nm-class) fabrication technology in the second half of 2025, which means that the first ICs made in the process will likely emerge on the market in 2026. N2 will be another long node for TSMC, and the company will offer multiple versions of the node, including those with gate-all-around transistors and backside power delivery.TSMC's N1 will follow N2 several years down the road. We do not know TSMC's exact plans concerning N1, but we think this fabrication process will be used to make ICs in 2027 ~ 2028. By the time ASML rolls out its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools with High-NA. These will be costly scanners, making N1-capable fab very expensive too.As a result, making chips at 10A process technology will be pricey, so do not expect many companies to adopt it due to prohibitively design and product costs.In general, the vice PM believes that companies like TSMC, ASML, and Micron will have invested some $102.5 billion in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, securing the country as the world's center of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Intel) Intel has officially revealed its Intel On Demand program (opens in new tab) that will activate select accelerators and features of the company's upcoming Xeon Scalable Sapphire Rapids processor. The new pay-as-you-go program will allow Intel to reduce the number of SKUs it ships while still capitalizing on the technologies it has to offer. Furthermore, its clients will be able to upgrade their machines without replacing actual hardware or offering additional services to their clients.Intel's upcoming Intel's 4th Generation Xeon Scalable Sapphire Rapids processors are equipped with various special-purpose accelerators and security technologies that all customers do not need at all times. To offer such end-users additional flexibility regarding investments, Intel will deliver them to buy its CPUs with those capabilities disabled but turn them on if they are needed at some point. The Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) technology will also allow Intel to sell fewer CPU models and then enable its clients or partners to activate certain features if needed (to use them on-prem or offer them as a service).The list of technologies that Intel wants to make available on demand includes Software Guard Extensions, Dynamic Load Balancer (DLB), Intel Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator, and Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT) to accelerate specific workloads.Since Intel's On Demand technologies are aimed at entirely different workloads, very few customers will need all of them at once. But as they scale their data centers, they may require some of them, which is when the On Demand capability comes into play. Meanwhile, some of Intel's customers will offer those capabilities as a service (e.g., for cloud and co-hosting machines). In contrast, others will contribute to activating them on servers installed on-premise.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Intel)The formal rollout of the Intel On Demand program leaves more questions than answers. We do not know how much Intel plans to charge to activate certain features or how much its clients will want to start them 'as a service.' We know that companies like H3C, HPE, Inspur, Lenovo, Supermicro, PhoenixNAP, and Variscale will be a part of the On Demand program.For now, Intel's On Demand program is reserved for servers, and we would expect it to remain a prerogative of Xeon platforms. Meanwhile, back in the day, Intel offered software upgrades for its desktop processors (opens in new tab) to make them run faster. Unfortunately, that program faced criticism as Intel essentially crippled its perfectly fine processors. As a result, some might think the On Demand program mimics the ill-fated Intel Upgrade Service. Still, keeping in mind that the server world behaves differently than the client PC world and that we do not know the terms of Intel's On Demand, we would not draw parallels here until we know all the details. Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Apple) Apple will use TSMC's Arizona fab that is currently under construction and set to come online in 2024 to make its chips, the company's head Tim Cook told employees at an internal meeting in Germany, reports Bloomberg (opens in new tab). The decision will lower Apple's reliance on TSMC's production capacities in Taiwan, though the company will likely continue to source top-of-the-range system-on-chips from Taiwan."We have already made a decision to be buying out of a plant in Arizona, and this plant in Arizona starts up in '24, so we've got about two years ahead of us on that one, maybe a little less," Tim Cook is quoted as saying. "And in Europe, I'm sure that we will also source from Europe as those plans become more apparent."Given the tensions between China, Taiwan, and the U.S., producing the majority of chips in Taiwan may now be deemed a geopolitical risk. The head of Apple wants to reduce risks for the company, though it will continue to rely on TSMC.Apple is TSMC's biggest customer that has been outsourcing most of its chip production to TSMC since 2014. As a result, the company tends to adopt TSMC's latest manufacturing technologies. It will reportedly be the first adopter of the foundry's N3 (3nm-class) fabrication process to make SoCs for Apple's 2023 premium products. Meanwhile, TSMC's fab in Arizona will make chips using the company's N5 production nodes, including N5, N5P, N4, N4P, and N4X.An important question about Apple's sourcing of chips from TSMC's Arizona fab is what kind of chips the company plans to make. Apple currently uses N5, N5P, and N4 to make various SoCs for its mobile devices and PCs. Still, the question is whether the company's products in 2024 ~ 2025 will continue to rely on existing application processors.Apple tends to use its SoCs for years after introducing various products. For example, the A14 Bionic chip used for iPhone 12 is now in the 10th Generation iPad. Other previous-gen smartphone SoCs power devices like Apple TV set-top-boxes (A15 Bionic) or Studio Display LCD (A13 Bionic). Apple might keep using existing SoCs for some of its products even in 2024 – 2025 (though we are speculating). Also, Apple has a plethora of miniature SoCs and system-in-packages (SiPs) for its headsets and watches, so potentially the company could outsource them to TSMC's fab in Arizona, provided that there are appropriate packaging services in the U.S., too (again, we are guessing).There is another possibility too. Since the industry embraces multi-chiplet SiPs, Apple could make some chiplets in Taiwan on TSMD's leading-edge node and some in the U.S. on a mature node. That would not reduce the company's geopolitical risks per se but will at least increase the portion of its silicon produced in the U.S.Neither Apple nor TSMC commented on the story since production plans are among the best-kept trade secrets. Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Moqiquity Technologies is a mobile first, next generation, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for ... [+] data and advertising. Mobiquity Technologies Given the rise of the streaming services in recent years and the increase in over-the-top (OTT) consumption, the challenge for any content provider is finding an audience. In 2021, we saw an increase of over 20 percent in both OTT households and the total hours spent watching OTT since January 2020 (to 82 million households, who now stream an average of 100 hours of content in a period of one month), according to media measurement and analytics company Comscore. And this acceleration shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. “There is no doubt in our mind that streaming will be one of the most potent growth engines for the industry in the coming years,” noted David Cohen, CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in a statement. “This new reality — where streaming is at the center of everything — demands a reset of how video is bought, sold, measured, and optimized. Consumers have already decided the future of media, and it’s streaming.” “We know OTT is a part of consumers’ day-to-day lives because they talk about the streaming companies and the shows, and they have integrated it into their regular viewing experiences without having to think it is something different,” noted Mike Tankel, partner/optimist at marketing and development firm To Be Continued. “Not only are we digitally native, we are also OTT native and that affords us the ability to watch what we want, when we want, and where we want as we are no longer beholden to a schedule.” For an advertiser looking to break out of the clutter (i.e., anyone is need of promoting a product, a service or whatever to support their initiative), the traditional promotional tools from yesteryear, where running a spot on a broadcast network (when the digital streamers were non-existent) or utilizing the print medium are simply no longer sufficient. There is a better – and now pivotal - option. “Once upon a time, we had more commercials than TV shows, but now it is just the opposite,” noted Tankel. “That in itself tells you the breadth of audience taste, fragmentation and opportunity. While many people see fragmentation as a result of OTT as an obstacle, it can be an opportunity to gain closeness, intimacy and traction with audiences by better understanding them, recognizing them and communicating with them.” “For an advertiser leveraging OTT content not only are you reaching the people you want with programmatic advertising, but you are also learning from them and thereby making the algorithms used for targeting even stronger,” he added. “These deeper data driven insights will give any content provider or advertiser the competitive edge they crave – and definitely need.” Programmatic Advertising
By definition, programmatic advertising is the use of automated technology for the buying and selling of digital advertising, as opposed to traditional (translation: often manual) methods of digital advertising. More specifically, programmatic advertising uses algorithmic software that handles the sale and placement of digital ad impressions in micro-seconds. And it utilizes various data, audience targeting and optimization tools to serve impressions accurately and efficiently at scale, all within the goal of producing a better return on investment. The end result: programmatic advertising is a growing option for any industry; i.e., advertisers across the spectrum of products. And it can also be utilized for personal goals (perhaps, for example, for a political candidate as a targeted campaign tool).
According to a study by market research company eMarketer, programmatic buying in 2021 reached in the vicinity of a record $455 billion with more advertisers looking to capitalize on its attributes. The estimated ad spending this year is approximately $524 billion, with a projected $586 billion in 2023 and $646 billion in 2024. Programmatic advertising is the use of automated technology for the buying and selling of digital ... [+] advertising. Getty Images “The goal of programmatic advertising is to help advertisers serve the right ad to the right person at the right time, and more efficiently and effectively than ever before,” explained Dean Julia, Chief Executive Officer at Mobiquity Technologies. “And we do that by offering a proprietary platform that was built exclusively to address the flaws within the programmatic industry, specifically wasted ad dollars.”
Mobiquity Technologies
Launched in 2011, Mobiquity Technologies began as a location data company, where physical hardware was positioned in the top malls across the country. As people walked through the malls, Mobiquity sent out Bluetooth beacons that would emanate a signal where you could document their path; i.e., what time they came, how long they spent, what stores they went into, and what stores they walked by but didn’t go into, among other potential patterns. That information would be sold to the malls and the retailers to try to drive additional traffic into stores.
“As the mall traffic gradually became smaller, we switched from beacons to GPS location services on the phone to get that broader scale outside,” noted Julia. “At that point, we created what we consider to probably be the largest point of interest graph in the United States. We have over 600 brands that we polygon. It’s not just a circle around them; it’s a physical line outlining their structure. From the outside, we could again outline their path and then we began habitual targeting, which would tell us, for example, where they stopped every time they went to the mall, and we started selling those type of reports.”
“That information is typically purchased by programmatic companies that then go out and do the media spend,” he added.
In 2019, Mobiquity acquired Advangelists, a next generation programmatic platform, and the result of the merger is a completely integrated end-to-end platform for programmatic media buying. Through the two, the consumer’s behavior and trends can be measured to optimize campaigns of any kind in real-time using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Personalized ad messages can then be deployed by way of programmatic advertising through a single platform.
Specifically, Mobiquity Technologies has the ability to do everything in one place. Nothing has to be outsourced; the data solution is built into the platform; and both sides – buying and selling – are serviced.
“The way traditional or linear TV used to work for an advertiser was to give everybody the same message at the same time, which is now very limited in today’s digital expansion,” noted Julia. “Programmatic allows you to tailor that message specifically to your audience. If you are on the right inventory with the right message to the right person, the ad is going to be more effective.”
“With programmatic, for example, you can target the same person with the same ads on your TV, on your phone, on your desktop, when you are listening to customized radio channels like Pandora and Spotify – anywhere,” added Deep Kaytal, Chief Executive Officer at Advangelists. “It is so customized that when you are watching a show at the same time as someone else on their Apple TV or Fire TV or Google TV, or any device, you are both getting separate ads that are tailored individually to you.” The consumer’s behavior and trends can be measured to optimize campaigns of any kind in real-time ... [+] using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning at Mobiquity Technologies. Mobiquity Technology Mobiquity as an Exchange Platform
As we head into the NewFront selling season, this year in the first week of May, buyers en masse will be tuning in for insights and programming updates from native digital creators and innovative upstarts in media and entertainment. The growing list of platforms includes Netflix, Amazon, A+E Networks, Entercom, Estrella Media, Penske Media, VIZIO, Channel Factory, OpenAP, Oracle Advertising, Spectrum Reach, and TEGNA, among others. The linear broadcasters – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox – will also devote a large portion of their time in the upfronts (the linear selling season) to their digital partners (Paramount+, Peacock and Tubi, respectfully), all in quest to lock in pricing and advertising deals.
“Ad-supported networks like Tubi, Pluto TV and Verizon, among others, take all of this data, merge it together, and work with what we call publisher aggregators,” noted Kaytal. “If I am an advertiser, I don’t have time to go to all these people individually and tell them to show my ads. For that, there is an ecosystem called an exchange, which mimics the stock market where someone who has the capability of displaying an ad will go out and say they have an ad placement available with the specific parameters – the demographics, the location, etc. And the advertisers option on that inventory. Whoever wins the option gets the privilege to show the ad. That’s what we do; we are an exchange platform that enables the advertisers and publishers to co-exist in a virtual programmatic exchange ecosystem where they can communicate with each other through machines.”
“Now that the mode of consumption of television has also changed, it has become more prudent to make a customized experience for everyone,” he added. “Advertisers don’t want to waste their money advertising to you if you have no interest in their product. And you, of course, don’t want to see a product you have no interest in. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Programmatic as a Political Influencer "I Voted" stickers cover a table at a polling station during the North Carolina primary on Super ... [+] Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 3, 2020. (Photo by Logan Cyrus / AFP) (Photo by LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images The value of programmatic advertising, as documented, can certainly add value to any piece of content on any digital platform in the cluttered landscape. But there is an endless array of other uses for programmatic, including potential great value for the aforementioned political candidate.
“We are coming to the midterm elections, which are localized elections, so that’s where these types of streaming services and programmatic really go into effect,” noted Dean Julia. “Each candidate is going to have their own platform; what they stand for. Through programmatic, and the targeting that we do, we are able to show their ads to the middle ground – those people who are not affiliated to any party – to try to convince them to go one way or the other.”
“What we do is we take our targeting capabilities and we match them up with our advertising capabilities, and we work with the political candidates to try to get those undecided votes,” he added. “There is going to be a lot of money spent on TV, both connected TV and linear TV, over the months going into the November elections. We can target a candidate with a group of voters.”
“Due to the reach and scale of programmatic advertising, the bottom line is building brand awareness in any area of advertising we focus on,” concluded Julia. “And Mobiquity has it covered, both today and well into the future.” Mobiquity Technologies is a next generation platform with the ability to do everything in one place. ... [+] Mobiquity | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) Shipments of integrated and discrete graphics processing units dropped to a 10-year low in the third quarter as PC OEMs reduced procurements of CPUs, and gamers lowered their purchases of existing graphics cards while waiting for next-generation products. In contrast, miners ceased to buy graphics boards due to changes that happened to Ethereum. In general, sales of standalone graphics cards for desktops hit a multi-year low.Usually, PC makers increase procurement of PC hardware components in the third quarter as they assemble computers to sell them in back-to-school and holiday seasons when sales are high. But as demand for PCs softened recently, manufacturers initiated inventory corrections and lowered their components buying to sell off what they already have.As a result, sales of integrated and discrete GPU dropped to 75.5 million units in Q3 2022, down 10.5% sequentially and 25.1% year-over-year, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR) (opens in new tab). In addition, shipments of desktop GPUs fell by 15.43%, and notebook GPUs decreased by 30%, which is the most significant drop since the 2009 recession, JPR notes.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research)"The third quarter is usually the high point of the year for the GPU and PC suppliers, and even though the suppliers had guided down in Q2, the results came much below their expectations," said Jon Peddie, president of JPR.Since Intel is the largest producer of CPUs, it is also the largest supplier of PC graphics processors. The company increased its domination and commanded 72% of the PC GPU market in Q3 2022 as shipments of its GPUs rose by 4.7%. By contrast, Nvidia's share dropped to 16% as it lost 19.7% of sales, whereas AMD's share collapsed to 12% as its GPU shipments fell 47.6% sequentially.Interestingly, sales of standalone graphics cards for desktops (including the best graphics cards for gaming) decreased to 6.89 million, or by 33.5% quarter-over-quarter, the lowest quarterly result in years.(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research)“All the companies gave various and sometimes similar reasons for the downturn: the shutdown of crypto mining, headwinds from China’s zero-tolerance rules and rolling shutdowns, sanctions by the US, user situation from the purchasing run-up during Covid, the Osborne effect on AMD while gamers wait for the new AIBs, inflation and the higher prices of AIBs, overhang inventory run-down, and a bad moon out tonight,” said Peddie. “Generally, the feeling is Q4 shipments will be down, but ASPs will be up, supply will be fine, and everyone will have a happy holiday.” Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Adoption of the Cloud for data storage and analytics has been a boon to businesses of all sizes, but it also can create an IT nightmare for managing who has security rights to access which data and under what circumstances. As a result, the global data access control market, valued at $10.31 billion in 2019, is projected to reach $20.02 billion by 2027, according to Fortune Business Insights. One company that is helping to define the category is the Boston, Massachusetts-based Immuta. Founded in 2015 by Iraqi war veteran Mather Carroll, Immuta positions itself as the market leader in secure data access, providing data teams with one universal platform to control access to analytical data sets in the Cloud. Immuta Founder and CEO Mathew Carroll Immuta The idea for Immuta came about when Carroll was a U.S. Army intelligence officer in Baghdad charged with managing streams of intelligence data. “Coming out of the US intelligence community, the problem the Cloud was solving for us wasn't about rationalisation and decreased total costs like it was for most businesses. It was about solving the problem of how do I share data more effectively? How do I get access to data faster? And that journey started with just throwing data into s3 buckets. And we wanted more users who had the technical capabilities to join that data together,” says Carroll. But that created the problem of securing data access rights for each of the data users, each of whom might have different security authorization levels. And with speed to data access often being a life-or-death decision for battlefield commanders, Carroll set about creating a solution. The government provided Carroll with his first contract to solve the problem, though the agency that provided the funds is classified. “And so we built the company. That led to them to say, ‘Hey, how would you do it?’ We said, ‘Well, you can stitch these 29 systems together to build a platform. And the security aspect was a big component of that, too. But how do you do it safely and securely? We realised that to provide secure access, you need a symbiotic relationship between legal, governance teams that own the data, and the consumers of that data. And so this concept of security is really the amalgamation of these three different departments working together. So, security is no longer just about protecting a third party adversary. Security is about privacy, contractual management. It's about how do we make risk decisions. All of that encompasses this new concept of data security,” says Carroll. While Carroll and his co-founders Steven Tauw and Michael Schiller formally launched the company in 2015, it took a year to build a commercially viable product that would provide the data access control, allowing for the complexity of legal, contractual and security obligations in one software platform. But the company has been on a steady rise since. Its strategy to build native integrations with the largest Cloud data platforms like Snowflake, Databricks, AWS, Google and Microsoft has allowed Immuta to grow significantly over the past few years. In 2021, the company saw more than 100% increased revenue, nearly doubled its customer base and expanded its employee headcount by 100% to more than 250 employees working with such blue chip customers as JB Hunt, S&P Global and AON. The company’s growth trajectory has allowed it to attract $258.2 million in venture funding, including its June 8, 2020 $100 million E round led by NightDragon Security that values the company at $1 billion. Additional investors include Snowflake Ventures, Intel Capital, DFJ Growth, Drive Capital, Greycroft, Blu Venture Investors and others.
Carroll sees three trends driving Immuta’s continued growth. “First, I think you're going to see a lot more consumer protection around data use. So that gives us an incredible opportunity for us to act as a balance to allow corporations to leverage that data while still sustaining privacy and ethical oversight of data processing. The second thing is this concept of data contracts. There’s great potential for us with the automation of regulatory oversight of privacy. Thirdly, the globalisation of data jurisdictions is not going to slow down. The future of our potential is a policy platform in the Cloud, where we can apply these data security components anywhere in the world, whether it's regulatory policy, contractual policy, or just internal business rules,” says Carroll.
Carroll grew up in what he describes as a blue-collar family in Boston. He graduated from Brandeis College in 2005 with a degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biology with thoughts of becoming a doctor, but discovered it wasn’t for him. “I enjoyed the science. I enjoyed chemistry and all that, but I just didn't like the field at all. And at the time, the war [in Iraq] kind of went a little crazy. So, I joined the Army thinking I'll still do applied research, because that made all the sense in the world when you're 21. And they most definitely did not need a chemist with no PhD. But what they did need was bodies. And so, I ended up with military intelligence,” says Carroll.
Nine months later, he was in Baghdad and his experiences there changed his life. While the war continued to rage in Iraq, he saw the introduction of smartphones, drones with video being overlaid on to maps, and the amalgamation of many different types of data to make battlefield decisions. “I was a dumbass 21-year-old kid that had an insane amount of responsibility,” says Carroll. He learned that data is really powerful, but also comes with a lot of responsibility with his own and other’s lives on the line. But he learned he was good at data and that experience set him up on his private sector career and entrepreneurial path.
After four years in the Army, he left military service for the private sector to become Product Director at 42six in 2009. That company was acquired by CSC, where Carroll worked his way up to the CTO position for the company’s Defence and Intelligence unit, prior to founding Immuta in 2015. As for the future for Immuta? “I want to be the ‘Cloudflare for data.’ I think as the internet continues to scale globally, a framework is necessary to provide data policy oversight. There are regulatory and contractual obligations to process that data, whether it's on the device, whether it's in a car, whether it’s at a telco center somewhere or in one of the big Clouds, organisations need a consistent manner to enforce policy everywhere. Immuta wants to be the software that makes those decisions possible for these companies,” concludes Carroll. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: MSI) Demand for graphics cards significantly increased during the pandemic as some people spent more time at home playing games, whereas others tried to mine Ethereum to get some cash. But it looks like now that the world has re-opened and Ethereum mining on GPUs is dead, demand for desktop discrete GPUs has dropped dramatically. In fact, shipments of discrete graphics cards hit a ~20-year low in Q3 2022, according to data from Jon Peddie Research. The industry shipped around 6.9 million standalone graphics boards for desktop PCs — including the best graphics cards for gaming — and a similar number of discrete GPUs for notebooks in the third quarter. In total, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia shipped around 14 million standalone graphics processors for desktops and laptops, down 42% year-over-year based on data from JPR. Meanwhile, shipments of integrated GPUs totaled around 61.5 million units in Q3 2022.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research/Tom's Hardware)In fact, 6.9 million desktop discrete add-in-boards (AIBs) is the lowest number of graphics cards shipped since at least Q3 2005 and, keeping in mind sales of standalone AIBs were strong in the early 2000s as integrated GPUs were not good enough back then, it is safe to say that in Q3 2022 shipments of desktop graphics boards hit at least a 20-year low.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research/Tom's Hardware)Despite slowing demand for discrete graphics cards for desktops (unit sales were down 31.9% year-over-year), Nvidia not only managed to maintain its lead, but it actually strengthened its position with an 86% market share, its highest ever, according to JPR. By contrast, AMD's share dropped to around 10%, its lowest market share in a couple of decades. As for Intel, it managed to capture 4% of the desktop discrete GPU market in just one quarter, which is not bad at all. Of course, the majority of AIB parts that Intel sold in Q3 2023 were entry-level models, but those were demanded by Intel's customers due to brand awareness and similar factors.Image 1 of 2(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research/Tom's Hardware)There is a catch about sales of desktop AIBs compared to the early 2000s though. Shipments of discrete laptop GPUs in the early 2000s were not as strong as they are today simply because there were not so many notebooks sold back then. Therefore, it is possible that in normal quarters sales of standalone GPUs for desktops and notebooks are more or less in line with what we saw some 15 – 17 years ago. Furthermore, since GPUs got significantly more expensive, AMD and Nvidia thrived in the recent years. We already reported back in November that sales of integrated and standalone GPUs nosedived in Q3 as enthusiasts were waiting for GeForce RTX 40-series and Radeon RX 7000-series discrete graphics boards from Nvidia and AMD, whereas PC makers were trying to deplete stocks of their CPUs with built-in graphics. Yet, while the whole market plunged by around 25.1% year-over-year, the market of discrete GPUs collapsed by 42% YoY. Jon Peddie Research recalls that declines of GPU sales in the third quarter experienced the most significant drop since the 2009 recession. Yet, for those of us who have been following the discrete desktop GPU marketfor long enough, the situation seems even more dire. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Design: Apple often refreshes the design of its iPhones every few years, so we can expect a new
look for the iPhone 15. It may have a thinner bezel or no bezel at all, a larger or smaller display, and a new color option.
a faster refresh rate, or other improvements to enhance the user experience.
Camera: Apple is known for improving the camera capabilities with each
new iPhone release. We can expect the iPhone 15 to have upgraded cameras with more
advanced features, such as improved low-light performance, better
zoom capabilities, and enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilitie
Processor: The iPhone 15 is likely to have a new and more powerful processor that will improve performance and efficiency.
Battery Life: Apple may improve the battery life of the iPhone 15
by using a larger battery or optimizing power consumption through software updates.
It’s important to note that these are just predictions based on industry
trends, and Apple may make changes to the final product.
Will iPhone 15 be very different?
Apple is known for its constant innovation and advancements in technology, and each
new iteration of the iPhone typically introduces new features and improvements
over the previous models. These improvements could include upgrades to the camera, battery life, processing
speed, and storage capacity, among other things. Additionally, Apple may
introduce new design elements or form factors for the iPhone 15.
However, until any official announcements are made by Apple, it is impossible to know for certain what the iPhone 15 will entail. It is also worth noting that plans for product releases and features can change at any time, and Apple may choose to pivot their plans based on market demand or other factors.
What are the specs for iPhone 15 Pro Max?
Display: 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display with a resolution of 2778 x 1284 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate
Processor: A16 Bionic chip
RAM: 6GB or 8GB
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Rear cameras: Three 12-megapixel cameras with improved sensors and optical zoom
Front camera: 12-megapixel camera with Face ID technology
Battery: 4352mAh battery with fast charging and wireless charging capabilities
Operating system: iOS 16
It’s important to note that these specs are based on rumors and leaks, and they may change if and when Apple releases a new iPhone model. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home
News USB-C
(Image credit: Shutterstock) When the USB Promoter Group announced its USB 4 Version 2 specification with a maximum 80 Gbps data transfer rate last week, it did not reveal how it planned to make 80 Gbps work on existing cables. But apparently, there is more than that. USB 4 can do even better and support aggregate bandwidth of up to 120 Gbps.The USB Type-C connector has four lanes configured in a 2 Tx + 2 Rx symmetric arrangement, which in the case of USB 4 operates at 20 Gbps per lane and therefore provides 80 Gbps bi-directional bandwidth. With USB 4 version 2, per lane data transfer rate is increased to 40 Gbps, and aggregated bandwidth increases to 80 Gbps with PAM-3 encodings (in both directions), reports Angstronomics (opens in new tab) citing documents from Keysight, a leading maker of test equipment.But in addition to symmetric 2 Tx + 2 Rx setup, Keysight's M8040A Bit Error Ratio Tester for USB 4 v2 can test asymmetric 3 Tx + 1 Rx configuration, or 120 Gbps aggregated bandwidth from the host and 40 Gbps from device to host. It should be enough to carry a DisplayPort 2.0 UHBR20 signal (enough for 8Kp85 uncompressed and 8Kp144 with DSC) from the host to the display and then 40 Gbps (in both directions) will remain to handle data consumed by a USB 4 hub, a webcam built into the display, and so on.So far, the USB Promoter Group has not formally confirmed that a 3 Tx + 1 Rx asymmetric configuration support would come to USB 4. Still, asymmetric configurations are nothing new for USB specifications. They are particularly easy to enable in the case of USB 4 (as well as Thunderbolt 3/4), as all signal types are muxed and demuxed at each end of the interconnection.Now, assuming that a 3 Tx + 1 Rx asymmetric setup is a part of the USB 4 v2 specification, a major question is whether support for 3 Tx + 1 Rx asymmetric will be mandatory for all USB 4 v2 controllers or will be optional and reserved for select controllers only. Increasing per lane data transfer rate to 40 Gbps and implementing PAM-3 encoding will significantly increase the complexity and power consumption of USB 4 v2 controllers compared to USB 4 v2 controllers. Furthermore, increased bandwidth will require USB 4 v2 controllers to connect to hosts at around 15 GB/s (equal to bandwidth offered by a PCIe 5.0 x4 or a PCIe 6.0 x2 interface). Supporting a 120 Gbps upstream mode might complicate things further.When can we expect the first USB 4 v2 host controllers to arrive? Angstronomics (opens in new tab) believes that Intel will support USB 4 v2 with its 14th Generation Core 'Meteor Lake' platform in 2023 as the company has already implied support of 80 Gbps Thunderbolt input/output interface by its media. As for AMD, it will lag behind Intel and will only offer CPUs with USB 4 v2 support in 2025. As usual, it is hard to make predictions about Apple.We have reached out to the USB Promoter Group and enquired whether the final edition of USB 4 v2 supports the 3 Tx + 1 Rx asymmetric configuration. Unfortunately, for now, the organization neither denies nor confirms this."The USB Promoter Group announcement was only intended to cover high-level details as the specification is still under development," a statement by the USB Promoter Group reads. "It is only targeting developers at this time in order to promote the detailed trainings that will be available at the upcoming Seattle and Seoul USB DevDays events in November." Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) TSMC will reportedly hike the pricing of wafers processed using its leading edge N3 (3nm-class) process technology by 25% compared to N5 (5nm class) production node. This will immediately make complex processors like GPUs and smartphone SoCs more expensive, which will make devices like graphics cards and handsets costlier. Meanwhile, prohibitively high costs will make multi-chiplet designs more appealing. One wafer processed on TSMC's leading edge N3 manufacturing technology will cost over $20,000 according to DigiTimes (via @RetiredEngineer). By contrast, an N5 wafer costs around $16,000, the report says.There are many reasons why making chips on N5 and N3 production nodes is expensive. First up, both technologies use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography pretty extensively for up to 14 layers in N5 and even more with N3. Each EUV tool costs $150 million, and multiple EUV scanners have to be installed in a fab, which means additional costs for TSMC. Also, it takes a long time to produce chips on N5 and N3, which again means higher costs for TSMC.TSMC's Alleged Wafer PricingTSMC doesn't generally reveal prices for its wafers, except to actual customers. It's also important to note that contract pricing — what larger orders from companies like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and even rival Intel are likely to use — may be lower than the base prices. Still, here's what the report says about current prices.Swipe to scroll horizontallyPrice per Wafer$20,000$16,000$10,000$6,000$3,000$2,600$2,000NodeN3N5N7N10N2840nm90nmYear2022202020182016201420082004Chip developers who use TSMC's services are expected to pass the costs of new chips on to downstream customers, which will make smartphones and graphics cards more expensive. Even now, Apple's iPhone 14 Pro starts at $999, whereas Nvidia's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 is priced at $1,599. Once companies like Apple and Nvidia adopt TSMC's N3 node, we can expect their products to get even more expensive. Of course the actual chip cost can still be relatively small compared to all the other parts that go into a modern smartphone or graphics card. Take Nvidia's AD102, which measures 608mm^2. Dies per wafer calculators estimate Nvidia can get about 90 chips from an N5 wafer, or a base cost of $178 per chip. Packaging, PCB costs, components, cooling, etc. all contribute probably at least twice that much, but the real cost is in the R&D aspects of modern chip design.Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell - Column 0 N3E vs N5N3 vs N5Speed Improvement @ Same Power+18%+10% ~ 15%Power Reduction @ Same Speed-34%-25% ~ -30%Logic Density1.7x1.6xHVM StartQ2/Q3 2023H2 2022While there are rational reasons why TSMC's prices are getting higher, it should be noted that that the company can get away with it as it currently doesn't have any rivals that can produce chips using a leading edge fabrication technologies with decent yields and in high volumes. While formally Samsung Foundry is ahead of TSMC with its 3GAE process technology (3nm-class, gate all around transistors), it is believed that it is used only for tiny cryptocurrency mining chips due to insufficient yields. Meanwhile, Samsung Foundry's 4nm-class process technology did not live up to expectations as far as performance is concerned. When (and if) Samsung and Intel Foundry Services offer process technologies that outperform those of TSMC, the world's largest foundry will have to somewhat limit its prices, although we do not expect chip prices to drop because of intensified competition on the foundry market as fabs are getting more expensive, chip development costs are rising, and fabrication technologies are getting more complex. In general, the costs of making chips on leading edge nodes began to rise rapidly in mid-2010s when Intel, GlobalFoundries, Samsung, TSMC, and UMC adopted FinFET transistors. At the time costs rose for everyone despite intense competition between contract semiconductor manufacturers.TSMC's first client to use N3 is expected to be Apple, which can afford developing an appropriate SoC, produce it in high volume, and still make money on its hardware. Apple has not indicated what kind of processors the company plans to make on N3, but a follow-up to the current M2 and A16 Bionic seems logical. Other chip developers may hold off using TSMC's N3 for now because of its prohibitively high costs and use chiplet-based designs instead due to lower development costs, lower risks, and lower production costs.Again, please note that TSMC does not comment on its quotes and has not commented on information that it will charge ~$20,000 per N3 wafer. Those figures come from industry insiders and may or may not reflect actual high volume prices.(Image credit: TSMC) Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
A solution remains elusive. But Microsoft’s making an attempt with new media provenance features debuting at its annual Build conference.
Launching for Bing Image Creator and Designer, Microsoft’s Canva-like web app that can generate designs for presentations, posters and more to share on social media and other channels, the new media provenance capabilities will enable consumers to verify whether an image or video was generated by AI, Microsoft says. Using cryptographic methods, the capabilities, scheduled to roll out in the coming months, will mark and sign AI-generated content with metadata about the origin of the image or video.
It’s not as straightforward as a visible watermark. To read the signature, sites will need to adopt the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) interoperable specification, a spec created with input from Adobe, Arm, Intel, Microsoft and visual media platform Truepic. Only then will the site be able to alert consumers when content has been generated by AI, modified or created by Designer or Image Creator.
So, the question is, will Microsoft’s efforts make much of a difference when so many image-generating tools haven’t embraced similar media provenance standards? C2PA does have the backing of Adobe, which recently launched its own range of generative AI tools, including an integration with Google’s Bard chatbot. But one of the more prominent players in the generative AI space, Stability AI, hasn’t signaled a willingness to embrace a spec like the type Microsoft’s proposing.
Standards aside, Microsoft’s move to adopt a media provenance-tracking mechanism is in line with broader industry trends as generative AI takes hold. In May, Google said that it would use embedded metadata to signal visual media created by generative AI models. Separately, Shutterstock and generative AI startup MidJourney adopted guidelines to embed a marker that content was created by a generative AI tool. | Tech Industry Trends |
Amazon Prime Video has announced that it will include Ads in its content beginning next year.
Amazon intends to introduce advertisements into its Prime Video streaming service in 2024. This shift is driven by Amazon’s goal to invest more in creating TV shows and films.
Starting early next year, customers in the UK, the US, Germany, and Canada will encounter ads, unless they choose to pay for an “ad-free” subscription option.
Amazon defended this move, stating that Prime Video still offers “very compelling value.” This decision follows similar actions taken by rivals like Disney+ and Netflix.
Amazon plans to extend ads to France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in 2024. In the United States, Prime subscribers can access an “ad-free” subscription tier for an additional $2.99 per month.
Pricing details for other countries will be disclosed later by Amazon. Currently, a Prime subscription in the UK costs £8.99 per month or £95 per year, covering free one-day product delivery and streaming access.
Amazon clarified that, starting in 2024, Prime Video content will include limited advertisements in the UK to support investments in engaging content.
However, some customers have expressed dissatisfaction with this trend, echoing sentiments observed with other streaming platforms. Disney+ expanded its ad-supported service in the UK in August, while Netflix introduced a “basic with ads” streaming plan last year, marking a departure from its traditional ad-free subscription model.
Hanna Kahlert, an analyst at Midia Research, noted that many people resist ads on services they’ve already paid for, though some may accept it for a cheaper subscription. Kahlert emphasized that Amazon, with its comprehensive Prime package, can make this change without significant subscription cancellations.
Amazon intends to maintain a lower volume of ads compared to conventional TV and other streaming providers. The company plans to notify Prime members about the ad-free option a few weeks before ad integration begins. Notably, live event broadcasts, such as sports matches, will continue to include ads, even for ad-free subscribers.
Kantar’s data revealed that people scaled back their video streaming subscriptions last year due to rising living costs. In the UK, paid video streaming subscriptions dropped from 30.5 million to 28.5 million. Although there was a brief surge in demand around Christmas, Kantar noted that people quickly sought ways to economize again.
Max Willens, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, observed that ad-supported tiers have become commonplace in the streaming industry, setting the stage for Amazon’s decision. He noted that Amazon, despite positioning itself as customer-focused, aligns with industry trends in implementing this change, despite the price hike of its service. | Tech Industry Trends |
The creator economy is catching the attention – and wallets — of notable VCs.
Creator-focused startups are raising millions of dollars.
Here are the pitch decks that 24 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds.
The phrase "creator economy" skyrocketed as a buzzword in 2021 as creators, VCs, and entrepreneurs rushed to cash in on a booming industry.
More than 70,000 people used the phrase online between January and September 2021, according to United Talent Agency's IQ department, which tracks influencer-industry trends.
Money spent by marketers in the influencer-marketing industry is estimated to exceed $6 billion in 2023, according to Insider Intelligence — but the creator economy now extends far beyond marketing.
Fueling this rapid growth is the millions of dollars being invested into startups like link-in-bio service Linktree (valued at $1.3 billion in 2022) or affiliate marketing platform LTK (valued at $2 billion in late 2021). Creators themselves are getting investors, too, and groups — like esports team Faze Clan — are going public.
In 2021, more than $5 billion was invested into creator-focused startups in the US, according to The Information.
And while investors may be looking at slightly different factors now that the greater market has cooled off, they are still looking for startups creating practical tools for creator businesses.
For instance, July — a creator economy startup with a mission to simplify the brand deal process — announced in December a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six fund.
So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck.
Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that is more of a "conversation guider," cofounder and CEO Tony Tran told Insider.
"My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?" Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)
Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different decks depending on the type of investor or fund they were pitching to.
"I had two different versions, depending on the fund," said Jessica Wolf, Skye's CEO and cofounder. "If I knew a fund was more into pre-seed, all about the founder, I had one deck. But if I knew that they were a numbers person, I would use another one."
But every startup has a different approach.
Insider talked with founders who've pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.
Read the pitch decks that helped 24 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:
Read the original article on Business Insider | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: TSMC) Being the world's No. 1 foundry, TSMC was almost immune to the softening high-tech market in Q2 and Q3, but it looks like the party is over even for the world's largest contract chip manufacturer. TSMC's leading customers began to revise their orders to the company, affecting the foundry's results starting from the fourth quarter of 2022, reports DigiTimes. According to the report, virtually all TSMC clients will experience a downturn and have to cut orders, so TSMC's utilization will decline significantly in Q1 2023. For example, the utilization rate of TSMC's N7-capable lines (7nm, 6nm-class technologies) will decline to around 50% in early 2023. Furthermore, even TSMC's N5/N4-capable lines will be underutilized, though this may not come as a surprise since these are used to make leading-edge products, like Apple's smartphone SoCs, and demand for advanced handsets is usually down in the first half of the year. More alarming is that even N28-capable fabs — which have been fully loaded since the beginning of the chip deficit in early 2021 — will be underutilized. Due to the slowing economy in China as well as its COVID lockdowns, an economic downturn in numerous European countries, and reduced demand for many products in the U.S., large computer hardware, PCs, and smartphone makers lowered their procurement of new chips from companies like AMD, Intel, MediaTek, and Nvidia. As a result, the fabless chip designers reportedly had no choice but to slash orders to TSMC. The order cuts will come into effect in Q4 2022, which will increase TSMC's inventories, though it is unclear how the significantly reduced orders will affect the company's revenue this quarter. Meanwhile, DigiTimes estimates that TSMC's Q1 2023 sales will decrease by 15% quarter-over-quarter. By contrast, TSMC's Q1 2022 revenue exceeded its Q4 2021 revenue by 12.1%. Slashing orders to a contract manufacturer is not trivial since fabless chip designers are obliged to procure a fixed number of wafers in certain quarters. Nevertheless, TSMC is reportedly willing to accept compensation (as it will hold wafers with chips from AMD, Intel, Nvidia, etc., before they are ready to buy them) and even renegotiate deals on long-term supply contracts (i.e., increase the number of wafers that a company is committed to buying in the future) in exchange. Such measures will not make TSMC's life any easier in Q4 2022 or Q2 2023, though. Market observers generally remain optimistic about the demand for advanced chips returning to normal in 2023. As a result, TSMC is still expected to post revenue growth for the year, but the sales increase may not be as impressive as the 2021 – 2022 period. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
The pandemic changed how we work. And while some companies are reverting to a pre-pandemic workweek, 81% of executives said they are adopting a more flexible workplace, according to LinkedIn's 2022 Global Talent Trends report. But getting employees back in the office hasn't been easy and companies are having to rethink the role the office plays in a post-pandemic world.Clive Wilkinson, who designed the Googleplex, is one of the architects being called on by the tech sector and others to help build workplaces that accommodate the needs of hybrid workers. From open seating workstations to video-conferencing collaboration pods, they are completely rethinking the workplace as a resource for employees. "You can't insist anymore that employees come in for a five-day week," Wilkinson said. "They'll come in because they want the benefits that the workplace will give them." Watch the video to see how remote and hybrid work have changed the way offices could look in the future. | Tech Industry Trends |
Home News (Image credit: Nvidia) Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is set to be launched in early January, and while those who follow the industry closely already know that this product is essentially a re-badged GeForce RTX 4080 12GB (which the company unlaunched), the company never confirmed this officially — at least until today, when Nvidia briefly listed the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti on its own website. While it quickly removed the mention, it was long enough for @momomo_us to grab a screenshot. Indeed, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics board is set to use a GPU featuring 7680 CUDA cores that can boost to 2.61 GHz and carry 12GB of GDDR6X memory, which are general specifications of the unlaunched GeForce RTX 4080 12GB. We also already know that the product will be among the best graphics cards in early 2023 and will be powered by the AD104 GPU in its full configuration with a 192-bit memory interface.(Image credit: @momomo_us/Twitter)Along with basic specs, Nvidia revealed some relative performance numbers for what is now called the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. The new Ada Lovelace-based board is 80% – 260% faster than the Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3080 12GB, according to Nvidia. Meanwhile, since Nvidia tends to compare the performance of the GeForce RTX 40 with DLSS 3 and frame generation against GeForce RTX 30 series with DLSS 2, this comparison looks somewhat imprecise. Nvidia is expected to launch the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti in early January at CES, so expect the company's partners to showcase loads of custom graphics cards featuring this GPU. Pricing of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is something that remains to be seen as the GeForce RTX 4080 12GB was meant to carry a $899 MSRP, whereas we are now hearing rumors that the green company is looking at a $799 MSRP for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Keeping in mind that makers of custom boards tend to either increase the performance of their products to sell them at a premium or lower costs to price them aggressively, only time will tell how much GeForce RTX 4070 Ti-based products will cost. Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.
Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. | Tech Industry Trends |
Pinterest reported its highest monthly active users ever on the platform Monday at 482 million in the third quarter. The photo board service says user growth was largely driven by Gen Z users who are the fastest-growing, most engaged users on the platform.
Pinterest’s monthly active users grew by more than 7% for every quarter in 2023, and Gen Z’s incessant mood and vision boarding may be responsible. Management sees a “strong product market fit with our recent cohorts, who save 2x more content in their first year on Pinterest, relative to older cohorts.”At Pinterest’s investor day in September, the company revealed that Gen Z made up 42% of its users, calling the demographic an “emerging powerhouse.”
Pinterest’s stock surged 17% on Tuesday after its strong quarterly performance, according to Reuters. If Gen Z is on the platform, that means advertisers are on the platform, and that has Wall Street excited. Pinterest’s ‘Shop The Look’ feature allows users to receive advertisements for lifestyle products that match the vibe of their Pinterest boards. Roughly 70% of the recommended products on Pinterest are highly relevant according to user ratings, showing the strong development of Pinterest’s advertising products.
Gen Z uses Pinterest for fashion inspiration, and several brands have caught on. Founders of an internet fashion label called Jaded London regularly check Pinterest to predict trends for under 25-year-olds, according to Vogue Business. Luxury brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton are on the platform, trying to capitalize on Pinterest’s unique hold on the collective Gen Z mind.
Several advertising-based platforms, such as Meta and Amazon, have reported very strong digital advertising revenue this quarter, suggesting that advertising is back after a pandemic slump. Pinterest appears to be confident that it can capitalize on these industry trends by targeting its Gen Z users. The company launched Direct Links in Q3, which take users directly from their vision boards to a retailer’s website with just one click.
Pinterest now says it’s rolling out more tools for advertisers in 2024, and potentially including more advertisements on the platform. The photo-sharing platform is decidedly ‘cool’ by Gen Z’s standards, but we’ll see if Pinterest pushes the limit by commoditizing its users and killing the vibe with ads. | Tech Industry Trends |
- The "creator economy" is catching the attention – and wallets — of notable VCs.
- Creator-focused startups are raising millions of dollars.
- Here are the pitch decks that 22 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds.
The phrase "creator economy" skyrocketed as a buzzword in 2021 as creators, VCs, and entrepreneurs rushed to cash in on a booming industry.
More than 70,000 people used the phrase online between January and September 2021, according to United Talent Agency's IQ department, which tracks influencer-industry trends.
Money spent by marketers in the influencer-marketing industry was estimated to exceed $4 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence — but the creator economy now extends far beyond marketing.
Fueling this rapid growth is the millions of dollars being invested into startups like link-in-bio service Linktree (valued at $1.3 billion earlier this year) or affiliate marketing platform LTK (valued at $2 billion in late 2021). Creators themselves are getting investors, too, and groups — like esports team Faze Clan — are going public.
In 2021, more than $5 billion was invested into creator-focused startups in the US, according to The Information.
And while investors may be looking at slightly different factors now that the greater market has cooled off, they are still looking for startups creating practical tools for creator businesses.
For instance, July — a creator economy startup with a mission to simplify the brand deal process — announced in December a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six fund.
So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck.
Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that is more of a "conversation guider," cofounder and CEO Tony Tran told Insider.
"My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?" Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)
Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different decks depending on the type of investor or fund they were pitching to.
"I had two different versions, depending on the fund," said Jessica Wolf, Skye's CEO and cofounder. "If I knew a fund was more into pre-seed, all about the founder, I had one deck. But if I knew that they were a numbers person, I would use another one."
But every startup has a different approach.
Insider talked with founders who've pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.
Read the pitch decks that helped 22 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:
- Restream, a livestreaming alternative to platforms like Amazon-owned Twitch: $50 million Series A (14 pages)
- Pearpop, a creator marketing platform: $18 million Series A (18 pages)
- Spoon Radio, a social audio startup: $17 million Series A (15 pages)
- Kyra, a content studio, talent management firm and influencer marketing platform: $15 million Series A (20 pages
- Lumanu, a business-solutions platform for creators: $12 million Series A (8 pages)
- Hype, a platform for link-in-bio and other creator-monetization tools: $10 million Series A (13 pages)
- Slip.stream, a music startup focused on gamers: $7.5 million Series A (13 pages)
- Scenario, a generative-AI startup to create gaming art and assets: $6 million Seed (8 pages)
- Authoritive, an online course-development startup: $5 million Seed (11 pages)
- Brag House, an esports startup: $5 million Series A (24 pages)
- Anima, an augmented-reality startup: $3 million (15 pages)
- Spark, a digital art platform from YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth: $2.5 million Seed (9 pages)
- Insense, a startup helping e-commerce brands get low-cost ads: $2.5 million Pre-Series A (9 pages)
- July, a "talent manager in your pocket" for creators: $2.3 million Pre-Seed (9 pages)
- Supercast, a podcast subscriptions startup: $2 million Seed (20 pages)
- Chartmetric, a music data and measurement company: $2 million Seed (46 pages)
- Ultimate Playlist, a music-marketing startup: $2 million round (9 pages)
- Squads, a startup that helps creators mint and sell crypto coins: $1.8 million Pre-Seed (12 pages)
- Skye, a career-coaching platform: $1.6 million Pre-Seed (33 pages)
- Magroove a music distribution and discovery platform: $1.6 million Seed (21 pages)
- Stagetime, a professional networking startup for performing artists: $1.5 million Seed (13 pages)
- Jubilee, a content studio looking to expand beyond YouTube and TikTok: $1.1 million Seed-Plus (12 pages)
- Spore, a content and community building startup: $1 million Pre-Seed (17 pages)
- Our Future, a short-form video news brand that targets Gen Z: acquired (15 pages) | Tech Industry Trends |
Contents What is travel technology?
Impact of technology on the travel industry
Why is technology important in the tourism and travel industry?
What are the latest technology trends used in the travel industry?
1. Advanced travel search engines
2. AI dynamic pricing engines
3. Dynamic scheduling systems
4. Internet of Things
5. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
6. Contactless payments
7. AI chatbots
8. Big Data
9. 5G and fast Wi-Fi networks
10. Recognition technology
11. Cybersecurity practices
Future of travel technology What is travel technology?
Travel technology is an umbrella term to describe the multitude of different uses of modern technology such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and mobile technology within the fields of tourism, travel, and hospitality industry.
Technology solutions can be deployed at virtually every point of travel in one form or another, significantly influencing the overall customer experience. Impact of technology on the travel industry
Do you remember buying an airline ticket from a real human being?
Neither do we.
We all got used to the presence of modern technological advancements in the travel industry.
There are many more ways in which modern digital technology influences and improves the travel industry.
The ultimate motivation behind implementing these technologies is pretty straightforward. It as always boils down to increasing profits and expanding business, which in turn has a positive impact on customer experience. First and foremost, it leads to improved efficiency and decreased operating costs.
In fact, it is a win-win situation for travel agencies, airlines, as well as the travelers.
For companies, digital transformation in travel industry means better margins and healthier cash flows. For customers, in turn, it means many more attractive tourist destinations and lower prices. Why is technology important in the tourism and travel industry?
These days, almost everyone has a smartphone or other mobile device, granting access to an immense choice of online services.
It is thus crucial for travel companies to allow their customers to book their trips, check-in for their flights, and find information about their destinations online.
Even though we are taking all of these modern utilities for granted, they are still a key factor for improving user experience in the travel industry. As a result, they have to be improved and optimized consistently. What are the latest technology trends used in the travel industry?
There are plenty of different technology trends that are shaping the future of the travel industry.
Below, we’ve listed 11 of the most important travel industry trends. Advanced travel search engines
Let’s compare here travel search engines to the Google search engine.
On the surface it is a pretty simple concept. A user introduce certain keywords of their interest and the search engine matches the most relevant results.
But what if you are looking for a hotel room in a specific location with certain room facilities? A simple Google search won’t be able to compute so many details.
This is where metasearch engines enter.
Metasearch engines are the tools that send search queries to many sources and organize results in a comprehensive list.
The main objective of such sites is to aggregate results in a unified way, so that the client can access the maximum number of available options on the market. It allows users to have a reliable source of objective information and to compare offers with one another.
Results presented by metasearch engines are obtained with less amount of exertion on the end user side.
Instead of searching one single search engine to find a specific website or browsing through different services, the right amount of data can be obtained by a metasearch engine.
It definitely improves the user experience. Ans save their precious time. In the tourism industry, metasearch engines are used to search through and compare travel agencies’ offers to provide clients with as many suitable options as possible.
Nowadays, these services have grown quite robust. Many provide smart price alerts or tempting last-minute deals.
When developing a metasearch engine for a travel agency or a lodging reservation service, key factors are performance and scalability.
A team of Stratoflow Java developers when tasked with improving the travel search engine for a major hotel bookings aggregator decided to extract the availability search into a separate cache layer based on an in-memory data grid (IMDG) platform. It allowed for a major decrease in SQL database usage, as well as improved efficiency.
Interestingly, our client saw almost an immediate commercial effect right after the initial implementation.
Higher overall throughput of the travel search engine allowed the existing customer base to query the platform more frequently, generating higher revenues in the process. AI dynamic pricing engines
Airlines such as Ryanair or Southwest are known for their extremely low price model.
You can hop anytime you want on a plane from Warsaw to London for less than 30 dollars.
You may have been wondering – how are airlenes able to break even, and run a successful business model with such low prices?
The answer is artificial intelligence.
These days, the pricing of airline tickets is completely automated and run by advanced systems that aim to fill a plane with passengers at the most optimal prices.
These systems take into consideration different types of clients. Those can be either business travelers who value convenience and comfort the most or leisure travelers who are more cost-conscious regardless of long layovers.
All of these factors are summed up by the pricing system. The goal is to fill as many seats on each plane as possible. But at the same time to avoid situations of complete tickets’ unavailability for potential clients in a very complex balancing act. Airlines’ pricing systems have to process an immense amount of customer data as well as travel trends about local destinations.
It is worth mentioning that during the COVID-19 pandemic pricing systems of many popular airlines were pretty severely disrupted. This led to a rather peculiar situation when we could book flights from Europe to the US for less than 200 dollars.
How was that possible? The dynamic pricing engines weren’t prepared for such an exceptional situation.
Nevertheless, as pandemic restrictions loosen, and airlines worldwide resume their normal routes and operations, dynamic pricing systems continue to play a vital role in their business model.
Read also: Benefits of Digital Transformation for Your Business Dynamic scheduling systems
Airlines are characterized by their large involved capital and incredibly slim average profit margins hovering around 5% (ignoring COVID-19 disruptions).
What does it mean for travel technology trends?
It’s simple. For an airline to make money, it has to adapt fast and consistently search for profitable routing opportunities.
This task has to be handled by automatic scheduling systems. Aside from the cost, the major factor for customers determining which flight they will choose is the overall travel time.
Airlines, therefore, put an enormous effort into assembling the most optimal schedule that they can offer in the shortest travel time possible.
Modern dynamic scheduling systems have to take into account these three factors pointed by Nawal Taneja: Scheduling optimization system – An automated solution created by a team of experienced developers that process operational data and identify the set of possible routing and scheduling changes. These have to be both profitable and operationally feasible.Such a system works based on all the possible arrangements of feasible schedule changes. Then it sorts them by their profitability.
Access to reliable market data – A dynamic scheduling system uses only reliable and accurate data on the routes popularity and its profitability.Considering a fairly short time horizon of flight scheduling operation, the best source for booking and revenue data is an internal Revenue Management system.
Knowledge about potential operational constraints – Many factors dictate whether a certain route is feasible operationally or not.These include maintenance costs at airports, gate availability, and miscellaneous aircraft-specific constraints.Only understanding all of them can ensure that a dynamic scheduling system can return positive results. In terms of profitability, it is estimated that dynamic scheduling can result in a 1-3% increase in revenue, depending on its utilization rate.
It constitutes a substantial amount when it comes to the airline industry.
Stratoflow developers have a great deal of experience in this particular field.
They were tasked by a global flight information company to improve their existing system.
Stratoflow proposed a replacement of major calculation logic with an open-source, high-performance framework that dramatically lowered TCO when compared with the existing code. Internet of Things (IoT)
Another emerging technology that is slowly being adopted by the tourism industry is the Internet of Things (IoT)
This concept refers to the network of physical devices —“things”—that are equipped with various sensors in order to connect and exchange data with other systems within the network over the internet.
Depending on the use case, these “things” can range from ordinary household devices to sophisticated industrial machinery.
When it comes to its role in the tourism industry, we’ve already seen some practical implementations beginning to appear.
Some airports, using IoT devices, tag passengers’ bags to alert them of their luggage’s current whereabouts and send them a notification when it arrives at the carousel.
Hotels are also starting to leverage some IoT-enabled sensors and voice control devices to adjust things like air conditioning. Using an in-room tablet, hotel guests can seamlessly control the temperature, music, lighting, and curtains, changing the atmosphere of the room and personalizing their experience to a whole new level. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality (VR) has recently once again come into the spotlight when Facebook rebranded itself and announced Metaverse. It’s a conceptual virtual universe that will be a future replacement for well-established social networks.
These visions seem exciting and a little eerie at times. But can virtual and augmented reality also influence the tourism industry in the future? As it turns out, the answer is “yes”.
Virtual Reality allows people to explore new places without leaving the comfort of their homes.
Virtual tours will enable people to have a glimpse of a certain exotic place before their visit in person. What’s more, popular travel platforms like Booking.com can set up virtual hotel room previews in order to better manage customer expectations. Contactless payments
Contactless payment methods take pride of place among recent tourism technology trends.
As the pandemic forced people to shy away from physical coins and banknotes, contactless payment options like GooglePay and Apple Pay have gained a lot of popularity.
When using them, the user’s device with a payment app communicates with the reader using RFID technology.
To see how it works in practice let’s take a look at the contactless payment method designed by The Walt Disney Company.
Disney offers Disney World guests custom wristbands, known as MagicBands. Visitors can link their credit card to their MagicBand to make purchases with a simple and effortless swipe of a wrist.
From a business standpoint, this solution offers Disney an unmatched opportunity to track user behaviors in order to optimize its operations even further. It is a trend that is undoubtedly gaining traction in various sectors of the travel industry. AI chatbots
Recently a story has surfaced that, allegedly, an advanced AI chatbot developed by Google has become self-aware.
Whether it is true is not for us to discuss here, but it underscores one really important fact.
AI chatbot technology has gone a long way in the last couple of years. It can also play a significant role in the development of the travel and tourism industry.
AI Chatbots stimulates human conversation, mostly using text interactions on various websites and services. Their main objective is to alleviate some congestion in call centers by proving at least basic help for customers 24/7.
When it comes to their usage in the travel and tourism industry, AirAsia is a good example of the use of a successful chatbot. Their advanced chatbot, AVA is able to do a multitude of things from helping travelers to choose seats and book flights to answering more difficult questions about current COVID-19 restrictions. Big Data
Data is a company’s most valuable asset.
This is also one of the main reasons why companies in the travel and hospitality industry are investing more and more funds into Big Data solutions.
Put simply, Big Data is a term that refers to large and unstructured data sets obtained from various data sources. These data sets are so voluminous that traditional data processing would have a hard time processing them into useful information.
Modern hotels and travel agents are using big data solutions to more effectively track customer behavior and preferences. This information is later used to improve the guest experience.
Big data measure precisely business performance.
Thanks to receiving data from previously untapped sources, the system allow for better revenue management and demand prognosis.
Read also: Fintech Trends That Shape Financial Future 5G and fast Wi-Fi networks
As travel tech trends grow more robust with every passing year, connectivity develops at the same rapid pace.
A couple of years ago, 5G made its debut in some of the largest cities around the world, offering up to 20 times faster download speeds than before.
Even though that might not be such a big deal for an ordinary person, the connection between smart devices can now be more efficient than ever allowing more advanced IoT networks. We have also seen an emergence of other breakthrough communication technologies, such as the Starlink internet.
Thanks to thousands of satellites in low earth orbit, people in virtually every corner of the world can enjoy internet speeds in excess of 100mbit/s and low latency unmatched by any other satellite internet provider.
A poor WiFi or Internet service in a hotel room can lead to bad online reviews for the hospitality and travel industry. With Starlink, even hotels in the most remote places can have a stable and fast internet connection. Recognition technology
Facial recognition is the software that classifies a single face according to its gender, age, emotion, or other characteristics in an attempt to confirm a person’s identity.
It is currently one of the most powerful surveillance tools ever made.
While many people are happy to use it to effortlessly unlock their phones, companies and governments are beginning to use it to a much greater extent. Facial recognition devices are beginning to appear in various airports across the world as an advanced security measure and potential deterrence.
According to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to dramatically expand its Biometric Exit program to cover 97 percent of outbound air passengers within four years.” Cybersecurity practices
To verify accounts on virtually every major travel and tourism offer aggregator, you would have to provide a photo of your ID card and other sensitive personal data.
It’s natural to feel a bit uneasy to share so much personal information, regardless of the service’s squeaky clean reputation and impressive market share.
Tourism companies and travel businesses understand that. That’s why they dedicate a substantial amount of resources to developing reliable and safe cybersecurity practices. Future of travel technology
As virtual reality and augmented reality technologies are becoming more and more advanced, some people speculate that they will negatively influence the tourism industry, but we beg to differ.
We predict that future tech advancements will push the travel industry towards better travel experiences and even more personalized experience. Travel technology trends – summary
The travel and tourism industry is the one where proper interactions with the consumer are essential. As new technological breakthroughs enter the market, they are letting corporations understand their customers a bit better, and provide them with improved services and experiences. Looking for a professional, cohesive and expert IT team to work on your Travel project? Then you’re in the right place. Get in touch with us! Related Posts What Are Travel Meta Search Engines? Digital Transformation in the Travel and Tourism Industry How to Build an App Without Coding: 5 Must-Know Tips The Most Efficient and Environment Friendly Programming Languages What’s the Future of Digital Transformation and Its Trends in 2022? An Expert’s Point of View | Tech Industry Trends |
Most early-stage startup founders, investors, technologists and all-around aficionados recognize and appreciate a great deal. We’re flagging this one, folks, because you have just one week left to take advantage of early-bird pricing on all passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, taking place on September 19–21 in San Francisco.
Disrupt is the startup world’s big tent, and it draws more than 10,000 people from around the globe. It’s where you’ll learn about and see new technologies, meet inspiring next-gen startups and hear broader industry trends from legendary tech visionaries. Whether you’re looking for an angel round, a budding unicorn, a new job or a brilliant co-founder, the opportunities at Disrupt 2023 border on infinite.
Seven days to save $800 on TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 tix
Early-bird pricing ends Friday, May 12 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. We offer a range of pass types to suit diverse needs. Buy your pass before the deadline hits, and you can save up to $800.
Expo+ Pass: This three-day, limited-feature option lets you access the expo floor, where you can meet, greet and network with the Startup Battlefield 200 companies — our curated cohort and the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit. Check out their cutting-edge technologies, strike up conversations and make meaningful connections. Hear them pitch live from the Showcase Stage. Attend Partner Roundtable and Partner Breakouts sessions. Limited event app features. Price now: $45. Full Price: $195.
General Admission Pass: Perfect for tech enthusiasts, marketers, other industry insiders or anyone interested in exploring or joining the startup world. This three-day option gives you access to 1:1 networking through the event app, curated content on every stage — including the six new industry stages. Explore the exhibition floor and attend all breakouts, small group roundtables, networking events and parties. Includes access to session recordings and transcripts. Price now: $450. Full Price: $1,250.
Founder Pass: For verified early- and late-stage founders only. You receive the same benefits of a General Admission Pass, plus get access to our exclusive investor/founder networking lounge, VC roundtables and VC Office Hours. Price now: $350. Full Price: $1,175.
Investor Pass: For verified investors only. You receive the same benefits of a General Admission Pass, plus get access to our exclusive investor/founder networking lounge, investor-only reception and investor-only workstations. Price now: $450. Full Price: $1,250
Nonprofit Pass: For verified nonprofit, military and government employees only. You receive the same benefits of a General Admission Pass. Price now: $95. Full Price: $275.
Student Pass: For verified students or recent graduates only. You receive the same benefits of a General Admission Pass. Price now: $95. Full Price: $275.
Buy in Bulk: Available for select pass types. Save 15% when you purchase for a group of 4 to 9 people. Need passes for a group of 10 or more? Email [email protected] for assistance.
Six new stages at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023
When you’re at the show, be sure to check out our six new stages that feature industry-specific programming tracks. Click on the links below to learn more about them.
- Sustainability Stage: Urban mobility, sustainable tech, green infrastructure and new mobilities
- Fintech Stage: DeFi, challenger banks, blockchain, NFTs and web3
- AI Stage: NLG (natural language generation), speech recognition, virtual agents, biometrics, RPA (robotic process automation), deep learning platforms, reactive machines and P2P networks
- SaaS Stage: E-commerce, creator communities, low code, cloud-based resources, collaboration tools, developer tools and apps
- Hardware Stage: AMRs, articulated robots, humanoids, IoT, interstellar technologies and commercial hardware
- Security Stage: Data protection, privacy regulations, information sharing and risk management
TechCrunch Disrupt takes place in San Francisco on September 19–21, but your window to save up to $800 closes in seven days. Don’t miss out on a great deal! Buy your pass before Friday, May 12 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form. | Tech Industry Trends |
|Big Data|
In today’s digital age, information is generated at an unprecedented pace. The vast amounts of data being created every day have given rise to a new phenomenon called Big Data. This term refers to the large volumes of structured and unstructured data that organizations generate and process regularly. The potential of Big Data is enormous, as it can help businesses make more informed decisions and gain valuable insights. In this article, we’ll explore what Big Data is, why it matters, and its impact on various industries.
Defining Big Data
Big Data is a term that describes the massive amounts of data that are created, stored, and processed by organizations. This data can come from a variety of sources, including social media, websites, mobile devices, sensors, and more. It is characterized by its volume, velocity, and variety. In other words, Big Data is enormous in scale, moves at a high speed, and comes in different forms.
The Three V’s of Big Data
Volume refers to the sheer size of Big Data, which can range from terabytes to petabytes. Velocity refers to the speed at which data is generated, processed, and analyzed. Big Data often needs to be processed in real-time or near real-time to be useful. Variety refers to the diverse forms of data that Big Data can take. This includes structured data, such as transactional data, and unstructured data, such as social media posts, videos, and images.
Why Big Data Matters
Big Data has the potential to revolutionize the way businesses operate. By analyzing vast amounts of data, organizations can gain valuable insights into their operations, customers, and industry trends. This can help them make more informed decisions, improve efficiency, and identify new opportunities. Here are some of the key benefits of Big Data:
Better Decision Making: Big Data enables organizations to make more informed decisions by providing them with a deeper understanding of their operations and customers. By analyzing data from multiple sources, businesses can identify patterns and trends that would be difficult to detect otherwise.
Improved Efficiency: Big Data can help businesses optimize their operations by identifying inefficiencies and areas for improvement. For example, analyzing customer data can help companies streamline their supply chain, reduce waste, and improve customer service.
Enhanced Customer Experience: Big Data can help businesses better understand their customers’ needs and preferences. By analyzing customer data, companies can personalize their offerings, improve customer service, and create more targeted marketing campaigns.
Competitive Advantage: Big Data can provide businesses with a competitive edge by enabling them to make better decisions and identify new opportunities. By analyzing industry trends and customer data, companies can stay ahead of the competition and adapt to changing market conditions.
The Impact of Big Data on Various Industries
Big Data has already had a significant impact on a wide range of industries, including healthcare, finance, retail, and more. Here’s a closer look at how Big Data is changing these industries:
Healthcare: Big Data is revolutionizing healthcare by enabling doctors and researchers to analyze large volumes of patient data. This can help them identify new treatments, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.
Finance: Big Data is transforming the financial industry by enabling companies to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time. This can help them identify new investment opportunities, manage risk more effectively, and prevent fraud.
Retail: Big Data is changing the retail industry by providing businesses with insights into customer behavior and preferences. This can help them personalize their offerings, improve the customer experience, and optimize their supply chain.
Manufacturing: Big Data is helping manufacturers optimize their operations by providing insights into their supply chain and production processes. This can help them reduce waste, improve efficiency, and enhance product quality.
Challenges of Big Data
Big Data has many benefits, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of the key challenges of Big Data:
Data Quality: One of the biggest challenges of Big Data is ensuring data quality. With so much data coming from different sources, it can be difficult to ensure that the data is accurate and reliable.
Security and Privacy: Big Data often contains sensitive information, such as personal and financial data. This makes it important to ensure that the data is secure and protected from cyber threats and breaches.
Data Integration: Big Data often comes from multiple sources, which can make it difficult to integrate and analyze. This requires specialized tools and expertise to ensure that the data is properly integrated and analyzed.
Talent Gap: Analyzing Big Data requires specialized skills and expertise. This has created a talent gap, with many organizations struggling to find qualified professionals to analyze and interpret their data.
Conclusion
Big Data is a game-changer for businesses and organizations of all sizes. By analyzing vast amounts of data, organizations can gain valuable insights, improve efficiency, and identify new opportunities. However, Big Data also comes with its own set of challenges, including data quality, security, and talent gaps. Despite these challenges, Big Data is here to stay, and its potential to transform industries and revolutionize the way we live and work is enormous. As more and more organizations embrace Big Data, we can expect to see even more innovation and disruption in the years to come. | Tech Industry Trends |
Contents What is travel technology?
Impact of technology on the travel industry
Why is technology important in the tourism and travel industry?
What are the latest technology trends used in the travel industry?
1. Advanced travel search engines
2. AI dynamic pricing engines
3. Dynamic scheduling systems
4. Internet of Things
5. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
6. Contactless payments
7. AI chatbots
8. Big Data
9. 5G and fast Wi-Fi networks
10. Recognition technology
11. Cybersecurity practices
Future of travel technology What is travel technology?
Travel technology is an umbrella term to describe the multitude of different uses of modern technology such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and mobile technology within the fields of tourism, travel, and hospitality industry.
Technology solutions can be deployed at virtually every point of travel in one form or another, significantly influencing the overall customer experience. Impact of technology on the travel industry
Do you remember buying an airline ticket from a real human being?
Neither do we.
We all got used to the presence of modern technological advancements in the travel industry.
There are many more ways in which modern digital technology influences and improves the travel industry.
The ultimate motivation behind implementing these technologies is pretty straightforward. It as always boils down to increasing profits and expanding business, which in turn has a positive impact on customer experience. First and foremost, it leads to improved efficiency and decreased operating costs.
In fact, it is a win-win situation for travel agencies, airlines, as well as the travelers.
For companies, digital transformation in travel industry means better margins and healthier cash flows. For customers, in turn, it means many more attractive tourist destinations and lower prices. Why is technology important in the tourism and travel industry?
These days, almost everyone has a smartphone or other mobile device, granting access to an immense choice of online services.
It is thus crucial for travel companies to allow their customers to book their trips, check-in for their flights, and find information about their destinations online.
Even though we are taking all of these modern utilities for granted, they are still a key factor for improving user experience in the travel industry. As a result, they have to be improved and optimized consistently. What are the latest technology trends used in the travel industry?
There are plenty of different technology trends that are shaping the future of the travel industry.
Below, we’ve listed 11 of the most important travel industry trends. Advanced travel search engines
Let’s compare here travel search engines to the Google search engine.
On the surface it is a pretty simple concept. A user introduce certain keywords of their interest and the search engine matches the most relevant results.
But what if you are looking for a hotel room in a specific location with certain room facilities? A simple Google search won’t be able to compute so many details.
This is where metasearch engines enter.
Metasearch engines are the tools that send search queries to many sources and organize results in a comprehensive list.
The main objective of such sites is to aggregate results in a unified way, so that the client can access the maximum number of available options on the market. It allows users to have a reliable source of objective information and to compare offers with one another.
Results presented by metasearch engines are obtained with less amount of exertion on the end user side.
Instead of searching one single search engine to find a specific website or browsing through different services, the right amount of data can be obtained by a metasearch engine.
It definitely improves the user experience. Ans save their precious time. In the tourism industry, metasearch engines are used to search through and compare travel agencies’ offers to provide clients with as many suitable options as possible.
Nowadays, these services have grown quite robust. Many provide smart price alerts or tempting last-minute deals.
When developing a metasearch engine for a travel agency or a lodging reservation service, key factors are performance and scalability.
A team of Stratoflow Java developers when tasked with improving the travel search engine for a major hotel bookings aggregator decided to extract the availability search into a separate cache layer based on an in-memory data grid (IMDG) platform. It allowed for a major decrease in SQL database usage, as well as improved efficiency.
Interestingly, our client saw almost an immediate commercial effect right after the initial implementation.
Higher overall throughput of the travel search engine allowed the existing customer base to query the platform more frequently, generating higher revenues in the process. AI dynamic pricing engines
Airlines such as Ryanair or Southwest are known for their extremely low price model.
You can hop anytime you want on a plane from Warsaw to London for less than 30 dollars.
You may have been wondering – how are airlenes able to break even, and run a successful business model with such low prices?
The answer is artificial intelligence.
These days, the pricing of airline tickets is completely automated and run by advanced systems that aim to fill a plane with passengers at the most optimal prices.
These systems take into consideration different types of clients. Those can be either business travelers who value convenience and comfort the most or leisure travelers who are more cost-conscious regardless of long layovers.
All of these factors are summed up by the pricing system. The goal is to fill as many seats on each plane as possible. But at the same time to avoid situations of complete tickets’ unavailability for potential clients in a very complex balancing act. Airlines’ pricing systems have to process an immense amount of customer data as well as travel trends about local destinations.
It is worth mentioning that during the COVID-19 pandemic pricing systems of many popular airlines were pretty severely disrupted. This led to a rather peculiar situation when we could book flights from Europe to the US for less than 200 dollars.
How was that possible? The dynamic pricing engines weren’t prepared for such an exceptional situation.
Nevertheless, as pandemic restrictions loosen, and airlines worldwide resume their normal routes and operations, dynamic pricing systems continue to play a vital role in their business model.
Read also: Benefits of Digital Transformation for Your Business Dynamic scheduling systems
Airlines are characterized by their large involved capital and incredibly slim average profit margins hovering around 5% (ignoring COVID-19 disruptions).
What does it mean for travel technology trends?
It’s simple. For an airline to make money, it has to adapt fast and consistently search for profitable routing opportunities.
This task has to be handled by automatic scheduling systems. Aside from the cost, the major factor for customers determining which flight they will choose is the overall travel time.
Airlines, therefore, put an enormous effort into assembling the most optimal schedule that they can offer in the shortest travel time possible.
Modern dynamic scheduling systems have to take into account these three factors pointed by Nawal Taneja: Scheduling optimization system – An automated solution created by a team of experienced developers that process operational data and identify the set of possible routing and scheduling changes. These have to be both profitable and operationally feasible.Such a system works based on all the possible arrangements of feasible schedule changes. Then it sorts them by their profitability.
Access to reliable market data – A dynamic scheduling system uses only reliable and accurate data on the routes popularity and its profitability.Considering a fairly short time horizon of flight scheduling operation, the best source for booking and revenue data is an internal Revenue Management system.
Knowledge about potential operational constraints – Many factors dictate whether a certain route is feasible operationally or not.These include maintenance costs at airports, gate availability, and miscellaneous aircraft-specific constraints.Only understanding all of them can ensure that a dynamic scheduling system can return positive results. In terms of profitability, it is estimated that dynamic scheduling can result in a 1-3% increase in revenue, depending on its utilization rate.
It constitutes a substantial amount when it comes to the airline industry.
Stratoflow developers have a great deal of experience in this particular field.
They were tasked by a global flight information company to improve their existing system.
Stratoflow proposed a replacement of major calculation logic with an open-source, high-performance framework that dramatically lowered TCO when compared with the existing code. Internet of Things (IoT)
Another emerging technology that is slowly being adopted by the tourism industry is the Internet of Things (IoT)
This concept refers to the network of physical devices —“things”—that are equipped with various sensors in order to connect and exchange data with other systems within the network over the internet.
Depending on the use case, these “things” can range from ordinary household devices to sophisticated industrial machinery.
When it comes to its role in the tourism industry, we’ve already seen some practical implementations beginning to appear.
Some airports, using IoT devices, tag passengers’ bags to alert them of their luggage’s current whereabouts and send them a notification when it arrives at the carousel.
Hotels are also starting to leverage some IoT-enabled sensors and voice control devices to adjust things like air conditioning. Using an in-room tablet, hotel guests can seamlessly control the temperature, music, lighting, and curtains, changing the atmosphere of the room and personalizing their experience to a whole new level. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality (VR) has recently once again come into the spotlight when Facebook rebranded itself and announced Metaverse. It’s a conceptual virtual universe that will be a future replacement for well-established social networks.
These visions seem exciting and a little eerie at times. But can virtual and augmented reality also influence the tourism industry in the future? As it turns out, the answer is “yes”.
Virtual Reality allows people to explore new places without leaving the comfort of their homes.
Virtual tours will enable people to have a glimpse of a certain exotic place before their visit in person. What’s more, popular travel platforms like Booking.com can set up virtual hotel room previews in order to better manage customer expectations. Contactless payments
Contactless payment methods take pride of place among recent tourism technology trends.
As the pandemic forced people to shy away from physical coins and banknotes, contactless payment options like GooglePay and Apple Pay have gained a lot of popularity.
When using them, the user’s device with a payment app communicates with the reader using RFID technology.
To see how it works in practice let’s take a look at the contactless payment method designed by The Walt Disney Company.
Disney offers Disney World guests custom wristbands, known as MagicBands. Visitors can link their credit card to their MagicBand to make purchases with a simple and effortless swipe of a wrist.
From a business standpoint, this solution offers Disney an unmatched opportunity to track user behaviors in order to optimize its operations even further. It is a trend that is undoubtedly gaining traction in various sectors of the travel industry. AI chatbots
Recently a story has surfaced that, allegedly, an advanced AI chatbot developed by Google has become self-aware.
Whether it is true is not for us to discuss here, but it underscores one really important fact.
AI chatbot technology has gone a long way in the last couple of years. It can also play a significant role in the development of the travel and tourism industry.
AI Chatbots stimulates human conversation, mostly using text interactions on various websites and services. Their main objective is to alleviate some congestion in call centers by proving at least basic help for customers 24/7.
When it comes to their usage in the travel and tourism industry, AirAsia is a good example of the use of a successful chatbot. Their advanced chatbot, AVA is able to do a multitude of things from helping travelers to choose seats and book flights to answering more difficult questions about current COVID-19 restrictions. Big Data
Data is a company’s most valuable asset.
This is also one of the main reasons why companies in the travel and hospitality industry are investing more and more funds into Big Data solutions.
Put simply, Big Data is a term that refers to large and unstructured data sets obtained from various data sources. These data sets are so voluminous that traditional data processing would have a hard time processing them into useful information.
Modern hotels and travel agents are using big data solutions to more effectively track customer behavior and preferences. This information is later used to improve the guest experience.
Big data measure precisely business performance.
Thanks to receiving data from previously untapped sources, the system allow for better revenue management and demand prognosis.
Read also: Fintech Trends That Shape Financial Future 5G and fast Wi-Fi networks
As travel tech trends grow more robust with every passing year, connectivity develops at the same rapid pace.
A couple of years ago, 5G made its debut in some of the largest cities around the world, offering up to 20 times faster download speeds than before.
Even though that might not be such a big deal for an ordinary person, the connection between smart devices can now be more efficient than ever allowing more advanced IoT networks. We have also seen an emergence of other breakthrough communication technologies, such as the Starlink internet.
Thanks to thousands of satellites in low earth orbit, people in virtually every corner of the world can enjoy internet speeds in excess of 100mbit/s and low latency unmatched by any other satellite internet provider.
A poor WiFi or Internet service in a hotel room can lead to bad online reviews for the hospitality and travel industry. With Starlink, even hotels in the most remote places can have a stable and fast internet connection. Recognition technology
Facial recognition is the software that classifies a single face according to its gender, age, emotion, or other characteristics in an attempt to confirm a person’s identity.
It is currently one of the most powerful surveillance tools ever made.
While many people are happy to use it to effortlessly unlock their phones, companies and governments are beginning to use it to a much greater extent. Facial recognition devices are beginning to appear in various airports across the world as an advanced security measure and potential deterrence.
According to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to dramatically expand its Biometric Exit program to cover 97 percent of outbound air passengers within four years.” Cybersecurity practices
To verify accounts on virtually every major travel and tourism offer aggregator, you would have to provide a photo of your ID card and other sensitive personal data.
It’s natural to feel a bit uneasy to share so much personal information, regardless of the service’s squeaky clean reputation and impressive market share.
Tourism companies and travel businesses understand that. That’s why they dedicate a substantial amount of resources to developing reliable and safe cybersecurity practices. Future of travel technology
As virtual reality and augmented reality technologies are becoming more and more advanced, some people speculate that they will negatively influence the tourism industry, but we beg to differ.
We predict that future tech advancements will push the travel industry towards better travel experiences and even more personalized experience. Travel technology trends – summary
The travel and tourism industry is the one where proper interactions with the consumer are essential. As new technological breakthroughs enter the market, they are letting corporations understand their customers a bit better, and provide them with improved services and experiences. Looking for a professional, cohesive and expert IT team to work on your Travel project? Then you’re in the right place. Get in touch with us! Related Posts What Are Travel Meta Search Engines? Digital Transformation in the Travel and Tourism Industry Application Development Guide: Types of Applications and Development Methodologies How Does Java Enable High-Performance? Web Application Development: Your Must-Have Guide for 2023 | Tech Industry Trends |
Advanced Micro Devices made history this year when it surpassed Intel by market cap for the first time ever. Intel has long held the lead in the market for computer processors, but AMD's ascent results from the company branching out into entirely new sectors.
In one of the biggest semiconductor acquisitions in history, AMD purchased adaptive chip company Xilinx in February for $49 billion. Now, AMD chips are in two Tesla models, NASA’s Mars Perseverance land rover, 5G cell towers and the world’s fastest supercomputer.
“AMD is beating Intel on all the metrics that matter, and until and unless Intel can fix its manufacturing, find some new way to manufacture things, they will continue to do that,” said Jay Goldberg, semiconductor consultant at D2D Advisory.
But a decade ago, analysts had a very different outlook for AMD.
“It was almost a joke, right? Because for decades they had these incredible performance problems,” Goldberg said. “And that's changed.”
CNBC sat down with AMD CEO Lisa Su to hear about her company’s remarkable comeback, and huge bets on new types of chips in the face of a PC slump, fresh restrictions on exports to China and shifting industry trends.
AMD was founded in 1969 by eight men, chief among them Jerry Sanders. The famously colorful marketing executive had recently left Fairchild Semiconductor, which shares credit for the invention of the integrated circuit.
“He was one of the best salesmen that Silicon Valley had ever seen," said Stacy Rasgon, semiconductor analyst at Bernstein Research. "Stories of lavish parties that they would throw. And there's one story about him and his wife coming down the stairs of the turret at the party in matching fur coats.”
He also coined an infamous phrase about chip fabrication plants, or fabs.
“Jerry Sanders was very famous for saying, ‘Real men have fabs,’ which obviously is a comment that is problematic on a number of levels and has largely been disproven by history,” Goldberg said.
As technology advances, making chips has become prohibitively expensive. It now takes billions of dollars and several years to build a fab. AMD now designs and tests chips and has no fabs.
“When you think about what do you need to do to be world class and design, it's a certain set of skills," Su said. "And then what do you need to do to be world class In manufacturing? It's a different set of skills and the business model is different, the capital model is different.”
Back in the '70s, AMD was pumping out computer chips. By the '80s, it was a second-source supplier for Intel. After AMD and Intel parted ways, AMD reverse engineered Intel’s chips to make its own products that were compatible with Intel’s groundbreaking x86 software. Intel sued AMD, but a settlement in 1995 gave AMD the right to continue designing x86 chips, making personal computer pricing more competitive for end consumers.
“That's when their execution really started to take off because they no longer had to worry about the foundry side of things,” Goldberg said.
GlobalFoundries went public in 2021 and remains a top maker of the less advanced chips found in simpler components like a car’s anti-lock brakes or heads-up display. But it stopped making leading-edge chips in 2018. For those, AMD turned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which now makes all of AMD’s most advanced chips.
AMD only has major competition from two other companies when it comes to designing the most advanced microprocessors: Nvidia in graphics processing units, GPUs, and Intel in central processing units, CPUs.
While AMD controls far less GPU and CPU market share than Nvidia and Intel, respectively, it’s made remarkable strides since moving away from manufacturing and reducing capital expenditure.
Meanwhile, Intel doubled down on manufacturing last year, committing $20 billion for new fabs in Arizona and up to $100 billion in Ohio, for what it says will be the world’s largest chip-making complex. But the projects are still years away from coming online.
“Intel is just not moving forward fast enough," Goldberg said. "They've said they expect to continue to lose share in next year and I think we'll see that on the client side. And that's helped out AMD tremendously on the data center side.”
AMD’s Zen line of CPUs, first released in 2017, is often seen as the key to the company's recent success. Su told CNBC it's her favorite product. It’s also what analysts say saved AMD from near bankruptcy.
“They were like literally, like probably six months away from the edge and somehow they pulled out of it," Rasgon said. "They have this Hail Mary on this new product design that they're still selling like later generations of today, they call it Zen is their name for it. And it worked. It had a massively improved performance and enabled them to stem the share losses and ultimately turn them around.”
Among the Zen products, AMD’s EPYC family of CPUs made monumental leaps on the data center side. Its latest, Genoa, was released earlier this month. AMD’s data center customers include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft Azure.
“If you looked at our business five years ago, we were probably more than 80% - 90% in the consumer markets and very PC-centric and gaming-centric,” Su said. “As I thought about what we wanted for the strategy of the company, we believed that for high-performance computing, really the data center was the most strategic piece of the business.”
AMD's revenue more than tripled between 2017 and 2021, growing from $5.3 billion to over $16 billion. Intel's annual revenue over that stretched, meanwhile, increased about 25% from close to $63 billion in 2017 to $79 billion last year.
AMD’s success at catching up to Intel’s technological advances is something many attribute to Su, who took over as CEO in 2014. AMD has more than tripled its employee count since then. Su was Fortune’s #2 Business Person of the Year in 2020 and the recipient of three of the semiconductor industry’s top honors. She also serves on President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science on Technology, which pushed hard for the recent passage of the CHIPS Act. It sets aside $52 billion for U.S. companies to manufacture chips domestically instead of overseas.
“It's a recognition of just how important semiconductors are to both economic prosperity as well as national security in the United States,” Su said.
With all the world’s most advanced semiconductors currently made in Asia, the chip shortage highlighted the problems of overseas dependency, especially amid continued tension between China and Taiwan. Now, TSMC is building a $12 billion 5-nanometer chip fab outside Phoenix.
“We're pleased with the expansion in Arizona," Su said. "We think that's a great thing and we'd like to see it expand even more.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration enacted big new bans on semiconductor exports to China. AMD has about 3,000 employees in China and 25% of its sales were to China last year. But Su says the revenue impact has been “very small.”
“When we look at the most recent regulations, they're not significantly impacting our business," Su said. "It does affect some of our highest-end chips that are used in sort of AI applications. And we were not selling those into China.”
What is hurting AMD’s revenue, at least for now, is the PC slump. In its third-quarter earnings report earlier this month, AMD missed expectations, shortly after Intel warned of a soft fourth quarter. PC shipments were down nearly 20% in the third quarter, the steepest decline in more than 20 years.
“It's down a bit more than perhaps we expected,” Su said. “There is a cycle of correction which happens from time to time, but we're very focused on the long-term road map.”
It’s not just PC sales that are slowing. The very core of computer chip technology advancement is changing. An industry rule called Moore’s Law has long dictated that the number of transistors on a chip should double about every two years.
“The process that we call Moore's Law still has at least another decade to go, but there's definitely, it's slowing down,” Goldberg said. “Everybody sort of used CPUs for everything, general purpose compute, but that's all slowed down. And so now it suddenly makes sense to do more customized solutions.”
That’s why AMD acquired Xilinx, known for its adaptive chips called Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs. Earlier this year, AMD also bought cloud startup Pensando for $1.9 billion.
“We can quibble about some of the prices they paid for some of these things and what the returns will look like,” said Goldberg, adding that the acquisitions were ultimately a good decision. “They're building a custom compute business to help their customers design their own chips. I think that's a very, it's a smart strategy.”
More and more big companies are designing their own custom chips. Amazon has its own Graviton processors for AWS. Google designs its own AI chips for the Pixel phone and a specific video chip for YouTube. Even John Deere is coming out with its own chips for autonomous tractors.
“If you really look underneath what's happening in the chip industry over the last five years, everybody needs more chips and you see them everywhere, right?" Su said. "Particularly the growth of the cloud has been such a key trend over the last five years. And what that means is when you have very high volume growth in chips, you do want to do more customization.”
Even basic chip architecture is at a transition point. AMD and Intel chips are based on the five-decade-old x86 architecture. Now ARM architecture chips are growing in popularity, with companies like Nvidia and Ampere making major promises about developing Arm CPUs, and Apple switching from Intel to self-designed ARM processors.
“My view is it's really not a debate between x86 and Arm," Su said. "You're going to see basically, these two are the most important architectures out there in the market. And what we've seen is it's really about what you do with the compute.”
For now, analysts say AMD is in a strong position as it diversifies alongside its core business of x86 computing chips.
“AMD should fare much better in 2023 as we come out of the cycle, as their performance gains versus Intel start to become apparent, and as they start to build out on some of these new businesses,” Goldberg said.
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Correction: "And we were not selling those into China," said Lisa Su, AMD's CEO. Her quote has been updated to reflect a typo that appeared in an earlier version of this article. An industry rule called Moore’s Law has long dictated that the number of transistors on a chip should double about every two years. An earlier version misstated the rule. | Tech Industry Trends |
Advanced Micro Devices made history this year when it surpassed Intel by market cap for the first time ever. Intel has long held the lead in the market for computer processors, but AMD's ascent results from the company branching out into entirely new sectors.In one of the biggest semiconductor acquisitions in history, AMD purchased adaptive chip company Xilinx in February for $49 billion. Now, AMD chips are in two Tesla models, NASA’s Mars Perseverance land rover, 5G cell towers and the world’s fastest supercomputer. related investing news“AMD is beating Intel on all the metrics that matter, and until and unless Intel can fix its manufacturing, find some new way to manufacture things, they will continue to do that,” said Jay Goldberg, semiconductor consultant at D2D Advisory.But a decade ago, analysts had a very different outlook for AMD.“It was almost a joke, right? Because for decades they had these incredible performance problems,” Goldberg said. “And that's changed.”CNBC sat down with AMD CEO Lisa Su to hear about her company’s remarkable comeback, and huge bets on new types of chips in the face of a PC slump, fresh restrictions on exports to China and shifting industry trends.‘Real men have fabs’AMD was founded in 1969 by eight men, chief among them Jerry Sanders. The famously colorful marketing executive had recently left Fairchild Semiconductor, which shares credit for the invention of the integrated circuit.“He was one of the best salesmen that Silicon Valley had ever seen," said Stacy Rasgon, semiconductor analyst at Bernstein Research. "Stories of lavish parties that they would throw. And there's one story about him and his wife coming down the stairs of the turret at the party in matching fur coats.”AMD Co-Founder Jerry Sanders poses at the original headquarters of Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, in Sunnyvale, California, in 1969AMDHe also coined an infamous phrase about chip fabrication plants, or fabs.“Jerry Sanders was very famous for saying, ‘Real men have fabs,’ which obviously is a comment that is problematic on a number of levels and has largely been disproven by history,” Goldberg said.As technology advances, making chips has become prohibitively expensive. It now takes billions of dollars and several years to build a fab. AMD now designs and tests chips and has no fabs.“When you think about what do you need to do to be world class and design, it's a certain set of skills," Su said. "And then what do you need to do to be world class In manufacturing? It's a different set of skills and the business model is different, the capital model is different.”Back in the '70s, AMD was pumping out computer chips. By the '80s, it was a second-source supplier for Intel. After AMD and Intel parted ways, AMD reverse engineered Intel’s chips to make its own products that were compatible with Intel’s groundbreaking x86 software. Intel sued AMD, but a settlement in 1995 gave AMD the right to continue designing x86 chips, making personal computer pricing more competitive for end consumers.In 2006, AMD bought major fabless chip company ATI for $5.4 billion. Then in 2009, AMD broke off its manufacturing arm altogether, forming GlobalFoundries.“That's when their execution really started to take off because they no longer had to worry about the foundry side of things,” Goldberg said.GlobalFoundries went public in 2021 and remains a top maker of the less advanced chips found in simpler components like a car’s anti-lock brakes or heads-up display. But it stopped making leading-edge chips in 2018. For those, AMD turned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which now makes all of AMD’s most advanced chips.Catching IntelAMD only has major competition from two other companies when it comes to designing the most advanced microprocessors: Nvidia in graphics processing units, GPUs, and Intel in central processing units, CPUs.While AMD controls far less GPU and CPU market share than Nvidia and Intel, respectively, it’s made remarkable strides since moving away from manufacturing and reducing capital expenditure. Meanwhile, Intel doubled down on manufacturing last year, committing $20 billion for new fabs in Arizona and up to $100 billion in Ohio, for what it says will be the world’s largest chip-making complex. But the projects are still years away from coming online.“Intel is just not moving forward fast enough," Goldberg said. "They've said they expect to continue to lose share in next year and I think we'll see that on the client side. And that's helped out AMD tremendously on the data center side.”AMD’s Zen line of CPUs, first released in 2017, is often seen as the key to the company's recent success. Su told CNBC it's her favorite product. It’s also what analysts say saved AMD from near bankruptcy.“They were like literally, like probably six months away from the edge and somehow they pulled out of it," Rasgon said. "They have this Hail Mary on this new product design that they're still selling like later generations of today, they call it Zen is their name for it. And it worked. It had a massively improved performance and enabled them to stem the share losses and ultimately turn them around.”AMD CEO Lisa Su shows the newly released Genoa CPU, the company's 4th generation EPYC processor, to CNBC's Katie Tarasov at AMD's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on November 8, 2022Jeniece PettittAmong the Zen products, AMD’s EPYC family of CPUs made monumental leaps on the data center side. Its latest, Genoa, was released earlier this month. AMD’s data center customers include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft Azure.“If you looked at our business five years ago, we were probably more than 80% - 90% in the consumer markets and very PC-centric and gaming-centric,” Su said. “As I thought about what we wanted for the strategy of the company, we believed that for high-performance computing, really the data center was the most strategic piece of the business.”AMD's revenue more than tripled between 2017 and 2021, growing from $5.3 billion to over $16 billion. Intel's annual revenue over that stretched, meanwhile, increased about 25% from close to $63 billion in 2017 to $79 billion last year.Geopolitical concerns and PC slumpAMD’s success at catching up to Intel’s technological advances is something many attribute to Su, who took over as CEO in 2014. AMD has more than tripled its employee count since then. Su was Fortune’s #2 Business Person of the Year in 2020 and the recipient of three of the semiconductor industry’s top honors. She also serves on President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science on Technology, which pushed hard for the recent passage of the CHIPS Act. It sets aside $52 billion for U.S. companies to manufacture chips domestically instead of overseas.“It's a recognition of just how important semiconductors are to both economic prosperity as well as national security in the United States,” Su said.With all the world’s most advanced semiconductors currently made in Asia, the chip shortage highlighted the problems of overseas dependency, especially amid continued tension between China and Taiwan. Now, TSMC is building a $12 billion 5-nanometer chip fab outside Phoenix.“We're pleased with the expansion in Arizona," Su said. "We think that's a great thing and we'd like to see it expand even more.”Earlier this month, the Biden administration enacted big new bans on semiconductor exports to China. AMD has about 3,000 employees in China and 25% of its sales were to China last year. But Su says the revenue impact has been “very small.”“When we look at the most recent regulations, they're not significantly impacting our business," Su said. "It does affect some of our highest-end chips that are used in sort of AI applications. And we were not selling those into China.”What is hurting AMD’s revenue, at least for now, is the PC slump. In its third-quarter earnings report earlier this month, AMD missed expectations, shortly after Intel warned of a soft fourth quarter. PC shipments were down nearly 20% in the third quarter, the steepest decline in more than 20 years.“It's down a bit more than perhaps we expected,” Su said. “There is a cycle of correction which happens from time to time, but we're very focused on the long-term road map.”Going customIt’s not just PC sales that are slowing. The very core of computer chip technology advancement is changing. An industry rule called Moore’s Law has long dictated that the number of resistors on a chip should double about every two years.“The process that we call Moore's Law still has at least another decade to go, but there's definitely, it's slowing down,” Goldberg said. “Everybody sort of used CPUs for everything, general purpose compute, but that's all slowed down. And so now it suddenly makes sense to do more customized solutions.”Former Xilinx CEO Victor Peng and AMD CEO Lisa Su on stage in Munich, Germany, at theAMDThat’s why AMD acquired Xilinx, known for its adaptive chips called Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs. Earlier this year, AMD also bought cloud startup Pensando for $1.9 billion. “We can quibble about some of the prices they paid for some of these things and what the returns will look like,” said Goldberg, adding that the acquisitions were ultimately a good decision. “They're building a custom compute business to help their customers design their own chips. I think that's a very, it's a smart strategy.”More and more big companies are designing their own custom chips. Amazon has its own Graviton processors for AWS. Google designs its own AI chips for the Pixel phone and a specific video chip for YouTube. Even John Deere is coming out with its own chips for autonomous tractors.“If you really look underneath what's happening in the chip industry over the last five years, everybody needs more chips and you see them everywhere, right?" Su said. "Particularly the growth of the cloud has been such a key trend over the last five years. And what that means is when you have very high volume growth in chips, you do want to do more customization.”Even basic chip architecture is at a transition point. AMD and Intel chips are based on the five-decade-old x86 architecture. Now ARM architecture chips are growing in popularity, with companies like Nvidia and Ampere making major promises about developing Arm CPUs, and Apple switching from Intel to self-designed ARM processors.“My view is it's really not a debate between x86 and Arm," Su said. "You're going to see basically, these two are the most important architectures out there in the market. And what we've seen is it's really about what you do with the compute.”For now, analysts say AMD is in a strong position as it diversifies alongside its core business of x86 computing chips.“AMD should fare much better in 2023 as we come out of the cycle, as their performance gains versus Intel start to become apparent, and as they start to build out on some of these new businesses,” Goldberg said.Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Correction: "And we were not selling those into China," said Lisa Su, AMD's CEO. Her quote has been updated to reflect a typo that appeared in an earlier version of this article. | Tech Industry Trends |
SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time in three years, startup funding is dropping.The numbers are stark. Investments in U.S. tech startups plunged 23% over the past three months, to $62.3 billion, the steepest fall since 2019, according to figures released Thursday by PitchBook, which tracks young companies. Even worse, in the first six months of the year, startup sales and initial public offerings — the primary ways these companies return cash to investors — plummeted 88%, to $49 billion, from a year ago.The declines are a rarity in the startup ecosystem, which enjoyed more than a decade of outsize growth fueled by a booming economy, low interest rates and people using more and more technology, from smartphones to apps to artificial intelligence. That surge produced now-household names such as Airbnb and Instacart. Over the past decade, quarterly funding to high-growth startups fell just seven times.But as rising interest rates, inflation and uncertainty stemming from the war in Ukraine have cast a pall over the global economy this year, young tech companies have gotten hit. And that foreshadows a difficult period for the tech industry, which relies on startups in Silicon Valley and beyond to provide the next big innovation and growth engine.Get Innovation BeatBoston Globe tech reporters tell the story of the region's technology and innovation industry, highlighting key players, trends, and why they matter.“We’ve been in a long bull market,” said Kirsten Green, an investor with Forerunner Ventures, adding that the pullback was partly a reaction to that frenzied period of dealmaking, as well as to macroeconomic uncertainty. “What we’re doing right now is calming things down and cutting out some of the noise.”The startup industry still has plenty of money behind it, and no collapse is imminent. Investors continue to do deals, funding 4,457 transactions in the past three months, up 4% from a year ago, according to PitchBook. Venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, are also still raising large new funds that can be deployed into young companies, collecting $122 billion in commitments so far this year, PitchBook said.Startups are also accustomed to the boy who cried wolf. Over the past decade, various blips in the market have led to predictions that tech was in a bubble that would soon burst. Each time, tech bounced back even stronger, and more money poured in.Even so, the warning signs that all is not well have recently become more prominent.Venture capitalists, such as those at Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, have cautioned young firms to cut costs, conserve cash and prepare for hard times. In response, many startups have laid off workers and instituted hiring freezes. Some companies — including payments startup Fast, home design company Modsy and travel startup WanderJaunt — have shut down.The pain has also reached young companies that went public in the past two years. Shares of onetime startup darlings like stocks app Robinhood, scooter startup Bird Global and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have tumbled between 86% and 95% below their highs from the last year. Enjoy Technology, a retail startup that went public in October, filed for bankruptcy last week. Electric Last Mile Solutions, an electric vehicle startup that went public in June 2021, said last month that it would liquidate its assets.Kyle Stanford, an analyst with PitchBook, said the difference this year was that the huge checks and soaring valuations of 2021 were not happening. “Those were unsustainable,” he said.The startup market has now reached a kind of stalemate — particularly for the largest and most mature companies — which has led to a lack of action in new funding, said Mark Goldberg, an investor at Index Ventures. Many startup founders don’t want to raise money these days at a price that values their company lower than it was once worth, while investors don’t want to pay the elevated prices of last year, he said. The result is stasis.“It’s pretty much frozen,” Goldberg said.Additionally, so many startups collected huge piles of cash during the recent boom times that few have needed to raise money this year, he said. That could change next year, when some of the companies start running low on cash. “The logjam will break at some point,” Goldberg said.David Spreng, an investor at Runway Growth Capital, a venture debt investment firm, said he had seen a disconnect between investors and startup executives over the state of the market.“Pretty much every VC is sounding alarm bells,” he said. But, he added, “the management teams we’re talking to, they all seem to think: We’ll be fine, no worries.”The one thing he has seen every company do, he said, is freeze its hiring. “When we start seeing companies miss their revenue goals, then it’s time to get a little worried,” Spreng said.Still, the huge piles of capital that venture capital firms have accumulated to back new startups has given many in the industry confidence that it will avoid a major collapse.“When the spigot turns back on, VC will be set up to get back to putting a lot of capital back to work,” Stanford said. “If the broader economic climate doesn’t get worse.”This article originally appeared in The New York Times. | Tech Industry Trends |
It seems like everyone in the database business is thinking about how to capitalize on the growth of AI by adding support for vectors to their products. That, after all, remains to be the easiest way to feed up-to-date data to foundation models. Almost 28 years after its launch, MySQL may not have much hype surrounding it anymore, but it remains among the most often-used databases and it powers the vast majority of the web. Today, PlanetScale, the well-funded MySQL database company founded by the co-creators of the Vitess open-source project, announced that it is forking MySQL in order to add vector support — in part because the team believes that MySQL-owner Oracle isn’t moving fast enough to do the same.
“MySQL is still the world’s most popular database; still runs 70% of the internet. Oracle has been slow to respond to this changing and evolving world of AI and generally, modern MySQL is being carried forward by PlanetScale,” PlanetScale CEO and President Sam Lambert told me when I asked him why the company decided to go this route. “What we’ve seen through industry trends is that AI is not just leading to a ballooning of vector data but relational data itself. People have proprietary data, they have the inputs that are used for these models, and then you create this kind of circular feedback loop: you’re seeing what people are searching for, you’re inputting that into your relational database, then you’re training on it, you’re storing vectors, and you’re doing similarity search. We couldn’t really let ourselves get bound to Oracle’s lack of pace on this.”
Lambert noted that it only took his team about six weeks to complete the work on adding vector support. The team is now testing to ensure that its solution can scale before it will roll out to all PlanetScale users, but the company is also looking to see if it can contribute this code upstream into the MySQL open-source edition. “We’ll make an attempt to upstream this to be good citizens,” Lambert, who came to PlanetScale in 2021 after being the VP of Engineering at GitHub, said. “We believe in open source. My background at GitHub gave me a long, long time of experience in the open source community, we love open source.”
Internally, PlanetScale has been using a MySQL fork for years, so the company is well-versed in maintaining this fork, but it now has to do so in public. And while the team was able to quickly add vector support to MySQL, Lambert argues that this was only possible because the team is highly versed in the internals of the database. “It’s no small feat, right? It’s a 25-year-old C++ code base, right? Postgres has two versions of this now because they’ve got an easy plugin ecosystem. This is deep work we’ve had to go and do to actually produce this — and it pays off.”
To a large degree, PlanetScale’s value proposition has always been that it can scale well beyond any of its competitors. Vitess, after all, came out of YouTube. The company now promises that it can bring this scalability to vector databases and search. Lambert argues that it makes sense to keep the vector features close to the database. In his view, storing vectors isn’t a very complicated way to store data, so it’s easy enough to add it to the existing database and keep the two systems close. This also now means that, ideally, WordPress and other tools that run on top of MySQL may soon get easy access to these features as well, which would allow the developers in those ecosystems to more easily add AI-based features that make use of custom data as well.
“We feel it’s a core part of our mission,” Lambert said. “If we were carrying forward modern MySQL, we have to take up the flag and own this and move forward. This is something we’re very excited to do to keep making MySQL better while this new modern audience falls in love with it.”
“It’s great MySQL is so reliable. No one questions it. No one has ever said that it’s not reliable, that it’s not scalable. That doesn’t give Oracle the excuse to stop shipping and responding to these trends and that’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re picking this up.” | Tech Industry Trends |
The most important technology of the year was not Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse, Jack Dorsey’s blockchain, or Elon Musk’s, err, dancing robot.It was more likely the same thing that has propelled progress in the tech industry for decades. The one that lets machines juggle and manipulate information, faster and more efficiently every year. It is, of course, the silicon chip.The importance of semiconductors may have faded from view over the last decade as the web, social media, and apps came to the fore. Silicon Valley is arguably now more synonymous with Google’s inescapable web search, Amazon’s ecommerce empire, or Facebook’s FOMO-fueled feed than with Intel’s newest chip. But the past year has provided plenty of evidence that chips are, in fact, more important than ever.Rising demand for chips from new types of customers combined with the pandemic and geopolitical tensions to put extraordinary pressure on the supply of both simple and advanced computer processors in 2021, resulting in shortages of everything from cars to game consoles. Control over the production of advanced silicon is shaping competition and conflict between the world’s two dominant superpowers. And many governments are set to pour huge sums into bolstering their manufacturing capabilities.Custom chip designs are rapidly becoming increasingly vital to emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and 5G. These specialized architectures, rather than general purpose chips, will help shape the course of innovation.“There is really nothing humble about the silicon chip,” says Jésus del Alamo, a professor at MIT who teaches courses on advanced microelectronics. “They are at the heart of everything, and do so many critical things in so many valuable places, with incredible benefits to society.”Del Alamo notes that chips are now found in a bewildering array of products, making kitchen appliances, industrial machinery, and even objects as mundane as light bulbs connected and programmable.The pandemic quickly revealed how vital chips have become to the economy. When carmakers shut factories in early 2020, in anticipation of an economic slowdown, they canceled orders for low-cost chips increasingly needed in engines, safety systems, and infotainment displays. Even the most basic gas-powered car now has over 100 chips, while the latest electric vehicle may hold more than 1,000. When car buying recovered unexpectedly, manufacturers didn’t have enough silicon, and were forced to halt production, dampening the economic recovery in many nations.The computerization of everything from industrial robots to medical devices meant the chip shortage was felt far and wide. Meanwhile, the huge cost of building new chip plants, and the cyclical nature of the industry, has caused the drought to drag on … and on. “Companies that considered chips as just another bullet item on a bill of materials now realize the relevance of semiconductors,” says Gaurav Gupta, a vice president at Gartner, a research firm, who tracks electronics. “Now everyone has to focus on, and strategize, the procurement of semiconductors.”The chip crunch has been exacerbated by tension between the US and China. The Trump administration barred the sale of the most advanced computer chips—those powering the latest smartphones or cloud servers—to Chinese companies accused of close ties to the government or of aiding in human rights abuses of Muslims in Xinjiang province.The blockade, which the Biden administration has kept in place, also reflects an awareness that these chips are crucial for progress in fields such as AI, 5G, and robotics, which are increasingly seen as key to economic and military competition. And because China lacks the capacity to manufacture the most advanced chips for itself, leading tech companies such as Huawei, which once led the world in smartphone sales, have seen part of their business crippled. Some Chinese firms reportedly stockpiled chips in anticipation of the ban, stretching available supplies still further.The importance of advanced chip manufacturing has thrust some lesser-known companies into the geopolitical spat. The Dutch firm ASML is the world’s only maker of the $150-million extreme ultraviolet lithography machines needed to etch the most miniscule features into silicon chips. The US also has blocked ASML from exporting to China, effectively hobbling the country’s domestic chip industry.But Washington’s chip gambit also reflects America’s weaknesses. In recent decades it has become incredibly complex and expensive to manufacture the fastest and most efficient chips, which feature atomic-scale features. Only three companies in the world are now capable of producing the most advanced components: TSMC in Taiwan, Samsung in South Korea, and Intel in the US. But Intel has fallen behind TSMC and Samsung, and the US share of global chipmaking has slipped to an estimated 12 percent this year, from 37 percent in 1990, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), an industry group.In June the US Senate approved a bill with $52 billion aimed at reviving the US semiconductor industry; it is awaiting action by the House. John Neuffer, CEO of the SIA, which is backed by US chip companies, says the money would help the US regain its edge and also ensure a robust supply of less advanced chips for the automotive industry. “Inaction is not an option” in the face of current trends, says Neuffer.Other nations are likely to invest similarly in an effort to prop up their chip industries. South Korea says it will invest more than $55 billion over the next three years to update and expand its manufacturing. European Union nations plan to invest $25 billion to $35 billion and will introduce tax and other incentives in an effort to snare 20 percent of global chipmaking by 2030. The Chinese government has signalled that it will spend $150 billion over the next 10 years in an effort to achieve chip manufacturing self-sufficiency.Kevin Krewell, an analyst with Tirias Research who tracks the industry, notes that not all of the money will be invested in cutting edge chip making capacity, and shortages could still stretch into 2023 and 2024. “Demand shows no sign of slowing as cars get smarter with even more electronics and consumer devices keep growing in sophistication and number,” he says.One reason it is so vital for the US to be able to make cutting-edge chips is that progress in chip manufacturing has begun slowing in recent years, making custom silicon a lot more important. For decades, the number of transistors on a chip, which roughly corresponds to its speed, doubled about every 18 months, an observation first made by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore; that’s no longer happening.Custom chips offer a way to boost performance. Apple, for instance, now designs its own chips for its smartphones, tablets, and laptops, as part of a strategy that gives it greater control over the performance of its products. It represents a striking turnaround for an industry where once only chip giants like Intel and AMD designed and made silicon. Now, a growing number of companies see specialized chip designs, including their own, as a way to gain an edge in areas like AI.The chip at the heart of most computers, known as the central processing unit (CPU), is designed to be flexible enough to carry out any logical operation. But AI algorithms increasingly rely on more specialized chips, mostly the graphics processing units (GPUs) originally developed for video gaming, because they are well-suited to running the necessary mathematical calculations.As AI becomes more important, and as algorithms become larger and more expensive to run, many companies are exploring customized designs. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest provider of cloud computing services, has developed several chips specialized for AI, including Trainium, for training AI models and Inferentia, for running pre-trained models.“GPUs in general are intended to solve a whole bunch of workloads,” says Raj Pai, a vice president at AWS involved with the company’s chip efforts. “With our own custom silicon we are able to really look at the sorts of models that our customers run and optimize the chip and the power and everything.”Other companies now designing their own chips to accelerate AI include Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Tesla.Neil Thompson, a professor at MIT who studies technological change, says the trend “is a very natural reaction to the slowing of Moore's law.” But he also believes it could lead to less innovation in algorithms over time, as tech becomes more “siloed.”Now, AI is also helping design chips, making it easier for others to join the parade. Bill Dally, chief scientist at Nvidia, which became the world’s most valuable chipmaker by selling its GPUs to AI engineers, says the company is using AI to design chips that are faster or more efficient than ones designed by hand. The technology will speed up chip design and lead to new designs, he says. “AI will have a profound impact on the process of chip design,” Dally says.More Great WIRED Stories📩 The latest on tech, science, and more: Get our newsletters!4 dead infants, a convicted mother, and a genetic mysteryYour rooftop garden could be a solar-powered farmRobots won’t close the warehouse worker gap soonOur favorite smartwatches do much more than tell timeHacker Lexicon: What is a watering hole attack?👁️ Explore AI like never before with our new database🏃🏽♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the best fitness trackers, running gear (including shoes and socks), and best headphones | Tech Industry Trends |
Future waves of COVID-19 might be predicted using internet search data, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
In the study, researchers watched the number of COVID-related Google searches made across the country and used that information, together with conventional COVID-19 metrics such as confirmed cases, to predict hospital admission rates weeks in advance.
Using the search data provided by Google Trends, scientists were able to build a computational model to forecast COVID-19 hospitalizations. Google Trends is an online portal that provides data on Google search volumes in real time.
"If you have a bunch of people searching for 'COVID testing sites near me' … you're going to still feel the effects of that downstream at the hospital level in terms of admissions," said data scientist Philip Turk of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. "That gives health care administrators and leaders advance warning to prepare for surges — to stock up on personal protective equipment and staffing and to anticipate a surge coming at them."
For predictions one or two weeks in advance, the new computer model stacks up well against existing ones. It beats the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “national ensemble” forecast, which combines models made by many research teams — though there are some single models that outperform it.
Different perspective
According to study co-author Shihao Yang, a data scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the new model's value is its unique perspective — a data source that is independent of conventional metrics. Yang is working to add the new model to the CDC's COVID-19 forecasting hub.
Watching trends in how often people Google certain terms, like “cough” or “COVID-19 vaccine,” could help fill in the gaps in places with sparse testing or weak health care systems.
Yang also thinks that his model will be especially useful when new variants pop up. It did a good job of predicting spikes in hospitalizations thought to be associated with new variants such as omicron, without the time delays typical of many other models. FILE - This Oct. 14, 2004, photo shows computers displaying the Google desktop search engine at the Digitallife show at New York's Jacob K. Javitz convention center. "It's like an earthquake," Yang said. "Google search will tell me a few hours ahead that a tsunami is hitting. … A few hours is enough for me to get prepared, allocate resources and inform my staff. I think that's the information that we are providing here. It's that window from the earthquake to when the tsunami hit the shore where my model really shines."
The model considers Google search volumes for 256 COVID-19-specific terms, such as "loss of taste," "COVID-19 vaccine" and "cough," together with core statistics like case counts and vaccination rates. It also has temporal and spatial components — terms representing the delay between today's data and the future hospitalizations it predicts, and how closely connected different states are.
Every week, the model retrains itself using the past 56 days’ worth of data. This keeps the model from being weighed down by older data that don't reflect how the virus acts now.
Turk previously developed a different model to predict COVID-19 hospitalizations on a local level for the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area. The new model developed by Yang and his colleagues uses a different method and is the first to make state- and national-level predictions using search data.
Turk was surprised by “just how harmonious” the result was with his earlier work.
“I mean, they're basically looking at two different models, two different paths,” he said. “It's a great example of science coming together."
Using Google search data to make public health forecasts has downsides. For one, Google could stop allowing researchers to use the data at any time, something Yang admits is concerning to his colleagues.
'Noise' in searches
Additionally, search data are messy, with lots of random behavior that researchers call “noise,” and the quality varies regionally, so the information needs to be smoothed out during analysis using statistical methods.
Local linguistic quirks can introduce problems because people from different regions sometimes use different words to describe the same thing, as can media coverage when it either raises or calms pandemic fears, Yang said. Privacy protections also introduce complications — user data are aggregated and injected with extra noise before publishing, a protection that makes it impossible to fish out individual users’ information from the public dataset.
Running the model with search data alone didn't work as well as the model with search data and conventional metrics. Taking out search data and using only conventional COVID-19 metrics to make predictions also hurt the new model’s performance. This indicates that, for this model, the magic is in the mix — both conventional COVID-19 metrics and Google Trends data contain information that is useful for predicting hospitalizations.
"The fact that the data is valuable, and [the] data [is] difficult to process are two independent questions. There [is] information in there," Yang said. "I can talk to my mom about this. It's very simple, just intuitive. … If we are able to capture that intuition, I think that's what makes things work." | Tech Industry Trends |
Every company is a software company in today’s tech-powered world—which makes the role of the CIO even more vital to the success of a business. It also makes reaching this group of critical IT leaders that much more lucrative for many brands and marketers. Yet, with so many emerging needs, disruptions and up-and-coming innovations, it could be a challenge to know how to get in front of (and appeal to) these CIOs. This is why we’ve done the work for you. Thanks to a combination of Forbes’ proprietary research and insights from leading CIOs at the 2022 Forbes CIO Summit, we know what matters most to today’s forward-thinking CIO. We also know that CIOs and CMOs have intertwined goals, making working together integral. From challenges in cybersecurity to changes in customer experience, we’ve identified the opportunity areas that today’s CIOs are talking about to help marketers join the conversation. From challenges in cybersecurity to changes in CX, there are four opportunity areas that today’s CIOs are talking about the most.getty Customer Experience Much like CMOs, today’s CIO wants to uplevel the customer experience. To Tony Fadell, author and principal at Future Shape, this means going where customers say they have an issue and solving that pain. "Whether [the solution] is new technology or new systems, bring a painkiller and make it a superpower that makes them love the brand again," said Fadell at the 2022 Forbes CIO Summit. As far as what superpowers CIOs are enhancing to provide the best customer experience, 45% say they are utilizing customer analytics tools/software while 43% are expanding the use of digital sales channels, according to Forbes CxO Growth Survey 2.0. For those digital sales channels, CIOs could be eyeing the metaverse. “If you sell products that require any kind of visualization on an e-commerce page, chances are you are going to need 3-D models of those products soon, whether that is in augmented reality or the metaverse,” said Ben Groom, the chief digital officer at MillerKnoll, at this year’s Summit. Cybersecurity Cybersecurity isn’t only a top conversation for CIOs; it’s also a top concern. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) CIOs say that cybersecurity and risk management will be the top challenge as a technology leader over the next 12 months. Michael Daniel, president & CEO of Cyber Threat Alliance, shed light on why this may be at the Summit, saying, “adversaries run their operations like a business, and they’ve diversified, scaled and integrated vertically. The adversaries that we’re facing now are much more organized.”
Moving forward, nearly 9 in 10 (86%) CIOs agree they are always seeking new (or additional) cybersecurity solutions, while 37% are enhancing cybersecurity to ensure safety of customer data—and to ensure that they're providing the best possible customer experience. And it’ll be up to CMOs to communicate these solutions. Tech Inequality
Many leaders across the C-suite recognize that technology can be biased, and CIOs are looking for ways to solve that. As Rashmi Kumar, SVP & CIO at HPE, pointed out at the Summit, “the digitalization movement is much faster in private companies versus the public sector. [We must] create equal access so it impacts a broader population.” On top of equal access, rooting out tech inequality will take businesses increasing awareness about their own models. “There are companies that have no idea if their models are biased or not,” said Aparna Dhinakaran, cofounder & chief product officer at Arize AI, at the Summit. “You don’t need to input race in order for the model to figure out race, ethnicity, age, background and zip code. [So] you can’t just say…your model [is] unaware and [therefore] can’t be biased.” One idea? Teach people what tech can do—like Moderna. Marcelo Damiani, chief digital & operational excellence officer and his team at Moderna built an AI academy to demystify AI to the whole organization. "This allows us to educate people so they can understand what problems it can help them solve," explained Damiani. Digital Transformation Digital transformation isn’t a new priority for CIOs or CMOs, but it is speeding up. When asked about the speed of digital transformation initiatives over the next 12 months vs. last year—77% of CIOs said the speed would be faster or much faster. Forbes asked the same question on scope, to which 64% of CIOs said the scope would be bigger or much bigger. For digital transformation efforts to succeed, CIOs point toward gathering data and applying insights to guide the digital evolution (39%), having roles and responsibilities in the transformation clearly defined (32%) and cross-team collaboration (31%). And when it comes to collaboration, Sabina Ewing, Abbott’s global CIO & VP of business & technology services, suggests democratizing tech. “I strongly believe that you need a culture that democratizes technology,” said Ewing at the 2022 Summit. “It’s not just IT that needs to understand technology—in this era, everyone has a role to play.” As a marketer, what role will you be playing, and what conversation will you be owning?
Watch The Replay: 2022 Forbes CIO Summit—The Transformational CIO
Storyteller Spotlight Forbes is No. 1 within the business and finance competitive set for reaching influential decision makers. We honor standout chief executives, trailblazing entrepreneurs and innovative leaders who support their communities, strive for industry excellence and set the trends that others follow. With several lists and franchises focused on technology, including the Cloud 100, AI 50, the World's Richest Tech Billionaires, Forbes is laser-focused on the future of this industry. At the same time, we help technology companies reach Forbes' influential audiences through award-winning content. From a cross-platform content campaign that engaged IT leaders to a custom advertising program that sparked conversations among C-suite execs and tech influencers to a data-driven campaign aimed at enterprise leaders, Forbes knows how to get meaningful content in front of brands' target audiences. Top 6 Reads You Can’t-Miss Why CFO & CIO is the silent killer of digital transformation How to become a billionaire at 87, according to a tech exec who did it Are you a woman in tech? Here’s how you beat imposter syndrome Want to enhance your customer experience online? Read this advice. Learn all about how to delight customers from Blue Shield’s CIO Who are America’s richest self-made women? We’ve got the list. Virtual To-Do List Save the date for 2022 Forbes CIO Next—coming in October Meet the top AI companies in North America shaping the future Discover how ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ can lead to greater tech inclusivity Watch an explainer of augmented intelligence on Forbes YouTube Get to know the ‘Made In India’ CIOs who are innovating in America Follow Forbes Content Studio on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Partner with Forbes Connect your brand with Forbes’ influential audiences through resonant storytelling, expertise and thought leadership. Through digital stories, print, live events and more, see how Forbes Content & Design Studio can help your brand thoughtfully reach tech decision makers. Reach out today to see how our award-winning producers, designers, creators and researchers can craft stunning content uniquely tailored to your brand's strategy.
Enjoying Connections? Sign up with here to start getting this digest in your inbox each month, or share the link with a colleague to continue to conversation. | Tech Industry Trends |
A number of four-legged robot dogs have been deployed in the workforce for applications like inspections, security and public safety among others. At their core, these four-legged robots are mobility platforms that can be equipped with different payloads depending on the type of information that companies want to gather. Competition in the four-legged robot market is heating up. In the U.S., Boston Dynamics has been developing its 70-pound Spot robot for about 10 years. Nearby, MIT has also been working on a smaller four-legged bot it calls "mini cheetah." Ghost Robotics in Philadelphia is making robots geared toward military applications, while abroad, Swiss-based Anybotics is making a four-legged robot it calls Anymal for industrial customers. And Chinese companies like Deep Robotics, Weilan and Unitree Robotics are all building their own versions, though these last two companies seem to be at least partially focusing on the personal robotics market.According to Allied Market Research, the global inspection robots market generated $940 million in 2020 and is expected to reach close to $14 billion by 2030. Take for example National Grid, an electric and gas utility company that serves customers in Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. The company has been using two robots made by Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics to do routine inspections. The robots are equipped with LIDAR to help them navigate, as well visual and thermal cameras to take detailed photos and thermal images of the equipment in the substation. Prior to using Spot, most inspections at National Grid's substations were done by people. In some cases, operation of the substation would have to be temporarily shut down, because it would not have been safe for humans to do the inspections while the equipment was still on. Electric and gas utility company, National Grid, uses a quadruped robot made by Boston Dynamics to do an inspection at one of its substations in Massachusetts.CNBC | Magdalena Petrova"We consider the investment in the robot to be a prudent investment because it improves the safety operating conditions for our employees," says Dean Berlin, lead engineer of robotics technology at National Grid. "The robot also presents an advantage in that it's very repeatable. It collects the images from the same angle, from the same vantage every single time, which is very useful because it allows us to compare images collected at different times to each other to be able to see any trends or changes in behavior."Others who've used Boston Dynamics' robot dog, Spot, include pharmaceutical group Merck and BP, which is using the robot to autonomously read gauges, monitor corrosion and measure methane on some of its oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Malaysian oil and gas company, Petronas, is using robot dogs made by Anybotics to inspect its offshore platforms. Brazilian mining corporation, Vale, is another early adopter of Anybotics' Anymal. Having completed initial testing, Vale is now in the process of purchasing a robot to do inspections and gather data about the condition of equipment in one of its mines. Vale says having Anymal help with inspections saves its staff from having to go into potentially dangerous spaces, which are often filled with dust, noise and rotating equipment parts. BASF, a German-based chemical company is also testing Anymal at one of its chemical plants, where the robot is gathering visual, thermal and acoustic data of BASF equipment. Both Spot and Anymal have also been deployed on construction sites, and in the case of Anymal, at train yards to perform train inspections."These companies typically need to send out their teams of educated people to collect data about the state of their plant. And so their vision is with these types of robots, such as Anymal, to automate some of these tasks making sure that their people are safe and can save on some of the costs associated with actually transporting people on site," says Péter Fankhauser, CEO and co-founder of Anybotics.Anybotics' Anymal robot gathers data at a BASF plant.AnyboticsOther use cases for quadruped robots are just starting to catch on. One of the most controversial has been using these robots for defense. In May of 2021, the New York City Police Department said that it would stop testing of one of Boston Dynamics' Spot robots earlier than planned because of fierce public backlash. "Spot's role in public safety is one of keeping people out of harm's way. The NYPD was trying to use Spot in exactly that fashion where Spot was going to be the point of communication to a potentially barricaded and armed suspect who had hostages. That's a good use case for a robot, " Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told CNBC.Though the robot in the NYPD incident was not armed and was being remotely controlled by a police officer, concerns over fully autonomous robots being weaponized has led to the formation of an initiative known as the "Campaign to Stop Killer Robots." The coalition aims to ban the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons. Among its supporters are Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the late Stephen Hawking and hundreds of A.I. experts.For Ghost Robotics, the defense market is the company's bread and butter. The Philadelphia-based company says that out of its 20 plus customers, 90% are U.S. and allied foreign governments. One of those customers is the U.S. Air Force, which is using Ghost Robotics' Vision 60 robot to do security patrols around several bases. The Air Force says the robots can operate in a wide range of temperatures and are equipped with 14 sensors to help provide situational awareness. Ghost Robotics has also inked a deal with Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency. The agency says it will test and develop use cases for four-legged robots for security, defense and humanitarian applications.Tech. Sgt. John Rodiguez, 321st Contingency Response Squadron security team, patrols with a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 prototype at a simulated austere base during the Advanced Battle Management System exercise on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 3, 2020.U.S. Air Force | Tech. Sgt. Cory D. PayneOther use cases for robotic dogs are just starting to catch on. So far, Spot has been deployed to check the vital signs of Covid-19 patients in hospitals, take radiation measurements at nuclear power plants like Chernobyl, and remind people to maintain social distance amid the pandemic. NASA has also been sending teams of Boston Dynamics' robotic dogs into caves to see if they can one day be used to search for life on other planets. Farmers Insurance also said that the company will deploy Spot alongside its claims personnel to assess damage caused by hurricanes, tornadoes and other climate events.Experts predict the insurance industry alone will spend $1.7 billion on robotics systems in 2025. And other industries may follow suit. Amid the pandemic, a tight job market is forcing many companies to turn to automation. A survey done in December of 2020 by McKinsey, showed that 51 percent of respondents in North America and Europe said they had increased investment in new technologies during 2020, not including remote-work technologies."As a company, we're really pushing towards having this artificial workforce being adopted, where humans and robots work shoulder to shoulder to solve difficult problems," says Fankhauser. "And our vision is that people shouldn't do work which is dangerous in places they shouldn't really be. So our vision within the [next] 10 years that it becomes standard to hire either a person or a robot to do a certain job."But they don't come cheap. Anybotics' Anymal costs $150,000, but the company says this includes the full autonomy platform, which comes with LIDAR and a docking station. Ghost Robotics' Vision 60 robot also costs around $150,000. Boston Dynamic's entry-level "explorer" Spot robot starts at $75,000, but does not include a self-charging dock and is more limited in its autonomous capabilities when compared to the company's more expensive "enterprise model." The payloads are also not included in the price tag. Take National Grid's robot for example. Although National Grid would not share with CNBC how much it paid for the robot, just the thermal cameras and LIDAR it uses alone cost upwards of $57,000. Boston Dynamics says that it has sold several hundred Spot robots so far, while Anybotics has sold fewer than 100 robots.Missed this year's CNBC's At Work summit? Access the full sessions on demand at https://www.cnbcevents.com/worksummit/ | Tech Industry Trends |
Jason Fung, former head of TikTok's gaming unit who left the company to start a blockchain gaming startup called Meta0, poses after an interview with Reuters in Hong Kong, China July 5, 2022. REUTERS/Lam YikRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comHONG KONG, July 5 (Reuters) - The former head of short video giant TikTok's gaming unit, Jason Fung, is launching a blockchain gaming startup as one of two co-founders, he told Reuters in an interview, as the buzz around blockchain games grows while sector heavyweights remain wary.The 34-year-old left TikTok last month after two years with the firm, and his exit comes as TikTok and its Chinese owner ByteDance have been aggressively expanding into the $300 billion dollar global gaming market to take on rival Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), an effort that has yielded mixed results so far.It also reflects ballooning interest among entrepreneurs and investors in blockchain games - a new generation of online games built on blockchains which allow players to trade items in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comFung, whose new venture is called Meta0, said he left TikTok after seeing an opportunity to offer a solution to the current segregated nature of infrastructure options available to developers looking to build blockchain games."Right now, if you look at any developer when they implement NFTs or blockchain in their games, they have to choose a single blockchain, be it Polygon or Solana or Binance Smart Chain. But imagine a more interoperable option," he told Reuters in Hong Kong, referring to popular existing blockchains."So we decided, let's do it. Let's co-found this company. Let's give up my cushy corporate life at TikTok and take a giant risk," said Fung, who was based in Shenzhen and had reported to TikTok's chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas.Meta0's founding team comprises six members in addition to the two co-founders, and the firm has closed a first round of funding, said Fung.He declined to disclose details of the other co-founder, the rest of the team or the investment. He said the company was looking to raise funds through issuing tokens, as well as from venture capitalists and strategic investors.BIG NAMES STEER CLEARAdvocates of blockchain games say they will disrupt the gaming industry as cryptocurrencies can make virtual items more transactable and even distribute games' ownership to players. But blockchain games are sometimes also associated with scams, and the virtual economies of some games have collapsed soon after players buy in. read more Most established gaming companies like Tencent, Sony (6758.T) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) have yet to place any big bets on blockchain games.Fung, as TikTok's global head of strategy and operations for gaming, was tasked with expanding gaming content and testing new features such as hosting mini-games on the app.TikTok and ByteDance expanded aggressively into gaming during Fung's tenure, with ByteDance's acquisitions including a $4 billion purchase of gaming studio Moonton, and TikTok trying out mini-game features on its app. read more The efforts have seen both successes and setbacks. Last month, data tracking firm Sensor Tower said ByteDance's portfolio of mobile games had generated more than $1 billion of revenue worldwide over the past 12 months.However, ByteDance also disbanded its Shanghai-based 101 Studio last month, laying off half of the 300-plus staff. A product of its 2019 acquisition of Mokun Technology, 101 Studio was the first development unit ByteDance has shut down as it struggled to perform.Fung, who led the e-sports units in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK) and Electronic Arts (EA.O) in Asia before joining TikTok, declined to comment when asked about who might replace him at TikTok.TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.BLOCKCHAIN GAMES A HOT INVESTMENT TRENDDespite the wariness of some in the industry, blockchain games have become one of the hottest investment trends discussed by crypto tycoons from Silicon Valley to Dubai.Prior to the recent crypto market meltdown, the blockchain gaming industry had raised a record $1.2 billion in the first quarter, according to a report by investment banking firm Drake Star Partners in April. Last year, a total of $3.6 billion was raised for the sector."We've built a protocol for game developers, and we take a flexible, blockchain-agnostic approach to their game development," said Fung, discussing future prospects for blockchain gaming."With a protocol that we're developing, developers can easily build their game-leveraging strengths of different blockchains, and allow the user the flexibility of transferring their NFTs cross-chain."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Tech Industry Trends |
Profitability is no longer the only method investors use to assess whether a business is a secure opportunity. With growing scrutiny around ethical organizational practices, the link between sustainable operations and 21st-century investors has never been stronger.
Businesses are now quick to incorporate ESG factors into their ethos. As a result, their impact on their surrounding environment propels further business growth and cements the business as a lucrative long-term investment.
How is ESG data used in investment decision-making?
The ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) framework is utilized to understand an organization's activities and its understanding of ethical and sustainability concerns.
Environmental
When businesses account for Environmental factors, the organization understands how their day-to-day and long-term activities affect the surrounding environment. This includes understanding how processes negatively or positively impact global challenges such as climate change or communal issues such as waste management or pollution.
Social
Social factors help businesses introduce and sustain internal ethical practices to ensure stakeholders are treated fairly. Social factors ensure businesses do not propagate discriminatory practices and ensure all individuals are affected by organizational activities.
Governance
Governance factors ensure the business stays compliant with legal requirements and practices. This means incorporating recognized industry practices and policies into corporate culture and ensuring activities could not be scrutinized or fined at a later date.
Integration of ESG Factors in Investment Decision-Making
ESG is not just a buzzword. A growing number of investors are using ESG metrics as a non-financial metric to understand where potential risks lie and how strong prospects for growth are.
As of 2022, 89% of investors considered ESG data and issues in their investment approach. 31% of European investors and 18% of North American investors have revealed ESG data to be the most critical factor when considering investments.
Growing interest has prompted the development of a number of reputed institutions whose sole purpose is to standardize ESG assessment factors. As a result, the new era of investors is able to access information critical to their decision-making process and long/short-term goals.
The Role of Data Providers and Research Firms in the ESG Data Market
With the growing standardization of ESG assessment metrics, investors are looking to widely known data providers and research firms for validated information. Market Data providers such as Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters now offer information about ESG topics using proprietary methods. The data providers also offer businesses statistics around the social aspect of ESG, allowing them to better understand industry trends and changes to be made.
The rising demand for ESG information has also created specialized data suppliers. Companies, including Ethos and Convalence, offer end-to-end ESG data services. They customize their assessment techniques based on the information needed and assist investors with risk analysis tools for better decision-making.
Finally, specialized data providers help investors detect new opportunities or assess risk by offering comprehensive data around one or two ESG factors.
It is important to understand there is minimal information about how ESG factors directly affect finances. Data providers and research firms offer an abundance of verified supplementary information to prevent irrelevant comparisons and account for disparities.
Emerging Trends in ESG Data and Reporting
The growing popularity of ESG investing has risen to assets worth USD $2.5 trillion as of 2022. Observing ESG data trends and market trends simultaneously allows investors to minimize risks while maximizing returns.
Here are the trends ESG investors are looking at in 2023:
-
Impact of Climate Change
While climate change has been a global issue for years, 2023 is likely to see an increased focus. Companies are assessing their carbon footprint and adjusting their day-to-day activities accordingly.
The post-COVID global economy, with all its negatives, showcased that companies are still able to operate and lower overall running costs while introducing new practices. Larger scale industries, including construction, transport, aerospace, and defence, are able to adjust their activities to join the green movement. As this trend grows, ESG-based investments grow, and businesses can adhere to newly established market trends to stay appealing.
-
The Ethics Behind Supply Chains
This generation of customers wants answers. It is no longer just about the efficacy of a product but the steps taken to create it. Customers are now looking into the role of human rights, working conditions, child labour law, and other critical codes of conduct in order to decide whether to purchase.
Companies working in fast fashion, for example, have been the centre of news headlines describing how low costs are translated down to customers leading to protests and boycotts.
ESG investors now require regular audits, a thorough understanding of conduct codes, and demonstrations around training for employees. Companies that are not ESG compliant have a hard time gathering investment. In this case, slow fashion companies that work with upcycled garments, recycled fabrics, and ethical practices not only receive hefty investments but a strong customer base as a result of their conscientiousness.
-
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI)
The conscious consumer is less likely to support businesses with unfair internal practices or compliance with discrimination. As organizations focus on including diversity and understanding subconscious bias, customers are more likely to feel comfortable engaging with the organization and its products.
As a result, businesses are more likely to share information about the lack of gender bias, equal pay policies, annual training and introducing more diversity in positions of leadership.
ESG investors invest in companies that consciously include diversity and equality as new demographics open, more customer-friendly practices are in place, and employees content with their workplace put out higher quality products and services.
-
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The slogan has circulated the globe with ideas around minimizing waste and upcycling items that no longer serve their original purpose. ESG investors are constantly on the lookout for businesses that have disrupted traditional models and introduced better practices around consumption and waste.
A strong force for 2023 is businesses introducing new methods to harness any unwanted material as a result of their activities and repurposing the same not only to assist the business but surrounding communities.
ESG investors identify an organization's willingness to maintain profitability while being conscious and ethical as an ideal candidate for investment.
-
Keeping Digital Identities Safe
We live in the age of technology. Your virtual identity can do anything from creating social structures to handling finances. As more businesses have migrated to e-commerce, there is a growing concern about customer information staying private as opposed to being repurposed or stolen.
Businesses factoring in ESG often have transparent information about collecting customer data on their websites. This allows customers to understand what purchasing from a website means and make an educated decision to complete the transaction or purchase from elsewhere.
ESG investors have witnessed many of an organization's downfalls as a result of selling customer information to 3rd parties or a lack of adequate cyber security measures. Businesses with strong data protection policies in place automatically become more appealing to ESG investors. Non-compliant businesses are likely to be on the receiving end of strong legal action and build a lack of trust with prospective customers.
What is the market outlook for ESG data?
ESG factors are critical to business success in the 21st century. In an era of cancel culture and accountability, investors are looking for longevity. Investing in a business that is supported by surrounding communities and the government and minimizes collateral damage has never been more critical. As more standardized information is shared around the ESG metric, businesses are left with no choice but to introduce better internal and external practices to ensure survival.
As the number of ESG-centric investors grows and the value of ESG assets rises, the global economy can look forward to being fueled by companies that approach business with a more holistic perspective.
SG Analytics is an industry leader in ESG services, providing custom sustainability advice and research to aid deliberation. Contact us today if you are looking for an effective ESG integration and management solution provider to improve your company's long-term viability. | Tech Industry Trends |
While it is shocking and regrettable that the English literature degree at Sheffield Hallam University no longer exists, very little attention has been paid to the suspension of the English language degree (Letters, 4 July).This course successfully recruited bright, working-class students who were interested in how both spoken and written language works in society. Students acquired vital transferable skills in communication, as well as in critical and analytical thinking. Graduates went on to careers in speech therapy, marketing, teaching and publishing, to name a few.Lately, recruitment has been affected by the same factors as other humanities subjects but also by the changes to the curriculum at GCSE. This has become so regressive and boring that school students do not consider taking it further.The demise of English language and linguistics at Sheffield Hallam (and other universities such as Huddersfield) is not only a shame for the education of young people, but also for linguistics research. Currently, English language lecturers contribute to a hub of cutting-edge and world-leading research at Hallam – but this will no longer be the case if there are no jobs for these experts.Karen GraingerAssociate professor in English language and linguistics, Sheffield Hallam University | Writing and Literature |
Ms. Pomerantz wrote 35 children’s books, some in prose, some in verse. Her clever manipulation of words gave young readers a laugh and food for thought, as in this ditty from “Halfway to Your House” (1993, illustrated by Gabrielle Vincent):Annabelle peeredin the looking glassand said,“Am I not the prettiest lass?”“Alas,” said the glass,“that isn’t quite true:The lass in the glassis as pretty as you.”One of her most popular books was “The Piggy in the Puddle” (1974, illustrated by James Marshall), a dizzying feat of wordplay about a young pig who defied all entreaties from her family to come out of the mud:Get Fast ForwardA look at the news and events shaping the day, delivered a couple times a week with a side of humor and a dash of attitude.See the piggy,See the puddle,See the muddy little puddle.See the piggy in the middleOf the muddy little puddle.See her dawdle, see her diddleIn the muddy, muddy middle.See her waddle, plump and little,In the very merry middle.That book, used in countless library story times ever since, was a rebel’s tale: Not only did its young hero refuse to come out of the puddle or use soap, but by its end her family had also seen the beauty of muddiness and joined her in the ooze.Ms. Pomerantz knew something about nonconformity: She was married to Carl Marzani, who in the early days of Cold War witch hunting had gone to prison for not revealing a past Communist Party connection to government loyalty examiners. Before she started writing children’s books, she worked at a leftist publishing house he had helped found, where her projects included editing a book of essays called “A Quarter-Century of Un-Americana, 1938-1963: A Tragico-Comical Memorabilia of HUAC,” referring to the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee.Her children’s books sometimes had one social or political cause or another woven into them. “The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo” (1971, illustrated by Jose Aruego) told the true story of the ecological aftermath of DDT spraying — in verse. “Mangaboom” (1997, illustrated by Anita Lobel) was about a boy who meets a 19-foot-tall woman with a mind of her own.“The political and feminist undercurrents are there because I’m the sum of all my experiences,” Ms. Pomerantz said in a video interview on the website Alchetron, “and those are the things I experienced.”Julia L. Mickenberg, a professor of American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, included the story about the parachuting cats in “Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature,” a 2008 book she edited with Philip Nel.“Charlotte definitely had a ‘little rebel’ streak in her,” Mickenberg said by email. As for the cats story — they were dropped by parachute into a village to control a rampant rat population resulting from the cascading effects of DDT — she said: “I was drawn to it for several different reasons. The first was that it is an environmentalist story, and we wanted more of those, but it is also an environmentalist story written as an extended poem with rhyme but also, and more importantly, with humor and creativity.”Charlotte Inez Pomerantz was born July 24, 1930, in New York’s Brooklyn borough to Abraham and Phyllis (Cohen) Pomerantz. Her father was a pioneering lawyer in the field of shareholder lawsuits against large corporations; her mother was a homemaker.Ms. Pomerantz grew up in Brooklyn and in New Rochelle, New York, where, in her last year of elementary school, she had a formative experience: Her teacher read aloud a story Charlotte had written and asked her classmates to write their comments; she ended up with a collection of glowing mini-reviews.“I don’t recall the story, but I do recall the pure happiness with which I read these comments,” she said. “These weren’t my parents; this was a whole classroom of kids who hardly knew me.”She graduated from high school in New Rochelle and earned a bachelor’s degree at Sarah Lawrence College in 1953. After an assortment of jobs, by the early 1960s she was working at Marzani & Munsell, a left-wing publishing house whose founders included Carl Marzani. She and Marzani married in 1966. (Her earlier marriage, to John Meisenbach, had ended in divorce.)Her first children’s book, “The Bear Who Couldn’t Sleep,” was published in 1965.“I started writing because it was the only thing I was ever good at,” Ms. Pomerantz said in the Alchetron interview.Her books reflected all sorts of influences, including James Joyce: One book, “Here Comes Henny” (1994, illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker), was inspired by a passage in “Finnegans Wake,” her daughter said. Ms. Pomerantz’s son, Daniel, had asthma problems as a child that led the family to spend winters in Puerto Rico, and some of her stories were set there or incorporated Spanish.Gabrielle Marzani said that her mother had also once written a play, “Jonah and the Humpback Whale,” and that she had recently been arranging a performance of it in her apartment building in Charlottesville — to be held at high tea on her birthday.“The group had been practicing for months,” she said, “meeting weekly, with Mom directing from her wheelchair.”Her mother, she said, had lapsed into unconsciousness in the days before her death, but the group performed the piece for her at her bedside anyway the day before her death. She died a few minutes after midnight on her birthday, but the group also carried out her wish and performed it again later that day at high tea.Carl Marzani died in 1994. In addition to her daughter and son, Ms. Pomerantz is survived by her domestic partner, Robert Murtha; a stepson, Anthony Marzani; Jason Olivencia, a longtime member of the family whom she considered a son and who aided in her end-of-life care; a grandson; and two step-grandchildren.In 1978 Ms. Pomerantz wrote a whimsical article for The New York Times in which she envisioned how a modern-day book publisher might respond to a submission from Mother Goose.“The humorous touches are fun,” the editor’s “Dear Ms. Goose” letter went, “yet there is a fine line between the silly and the senseless, the fanciful and the outrageous — in short, between nonsense and rubbish.”It went on to criticize Ms. Goose’s rhymes and other choices. (“Bo-Peep seems a rather far-fetched name for a child to identify with. How about Jennifer or Amy?”) As for “Little Miss Muffet,” the letter advised that no child would know what “curds” means and suggested substituting “frozen yogurt.”“Also,” the letter advised, “spiders don’t sit; they dangle.” | Writing and Literature |
I love words. I’ve always loved reading. I’m fascinated by narrative and the shape of stories, and how literature can be used to express the breadth and depth of human experiences.None of the above is particularly surprising. I’ve turned writing into a career, fuelled by reading and the intellectual journeys that come in tow. Like you, like everyone, there are many different things that I could have done and a variety of skills that I could have explored. But my bookish tendencies led me on a literary path as I slalomed through school, GCSEs, A-levels, and eventually undergraduate studies in English, at university.And boom, just like that, this whimsical, heartfelt piece of writing has already been derailed by the serious business of “qualifications”; those slips of paper that allow passage from one set of educational checkpoints to another. Look what happened. I started out with a declaration of my love of words and barely a paragraph later, I find myself referencing the big three currencies of formal assessment. Sigh.In a way, this is the great tragedy of modern education – how it gets reduced into pure, cold pragmatism, a series of steps towards gainful employment and financial security. This attitude is codified in a set of new rules proposed by the government, refusing to fund courses if fewer than 60% of students are in professional jobs or studying for a further degree within 15 months of graduating. Already, Sheffield Hallam has dropped its English literature course, citing low demand, while Cumbria and Roehampton have also announced big cuts to the humanities. Ucas, the universities admissions service, has revealed that the number of acceptances for English studies (including English literature) has fallen from 9,480 in 2012 to 6,435 in 2021. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has stated an intention to phase out degrees that don’t “increase earning potential”, revealing a myopic prejudice against subjects that don’t have an immediate monetary value. This speaks not only to the declining status of humanities and the arts, but, crucially, to an economic climate in which these disciplines lose value in the first place.I wasn’t thinking about my salary or earning potential when I opted to study literature and write essays. I just knew that literature was a portal to worlds I had never experienced and a way of meeting people I could never meet elsewhere; a way of exploring new thoughts. Even better was what I didn’t realise I was signing up for. Studying English gave me the gift of criticality. I learned to read, really read, for meaning. I learned how to unpick and examine, to contextualise and empathise, to peek into blindspots that I didn’t know I had. I honed the craft of critical thinking, which I took with me into a 15-year career in teaching and continue to lean on as a writer of analytical nonfiction.Now more than ever, we need to be encouraging successive generations to enter the world with curiosity, sensitivity and criticality. The polarised nature of popular politics and swelling tides of historic bigotry show us that we need intimacy with the lived experiences of marginalised groups and awareness of how dominant identities have been constructed, as well as critical distance from the ideologies that threaten to consume us. The arts are a crucial location of these aims and, for me, literature has been where ideological fault lines are best addressed.As a teacher of English, it’s been a joyous thing to invite young people into broad continents of thought through stories and words, poems and prose, lyrics and essays. And it’s alarming to see the arts demoted in our educational system at large. As a society, our stories, plural, are the most valuable things we have. They enable us to connect and make sense of ourselves through time. That’s what I’ve seen in my own classrooms; young people coming to life through exposure to narratives, often dissimilar to their own, but often resonating with their own lived experiences.We’re in a crisis. The promises of old are ringing hollow: that getting through university will guarantee a certain standard of living at the other end. Is it any wonder that fewer people are choosing to study degrees that don’t offer an immediate vocational payoff? Spiralling living costs and financial insecurity are fuelling a very logical anxiety. The kind of jobs that a degree in English has historically been converted into (like teaching) are failing to attract new recruits. It’s an obvious chain of events. Fewer English graduates means fewer teachers of English, meaning fewer people like me using words and stories to help make the world a better place.There are obvious consequences to treating education as purely transactional. If the only prize on offer is personal economic gain, humanity suffers. Because ultimately, the real prize is insight and empathy, which has to be why we read – and write – in the first place. Jeffrey Boakye graduated in English from the University of Leicester in 2003 and is the author of I Heard What You Said (Pan Macmillan)Zadie SmithWriterStudied English at: King’s College, CambridgeThe eldest of three children, born in north London to a Jamaican mother and an English father, Smith was the first person in her family to go to university. She began writing her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth, while studying and it was published in 2000. She has written four further novels to date, as well as collections of essays and short stories. Of her time at university she says: “My degree was the basis of everything else. I read more books in those three years than I ever read before – more than I’ve read since. To give a kid like me an education like that, for free, was something England used to do. Thanks to a series of venal, short-term political decisions, I was one of the last generation of students to experience it. It’s a crime.”Biggest hit White Teeth has been translated into more than 20 languages, won multiple awards and sold over a million copies.Michelle TerryActor, writer, artistic directorCardiff UniversityTerry was brought up in Weston-super-Mare, where she attended comprehensive schools before getting a place at Cardiff and then Rada. Of studying English, she says: “Three years of reading stories: three years of imagining worlds elsewhere; three years of very few lectures or seminars, which meant I could spend time doing what I really wanted to do… which turned out to be reading more stories and imagining more worlds elsewhere. Stepping into someone else’s shoes is an empathic muscle that we could all do with exercising right now.”Biggest hit Terry became artistic director at Shakespeare’s Globe in London in 2018.Stephen DaldryDirector and producerSheffield UniversityBrought up in Dorset, Daldry won a scholarship to study at Sheffield, before starting his career as an apprentice at the city’s Crucible theatre. He ran the Royal Court in London, directed Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours, The Reader and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and the stage adaptation of Billy Elliot.Biggest hit The film Billy Elliot has grossed over $100m worldwide.Tulip SiddiqPoliticianUniversity College LondonSiddiq hails from a Bangladeshi political dynasty; her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, is the country’s prime minister. She was raised in London, her mother having claimed asylum as a teenager. After graduation she worked for Amnesty International, the Greater London Authority, Save the Children, and in political consulting. She has been Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn since 2015. Of her English literature degree, she says: “Reading different books and different genres of literature meant that I gained an insight into worlds that are not my own, which in turn built empathy in my character. And empathy is the most crucial personality trait for politicians.“My degree also meant I read many books by innovative thinkers through history (political ones included, such as Mary Wollstonecraft), which helps give context to and deeper understanding of the world we live in today. This has been particularly valuable to me when imagining how things can be done in future.”Biggest hit Siddiq was instrumental in the campaign to free her constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from detention in Iran.Corinne Bailey RaeSinger-songwriterLeeds UniversityBorn and brought up in Leeds, Bailey Rae started singing in a church choir. She formed a rock band, Helen, while still at school, then studied English at Leeds before taking a job in the cloakroom at a jazz club. Her first album, released in 2006, included the hit single Put Your Records On. She has subsequently released two more albums, The Sea and The Heart Speaks in Whispers.Biggest hit Her eponymous debut album reached No 1 in Britain and sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide.Paris LeesAuthor, presenter, campaignerBrighton UniversityLees grew up in Nottinghamshire, brought up largely by her aunt and her grandmother. She was given a two-year prison sentence for robbery at the age of 18, and started studying for her A-levels when she was released on curfew, gaining a place at Brighton to study English. She says: “I was the first person in my family to go to university and I almost dropped out at several points, as I was being messed about by the NHS and forced to wait to be seen by the Gender Identity Clinic. I was also facing family rejection and people abusing me in the street. When my mum came on graduation day it marked a change in our relationship – and when she put up the photo of me holding my degree on her mantelpiece, I knew she had accepted the fact that I had transitioned.”Lees went on to work in journalism, founding the first British magazine aimed at the trans community, META. She is the first trans columnist at Vogue and was the first trans woman to present shows on BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4.Biggest hit Lees’s book, What It Feels Like for a Girl, was published in 2021.Jez ButterworthPlaywright and screenwriterSt John’s College, CambridgeThe Royal Court staged Butterworth’s play Mojo in 1995; other credits include the film Birthday Girl, and plays The River and The Ferryman. TV work includes three series of Britannia for Sky.Biggest hit Jerusalem, currently back in the West End, has been described as “the greatest play of the 21st century”.Sarah WatersNovelistKent UniversityWaters grew up in Wales and attended a grammar school before going to Kent university. She says: “My English literature degree was the foundation of my career: it led me to an MA, followed by a PhD, which fed directly into my first novel. I simply would never have gone on to become an author without it. But it also taught me how to be a critical reader: how to understand that novels and stories are conversations we have with ourselves about the world, about what life means and how we should live it. It taught me that narratives of all kinds needn’t be taken at face value: that they can be relished but also challenged, rewritten, overturned.”Waters is the author of six novels, including Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, many of which have been adapted for stage, TV and film. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Booker prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Biggest hit Waters was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to literature.Dame Karen JonesBusiness executive and UEA chancellorUniversity of East AngliaJones went into advertising after graduation, but soon gave up her job to work in a restaurant, moving up from waitressing into management. In her early 20s she set up Theme Restaurants, and founded Cafe Rouge in 1989. She is the executive chair of Italian restaurant chain Prezzo, among other chains. During the pandemic she worked closely with ministers and was the only hospitality representative on the government’s Build Back Better business council. Jones was appointed chancellor of the University of East Anglia in 2016. Of her English degree, she says: “I treasure it daily for the worlds it allowed me to enter and the characters I met there. It taught me how to bring strands of thinking together and write succinctly. The ability I acquired to skim read has also proved extremely handy!”Biggest hit Sold The Pelican Group to Whitbread for £133m in 1996.Andy BirdMedia executiveNewcastle UniversityBird grew up in Macclesfield and began his career at Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, answering the phones for Timmy Mallett’s show. After graduating he moved to London to work for Virgin’s music channel, and then became managing director of UBC Media, before joining the US broadcasting giant Turner. He later spent 14 years at Disney, helping the company expand globally, and is now CEO of Pearson, the world’s largest education company.Biggest hit Appointed CBE in 2012 for services to UK media and entertainment.Russell T DaviesScreenwriterWorcester College, OxfordDavies made his name as a screenwriter with Channel 4’s Queer As Folk, and in 2005 took on the reboot of Doctor Who; the show has since won 36 Baftas. It’s a Sin, an 80s-set story about the Aids pandemic, became the most viewed show ever on C4’s streaming platform.Biggest hit Doctor Who has earned more than £300m in revenue for the BBC.Frankie BoyleComedian and writerSussex UniversityA Glaswegian, Boyle began performing standup aged 23 and gained widespread recognition as a regular on Mock the Week from 2005-2009. He has had his own TV shows, written three nonfiction books, and recently published his debut novel, Meantime.Biggest hit Meantime went straight into the bestseller lists.DJ YodaHip-hop DJWarwick UniversityDJ Yoda, also known as Duncan Beiny, grew up in north London and began performing as a DJ while studying at Warwick. He has been involved in many unusual collaborations, working with classical composers to neuroscientists, brass bands to film directors. His specialism is re-scoring classic films, and in 2014 he was commissioned by the BFI to create a tribute to sci-fi films. He released his first album, The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda, in 2006, and in 2009 was nominated for a Sony award. He says of his English degree: “On a surface level my time at university was most helpful to my career, because I was DJing at the student union and local clubs, picking up valuable experience performing in front of crowds. “Studying English, I learned to write lucidly, and I wrote for several music magazines for many years after university. Learning about structure of narrative, how to get across ideas to an audience, and the history of culture have all played into how I put together music. So I guess it turns out studying Shakespeare has more to do with hip-hop DJing than I realised.”Biggest hit His Stranger Things mix became a viral hit, racking up more than half a million plays on Soundcloud.DJ Yoda on the decks at Warwick University. Photograph: DJ YodaBertie CarvelActorSussex UniversityCarvel was brought up in London, and trained as an actor at Rada after graduating from Sussex. He has played Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical in the UK and on Broadway, Rupert Murdoch in James Graham’s play Ink, and Donald Trump in Mike Bartlett’s The 47th.Biggest hit Matilda the Musical grossed $198m on Broadway alone.Adrian ChilesBroadcasterWestfield College (now part of Queen Mary University of London)Chiles grew up in Worcestershire and worked at his father’s scaffolding business before taking his English degree. He then studied journalism at Cardiff and became a sports reporter for News of the World. He later joined the BBC as a business reporter and presenter on The One Show. Chiles left the BBC in 2010 for ITV, where he presented a breakfast show and hosted football broadcasts. Biggest hit Chiles’s ITV contract was worth £6m over four years.Linda GrantAuthorYork UniversityGrant was born in Liverpool to parents from immigrant backgrounds. She graduated from York University, later completing an MA in Canada. She published her first novel, The Cast Iron Shore, in 1996 and has since written 12 books, both fiction and nonfiction. She remembers the English course at York as “a straightforward survey course of periods of almost exclusively English literature… I don’t think we studied any living authors. Fifty years later it seems laughably arcane and rigid. But what it did, and what we were told at the time it was intended to do, was to teach us how to think, not just feel about literature. It didn’t matter whether we found any of the characters in the novels we read likable, relatable, or relevant to our personal experience. The course taught us how to analyse and understand.”Biggest hit When I Lived in Modern Times (2000) won the Orange prize for fiction.Paul DacreJournalistLeeds UniversityDacre grew up in Enfield; his father was a journalist and his mother a teacher. He got a scholarship to private school, working as a messenger at the Sunday Express in the holidays. At Leeds he edited the university newspaper, and joined the Daily Express in Manchester on graduation. He joined the Mail in 1979, and went on to become the title’s longest-serving editor. He stood down in 2018, but was reappointed as editor-in-chief of the Mail’s parent company.Biggest hit In February 1997, Dacre splashed on the Stephen Lawrence case, naming the suspects under the headline “murderers” and daring them to sue. Politicians including Jack Straw acknowledged that the Mail’s position helped bring about a public inquiry.Grace DentColumnist, broadcaster and authorStirling UniversityDent was brought up in Carlisle and started working as a journalist while studying at Stirling. She started freelancing on graduation, writing columns for the Guardian, several novels for teenagers and a memoir. She is the Guardian’s restaurant critic and presents the podcast Comfort Eating and The Untold on Radio 4.Biggest hit Won the 2019 Guild of Food Writers award for best writer.Monty DonHorticulturist, broadcaster and writerMagdalene College, CambridgeMonty Don was expelled from school, failed his A-levels, and worked on a building site and on a pig farm while studying for retakes. He got into Cambridge, he has said, through “sheer bloody-mindedness”. He has been making TV programmes for more than 30 years, principally on gardening, and was the Observer’s gardening editor from 1994-2006.Biggest hit Has sold £10m worth of books.Michael GovePoliticianLady Margaret Hall, OxfordGove was put into care as a baby and adopted at the age of four months. He joined the Conservative party at Oxford. After a career in journalism, Gove was first elected as an MP in May 2005. He has been secretary of state for education, justice and the environment.Biggest hit Played a prominent role in the successful campaign to leave the EU.Emma HattonActorLoughborough UniversityHatton grew up in Gloucestershire and was a talented athlete from a young age, competing at a national level. She studied English with sports science at Loughborough, and went on to train at the London School of Musical Theatre. She has appeared in West End productions including We Will Rock You and Wicked, and is now establishing herself as a jazz and blues singer.Biggest hit Played the title role in a sell-out run of Evita.Mark KnopflerMusicianLeeds UniversityKnopfler worked as a journalist before deciding to study English, and recorded his first demo while in Leeds. He went on to be the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of Dire Straits, one of the bestselling bands of all time.Biggest hit Dire Straits sold more than 120m records worldwide.Graham SwiftNovelistQueens’ College, CambridgeSwift grew up in Croydon. He won a scholarship to study at Dulwich College and went on to Cambridge, before doing a PhD on the 19th-century novel at York University. He started his career doing casual teaching work, and published his first novel, The Sweet Shop Owner, when he was 31. In 1983 he was part of the lineup of “Best of Young British Novelists” published by Granta magazine, which included Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Pat Barker and Julian Barnes. He says: “Studying English didn’t make me a writer. I made myself a writer – covertly. Before taking my degree, I dutifully saw a careers tutor. He suggested hospital management. All this said, I was immensely fortunate. For three years I read some of the best things ever written – not just English literature – at a time, the 1960s, when it was good, in other ways, to be alive and young. At the equivalent time in his life, my father had fought in a war.”Biggest hit Swift’s sixth novel, Last Orders (1996), won the Booker prize and was adapted into a film starring Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins.Lloyd LewisRugby playerCardiff UniversityLewis was brought up in Pontypool and went to stage school until the age of 12. He was capped as a rugby player at under-10 and under-20 level, and as an 18-year-old was named Singha Premiership Rugby 7s man of the round at Cardiff Arms Park. He is also a rapper with more than 36,000 listeners of his EP SMS on SoundCloud.Biggest hit Was part of the Wales Sevens rugby squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.Caroline LucasPoliticianExeter UniversityLucas was born in Worcestershire. At Exeter she became involved in political movements including CND and the Greenham Common protests. After graduating with a first-class degree, she did a PhD on women as readers in Elizabethan romance. She started her career at Oxfam and then joined the Green party as a communications officer. Lucas was a member of the European parliament before being elected Britain’s first Green MP in 2010, a position she has maintained, increasing her majority in each election. She sits on cross-parliamentary groups on fuel poverty and renewable energy.Biggest hit Lucas has been working to push through the climate and ecology bill, which will force the UK to enact a serious plan in response to the climate emergency.Annie MacmanusDJ and authorQueen’s University BelfastAs Annie Mac she presented a daily music show on BBC Radio 1 until 2021, and continues to play house music at festivals and events around the world. She now produces her own podcast, Changes With Annie Macmanus, and published her first novel in 2021.Biggest hit Mac added 110,000 listeners to Radio 1’s flagship dance show.Nikesh PatelActorWarwick UniversityPatel was born in Wembley, London to parents who were pharmacists. While studying English at Warwick, he got involved in student theatre. On graduating he made a brief foray into journalism before going to Guildhall to study acting. He says: “Studying literature teaches you to treat a story like it’s a precious gem. The good ones reveal all kinds of hidden meanings when you hold them up to the light. It’s something I try to hold on to each time I pick up a new script.”Patel has since starred in the colonial-era drama Indian Summers, Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings and a Funeral remake and most recently the lockdown online drama Good Grief opposite Fleabag’s Sian Clifford.Biggest hit Patel starred alongside Rose Matafeo in the acclaimed BBC One romcom Starstruck.Sam MendesTheatre and film directorPeterhouse College, CambridgeMendes directed his first plays while at Cambridge, and on graduation went to work at the Chichester Festival theatre. He was appointed artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in 1990, and made his film directorial debut with American Beauty, for which he won an Oscar. He has since directed films including Skyfall and Spectre in the Bond franchise, and the war epic 1917.Biggest hit Skyfall grossed more than $1bn worldwide.Christopher NolanFilm directorUniversity College LondonNolan was fascinated by films from a young age, but decided to study English, choosing UCL for its film facilities. He gained international recognition with his second film, Memento, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay. He has since directed The Prestige, the Dark Knight trilogy and Dunkirk.Biggest hit His films have grossed more than $5bn worldwide and won 11 Oscars.Andrew O’HaganWriterStrathclyde UniversityBorn in Glasgow, O’Hagan was the first in his family to go to university. He joined the London Review of Books on graduation, and is still editor-at-large. He has published six novels and three nonfiction books. Of his experience at university, he says: “I believed then, as I still do, that having a humanities education is one of the luckiest things that can happen to a person. It gives you things to think about for the rest of your life. When people say it doesn’t help you get a job, they’re missing the point – it helps you get a life.”Biggest hit Our Fathers (1999), his first novel, was shortlisted for the Booker prize and the Whitbread first novel award.Naga MunchettyTV presenterLeeds UniversityMunchetty grew up in Streatham, London, her parents having emigrated from India and Mauritius. After graduating she worked on the City pages of the Evening Standard and now presents BBC Breakfast.Biggest hit In September 2019, a ruling that Munchetty had breached BBC guidelines by criticising Donald Trump was overturned.Lucy PrebblePlaywrightSheffield UniversityPrebble wrote her first play, Liquid, at university. She went on to write The Sugar Syndrome for the Royal Court, followed by Enron, The Effect and A Very Expensive Poison. For television she adapted Secret Diary of a Call Girl and co-created I Hate Suzie. Since 2018, Prebble has been an executive producer and writer on the HBO drama Succession.Biggest hit Succession has won Bafta, Golden Globe and Emmy awards.Lucy Prebble receiving the Prof Robert Boucher distinguished alumni award from Sheffield University in 2014. Photograph: University Of SheffieldRanvir SinghBroadcasterLancaster UniversitySingh was born to a Sikh family in Preston, Lancashire. She graduated with joint honours in English and philosophy, and then did a postgraduate qualification in journalism. She has worked on Good Morning Britain since 2014, most recently as political editor.Biggest hit Reached the semi-final in 2020’s Strictly Come Dancing.Hanan IssaPoetCardiff UniversityIssa was born in Cardiff, and has mixed Iraqi and Welsh heritage. Her debut poetry collection, My Body Can House Two Hearts, was published in 2019. She co-founded the Cardiff open-mic night Where I’m Coming From, worked in the writers’ room for Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts and was a member of the first cohort of writers who took part in Literature Wales’s Representing Wales programme in 2021.Biggest hit This year, Issa was appointed national poet of Wales, and will serve a three-year term.Alexandra ChesterfieldBehavioural scientist and authorCardiff UniversityAfter graduating in English, Chesterfield took a postgraduate qualification in cognitive and decision science. She subsequently worked for the Financial Conduct Authority, where she used behavioural science to understand whether regulations were protecting consumers, and is now head of behavioural risk at NatWest. Informed by her experience as a Conservative councillor in Guildford, she co-founded the Depolarization Project, which explores the idea of disagreement and promotes thought about the things that divide us. She says studying English was “a lesson in empathy; feeling what it is like to be someone else and living their reality. A source of wisdom on human behaviour and culture that is richer, deeper and more realistic than any mathematical model. Pure joy.”Biggest hit Chesterfield’s book Poles Apart, written with Laura Osborne and Alison Goldsworthy, was published in 2021.Katie ThistletonCBBC and Radio 1 presenterSalford UniversityThistleton studied English and creative writing at Salford University. After a stint in the NHS, she started working behind the scenes at CBBC, before being recruited to present a variety of children’s TV shows. Her first book, offering agony-aunt advice, was published in 2018. She presents the Radio 1 show Life Hacks with Vick Hope.Biggest hit Presented CBBC’s Bitesize educational programming during lockdown, to record viewing figures.Emma ThompsonActor, screenwriterNewnham College, CambridgeThompson made her first cinema appearance in The Tall Guy (1989) and has since appeared in a hit films from Howards End to the Harry Potter series, and has written and produced films including Nanny McPhee.Biggest hit Oscars for best actress in Howards End (1992) and for her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility (1995), a film that grossed $135m.Jeremy VineBroadcasterDurham UniversityAt Durham, Vine edited the student newspaper and joined a sketch comedy troupe. He has hosted his Radio 2 news and music show since 2003. Prior to that he was a presenter of Newsnight, political correspondent at Westminster, reporter on the Today programme and the BBC’s Africa correspondent, based in Johannesburg. Of his experience at university, he says: “Studying English literature was like opening a window and seeing the world. The most wonderful afternoon of my life was when I climbed up some scaffolding to the roof of Hatfield College, Durham, on a sunny day. I opened Milton’s Paradise Lost and read the whole poem. Little did I know there aren’t afternoons like that in the adult world. I loved my degree and I fell in love with the city of Durham, and the university too.”Biggest hit His show on Radio 2 attracts more than 7 million listeners weekly.Sally WainwrightYork UniversityScreenwriter, producer, directorWainwright was brought up in Huddersfield and moved to London after graduating, where she became a bus driver. She wrote for The Archers and Coronation Street before writing her first original drama series, At Home With the Braithwaites. Other credits include Scott and Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack.Biggest hit Baftas for Last Tango in Halifax (2013) , Happy Valley (2015 and 2017).Jessie WareSinger and podcasterSussex UniversityWare was brought up in Clapham, London. After graduating she worked briefly as a journalist and in television production before releasing her debut album Devotion in 2012, followed by three more albums. She presents the award-winning food podcast Table Manners with her mother Lennie.Biggest hit Has been nominated for six Brit awards. | Writing and Literature |
Whether you're trying to write an incredible query letter or deliver an engaging pitch at a writing conference, one of the most important elements is an impeccable hook for your book. Sometimes called an elevator pitch, because it can be delivered during a short ride in the elevator, a great book hook helps agents, editors, and ultimately readers understand the basic concept of your book while also enticing them to learn more.(How to Write Successful Queries for Any Genre of Writing.)In this post, I've collected actual examples of hooks for recently published books to actually show how to write effective elevator pitches in a variety of writing genres, including many fiction genres, nonfiction (both general and memoir), children's writing, and even short story collections. Even if your specific genre isn't mentioned, these examples should give you a good feel for how to write your own.(These examples are pulled from our author spotlight series of posts. The book titles and authors are linked to the original author spotlight post if you want to learn more about the authors and their books.)Contemporary Fiction HooksAfter the Hurricane, by Leah Franqui: "A young woman’s search for her father who has disappeared after Hurricane Maria leads her through Puerto Rico and forces her to confront everything she doesn’t know about her father’s past and her own identity."Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting, by Clare Pooley: "Nobody talks to strangers on the train. But what would happen if they did?"When We Fell Apart, by Soon Wiley: "A profoundly moving and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties that bind families together—or break them apart—as a young Korean American man’s search for answers about his girlfriend’s mysterious death becomes a soul-searching journey into his own bi-cultural identity."Let's Not Do That Again, by Grant Ginder: "The underachieving daughter of a New York congresswoman sets her sights on torpedoing her mother’s Senatorial campaign, only to find that family—like democracy—is a messy, fragile thing."Crime Fiction HooksThe Guilty Girl, by Patricia Gibney: "Two beautiful girls: One is murdered after a teen party, and the other is accused. The accused girl wakes up with blood on her hands and has no memory of the night before. What really happened?"Goering's Gold, by Richard O'Rawe: "Magical Ireland becomes Treasure Island as neo-Nazis, the IRA, Interpol, the Irish government, and underdog, James “Ructions” O’Hare, seek out the tons of Nazi gold that Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering had secreted in Ireland before the end of WWII for a rainy day."Blood Sugar, by Sascha Rothchild: "A twisty stay up all night to finish thriller about a murderess accused of killing her husband—ironically, perhaps the only murder she didn’t commit."Fantasy HooksJuniper & Thorn, by Ava Reid: "A gothic horror retelling of Grimm’s “The Juniper Tree,” set in Victorian-era Odessa, Ukraine."Tear Down the Throne, by Jennifer Estep: "Most people consider Gemma Ripley nothing more than a spoiled princess, but Gemma’s pampered persona is a clever disguise. She secretly moonlights as a spy and is determined to stop a powerful enemy from conquering her kingdom."The League of Gentlewomen Witches, by India Holton: "A witch who is as proper as a Jane Austen heroine and a pirate who is no Mr. Darcy race across Victorian England in a flying house, pursuing an enchanted amulet, while being chased by people determined to stop them."Historical Fiction HooksBronze Drum, by Phong Nguyen: "During the Bronze Age in ancient Vietnam, when a wicked new Han governor imposes strict laws on the Viet people, a Lord by the name of Trưng speaks out against the oppressive new rules and is subsequently beheaded. But his two daughters, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, in an act of revenge and patriotism, train an army of women who rise up to fight off the Han occupation, creating a free and independent nation in what is currently northern Vietnam."The Last of the Seven, by Steven Hartov: "The Last of the Seven is a classic World War II raid story, based on historical fact, about a group of German-speaking European Jews recruited to take on the Nazis behind enemy lines. It’s The Guns of Navarone with a Jewish crew, combined with The English Patient and Catch-22."Switchboard Soldiers, by Jennifer Chiaverini: "Switchboard Soldiers is the enthralling story of the valiant young women of the United States Army Signal Corps who served as telephone operators in France during World War I, when telephones were the most important means of communication between U.S. Army headquarters, Allied outposts, and troops in the field. Their perseverance, courage, skill, and dedication helped the Allies achieve victory and broke down barriers for generations of women who would follow after, not only in the military, but in all aspects of public and professional life."The Swift and The Harrier, by Minette Walters: "England, 1642. When bloody civil war breaks out between the King and Parliament, families and communities are riven by different allegiances. The Swift and The Harrier is a sweeping tale of adventure and loss, sacrifice and love, with a unique and unforgettable heroine at its heart."Horror HooksAnybody Home?, by Michael J. Seidlinger: "A seasoned home invader teaches new invaders how to not only pull off a home invasion but also deliver a performance that invades the collective consciousness."Old Country, by Matt & Harrison Query: "When a young married couple purchase their first home, a remote ranch in the Idaho Tetons, they get more than they bargained for when they discover the property is haunted by a malevolent spirit that presents itself in new and terrifying ways each season."The Pallbearers Club, by Paul Tremblay: "The novel is a found memoir that begins in the late 1980s with a high school loner starting an extracurricular club for volunteer pallbearers at poorly attended funerals. A mysterious woman, who may or may not be a supernatural figure from New England folklore, joins the club, shoots Polaroid pictures of the corpses, and comments on the memoir."Literary Fiction HooksThe Poet's House, by Jean Thompson: "A young woman is introduced to poetry and a group of free-wheeling poets, a crash course in both literature and human relations."Florida Woman, by Deb Rogers: "When Jamie gets the chance to escape viral infamy and jail time by taking a community service placement at Atlas, a shelter for rescued monkeys in the palmetto woods of Central Florida, it seems like just the fresh start she needs to finally get her life on track—until it’s not. As Jamie ventures deeper into the offbeat world and rituals of Atlas, her summer is soon set to inspire an even stranger Florida headline than she ever could’ve imagined."Balloon Dog, by Daniel Paisner: "A darkly comic tale of longing and legacy and letting go, Balloon Dog tells the story of a brazen art heist gone sideways and asks readers to consider what it means to leave a mark and what it takes to be swept up in the same currents that move the rest of the world."Constellations of Eve, by Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood: "Three reincarnations of one love story, Constellations of Eve chronicles the transmigration of souls. Each reality allows Eve, an artist and mother crippled by fears of being abandoned by those she loves, another chance at fulfillment—but can she get it right?"Middle Grade Fiction HooksGrounded for All Eternity, by Darcy Marks: "When Mal and his friends slip through the veil from their neighborhood in Hell into the mortal world, they accidentally release the soul of one of the architects of the Salem Witch Trials into modern day Salem, Massachusetts. Now they must recapture the soul, save the people of Earth, and get home before Salem gets wiped off the map, or worse yet, their parents find out."The Clackity, by Lora Senf: "Nearly-13-year-old Evie Von Rathe has one family member left, and her aunt has just been stolen by the ghost of a serial killer, aided by The Clackity, a creature that lives in an abandoned slaughterhouse. Evie and The Clackity strike a deal: She has one day to get through an impossible neighborhood to save her aunt and overcome her anxiety in the process."Twelfth, by Janet Key: "A diamond ring from Blacklist era Hollywood lost in a film reel fire; its 60-year search coming to a climax at a Berkshire’s theater camp; and the key to finding it hidden in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a story about love in all its guises."Mystery HooksA Killing in Costumes, by Zac Bissonnette: "Jay and Cindy, married former soap opera stars turned gay divorcees, reunite to open a Hollywood memorabilia store in Palm Springs. When a battle for a 90-year-old former film vixen’s collection turns deadly, they must solve a murder before they’re forced to trade their vintage costume collection for orange jumpsuits."The Sweet Goodbye, by Ron Corbett: "A gritty, noir story that plays out in a forgotten America. Memorable villains, a twisting plot, and a hero with as much brain as brawn."Nobody But Us, by Laure Van Rensburg: "In this high‑concept thriller that's part The Guest List, part The Girl Before, a couple's romantic weekend‑getaway is not what it seems."Homicide and Halo-Halo, by Mia P. Manansala: "When the head judge of the town beauty pageant is murdered and her cousin-slash-frenemy becomes the main suspect, a Fil-Am café owner turned amateur sleuth must put aside their differences and her complicated history with the pageant to solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next."Nonfiction (General) HooksQuarterlife, by Satya Doyle Byock: "An innovative psychotherapist tackles the overlooked stage of Quarterlife—the years between adolescence and midlife—and provides a guide to navigate it and thrive."There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent, by Glenn Boozan: "There Are Moms Way Worse Than You is a humorous compilation of terrible moms in the animal kingdom that will prove to you, a human mother, how you're actually doing a great job."The Power of Conflict: Speak Your Mind and Get the Results You Want, by Jon Taffer: "In an era of increasing division and discord, this book offers a guide on how to use conflict as a constructive tool—how to listen empathetically and engage respectfully while upholding your principles."The Marauders: Standing Up to Vigilantes in the American Borderlands, by Patrick Strickland: "The Marauders tells the story of how anti-migrant vigilantes flooded southern Arizona communities, and how normal people banded together to push back against them."On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World's Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer, by Michael P. Branch: "On the Trail of the Jackalope is the never-before-told story of the horned rabbit—the myths, the hoaxes, the very real scientific breakthroughs it inspired—and how it became a cultural touchstone in the American West and around the globe."Nonfiction (Memoir) HooksSoft-Boiled: An Investigation of Masculinity & the Writer's Life, by Stephen J. West: "Blending memoir, reportage, criticism, and detective thriller, Soft-Boiled is a self-reflexive portrait that grapples with questions of artmaking, responsibility, and masculinity."A Hard Place to Leave: Stories from a Restless Life, by Marcia DeSanctis: "A collection of stories about the lure of travel and the pull of home, and how these urges constantly collide."Coconut, by Florence Olajide: "Born in 1960s England, and privately fostered by a white family, a little Black girl finds herself transported to Nigeria with her birth family. Among virtual strangers and driven by an intense desire to return to England, she battles poverty, abuse, and different cultural expectations."Picture Book HooksSomething's Happening in the City, by Paula Merlán: "The story follows a young girl and her dog as they navigate their way through the city with a plan to solve a mystery."And the People Stayed Home, by Kitty O'Meara: "Quarantine during pandemic can be a time of spiritual and mental re-creation; we can heal ourselves, others, and the Earth, by reorienting our vision and using our gifts."Romance HooksKnot Again, by Kwana Jackson: "Harlem firefighter, Lucas Strong feels like he can only find any peace and quiet at the local laundromat, where every day is rinse and repeat—until a fateful run-in with his high school crush."Some of It Was Real, by Nan Fischer: "A psychic on the verge of stardom who isn’t sure she believes in herself and a cynical journalist with one last chance at redemption are brought together by secrets from the past that also threaten to tear them apart."The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston: "When a disillusioned ghostwriter who no longer believes in love returns to her family’s funeral home to bury her late father, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of her very hot and very recently deceased editor."Romantic Suspense HooksQuarter to Midnight, by Karen Rose: "Gabe Hebert’s homicide-detective father’s “suicide” was really murder—he’d gotten too close to a case someone powerful wanted covered up. Gabe hires Molly Sutton of Broussard Investigations to find his father’s killer, but they must first find his father’s secret witness."A Stranger's Game, by Colleen Coble: "When hotel heiress Torie Bergstrom learns that her childhood friend has drowned, she knows it is more than a tragic accident: Lisbeth was terrified of water and wouldn’t have gone swimming by choice. Desperate to find answers, Torie goes to the hotel under an alias, but as she digs, she realizes someone will risk anything—even more murder—to keep their secrets buried."Science Fiction HooksKingdoms of Death, by Christopher Ruocchio: "The Sun Eater is the tale of Hadrian Marlowe, a nobleman of the galactic empire some 20,000 years into our future, a scholar forced to be a soldier in a bitter, thousand-year war between mankind and the Cielcin, the first alien species in history to ever threaten us. Written as a memoir, Hadrian tells us on page one that he ended the war and dealt with the Cielcin for good and all … his story is why, and how, and about all the things not in the official record."The Unfamiliar Garden, by Benjamin Percy: "From award-winning author Benjamin Percy comes the second standalone novel in his grippingly original sci-fi series, The Comet Cycle, in which a passing comet has caused irreversible change to the world. This novel focuses on a broken marriage set against the backdrop of a dangerous, invasive species of alien fungi in the Pacific Northwest that threatens to control the lives of humans and animals alike."Short Story Collection HooksThe Last Suspicious Holdout, by Ladee Hubbard: "The Last Suspicious Holdout is a story collection set in a single black community in gulf coast Florida. Spanning a period from 1992- 2007 and featuring characters that appear in multiple stories, the book as a whole chronicles a community's transformation over time."You Never Get It Back, by Cara Blue Adams: "Winner of the 2021 John Simmons Short Fiction Prize, judged by Brandon Taylor, who calls it “a modern classic,” You Never Get It Back is an interlinked story collection that follows a young woman name Kate Bishop who escapes an economically impoverished upbringing in Vermont for a life of greater privilege."Suspense HooksThe Finalists, by David Bell: "Six students at a private college agree to be locked in a house in order to compete for a lucrative scholarship given by a wealthy donor. When one of the students dies shortly after the competition begins, the other students realize they’re trapped with a killer."The Girl From Jonestown, by Sharon Maas: "A journalist infiltrates a locked community in the backlands of her Guyana homeland: a fictional take on the horrific 1978 Jonestown mass suicide, in which 917 cult members found a most gruesome death—but told from an original perspective and with a new twist."Local Gone Missing, by Fiona Barton: "An ambitious murder detective, off sick and filled with doubt that she can ever work again, is persuaded to investigate the disappearance of a much loved resident in a seaside town beset with tensions. The hunt leads DI Elise King on a darkening trail of secrets her neighbors would like to keep hidden."Thriller HooksThe Other Me, by Sarah Zachrich Jeng: "A striving artist is transported into an alternate life in which she never followed her dreams, and she must determine what happened before her reality shifts beyond recognition."Dark Objects, by Simon Toyne: "A woman is found brutally murdered in her multi-million-pound mansion surrounded by strange objects that don’t belong in the house. One is a book on forensics written by a reclusive academic who never works live cases but decides to make an exception in this case. Only the more she begins to figure things out, the more she realizes the killer is talking directly to her through these dark objects."One of the Girls, by Lucy Clarke: "A group of friends hire a remote cliff-top villa on a picturesque Greek island to celebrate Lexi’s upcoming wedding. The long weekend begins with sun-scorched days and midnight swims—but ends in murder."The Handler, by M.P. Woodward: "With his ex-wife as his handler, a disgraced CIA operative is forced back to Iran to recover an agent in this hyper-authentic debut from a former intelligence officer."Women's Fiction HooksRoom and Board, by Miriam Parker: "An escapist read about a celebrity publicist who returns to her high school alma mater—a boarding school in California as a dorm mom."Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club, by Roselle Lim: "Disgraced matchmaker Sophie Go must romantically match seven septuagenarians to save her reputation."Mika in Real Life, by Emiko Jean: "A woman’s long-lost daughter comes back into her life after 16 years and she fabricates her life to impress her; to unexpected consequences. Mika in Real Life is about motherhood, daughterhood, and love—how we find it, keep it, and how it always returns."YA Fiction HooksHow You Grow Wings, by Rimma Onoseta: "Two sisters in a small village in Nigeria want nothing more than to break free of their oppressive home. When one sister is given the opportunity to live with her wealthy aunt, she takes the chance and escapes, starting off a chain of events that leads the sisters on different paths."Love Times Infinity, by Lane Clarke: "Michie Cooper has big dreams and even bigger insecurities about college and her future. But when her estranged mother reappears in her life, she must confront generational trauma and the sexual assault that produced her in order to shed the belief she is unloved and unlovable."We Made It All Up, by Margot Harrison: "Two lonely girls bond by writing fan fiction about their school’s golden boy, but fantasy becomes disturbingly real when he turns up dead and they’re the suspects."Want more examples? We're constantly adding new interviews to our author spotlight series on the site. Click here to see the latest author spotlights.*****2nd Draft provides a high-level review of your writing, pointing out reasons your work may be getting rejected, or may not meet the standards of traditional publication. After an evaluation of your submission, one of the professional 2nd Draft critiquers will provide feedback and advice. You’ll not only learn what’s working in your writing, but what’s not, and—most important—how to fix it.Click to continue. | Writing and Literature |
Transcript Judy Woodruff: A story of backyard groundhogs, Kentucky bluegrass, pokeweed, and plenty of poetry.
Jeffrey Brown meets the nation's new poet laureate for our arts and culture series, Canvas.
Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate: "I thought it was the neighbors cat back to clean the clock of the fledgling robins low in their nest, stuck in the dense hedge by the house. But what came was much stranger, a liquidity moving, all muscle and bristle, a groundhog slippery and waddle thieving my tomatoes.
Jeffrey Brown: The strangeness and wonder of life, even a groundhog in Ada Limón's backyard in Lexington, Kentucky:
Ada Limón: "I watched her munch and stand on her haunches taking such
pleasure in the watery bites. Why am I not allowed delight?"
Come here.
Jeffrey Brown: Limón was home recently when she got a surprise call from Carla Hayden, librarian of Congress, asking her to be the next poet laureate of the United States.
Ada Limón: I was at a loss for words. I -- as a poet, which we're not supposed to be at a loss for words.
(LAUGHTER)
Ada Limón: I was at a loss for words.
I really started to think about what it was to be able to elevate and promote the expansiveness of poetry at a time like this. So, I said yes.
Jeffrey Brown: And you found some words.
Ada Limón: And I found some words. And it was yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Jeffrey Brown: Limon is author of six volumes of poetry, including her newest, "The Hurting Kind," which again looks to nature and family history.
She grew up in Sonoma, California, of Mexican and European ancestry and dates her passion for poetry to a reading of Elizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art" at age 15.
Ada Limón: And I really remember thinking, I want to know how this is possible. I want to know how this is made.
Jeffrey Brown: How is it made?
Ada Limón: Yes.
Jeffrey Brown: So you were thinking right away, like, what does a poet do with words and language and...
Ada Limón: Yes.
I was immediately drawn to not just sort of the music and meaning of the poem, but also the form and the craft of the poem.
Jeffrey Brown: The mechanics, in a sense.
Ada Limón: Yes, at 15. I don't know what it was, but it clicked in. But it also made room for the nuance of human emotions. It felt like there was no sort of, this is life, this is a fact, right, this is truth. And yet what I found there felt more true than anything I'd read yet.
Jeffrey Brown: She would go on to get a masters at NYU and at first work in New York doing marketing for major magazines.
Ada Limón: I used to joke that the saying was always like, do what you love and the money will follow.
Jeffrey Brown: Yes.
Ada Limón: And I always thought, unless it's poetry, because then you want to do what you love and then also find another job that you don't mind so much.
(LAUGHTER)
Jeffrey Brown: Yes, because the money is not typically following.
Ada Limón: Because the money will not follow.
(LAUGHTER)
Jeffrey Brown: Yes.
But these days, at 46, she's able to make a living from readings and her books, now in Kentucky bluegrass country, where her husband, Lucas Marquardt, has a video marketing company for the thoroughbred industry.
Ada Limón: I'm Ada Limón, and this is "The Slowdown."
Something we often don't talk about is the strangeness of poetry.
Jeffrey Brown: She hosts the daily podcast "The Slowdown," in which she introduces and reads poems by a wide range of poets.
Ada Limón: I'm always trying to get connected to nature.
Jeffrey Brown: And walks in nearby parks like McConnell Springs, making sure to learn the names of all that's growing around her.
Ada Limón: Like this is just pokeweed right here.
Jeffrey Brown: Yes.
Ada Limón: But I love that its called pokeweed, right? Like, that's just a fabulous name. And you have got birch trees and black oaks. But that, to me, is -- that's so much more musical right off the bat than tree.
Jeffrey Brown: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Jeffrey Brown: Now she will have a much larger public role and wants to build on two main themes, especially at this moment of pandemic, division, and environmental threats.
Ada Limón: I really believe in the power of poetry to help us reclaim our humanity, to allow us to feel all the feelings, if you will.
I think, so often, we just compartmentalize and numb ourselves to what's going on in the world. And poetry is the place where you can do that groundwork, where you can read a poem and be, like, oh, right. I am a human being. I have thoughts and feelings.
And the other thing is that I really believe in poetry's ability to help us repair our relationship with the earth. I think that we are so distant from the land, from nature, that we forget that relationship is reciprocal.
Jeffrey Brown: In her poetry, Ada Limón often invokes what she calls her ancestors, the family who've brought her to where she is today.
Ada Limón: "My grandfather, before he died, would have told anyone that could listen that he was ordinary, that his life was a good one, simple. He could never understand why anyone would want to write it down."
Jeffrey Brown: In her beautiful long poem "The Hurting Kind," she writes of her grandparents, one gone, one still alive.
Here is how it ends.
Ada Limón: "All of this is a conjuring. I will not stop this reporting of attachments. There is evidence everywhere. There's a tree over his grave now, and soon her grave too, though she is tough and says, 'If I ever die,' which is marvelous and maybe why she's still alive. I see the tree above the grave and think, I'm wearing my heart on my leaves, my heart on my leaves. Love ends. But what if it doesn't?"
Jeffrey Brown: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown in Lexington, Kentucky.
Judy Woodruff: Just lovely in every way. Support Canvas Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature. | Writing and Literature |
USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower discusses the very moment she had the idea for her new historical mystery, Because I Could Not Stop For Death.Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over 35 mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she has been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for 15 years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Amanda FlowerIn this post, Amanda discusses discusses the very moment she had the idea for her new historical mystery, Because I Could Not Stop For Death, her advice for other writers, and more!Name: Amanda FlowerLiterary agent: Nicole Resciniti, The Seymour AgencyBook title: Because I Could Not Stop For DeathPublisher: Berkley, PRHRelease date: September 20, 2022Genre/category: Historical MysteryPrevious titles: Writing as Amanda Flower: Maid of Murder; Murder in a Basket; A Plain Death; A Plain Scandal; A Plain Disappearance; A Plain Malice; Andi Unexpected; Andi Under Pressure; Andi Unstoppable; The Final Reveille; The Final Tap; The Final Vow; Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons; Murders and Metaphors; Verse and Vengeance; Crimes and Covers; Flowers and Foul Play; Death and Daisies; Mums and Mayhem; Assaulted Caramel; Lethal Licorice; Premeditated Peppermint; Criminally Cocoa; Toxic Toffee; Botched Butterscotch; Marshmallow Malice; Candy Cane Crime; Lemon Drop Dead; Peanut Butter Panic; Matchmaking Can Be Murder; Courting Can Be Killer; Marriage Can Be Mischief; Dead-End Detective; Farm to Trouble; Put Out to Pasture. Writing as Isabella Alan: Plainly Murder; Murder, Plain and Simple; Murder, Simply Stitched; Murder, Served Simply; Murder, Plainly Read; Murder, Handcrafted.Elevator pitch for the book: When the brother of Emily Dickinson’s maid is murdered, Dickinson and her maid, Willa Noble, are pulled into the roles of sleuths that lead them down a dark path of closely guarded secrets that are at the very heart of the United States in the 1850s.IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon[WD uses affiliate links.]What prompted you to write this book?I have loved Emily Dickinson since I was 15 years old and had to memorize one of her poems for my American Literature class. In 2016, I published Crime and Poetry, which was the first in my Magical Bookshop Mysteries. The sleuth used Dickinson’s poems to solve the murder in that book. I did extensive research on Dickinson at that time. Three years later, I wanted to try my hand at writing a historical mystery. I agonized over finding the right hook, and then I remembered Dickinson. To my surprise, there was no traditional mystery written with her as sleuth. I was shocked. I suppose I expected someone else to have thought of the idea. I immediately pitched it to my agent, and the rest is history. How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?I came up with the concept in April 2019. I have a very vivid memory of gasping when the idea hit me while my then-boyfriend now-husband was driving us across country. The book will release in September 2022, so it was a little over three years from concept to publication. The core of my idea stayed the same, but the details changed so much when I learned more and more about Dickinson. When I discovered that she traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1855, I knew I had to put that in the book and dispel the common belief that Dickinson was a recluse her whole life. That simply isn’t true.Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?I think the biggest surprise for me with this title has been how enthusiastic my editor at Berkley has been about the project. I really feel supported by the whole team there. Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?The biggest surprise in this writing process for me was everything I learned about Dickinson. I have studied her off and on for years, but this was my first deep dive into her life. She was a gifted poet but also an immensely interesting person.What do you hope readers will get out of your book?I hope they come away from the book with a broader sense of who Dickinson was outside of stories of her hiding away in her room all the time writing day and night.Keep writing. Even if you are on submission and waiting to hear back from an editor or agent, don’t sit around and just wait. Write while you wait. It’s much better when you get the call to have four pitches ready to go instead of just one.Have an amazing story idea, but need to learn the basics of how to write a book? Creating a story that is dynamic and engaging takes a lot more than just setting aside an hour every day to write. This course will take you through all of the basics of writing a novel, including how important it is to choose a great setting, how to build characters, what point of view you should choose, how to write great dialogue, and more.Click to continue.Should We Write About the Pandemic in Fiction?Is it too soon? What’s the best way to incorporate it? Am I lying if I don’t? Author Deb Caletti discusses the tricky issue of whether or not writers should write about the pandemic in fiction.How One Photograph Inspired a NovelDuring a tumultuous time, author Lola Jaye sought distraction. Here she describes how one photograph inspired her new novel, The Attic Child.How To Find and Write the Soul of a PlaceWhen "home" is defined by more than one place, capturing each uniquely can be challenging and rewarding. Here, author Annette Libeskind Berkovits shares how to find and write the soul of a place. | Writing and Literature |
News that Sheffield Hallam University is to scrap its standalone English literature degree from next year triggered an outcry this week, after the government’s decision to end funding for degrees where less than 40% of graduates find “highly skilled” employment within six months.Here, seven English literature graduates tell what they gained from the degree, and share their views on the government’s plan to cut the funding of certain humanities courses deemed “low-value”.‘I loved studying English at Sheffield Hallam’Nageena Rehman: ‘English kept my employment options open’“I loved studying English literature at Sheffield Hallam University, where I graduated in 2020. It was surprising and disappointing to hear they were closing the course. Being able to study the subject in my home town was such an advantage: I saved money, I felt comfortable on campus, and had the opportunity to study abroad for a year, which changed my life.“English kept my employment options open. I have worked as a private tutor, a journalist, and am now a stagehand and technician at my local theatre. I gained an understanding of different perspectives, and learned how to articulate my thoughts on paper and in person – a key skill in all of my work. I connected with my coursemates over our passion for reading and writing and we have gone on to work creatively together. My degree has been a fundamental part of growth in my critical thinking, integrity, intelligence and passion for my work.” Nageena Rehman, 24, backstage theatre technician, York‘The arts can enact change, release emotion and bring joy’Saffron Rain: ‘I do customer service for an arts charity, which doesn’t count as highly skilled work’“I studied English at Sheffield University and did an MA in the same subject. If anyone were to quantify my university’s success rates based on the current government opinion, I would be bringing the side down. But it depends on what you class as ‘skilled work’. I used to manage bars, but now I do customer service for an arts charity, which doesn’t count as highly skilled work, although it is. I haven’t wasted my time at university.“I did not undertake either course in order to get a specific job, but to enrich my own life, and hopefully the lives of others. I learned how to research, identify reliable sources, form reasoned opinions, and intelligently engage with arguments I may not agree with. Studying the arts will always have value. They can enact change, provide solace, release emotion and bring joy.” Saffron Rain, 28, customer service professional, Stockport‘The government’s stance smacks of us-and-them politics’Jason Jawando: ‘I’m a more rounded person’“I studied English literature as a mature student at the Open University, having previously had a difficult experience of education. My degree gave me the ability to express myself, to engage with culture, and gave me confidence. Although my degree isn’t directly related to my job, I’m a more rounded person with a better understanding of my place in the world.“The government completely overlooks the role of education for its own sake; that it makes people better citizens. Employability is important, but measuring crudely whether you’re in a high-earning job or not is the wrong approach. It smacks very much of ‘us and them’ politics. The message seems to be: if you’re from a lower socio-economic background, study something useful and we’ll keep you in your place.” Jason Jawando, 50, research support administrator, Wolverhampton‘Perhaps this policy will make universities offer better value for money’Emily Young: ‘I learned almost nothing’“I graduated in 2018 with a £9,000-a-year English degree from a London university. I had about six hours of ‘contact time’ a week that dropped to nothing in my final year during the lecturers’ strikes. I got a first-class degree but I can safely say I learned almost nothing. The content was mostly boring and abstract with little chance to explore my own literary interests.“I feel strongly that many humanities courses are cash cows for universities’ more expensive practical courses, such as engineering and chemistry. My degree was not much more than an overpriced piece of paper that I needed to enter the job market.“I think the government’s policy [to cut funding for some humanities courses] is sensible. I hope this forces universities to think more about quality and employability.” Emily, 26, civil servant, London‘My English studies paved the way to a successful career as an entrepreneur’Nick Payne: ‘I learned a range of useful skills’“I studied English literature at the University of Sheffield, and graduated with a 2:1. I didn’t end up in a ‘highly skilled’ job within six months, so according to the government my studies were apparently a waste of time.“I learned a range of useful skills, particularly in communication, research and analysis, which played a significant part in my career. I’ve co-founded and managed a couple of successful businesses in the technical publishing and events sector, sold one of them for a significant sum along the way, and have boosted the UK’s import/export balance over the years as roughly half of our conference delegates come from overseas – and spend money locally.” Nick Payne, 57, majority owner of a business running technical conferences, St Albans‘It shows that almost none of my software engineering colleagues studied humanities’James Cole: ‘English literature degrees teach criticism … which suits the workplace well’“English literature degrees teach criticism, a form of analysis that suits the workplace very well. What is the truth in a given situation, how does it tie into wider themes, and how can I best communicate that? Deep reading skills, mental organisation, patience. Studying Stem [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] doesn’t develop these skills in the same way, and I should know because I also have an MPhil in computer science.“Almost none of my colleagues have humanities degrees, and it shows. A humanities student learns a history of systems, approaches, and theories. They learn how these failed and why. Stem, meanwhile, encourages the view that the world is a system that can be understood and manipulated. And in a practical way this is true – and very cool. But it can also encourage conformity and stifle questioning and innovation.” James Cole, software engineer, Bath | Writing and Literature |
A group of teen girls in Afghanistan is reading and discussing Anne Frank's classic book in a secret book club. Diaa Hadid hide caption toggle caption Diaa Hadid A group of teen girls in Afghanistan is reading and discussing Anne Frank's classic book in a secret book club. Diaa Hadid KABUL, Afghanistan – In the year since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, they have used their muscle to restrict the education and curiosity of girls. They've been banned from high school, told to cover up and stay home. But in one secret book club in Kabul, about a dozen teenagers are defying the Taliban to continue learning – and along the way have connected to a girl from a different time and place who was also forced to live her life in secret. "She had hope. She was fighting. She was studying. She was resisting her fate," says Zahra. She's in the basement of a building on a side alley on the outskirts of Kabul where the book club met on a recent August day with two young volunteers who act as facilitators, steering the conversation and asking questions. Zahra is speaking of Anne Frank. The girls are reading and discussing the teenager's famous diary, which she began writing at age 13. And they are struck by the parallels: Just like them, Anne was only a kid – one who was starting to learn about the world – when she was forced into hiding because of a violent, oppressive government. The passport photo of Anne Frank from May 1942. She and her family hid from the Nazis until they were betrayed and sent to concentration camps in 1944. Only her father survived. The teen's diary is being read by Afghan girls in a secret book club. Anne Frank House hide caption toggle caption Anne Frank House Another book club member summarizes the diary at a facilitator's urging: "In the beginning Anne has a good life, but after Hitler takes over, he places strict laws and regulations against Jews. They go into hiding. They can't make noise. They have to walk softly." Four volunteers set up this weekly book club for teenage girls shortly after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last year. (NPR is only using the first names of the girls to protect them from any Taliban reprisals for violating the education ban and not identifying the club's organizers, who fear the Taliban could shut down the book club and punish them for educating the girls.) The origins of the secret book club The girls in this book club come from a heart-wrenching cohort: Nearly all of them have survived suicide bombings over the past few years. Some were wounded; others suffered psychological harm. Some lost family. They lost friends. They all belong to a persecuted ethnic minority called Hazaras. Living under the Taliban's rule has added to their hardships.. The four volunteers are young men and women who have worked in education and community service for years. They hope the girls will be able to process the events of their own lives through reading and talking about the classics of Persian and Western literature, translated into Farsi. "We come here, we talk about the books, and then we understand ourselves, our thoughts," says one of the young book club members, Arzou. "It is like, so amazing." Some of the books are intended to show the girls how other minorities have survived persecution – or not – through personal stories of resistance and suffering, like Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Bringing a Jewish voice to Kabul It is a remarkable effort in a culture and region where there have been no substantial Jewish communities for decades and where clerics have often maligned Jews, without evidence, as seeking to undermine Muslim communities and Islam itself. But the Hazara volunteers who lead this book club understand the European Jewish experience differently: a minority that was once unspeakably persecuted as part of the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people, with millions killed, but which has since thrived. They hope the girls will see that too. Volunteers who facilitate the book club assigned Frank's diary to the girls in late July. They agreed to meet weeks later with NPR to talk about it. The book, which has been translated into over 70 languages and sold some 30 million copies, was translated into Farsi by a 61-year-old Afghan refugee named Khalil Wedad who lives in the Netherlands. Wedad said when he first came across the book in a class he attended on Dutch language and culture, he was taken by how Anne Frank's story of a girl in hiding resonated with the experience of many Afghans living through decades of war. He hoped that if he were to translate the book, Afghan girls would see themselves in her story. Wedad told NPR that he was supported by the Anne Frank House, which oversaw the translation and paid for publishing about 1,500 copies. "At first it may seem surprising that these girls relate so powerfully to Anne Frank, but for young people who experience terror and oppression who have to hide for their lives, there's somehow comfort to know they're not alone," says Doyle Stevick, executive director of the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. (The center is the official partner of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam). "The diary helps us recall our common humanity no matter what our differences may be," Stevick says. "Anne's strong spirited determination not to give into despair has inspired people around the world." In 2005, after the Farsi edition of the book was published, Wedad said he traveled back to Afghanistan and held small meetings with journalists and civil society activists to introduce the book. He even held readings with Afghan teenage girls. Wedad said he hadn't heard about the secret book club but was pleased to learn that young Afghan women are finding meaning in Anne Frank's story. "It feels like his mission was kind of fulfilled," Wedad's son Khaled told NPR, translating for his dad, who does not speak English. 'I think Anne Frank is ... a friend for me.' Arzou, one of the book club participants, said it was the first time they had read the firsthand account of a teenage girl living through extreme hardship. "I think Anne Frank is like, as a friend for me," she said. "Something is in common with me and Anne Frank," Arzou says. "We are both the victims of war. I mean, Anne Frank is suffering from war and I am too. And Anne Frank cannot go to school, cannot, like go out very freely. And I have the same situation." Like Anne Frank, Arzou says, "we are just in a dark place and there isn't any light," she says. "And we don't understand what would come after this." Before the Taliban came to power, Arzou says her grades were so high that she expected to apply to colleges abroad to study computer science. That dream is over. She's 17, but her hair is streaked with gray – a startling sight set against the pimples on her teenage face. She thinks the grays are because she holds in the suffering she's experienced. But she says she's learning that other people, like the Jews of Europe, like Anne Frank, lived through worse. "I found the Anne Frank situation more harder than us," Arzou says. "They cannot go out, and every minute they are thinking of being free, but in the end, they even die. So if I think of my situation. I am very grateful because I have these people that I can share my ideas with. We can gather together and talk about anything that we want." Another girl, 17-year-old Masouma, wearing a lavender headscarf and purple robe, raises her hand to talk. She says she relates to how Anne Frank faced the real fear that she'd be killed even as she wrote about her typical teenage problems, including her crush on a teenage boy who shared their hiding place and her clashes with her mother. "I loved the whole book. It was like a friend of mine telling me her pain, her stories. When she called her diary Kitty, I smiled and I imagined that I was Kitty, and that we are best friends," Masouma says smiling. Masouma is referring to this moment in Frank's diary: "All I think about when I'm with friends is having a good time. I can't bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things. We don't seem to be able to get any closer and that's the problem. Maybe it's my fault that we don't confide in each other. In any case, that's just how things are, and unfortunately they're not liable to change. This is why I've started the diary." "To enhance the image of this long-awaited friend in my imagination, I don't want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would do, but I want the diary to be my friend, and I'm going to call this friend Kitty." Masouma says she admires Anne Frank for trying to have a sense of perspective: She was sad because she couldn't go to school in hiding. But she knew it was worse out in the world. She wrote in her diary in 1942 about Jews being transported to camps: "We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they're being gassed. Perhaps that's the quickest way to die." And she says, Anne Frank didn't give up on education. She tried to continue her education in secret, even taking a shorthand course by correspondence. Masouma is trying to keep up her education as well. Despite the Taliban's ban on secondary education for girls, Masouma and other girls were sneaking into a high school that was secretly letting them attend the boys-only classes. They were ducking into the school gate in tiny numbers, hoping they wouldn't be noticed. "But there were too many of us," Masouma says. She says the school principal feared local Taliban security forces would notice the girls coming in and out, and so they were told to go home. "The girls were all crying," Masouma recalls. "My sister is still traumatized and now she doesn't want to try to get an education." Masouma and the other girls say they find comfort in Anne Frank's diary, even though they know how it ends. Anne Frank died of typhus in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after her family was betrayed and their hiding place revealed. She was 16. Zahra, the young woman who described Anne Frank as resisting her fate, says knowing the end didn't depress her at all. "Nobody knows how long I will live, or when I will die," she shrugs. "The only thing you can do is leave something behind for the world that gives your life meaning." Like Anne Frank, who left behind her diary, published in 1947. "Right now, the Taliban are in power," Zahra says. "One day, they will be gone. Maybe people will forget what they did to girls like me." She says that she wants to write a book as Anne Frank did so the world will know about the teenage girls of Afghanistan as well. | Writing and Literature |
At the heart of every fantasy is something unreal, impossible, or at the very least, so extraordinary as to take us outside the universe we think we live in. Fantasy world-building surrounds those unreal things with recognisable furniture and plausible emotion, so that Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief” can kick in. As writers from Tolkien to Pratchett have taught us, the task for both writers and readers is easier when the impossible involves motifs and storylines we recognise from oral narratives such as tales, legends and myths. That also ties most fantasy literature, up to the turn of the millennium, to European culture, because the myths we know are likely to be Greco-Roman or Norse; the tales, German or French or sometimes Scandinavian.However, in this century, a new wave of fantasy challenges that European dominance. Writers of colour and writers from indigenous cultures use magical narratives to depict experiences and express viewpoints difficult to convey within the constraints of realism. One of the effects of fantasy is the way it forces us to consider the categories of the real, the possible and the ordinary – all the norms that fantasy violates. And, in particular, the new fantasy reveals how culture-bound those norms are. Non-European traditions mark off boundaries differently and include as natural entities things we might think of as supernatural. Out of those different ways of setting the limits of the possible and assigning meaning to the impossible come different versions of the fantastic.The works I list here not only tell engaging stories set in vividly imagined worlds, they are also worth reading for the way their versions challenge our sense of the ordinary and the limits of the real.1. The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson (2007)Caribbean Canadian writer Hopkinson is known for her science-fiction world-building, but she also excels at more intimate fantasies. The magic in this book involves the menopausal protagonist’s manifesting objects from her childhood as well as her encounter with a selkie child. The novel immerses readers in the sensory experience and social dynamics of its island setting, and its focus on the belated coming-of-age of a middle-aged woman challenges expectations about fantasy narratives.2. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (2010)Like much of Okorafor’s work, this novel draws on her experiences as the child of Nigerian immigrants, hearing stories and spending time with extended family in Africa. Protagonist Onyesonwu, whose name translated from Igbo provides the book’s title, is the child of rape, fitting into neither of two societies but inheriting powers from both sides of her parentage. In a switch from the conventional “chosen hero” narrative, Onyewonsu ends up rewriting the prophecies and remaking her world. In this and other science fantasies, Okorafor helped to invent a form she calls Africanfuturism, which has been embraced by readers and emulated by a talented new generation of African and diasporic writers including Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Khadija Abdalla Bajaber.3. Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011)Playwright and scholar Hairston pits Native and African American folklore against racism in this journey from the Jim Crow south to the beginnings of a Black movie industry at the Chicago World’s Fair. Stage magic converges with genuine conjuring to challenge violence and oppression. In a sequel, Will Do Magic for Small Change, Hairston follows her protagonists back to their African roots and forward into a future among artists, ghosts, and (surprisingly) aliens.4. Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson (2012)Wilson was working as a journalist in Cairo during the Arab spring uprisings of the early 2010s. This World Fantasy award-winner combines computer hacking and Arabic mysticism in a dazzling tale of love, economic disparity, adventure, and the power of metaphor. Along the way, Wilson also satirises herself in the minor character of an American convert to Islam who is blind to most of the magic going on around her.5. A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (2013)In this gorgeously written tour of a complex secondary world, Samatar explores ghosts, culture clashes and the effect of written language on a purely oral culture, while also providing engaging characters and a rousing adventure story. The imagined world of the fiction reflects Samatar’s own immersion in multiple cultures as the daughter of a Somali immigrant and a scholar of Arabic literatures with teaching experience in Sudan and Egypt.All the awards … NK Jemisin at New York Comic Con 2019. Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for ReedPOP6. The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (2015)Jemisin won all the awards, and justly so, for the books of her Broken Earth trilogy, of which this is the first. The books might take place in a far future on a world that is not our Earth, but clearly they also connect with the here and now, with themes of climate change, environmental degradation, racial injustice and the burdens of the past. A daring second-person narration and a complex, admirable but not always likable hero make this book much more than the sum of its themes.7. The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard (2015)Alternating between science fiction and fantasy, de Bodard has already amassed an impressive number of Nebula, Locus, and British Science Fiction Association awards. This novel is the beginning of a gothic fantasy series involving fallen angels and a war that has left Paris half in ruins and contaminated by magical pollution. The contamination reaches the depths of the Seine, where, unknown to most people (and other beings) on land, a community of Annamese, or Vietnamese, dragons has taken refuge. The series reflects the multi-racial politics and multicultural reality of contemporary European cities.8. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020)Roanhorse caught the attention of the fantasy and science fiction community in 2017 with a satirical short story called Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience. She followed that up with a pair of science fantasies juxtaposing Diné legends on a post-apocalyptic landscape, and, in Black Sun and its sequels, has ventured into epic fantasy. Her fantasy world is a magical version of Meso-America without European invasion: its conflicts result from tensions within and between the factions and religious cults of the continent of Meridien.9. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2020)With this book, Coates moved deftly from nonfiction to novel-writing. His story is set in the pre-civil war south but rarely uses the word “slave” to describe the people Coates calls Tasked. Rich historical detail conveys the terrible effect of the Task on everyone caught in the system, and especially young, gifted Hiram Walker. Walker’s own Task includes tending to the feckless legitimate son of the master, who is his half-brother. From his mother, Hiram has inherited an unpredictable magical gift of escape, the Water Dancing of the title. As he learns to harness this gift, he goes to work for the great Harriet Tubman. Like Octavia Butler in Kindred, Coates finds the horrors of slavery too overwhelming for mere realism: only the fantastic can take the reader into such a world.10. A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark (2021)Historian Clark departs from his studies of the American past in this magical alternate history set in a steampunk Cairo in the early 20th century. The novel is a mystery featuring a stubborn female detective taking on powerful human and non-human adversaries. The real interest is not so much in the plot as the characters’ interaction and the richly detailed setting. This Cairo is a meeting-place of east and west, north and south (one of the recurring themes is the racial profiling of Nubians and Abyssinians by the paler Egyptian aristocracy), past and present, science and magic, all deftly invoked in details of architecture, costume and custom. | Writing and Literature |
What you’ll learnFrom Geoffrey Chaucer to Toni Morrison, you’ll study a broad range of writers, topics and genres. You’ll spend hours reading, discussing and writing, and be expected to analyse literature, know the genres, and put what you’ve read into some form of social and historical context. There may be an opportunity to specialise, so if you have a penchant for female 19th-century writers or Irish poetry, certain courses will allow you to study them in greater detail.Alternatively, you might wish to study linguistics, another subject usually found in English departments. Linguists are more concerned with the specific aspects of language – such as sound, grammar and meaning – rather than the creative use of it. You’ll investigate how languages differ, how language relates to thought, and how we understand it in the written and spoken form.How you’ll learnYou’ll have lectures with expert professors, and seminars where you’ll get a chance to debate your responses to texts. You will need to read a lot of books, which can be a solitary affair: English courses tend to have among the fewest contact hours of all degree courses. But time in the library will sharpen your time-management skills and ability to work independently. Optional modules will depend on the specialism and research interests of the lecturers at the university, so it’s worth doing your research to ensure your interests align.Many courses offer the chance to study abroad for a year and gain a fresh perspective on literature.Entry requirementsEnglish A-level is usually required. Your assessment is likely to be largely coursework-based, with few exams. This may include group projects and creative portfolios as well as essays.What job can you get?English isn’t a particularly vocational option, which leaves the door wide open on the job front. Journalism, editing or publishing are obvious choices for those with a love of words, but these can be competitive careers. Graduates will also be well placed for a career in advertising or marketing, so consider applying for graduate training schemes. With further study, English graduates can go into law, teaching or academia.Rest assured, you’ll leave with plenty of skills. These include the ability to work independently and manage your time, as well as research and team-working. You’ll learn to communicate to a high standard and how to convey opinions coherently and creatively. | Writing and Literature |
I can trace the inspiration for my debut novel, J.R. Silver Writes Her World, back to elementary school, specifically to fourth grade. My teacher had a collection of New Yorker magazine covers that we used as prompts for creative writing assignments. Like they are today, each cover was illustrated and free of text. They were funny, pretty, clever, and sad, and they were truly inspiring. Many years later, while searching for a middle-grade story to tell, I thought back to those magazines. What would happen, I wondered, if I put a magical twist on the exercise? What would happen if the stories my protagonist writes come true? (5 Steps for Using Setting to Write Compelling Middle-Grade Narrative Fiction)It was a lightbulb-goes-off moment, but there was a lot of work to do to build a whole novel from there! Here are four ways that I continued to dig for ideas.1. Old Stories That Inspire the NewMiddle-grade literature has evolved a lot since I was a kid. Still, I did think back on books that sang to me as a child, and one that stood out was a 1967 novel by E.L. Konigsburg called From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It’s a wonderfully improbable tale about Claudia Kincaid and her little brother, Jamie, who spend a week hiding out inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Along the way, a mystery unfolds about whether an unassuming statue of an angel that the museum recently acquired was actually sculpted by the famous artist Michelangelo. Claudia makes it her mission to find out.From the Mixed-Up Files brings a charming slice of New York to life, which I wanted to do in J.R. Silver, and creates a kid-centered adventure that has entertained young readers for decades. Rather than retell the story in the modern age, I used some of its timeless themes and settings as jumping-off points for my novel. The excitement of having a secret, the power of teamwork, and the many treasures inside the Met all play integral roles in J.R.’s escapades and growth just like they did for Claudia Kincaid.2. Getting Immersed in My Protagonist’s WorldOne advantage I had in telling J.R.’s story was that I live alongside her, or at least in the same neighborhood. I wanted her surroundings to become almost a character in the book. That led to many hours walking the neighborhood, always with an eye toward what J.R. herself would see. So while the story takes place in the fall and I might romanticize autumn in the Northeast, I didn’t see the changing leaves exciting my 11-year-old protagonist. That means there’s no scene where J.R. revels in the crisp fall air, for example. Instead, every city dweller, kids included, knows what it’s like to dodge dog poop on the sidewalk, and J.R. does just that.My touring also took me repeatedly to the Met to find galleries and artwork to feature in the story. Most of the rooms I showcased are ones that I hoped would grab middle-grade readers, like an 18th century home in Damascus and an enormous ceiling inspired by ceremonial houses in New Guinea—big spaces that transport visitors. On one visit, though, I happened upon a portrait of a seated figure holding a rose at a slightly odd angle. The colors are muted and not that inviting. The wall label explained that x-rays had shown that the artist originally depicted the woman playing a cello and then painted over that image to create the version on display. It was lucky that I happened to lean in to read the description—in J.R. Silver, one of the main characters is a devoted cellist, and learning about the evolution of the painting led me to write a new thread in the story. So sometimes inspiration lurks in the little details, and if you look closely, you never know what you might find!3. Hitting the Pavement and UnpluggingClose look or not, there are times when finding material to work with is really hard. When ideas aren’t flowing, I try to let my mind wander without the distractions that accompany my computer (Twitter! Instagram! Email!). For me, this works best while taking a walk, but various unplugged moments have done the trick. The operative word is unplugged—no podcast that keeps me focused on the news or audio book to immerse me in someone else’s story. No multitasking. If you’re similarly sweating your next literary move, I’d say a quiet walk is worth a try.IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon4. Sometimes the Internet Does Yield WondersNonetheless, the Internet can be a source of deliciously unexpected material, too. As my work drafting J.R. Silver came to a close, I wanted to refresh my memory of the ornate ceiling at a real-life bookstore called Albertine, which J.R. visits during her own mind-clearing walk. The mural depicts the night sky and is situated in what was built as a grand Beaux-Arts home in the early 20th Century. I certainly could have walked over for another look, but instead I tried to be quick and went online. As I checked the store’s website, a page about the building caught my eye, specifically about the statue of a young archer in the middle of the foyer. It turns out that it’s a recreation of the one that was originally there, which had itself caught the attention of a visiting researcher more than 20 years after E.L. Konigsburg wrote From the Mixed-Up Files. Eventually, the statue was determined to be a previously-unknown Michelangelo hiding in plain sight just steps from the Met, where it is now on loan. So I guess sometimes life really does imitate art, and sometimes you just happen to find out about it on the Internet. Take your writing one step further and tackle the publishing process. When you enroll in this online course, you'll learn the details of the query letter format and how to write a query letter that catches the attention of agents and publishers.Click to continue. | Writing and Literature |
Sheffield Hallam University has suspended its English literature course, apparently because its graduates “struggle to get highly paid jobs”. This follows a threat by the Office for Students that universities will face financial penalties for degree courses that produce low rates of graduate employment.In another, prehistoric era I read English at university and assumed that this would equip me for nothing practical and everything that mattered.Some of those reading “useful” subjects like physics, maths or law sniffed that studying the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Wordsworth or the novels of Henry James was a waste of time. This merely showed up these scoffers as reductionist philistines. For studying the great works of literature was in essence a moral project.Like the rest | Writing and Literature |
Reality TV producers have exhausted singers, dancers, drag artists, potters, tailors, and beautiful young people hoping to find love. Now, it seems, the spotlight has fallen on writers. This week, a call has appeared on social media for contestants to apply to be on the pilot of a new show called America’s Next Great Author (ANGA).Billed as “the groundbreaking reality TV show for writers”, ANGA will give its contestants one minute to pitch their novels to a panel of judges that includes New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds, Fox5 TV presenter Angie Goff, and stage writer and comedian Marga Gomez.Journalist Angie Goff. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Rex/ ShutterstockThose that are lucky enough to win the heats, to be held in cities across the US, will proceed to the writers’ retreat “bootcamp” stage.The six finalists, locked together for a month, will face “live-wire” challenges as they attempt to write an entire novel in 30 days. The winning novelist will be crowned America’s Next Great Author.Bestselling author and Newberry Medal winner Kwame Alexander is presenting the show, and is listed as executive producer. In a promotional video posted on the show’s Twitter feed, Alexander said it will be “the first reality show for writers produced by writers. This is your chance, if you’re writing the Great American Novel or the great memoir masterpiece or something, this is your chance to get published.”The show is aiming to attract a wide and diverse range of applicants: “America’s Next Great Author is dedicated to including writers who aren’t normally given a seat at the table in mainstream publishing”, reads the mission statement on its website. “Contestants don’t have to be graduates of elite MFA programs that basically guarantee an open door to the book business. The series will feature writers from communities and cultures all across America who bring their unique voices to readers and the world of literature.”It is not yet clear, however, what the ultimate prize will be, although Alexander seemed to hint on the promotional video that it may include a publishing deal. Currently, ANGA is accepting applications to take part in the filming of the pilot show in San Francisco. It offers contestants the chance to “come away with concrete advice from publishing industry professionals” and, for the winner of this pilot heat, $2,500 (£2,116). | Writing and Literature |
Novelists Ali Smith, Jackie Kay and Guy Gunaratne are to judge a new, expanded Rathbones Folio prize for 2023. The prize is set to expand to three categories, filling a gap left by the demise of the Costa book awards.Launched in 2014, the Folio prize has been awarded annually to a work of literature. In 2017, it was opened to nonfiction and poetry as well, although it still named only one winner a year.For 2023, the prize will expand to three categories: fiction, nonfiction and poetry, with a winner named in each who will go on to compete for the overall prize.The new format is an echo of the Costa book awards, which came to a sudden end earlier this year. The Costas crowned winners in five categories – novel, debut novel, nonfiction, poetry and children’s – with the category winners going on to compete for the overall book of the year.The expanded Rathbones Folio prize will have shortlists of four books in each of its three categories, and the winner of each category will receive £2,000. The overall winner will then get an additional £30,000.Organisers said they had “decided to refresh its format to address the changing landscape of literary prizes, including the recent discontinuation of awards such as the Costa book awards, and the impact this has for writers”.In a statement, the prize’s executive director Minna Fry and co-founder and chair Andrew Kidd said: “We and our brilliantly supportive sponsors Rathbones are hugely excited about this new refinement and expansion of the existing format. It will significantly aid what has always been this prize’s ultimate aim: to help publishers and booksellers to put more of the best books being published today – as chosen by writers themselves (a feature unique to this prize) – into the hands of more readers.”The judges are chosen each year from the members of the Folio Academy, and titles for consideration are nominated by its members. The shortlists for the 2023 awards will be revealed early next year, with the category and overall winners announced at a ceremony at the British Library in March.Previous Folio prize winners include Colm Tóibín, Carmen Maria Machado, Raymond Antrobus, Hisham Matar and George Saunders. | Writing and Literature |
The six novels and the collections of essays by George Lamming, who has died aged 94, did much to shape Caribbean literary culture. He also contributed to it as an educator and activist intellectual, mentoring a host of young writers and scholars in the Caribbean and beyond.Intensely aware of the impact of colonialism on individual lives and the evolutionary process of social, political and economic reconstruction in the region, Lamming was inspired by the idea of a unified Caribbean. The West Indies Federation (1958-62) had aimed to bring together various islands into a single political unit, but failed. While accepting this outcome, Lamming remained committed to the ideal of a regional community rooted in shared cultural and political aspirations.His first and most famous novel, In the Castle of My Skin (1953), drawing on his upbringing in Barbados, was published in Britain after he had gone there from Trinidad in 1950.It is an autobiographical novel that recreates the author’s life between the ages of nine and 16 against the backdrop of major labour unrest in June 1937 that presaged the movement toward independence from colonial rule.While the idea for the novel had been germinating before his arrival in London, it was there that he began putting it together. As he wrote in his introduction to its 1983 edition: “I tried to reconstruct the world of my childhood and early adolescence. It was also the world of a whole Caribbean society.”The novel’s reception put him at the centre of black intellectual and cultural life in postwar Europe. It was reviewed in the Observer and the Times, and VS Pritchett devoted a full page of the New Statesman to it. In 1954 a lengthy extract was published in the French magazine Les Temps Modernes by Jean-Paul Sartre, and the novel was published in the US with an admiring introduction by Richard Wright.Three more novels followed in quick succession: The Emigrants (1954), Of Age and Innocence (1958) and Season of Adventure (1960). There was also a pioneering collection of personal essays on cultural politics and intellectual history, The Pleasures of Exile (1960), that anticipated many contemporary postcolonial formulations around the psychic trauma engendered by colonialism.As Lamming observed, his novels told a Caribbean story that began with a colonial childhood, followed by emigration to Britain, return to the Caribbean, agitation for independence, nationalist aspirations, and the collapse of the first independent republic. He experimented with form, and displayed great intellectual power and emotional range in these novels – or dramatic poems, as he liked to call them.Lamming worked for the BBC’s overseas radio service, broadcasting on its programme Caribbean Voices, and in 1955 travelled to the US on a Guggenheim scholarship, and then on to West Africa and the Caribbean. He was a participant in the first international congress of black writers and artists in Paris in 1956, alongside writers and intellectuals including Jacques Stephen Alexis, Aimé Césaire, Cheikh Anta Diop, Frantz Fanon, Jean Price-Mars and Wright.In 1957, he received the Somerset Maugham award for In the Castle of My Skin, and numerous honours and awards followed. His last two novels, Water With Berries (1971) and Natives of My Person (1972), were political allegories, providing a dense and highly sophisticated engagement with narratives of European imperialism.Lamming was born into humble circumstances on the island of Barbados to an unmarried mother. She later married, and though he paid frequent visits to St David’s Village, where his stepfather worked, he was raised primarily in Carrington Village, to the east of Bridgetown, the capital. He referred to it fondly as a rough neighbourhood, the Creighton Village of In the Castle of My Skin. His political and aesthetic sensibilities were formed there, and his sympathies remained with the struggles of the poor and working classes of the Caribbean.From Roebuck boys’ school he won a scholarship to Combermere high school, where he was mentored by Frank Collymore, the editor of Bim, a journal devoted to publishing and promoting Caribbean writers.In 1946, Lamming left Barbados for Trinidad, where he taught at a college for Venezuelan students in Port of Spain. Contact there with the radical left and the Readers and Writers Guild made him more political. When he left for London, it was on the same ship as the Trinidadian novelist Sam Selvon, and he soon established himself as a visionary writer, part of the generation of West Indians that included Derek Walcott, Wilson Harris, VS Naipaul, John Hearne and Kamau Brathwaite. In the 1970s Lamming travelled in Africa, India and Australia, and criss-crossed the US undertaking teaching assignments, readings and lectures. Then, in 1980 he returned to Barbados and established a permanent residence at the Atlantis hotel in Bathsheba, on the Atlantic coast, a place of astonishing beauty, with a rocky shoreline and crashing surf. There Lamming enjoyed regular walks on the shore, swimming – and a degree of seclusion. He received occasional visitors and had time for reading, reflection and writing.He was a storehouse of information about personalities and events in the Caribbean and talked expansively about these when among friends. He was courteous, kind and generous to his friends and to the many scholars and writers who sought him out.On the public platform however, his voice remained strong and vigorous and politically challenging. He could be harsh in his assessments of Caribbean societies, but never surrendered his certainty about the creative potential of the region, and experimented with new fictional forms for themes that had always fascinated him: the voyages of Columbus, the debates between Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginès de Sepúlveda in 1550 on the degree of humanity of the conquered peoples of the Americas, the Haitian ceremony of souls, and the Vichy regime in Martinique, among others.He edited anthologies of Caribbean writing, and committed himself anew to political activism. This phase of Lamming’s vigorous intellectual life is recorded in volumes of essays, Conversations (1992), Coming, Coming, Coming Home: Conversations II (1995) and The Sovereignty of the Imagination (2004), and in his edited volumes of Caribbean literary and cultural history, Enterprise of the Indies Vols I & II (1999).He felt no particular urgency about returning to the novel, so he continued to experiment with new fictional forms in private, to teach at universities in the US and to lecture widely. All his major works were republished in the US in the 90s, and Lamming enjoyed the renewed interest in his fiction and cultural analysis, establishing a role for the writer as public intellectual in everyday Caribbean life.He is survived by his son, Gordon, and daughter, Natasha, from his marriage to the Trinidadian painter Nina Squires, which ended in divorce. | Writing and Literature |
For many of us, books are an important part of our lives – but do we want them to change our ideas about how to live? Is there a danger that living alongside fictional narrators will make us too reckless? This may be the case especially when it comes to marriage, given that so many great novels are about adultery.Recently, “bibliomemoirs” have offered a medium in which to think through the relationship between reading and living. Rebecca Mead has charted her changing relationship with Middlemarch; Sophie Ratcliffe resisted the lure of adultery while reading Anna Karenina; Francis Spufford explored the books that shaped him. Now Christina Lupton entwines her own experience of falling unexpectedly into adulterous love with a woman, aged 48, with her experiences of reading about love in books. In the early stages of this affair, she read frantically, both to seek moral guidance and to be turned on. She was in the middle of writing an introduction to Pride and Prejudice, exploring the many kinds of love explored in Austen’s novel. Urgently, she asked herself if her own love affair was the kind that Elizabeth Bennet would have (rational as well as passionate) or the kind her more self-indulgent sister Lydia would have. And she decided to write a book about the broader relationship between literature and love – from marriage to adultery, parenthood to friendship.What makes this book so impressive, especially in its early stages, is Lupton’s commitment to understanding the histories of fiction and love as intertwined. Her writing is strongest when she’s considering the 18th and 19th centuries, which are her academic specialisms. “Individual romance love and the novel emerged together in the eighteenth century,” she writes, with novels becoming testing ground for the ideal of original selfhood that was a crucial part of taking love seriously. Arguably there’s plenty of both love and selfhood in Shakespeare’s tragedies, but Lupton argues convincingly that there was a new rigour in this moment – a new determination “to love and to read radically and reasonably”.I was moved by the feeling that these intellectual questions became painfully urgent for her when she was confronted by her own love affair. In love with Shannon, Lupton tries to work out if this is mere middle-aged lust or if desire is going to lead her to new kinds of truth and selfhood. She has to decide whether just to have an affair and stay married, which her husband is prepared to tolerate, or to give up on the marriage. In the process she confronts the drama of adultery, which is itself bound up with the history of the novel. Critics such as Tony Tanner have worried that as adultery becomes more commonplace, the novel will lose its possibilities for high-stakes drama. Lupton finds that even ordinary adultery in a pretty flexible modern marriage turns her life into a story in ways she can’t resist finding exciting.Events intervene. Shannon has a stroke which brings a moment of terrifying rupture and then brings the lovers closer. The pandemic arrives, enclosing them fiercely in the world they are building from the books they love and are coming to share. It is clear that Lupton is not going to live the life her parents had after they split up, experimenting with forms of communal life and polyamory. She is drawn once again to a kind of coupledom very close to marriage and family life, even though much of the more radical writing she admires disparages against this.Some of the book’s later sections don’t have quite the incandescent charge of the early ones. I found the chapter on friendship rather tepid; friendship is I think more open to danger, to abandonment, to rivalry and cruelty than Lupton allows. But the sustained pleasure of the book comes from Lupton’s consistent preparedness to reveal thoughts in progress – thoughts that she knows that in other moods she might disapprove of. She admits to desires for submission and objectification in sex; she admits to being prepared to risk her children’s unhappiness for the sake of her own desires. Her literary canon is rarely especially surprising but she pursues a kind of ingenuous, fantasy-oriented reading that academics rarely allow themselves. “I could imagine … the times when Elizabeth came effortlessly as Darcy applied his hands to her body. Or the times Mr Bennet dressed up as a redcoat for his young wife while she touched herself in pleasure.” We may not always be able to follow Lupton in her fantasies but her openness to living on this high-wire imaginative plane gives her book an intense intimacy of the kind that Lupton celebrates in fiction. | Writing and Literature |
It may feel like a lifetime ago, but it was only last year that Amanda Gorman was catapulted to global fame after a poignant recital of her poem “The Hill We Climb” emerged as one of the undeniable standouts of President Biden’s inauguration. In the wake of the event, Gorman’s books shot to the top of bestseller lists, her poems were translated into dozens of languages, and she herself was quickly signed by WME and IMG Models, becoming a “global changemaker” for Estée Lauder and appearing on the cover of Vogue. “I mean, a lot has happened,” says Gorman, laughing. “But to be honest, it still feels like yesterday.”Now, the 24-year-old poet is adding a new string to her bow. Launching today, Gorman will teach her very own MasterClass in writing and performing poetry, lending her voice to a streaming platform that features figures at the very top of their fields providing structured courses to help anyone with an interest learn more about their craft. For Gorman, the priority was to balance the technical side of writing poetry with her own, more personal views on what poetry can bring to the world through performance and activism. “It all began with the question: How do you create or come up with ideas for poetry?” Gorman explains. “What are the tools and instruments of rhetoric that you can use to make a poem stronger? And then how can you bring that poem to life on the stage or in front of an audience? And last but not least, how can that lyricism change and impact the world? I think the class follows the structure that I try to follow in my own life.”In keeping with Gorman’s twin career as an activist, the course has deeper resonances for her too. Not only is it an intentional means of democratizing the process of learning about poetry, but her Writing Change initiative with Estée Lauder will sponsor a significant number of MasterClass memberships for nonprofits encouraging young women to write, including WriteGirl, the Los Angeles-based organization where Gorman got her start. “It’s a huge full-circle moment for me,” she notes.Here, Gorman talks to Vogue exclusively about the lessons she’s learned about teaching from her mom, how she plans to make poetry more accessible, and the story behind the powerful poem she wrote recently in the aftermath of the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings.Vogue: What about the idea of doing a MasterClass appealed to you when they first reached out?Amanda Gorman: I think a few reasons sprang to mind. One, I’m the daughter of an English teacher, and so making language, the arts, and creative writing accessible has always been something that I’ve tried to keep at the forefront of my mind throughout my career. With the pandemic, and schools being closed or lessons held remotely, I wanted to find a way in which I could continue giving people access to poetry. Even if I wasn’t able to be in a classroom or in their living room physically, I wanted to find a way that kind of equalized the opportunities that people might have to engage with my work and the work of other poets I admire. MasterClass definitely came to my mind, in part because I’m a MasterClass student as well, and I’ve taken a few of their other classes before. And so I started brainstorming: What would it look like to make poetry visible in this learning space?Did you take any tips from your mom, or did she offer you any advice?[Laughs.] That’s so funny. I’m mostly laughing because my mom is such a strong, smart woman, so you definitely would think that she gave me advice, but I also think she likes to mostly just let me do my thing. Really, most of the advice I’ve gotten from my mom about teaching I’ve learned over the course of my lifetime, watching my mom while she was getting her EdD, and so everything I’ve learned from her has kind of been absorbed through osmosis. But I was really honored that after all the experience she has, she kind of trusted me to do my own thing and was so excited to see how I navigated this class in particular. Because although my mom’s an English teacher, she’s not a poet and has never really written poetry. So I think she’s excited to see her daughter teach this art form that she herself is still learning about.Photo: Courtesy of MasterClassFor a lot of people, the idea of writing poetry can feel quite intimidating. What were some of the ways in which you wanted to make it feel approachable?It was really interesting, honestly. A lot of the discussions I was having with MasterClass were about how we could take this platform and make it make sense for poetry, which can so often seem confusing and remote and abstract even to people who want to learn it. I tried as much as possible when I was outlining the class to provide tools that have been useful for my own craft, and try to give actual, finite, manageable tasks that people could practice to hone their craft. What I hope adds to the accessibility of the class is the fact that a lot of the poetry instruments I learned, I taught myself, as I didn’t study poetry really formally until recently. So I try to spend a lot of time in the class giving students insight not just into how I write, but how I learned the things that I know now, so they don’t have to meet those same challenges.A big aspect of your MasterClass is about performing poetry, which is obviously very important to you personally. Do you think it’s important to remind people that poetry doesn’t only have to live on the page?Oh, absolutely. I think such a critical piece of understanding poetry is that it’s not only something that lives on the page—it has this really rich, vibrant life as an oral, spoken art form. And that has been so important for me in my life, as someone who grew up with a speech impediment, because I felt like I was always kind of playing double-dutch between those two worlds…until I understood, hey, poetry is all of the above and more. It can be in a book, it can be in a coffee house, it can be performed on a stage, and it can be interwoven with visual arts. There’s no real limit to what any one poet can do. I wanted my students in this MasterClass to understand that on a gut level.How has that ability to express yourself in a live setting shaped your own approach to writing poetry over the years?I think the way I approach poetry is to think about, How many on-ramps can I create here? How many doors can I create that people can walk through to access the meaning of this poem? And yes, that often begins with the text and the content of what I’m saying. But that can also be: What am I doing with my body? What am I doing with my voice and with my face? Because studies have proven that when we’re communicating with people, more often than not, it’s our body language and our tone of voice and our expressions that people are listening to first and foremost, even prior to processing the content of what we’re saying. And so if I can marshal or utilize all of what makes me me, from my hair to my gestures to my clothes to my voice, then we can start taking poetry beyond those boundaries.Were there any mentors or heroes of yours whose approach to teaching informed how you wanted to conduct the course?I was thinking a lot about how I learned poetry through this nonprofit organization in Los Angeles called WriteGirl. What they essentially do is match young girls with mentors who meet with them and do workshops with them around writing. It was absolutely electrifying for me when I was in high school to have that opportunity. And so I think I tried to mimic that same sense of it being a safe space for the student when I was on screen, to create a place that felt encouraging and open and creative, and also to make sure I was also giving the mic to other people along the way. Another part of the class that I’m excited about is that we’re working in connection with an initiative that I have with Estée Lauder called Writing Change, and distributing free annual MasterClass memberships to WriteGirl. That’s a huge full-circle moment for me as an alumna of that organization, and other great nonprofits that are working to advance literacy. So my hope is that through this class, I can kind of pay my own opportunities forward. Because if it hadn’t been for so many teaching organizations like that, I wouldn’t have these instruments of literacy that I’m able to teach in my MasterClass in the first place.What do you think writing, and writing poetry specifically, can offer people even if they’re not looking to pursue it professionally? Do you think it can have therapeutic value?I think that’s something I really try to remind myself of all the time. For me, doing this work isn’t about transforming every person on the face of the planet into a professional poet, but it’s about making sure every person who wants to has access to the tools of poetry and can use them, even if just to make them stronger communicators, or more effective speakers, or more empathetic leaders, as well as more tuned-in global citizens. And so I’d say that anyone who maybe has felt poetry doesn’t relate to or resonate with them, or who doesn’t think poetry is the career for them: None of those things are requirements for engaging with poetry. All you need to engage with poetry is curiosity and courage, and that can take you lightyears beyond any kind of formal training.Photo: Courtesy of MasterClassYou also talk in the MasterClass about the importance of being a change-maker. Was it your intention that the skills you’d be sharing in the course extended beyond the technical skills of writing poetry, and also touched on the role it can play in wider social or political conversations?I think the activist instinct comes quite naturally to me, because that’s what got me interested in language in the first place. And so while I do look at the technicalities of the craft in the class, it’s even more so about how those technicalities inform the importance and magic of words, and how language can spearhead movements and change. And so my hope is that by understanding the mechanics of poetry, you can then begin to better conceptualize the way in which words bring thoughts into action, and action into transformation.You recently wrote a powerful poem in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. What prompted you to both write and publish that?Obviously, I wrote that poem a million years after filming the MasterClass, but it does still originate from that same place inside of me that doesn’t just want to write but to do right as well. I don’t want my words to just be pretty flashy things, but words that build momentum on themselves. And like so many people, I was horrified by what happened in Texas, by what happened in Buffalo, by what’s been happening, quite frankly, all over our country, in terms of gun violence against the innocent. At first, I told myself I wasn’t going to write a new poem, mostly because I felt like I couldn’t. This pain of losing so many innocent people to gun violence isn’t new in the United States, of course, and I felt like I was incapable of personally writing anything new about it. But late at night, a day or two after the Texas tragedy, some ideas were formulating in my brain, new and old. And as I began tweeting them out, I saw a huge influx of responses to them, to the point that in a few days, those verses I had posted online had helped raise over a million dollars [for Everytown for Gun Safety]. That was just so incredible to me, and I knew then that I had to keep writing, because that was at least one of the ways in which I could continue to participate in changing our country to where we need to be. And so I wrote “Hymn for the Hurting” in the hope that those words could continue to make people’s pain feel seen and heard, as well as most importantly, acted upon.Clearly, you enjoyed doing the MasterClass. Is teaching something you see in your future?Oh, 100%. I love teaching so much, and I think that’s something I missed the most out of many things during the pandemic. There’s nothing quite as magical as being in a classroom of students and seeing them discover poetry or find their own voice for the first time. I just think that’s the most thrilling thing. And doing the MasterClass, I think I was able to get a piece of that back during a time when that wasn't accessible for everybody. So I definitely see teaching in my future. Also, my mom would be incredibly disappointed and surprised if I said no to that question. [Laughs.] It’s in my veins.All products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. | Writing and Literature |
Back at the dawn of the new millennium, an Oxford don argued, at book length, that fantasy was the most important literature of the 20th century and that the claim rested on the work of JRR Tolkien. Prof Tom Shippey was duly ridiculed by some for his heresy, with this paper describing it as “a belligerently argued piece of fan-magazine polemic”. Among those who Prof Shippey cited as influenced by “the master” was one Alan Garner, author of a series of beloved children’s fantasies.How much more secure the professor’s claims look today. Garner, now 87, has just been shortlisted for the Booker prize for a novel called Treacle Water, which, if more folky than fantastic, certainly displays its fantasy pedigree. Meanwhile, Tolkien delivered more than 25 million global viewers to Amazon Prime on the first day of its splashy new prequel to The Lord of the Rings. The show is reportedly the most expensive ever made, with suggestions that $465m (£400m) was spent on its first season. This sum does not include the $250m paid to the Tolkien estate for the rights.The Rings of Power is a Frankenstein’s monster of a story, cobbled together from contextualising notes, and the jury is out on how good it will turn out to be over its eight episodes – but the anticipation is telling. The hold of Tolkien has never been solely about the writing: it is about the mythopoeia, a term this professor of Old English adopted in the 1930s to explain the creation of mythical worlds in which the author was merely “the little maker”.The magic portal for the arrival of this mythopoeia in the 21st century was opened in 2001 by the release of the first of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. In 2010, Forbes comically declared Tolkien the third-highest-earning dead celebrity, after Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, basing this assessment on both the films and half a million book sales in the previous year. And so it has continued. In the 2022 What Kids Are Reading report, which collates information from 6,500 schools across the UK and Ireland, two titles in the trilogy were among the favourites of secondary-school students of all ages. The same survey found that the most popular book in primary schools was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – the seventh and final title in JK Rowling’s series.Fantasy suits the era of film and television because it is infinitely grandiose while sidestepping the need to grapple with the effect on plot of modern technology: Frodo can’t phone home. However, two decades have passed since Jackson’s films landed, so the enduring popularity of The Lord of the Rings isn’t simply tie-in fever.From the off, Tolkien was caught in the crossfire between those who dismissed his work as escapism and others who saw in it a moral purpose forged on the killing fields of the Somme. It’s a pointless binary. “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory,” wrote the master himself. “If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”This commitment to pushing against constraints is one reason why so many of its writers – from Rowling and Neil Gaiman to Tolkien himself – have featured on the American Library Association’s Banned and Challenged Books list over the decades. Fantasy, as recent events show, retains it power in our new age, and will always defeat those orcs bent on capturing and controlling the imagination. | Writing and Literature |
So you want to write a middle-grade novel… That's awesome! I love middle-grade—anyone who has been to any of my conference workshops (or has just randomly run into me anywhere, like at the grocery store) will know that my heart belongs to the M-G. (Fleur Bradley: Finding Joy in the Writing Process.)I didn't set out to write middle-grade novels, however. I got my start writing mysteries—mostly short stories—for many years. Circumstances (an agent, an MG book premise, and a little luck) kind of rolled me into middle-grade, and that's what I've been writing ever since. Midnight at the Barclay Hotel is my fourth published middle-grade, and one of the things I'm enjoying so much about writing MG is how the segment has changed dramatically. Topics you couldn't really cover in the past (like death, murder, incarceration) are now the topic in many successful books. Diversity in MG is getting better, giving us a better representation of the kids who are reading these books. I love middle-grade.I've also been talking to other writers about the MG segment of the children's book market, and I find I'm often talking about all I've learned. And I still use these tips I'm about to share with you to date—middle-grade really expects you to walk the line and know your stuff. Here are seven tips for developing a compelling MG fiction premise.*****Do you love reading a good mystery? Have you always wanted to write one? During the Essentials of Mystery Writing workshop, you'll have the choice of creating a brand new mystery story from scratch or working with a story you already have in progress.Click to continue.*****1. Start by remembering what it was like to be 12The thing writers often get wrong about writing for kids is that they want to impart some important life lesson—say, bullying is bad, or: You shouldn't lie, or: Whatever you think your decades of life on this planet has taught you. Although there's nothing wrong with that as a motivation, you need to write from the perspective of a kid if you want your book to resonate. Remember what you were doing when you were 12. What were your worries, your hopes, the stuff you were dreaming about? Write about those feelings. The best MG writers are still kids at heart.2. Misconception: middle-grade is for middle-schoolersYou're writing for ages eight to 12, roughly, which are kids in the upper elementary grades. Your main character will likely be around 12, since most kids 'read up'—meaning they like to read about kids that are a little older than they are. You may have some readers in middle-school, but by that age kids have largely moved on to YA.3. Try some humorKids love humor at the MG level. That doesn't mean you must have slapstick stuff, farts, or anything like that in your story. At the MG reader's age, kids are starting to see flaws in their parents and teachers, and they see the irony in things. There's a lot of humor to be had in that. Use a little humor in your premise, if possible.4. Drop the adultsAlthough adults still play a major role in a 12-year-old's life, make sure your kid protagonist is the one solving the conflict in your story. For mysteries for instance, that can be really difficult: You have to get around transportation challenges, curfews, access to whatever investigation tools your kid has, etc. Think about how you're going to work around these challenges as you develop your premise.5. Remember the gatekeepersSo, you're writing for that 12-year-old target reader, but… Who is actually buying your book and handing it to your kid reader? Those are the gatekeepers: parents, teachers, grandparents, librarians. They will look at your book and make a judgement on whether it's okay to give to kids. Make sure you keep violence and other content appropriate for your target kid reader. That doesn't mean you can't cover important issues, etc.—just make sure you keep your message age appropriate.6. Find your voice and toneI'm always hesitant to bring up voice, because it can really send writers to chase their own tail. Voice can be elusive, sometimes very pronounced, and sometimes softer and hard to pin down. When it comes to MG, voice is important because you are looking at the world through a kid's lens. So whether you're writing in first or third person, think about your voice and tone, and make sure you are looking at everything from that 12-year-old (or so) kid's perspective. (How to write a book filled with voice.)Spend a day at the food court, or the park, and observe the world as if you are your reader's age. If you happen upon some kids (don't be creepy about it, though…) listen to how they talk to each other, and what they talk about. Now apply that to your concept and writing.7. Read a lot of middle-grade, and then some moreYou're an adult, so you may not be reading middle-grade fiction regularly, if at all. So get right on that: Read lots and lots of middle-grade. And I'm not talking about your classics, as lovely as they may be. If your goal is to be published in middle-grade today, you have to know what's being published in this segment today. Read broadly, even books that maybe don't fall into your normal favorite genre. (20 literary agents actively seeking writers and their writing.)Once you have a good understanding of tone and content, work on finding your comparable titles: books that are like your premise. This helps in two ways: You get a better idea of where your book fits on the bookshelf and in the bookstore, plus once it's time to pitch the project to an agent or editor, you can quickly sum up your premise (and people will be impressed with your knowledge of the market).Extra tip: Don't forget to have funWhen people ask me about what I do, I often joke that I get to be a 12-year-old kid for a living. And that's kind of true: to write MG, you have to get into the mind of the kid whose perspective you're writing from. For Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, that meant that I got to be JJ, who loves to go ghost hunting but is hiding from his parents that he's failing his classes; Penny, who is afraid of a lot of things but wants to be brave; Emma, who is stuck at a dusty old hotel, excited to make new friends. I mean, what's more fun than that? Did I mention I love middle-grade? | Writing and Literature |
Two precious and well-travelled books containing works by the Mexican nun, writer, composer, poet and proto-feminist Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz have been saved from auction in New York and returned to Spain, where they were printed almost three-and-a-half centuries ago.Sister Juana, who was born in mid-17th century Mexico to a Spanish father and a Mexican mother of Spanish descent, possessed a thirst for knowledge and a mind that would eventually mark her out as one of the greatest figures of the Golden Age of Spanish literature.In 1667 she entered a convent to devote herself to study because, in her own words, “given my total disinclination toward of marriage, it was the least disproportionate and most decent choice”. But her views and writing often brought her into conflict with the church authorities, and she gave up her literary endeavours and sold her library not long before her death during a plague in 1695.Perhaps fittingly, the books recovered by Spanish police first aroused suspicions in September last year after it was noted that pictures in the auction catalogue showed their pages bore the stamps of a Carmelite convent in Seville.After being alerted to the sale at Swann Auction galleries in New York – where a set of three volumes by Sister Juana had an estimate of €80,000 to €120,000 – Spain’s culture ministry got in touch with the auction house and asked it to suspend the sale while Guardia Civil officers investigated the books’ provenance.In a statement, the Guardia Civil said the auction value of the works comfortably exceeded the €50,000 limit above which transactions involving items of national historical heritage become a smuggling offence under Spanish law.Inquiries by the Spanish force, US Homeland Security and the New York district attorney determined that the convent stamps were proof that the books belonged to Spain and should be returned to the country.Alfonso Lopez Malo of Spain’s Guardia Civil speaks in New York alongside images from the books saved from auction. Photograph: Guardia CivilInvestigators discovered that the books, printed in Barcelona in 1693, had originally consisted of five volumes that had recently belonged to a private collection in Catalonia.“After that person’s death, part of the collection, including the objects under investigation, were acquired in June 2011 by a well-known bookshop in Madrid,” said the Guardia Civil statement.“From there, they were sold to a Mexican businessman with a passion for antique literature. When he in turn died, they were acquired by a US citizen who put them up for auction in the sale where they were discovered by investigators.”At some point in the chain of sales, the statement added, the five volumes were rebound as three volumes. Police are currently trying to recover the third book.As the Guardia Civil statement pointed out, Sister Juana was an important Golden Age author “both because of the depth and quality of her work and because a large part of the intellectual community considers her to be the first feminist author of the Spanish empire”.Ana M Rodríguez-Rodríguez, who teaches early modern Spanish literature at the University of Iowa, described Sister Juana as “the voice of an early but already determined feminism”. She said the author’s decision to write about topics that were not considered appropriate for her as a nun and a woman – such as philosophy and theology – often “exposed her to the cruel scrutiny of a cultural universe that was not ready to embrace her as a new member”.Her beliefs and experiences also led her to defend the need for a female community in which knowledge could be produced, accessed and spread, added Rodríguez-Rodríguez.“In all her works, Sister Juana shows a deep command of language as well as an emotional strength that she uses as an ardent defence of her ideas,” she said. “Among her interests is a remarkable and tireless defence of the capacity of all women to be intellectuals and scholars.”Although Sister Juana lived in a world that was not ready for her intelligence nor her eagerness to speak freely, said Rodríguez-Rodríguez, she is now seen as one of the main authors of the Hispanic Baroque and as a pioneering feminist writer.The academic points to Sister Juana’s poem Hombres necios (You Foolish Men), which begins: “You foolish men who unjustly lay the blame on women/not seeing you’re the cause of the very thing you blame.”“That famous poem openly expresses the frustration of someone who perceives the inequality between men and women and offers a brilliant critique of that situation,” says Rodríguez-Rodríguez.“There’s no other text that defends women’s dignity in a stronger and more determined way in any other work of that time. The frustration at gender inequality and the resulting critique we find in her writings convey an activist tone that still moves readers in the 21st century.” | Writing and Literature |
2015 gave us Crimson Peak. 2018 gave us back-to-back Shirley Jackson adaptations: Netflix’s series The Haunting of Hill House and the film iteration of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. On the literature side, 2020 gave us Mexican Gothic, Catherine House and Plain Bad Heroines. 2021, The Death of Jane Lawrence and A Dowry of Blood. With even more chilling, atmospheric releases slated for 2022 and beyond, it’s undeniable that gothic horror is having its moment. But what sets these books apart from their other speculative brethren—and how does one approach writing a macabre tale of one’s own? (Ava Reid: On Literary Traditions and Family History)Here are four ideas to ruminate on as you get started:Fear vs. horrorPlenty of books are gruesome and frightening—but not all of them are horror. Fear is a spike of adrenaline, a pounding heartbeat, an immediate threat to your life. Horror, though, is something that upends your worldview, something that fundamentally shifts your understanding of reality. If fear is staring down a man with a knife, then horror is staring down a monster made of knives. Both are terrifying, but one is incomprehensible. For this reason, horror novels need not always be bloodbaths. The gothic subgenre in particular is famous for its slow-build, creeping dread. Speculative elements are carefully placed to ensure that, when it arrives, the moment of total disillusionment hits the audience hard. It is also important to note that the horror is not always supernatural—there are no ghosts or demons, for example, in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Nevertheless, the audience is forced to face things which seem to violate the natural order of the world. Incest is a recurring motif in gothic fiction because it is almost universally considered to be an act of unnaturalness and violation. In Crimson Peak, Edith discovering her husband’s incest provokes the same horror as seeing a ghost. Location, location, locationThere’s nothing more quintessentially gothic than the mist-shrouded mansion with narrow corridors, strange noises, and shadows around every corner. But the horror is not only in the house itself—it’s in the knowledge that you are trapped there. This oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere is also a necessary trait of the gothic. You may be physically prevented from leaving, by dangerous weather conditions or by the mysterious, Bluebeard-esque master of the house, or you may be compelled to stay by force of psychological manipulation, a fear of the outside world or a dire need to solve the mystery within the house’s walls. Either way, the location is a character in and of itself: One that is by turns foreboding, repressive, compelling, or even perversely comforting. This is the duality of the house—it serves as a refuge from the swiftly changing world, a place mired in the past, stuck in time. But accepting the sanctuary the house offers also means accepting its chains. In Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, the titular protagonist, who has been trapped for years in an intricate, labyrinthine prison, extols the virtues of his confinement: “The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.” The power of an unreliable narratorThe most powerful fear is fear of the unknown, or the incomprehensible. For this reason, many gothic horror novels feature an unreliable narrator, one who the audience cannot fully trust. The protagonist is the way the audience enters the world; we know the world only through our narrator’s eyes. But if their vision is warped or blinkered, the reader will never feel fully at ease. There will always be something out of reach, unclear, and therefore dangerous. At every turn, it feels like the floor could fall out from under your feet. This sense of unease and dread is often accomplished by a deep, immersive point of view, one where there is no difference between the story itself and the protagonist’s perception. Piranesi is such a narrator—he proclaims in the first chapter of the book, “Since the World began it is certain that there have existed fifteen people.” We know that this is wrong, but we have no way to question him. His World is our World. Merricat Blackwood (of We Have Always Lived in the Castle) is another iconic unreliable narrator. She opens the book by saying, “I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.” We do not fully trust her. We may even be afraid of her. But we have no choice except to follow her. IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon[WD uses affiliate links.]Prose style pulls it all togetherA book’s prose style is always idiosyncratic, and across the gothic horror genre, it is incredibly varied. We may see the deep point of view of Piranesi or Merricat, or we may see the omniscient narration of The Haunting of Hill House. Both can be equally chilling—is there any more shiver-inducing opening than “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality”? But ultimately, your chosen style of prose should create an atmosphere of dread, oppression, and bewilderment. This can be achieved through repetition, which is particularly effective in deep point of view. Both Piranesi and Merricat recycle whole phrases and figures of speech throughout their books (Tell us one more time that the Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite). This can add to the nauseating claustrophobia, or create a feeling of simmering frustration. Heavy use of metaphor and simile can also be used to make the audience question their sanity, blurring the lines between what is “real” and what exists only in the narrator’s—and therefore the reader’s—imagination. In Carmen Maria Machado’s metamorphic work of creative nonfiction, In the Dream House, she maps the history of her abusive relationship through a rotating series of genres and literary styles: a gothic novel, a romance, even a choose-your-own adventure. This lurching journey is disorienting, almost hallucinatory, and it can often feel as if Machado is intentionally skirting the truth. What actually happened, we want to know. The fact that we do not know is horrifying. And the horror is the point. Are you ready to take the next step toward a final draft of your novel? This course is for you! Join Mark Spencer in an intensive 16-week coaching session focused entirely on your novel in progress. You'll work with Mark on your choice of up to 60,000 words of your novel or two drafts of up to 30,000 words each. You'll also have the opportunity to speak to Mark directly about your work during two one-on-one phone calls or Zoom sessions.Click to continue. | Writing and Literature |
TikTok wants its users to log off and read this summer.A Barnes & Noble bookstore in New York.Richard Levine / Alamy Stock PhotoJune 29, 2022, 4:38 PM UTCTikTok is encouraging its users to log off and read with a BookTok partnership with Barnes and Noble. BookTok — the TikTok community of creators who post book recommendations, reviews and discussions — blossomed over the past two years. The popular videos inspired a fresh wave of interest in literature, with retailers like Barnes and Noble creating special displays to feature trending books. Now, TikTok announced announced that it is partnering with the bookstore company to connect new book releases with the the #BookTok community. Customers will be able to scan a QR code at Barnes and Noble displays that takes them to a "dedicated hub" that features videos from popular BookTok creators. The creators featured in the collaboration with Barnes and Noble include aymansbooks, bookpapi, kendra.reads, kevintnorman, maistorybook and thebooksiveloved. “The BookTok community has been such a driving medium in discovering favorite paperbacks and bringing worthy titles back to the forefront of customers’ minds,” Barnes and Nobles head of social media Michelle Laikowski said in a statement. TikTok is also pushing users, especially teenagers home for the summer, to discover and read new books and share their thoughts on the app with the #BookTokChallenge tag. The creators featured in the collaboration recommended a few summer reads — like Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "When Women Were Dragons" by Kelly Barnhill — and encouraged followers to respond with their own recommendations. "I may be biased because I'm a summer baby all the way, but summertime is the best time to visit new places, experience new things, learn about new cultures and do the things you haven't done before," TikTok creator bookpapi said in a recent video about the challenge. "But of course the easiest way to travel to new places is by reading a book." Morgan Sung is a trends reporter for NBC News Digital. | Writing and Literature |
Hanan Issa, a Welsh-Iraqi poet, film-maker and artist, has been named the fifth national poet of Wales.As national poet Issa, who is due to serve a three-year term, will represent the diverse cultures and languages of Wales and act as an ambassador for the people of Wales.Issa’s collection My Body Can House Two Hearts was published in 2019. She also contributed to Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales and The Mab, a retelling of the Mabinogi stories for children, both published this year.She co-founded the Cardiff open-mic night Where I’m Coming From, worked in the writers’ room for Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts and was a member of the first cohort of writers who took part in Literature Wales’s Representing Wales programme in 2021.Issa, who is from Cardiff, said being the first Muslim in the role was an “incredibly positive step” and that it was “exciting to think that Wales is taking the lead on this aspect of representation”.Muslim women often “get squashed into very narrow perceptions”, she said. She hoped that women “from all different demographics” will see her and think: “That’s a thing that’s achievable for me.”Issa is of mixed heritage, and said that “sitting with one foot on either shore of different heritages really does make you have a greater, deeper understanding of different views, different ways of living and different languages”. She grew up surrounded by people speaking different languages, including Arabic from her Iraqi family and Welsh from her grandparents.“I’ve always been comfortable being in a space where I don’t fully understand what other people are saying,” she said. “In the UK we have several minoritised languages as well as languages that are spoken by second and third generation people, and I think it’s a really important step forward for us to start seeing ourselves as a multilingual, multicultural nation.”Over her term, Issa aims to introduce more people to the ancient Welsh poetic form of cynghanedd, as well as encourage “more people to engage with and appreciate poetry”. She also wants to “add to conversations around identity and belonging, particularly when talking about nature spaces”.Hanan takes over the role from Ifor ap Glyn, who called her a “thoughtful and engaged poet” who would bring “a fresh voice to the national conversation”.Issa was chosen as national poet after a public call for nominations and an extensive selection process. On behalf of the selection panel, Ashok Ahir president of the court and chair of the board of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, said that Issa had a “cross-community voice that speaks to every part of the country”.He added that she “will be a great ambassador for a culturally diverse and outward-looking nation”. | Writing and Literature |
What is the difference between writing and texting? If you were to pose that question to youths from Generation Alpha — born starting in 2010 — many of them may be hard-pressed to answer. Members of younger generations, including Gen Z, have grown up with cellphones as part of their everyday attire.It is estimated that more than half of American children own a smartphone by the age of 11, according to a survey conducted by Common Sense Media. By the time they turn 8, about 1 in 5 have their own cellphone.The wide use and ownership of these devices mean that youths are communicating more. While educators will tell you that allowing children to dialogue and engage at different levels helps their language skills, the type of written communication conducted on mobile devices has the tendency of being more of a hindrance than a benefit to our youths.Texting is its own language. Online tech dictionary Webopedia lists nearly 1,700 common abbreviations and acronyms used in texting. For members of Generation Alpha, who are at the beginning stages of language development, developing formal writing skills while using text talk creates challenges.Teachers have explained to me how often they have to correct basic words in their students’ writing because far too many of them use text language in place of formal English. This may seem inconsequential; these youths are many years away from entering the labor force. But if steps are not taken to address this problem, it could present a challenge for our labor force and our economy. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, written communication is a soft skill that is among the skills viewed as fundamental to an employee doing a job effectively. Companies identify writing as one of the essential skills for success in 21st century workers.An unskilled labor force hurts productivity and compromises an individual’s employment opportunities, which ultimately hurt the economy.Underdeveloped or poor writing skills may also hinder our youths in effectively communicating their emotions so that adults can understand them. We see the implications of this in the tendency of far too many of our youths expressing themselves through violent acts. Every day, about 360 teens are treated in emergency departments for assault injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2020, suicide was the second leading cause of death for teens 10 to 14.Do educators and parents miss some of the warning signs because they don’t understand the language that many of our youths are using?Generation Alpha poses an interesting dilemma — and opportunity — for us all. They are the youngest generation to experience the pandemic that has killed more than 1 million Americans. How it will affect them mentally and emotionally in the long run is still to be determined. So far, data from the CDC shows that it has increased their level of anxiety and depression related to, among other things, the shift from in-person learning to virtual education. Arguably, this has elevated the importance of technology and the devices at their fingertips. Getting them to put down their devices and engage in conversations is a challenge. But there is an opportunity to shape their mindset because they are young and still impressionable.Doing so requires putting limits on cellphone use, engaging with them in more face-to-face communication and having them use that time away from their devices to use more formal language skills, both orally and written. Restricting texting to a certain level could help as they develop formal language skills.Texting is here to stay. What can’t become our new normal is allowing our youths to supplant formal language skills with ever-evolving faddish language.The youngest members of our nation have seen and experienced things we never thought possible. How we help them navigate through these unprecedented times? First, by keeping communication open and readily embracing dialogue. Allowing Generation Alpha too much texting time threatens that and hurts us all.Our future generations need us to make hard decisions for them. They are depending on us to get this right.Jerald McNair is a school administrator at South Holland School District 151.Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected]. | Writing and Literature |
It would be good to join the dots between your article on Thatcherism (Thatcherism is an obsolete ideology – but it’s the only one that Sunak and Truss have, 19 August) and the article on the rise of Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects and fall of humanities at A-level (This year’s A-level results in England explained in five charts, 18 August).In times of economic insecurity, students and their parents are prioritising earning a living over deepening their understanding of their lives and larger questions of meaning. The fundamental materialism of the Thatcher philosophy rules. English literature is not in the top 10; neither is philosophy or religious studies. Psychology (ranked second) is a kind of science, hence a placeholder for the concerns of these subjects. Yet, in the end, our lives are stories and we hunger for beauty and meaning. Moral matters are complex and vital, and need thinking about. And we are spiritual as well as physical animals, who have to struggle to find out who we are and the meaning of things.It is heartening that at GCSE level more than 400,000 children studied for an exam paper focused on a Shakespeare play. The good and true things won’t go away, however we elide them.Stefan HawlinProfessor of English literature, University of Buckingham | Writing and Literature |
Jack Parlett’s new book, “Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise,” opens with the serendipitous meeting in 1882, in Camden, New Jersey, between two powerhouses of modern literature: a young Oscar Wilde and the elder Walt Whitman. But it's not just the men’s brief acquaintance, nor the fact that they both wrote influential queer works of the 19th century, that interests Parlett. It’s that they both, as young men, had a hand in making the Long Island, New York, destination what it is today, even though they walked its beaches decades apart.Parlett, an English writer and academic, uses many such moments — along with anecdotes from his life and encounters with the island — to illustrate how a sleepy, 19th-century beach community became a modern-day queer mecca for artists, pornographers, revelers and city-weary vacationers. Author Jack Parlett.Courtesy Jack Parlett“Fire Island is a place where lots of people have different claims to its history — have different experiences of it,” Parlett told NBC News. “I wasn’t interested in setting out to write the singular account. I wanted it to be more meditative.”Parlett first experienced the island five years ago, when he made a sort of pilgrimage there. He visited the site where the poet Frank O’Hara — whose work, years before, had offered him “what felt like a new, private vocabulary for loving other men” — was killed by a dune buggy in July 1966. In the introduction to the book, Parlett details reaching that point of the beach and listening to a recording of the poet, before ritualistically scrawling his name in the sand. “After a pause, I played a recording of O’Hara reading ‘Ode to Joy,’ his voice tinny but unmistakable,” he writes. “In that moment, the utopian bluster of the poem’s first line felt resonant: ‘We shall have everything we want and there’ll be no more dying.’ “What did I want from Fire Island? I had gone there, in part, to commune with its ghosts,” Parlett continues. “Just as O’Hara had scrawled James Dean’s name into the sand during a visit on the same weekend in 1955 that the young actor died in California, so I had gone to the Pines in 2017 to write ‘Frank’ in the sand.”View of Fire Island dunes.Courtesy Jack ParlettThat summer, Parlett was in New York City working on a project about American poetry and cruising. While in the midst of thinking about queer sex cultures, and the spaces that house them, the visit to Fire Island planted a seed for the newly released work. As he describes it, he felt “a particular alchemy with the place,” which had lived in his mind as both a mythic space and the meeting point of prominent literary figures.Beginning with O’Hara and a handful of pre-selected writers, such as Andrew Holleran, Edmund White and Felice Piccano, Parlett began researching the island’s residents and notable visitors. And, in the process, he discovered a new set of influential queer writers who had spent significant chapters of their careers there, including Carson McCullers, Patricia Highsmith, James Baldwin and W. H. Auden.“Quite a lot of those writers spent time there but didn’t necessarily write about it. So you had to go digging to retrace their footsteps on the island,” Parlett said, adding that unearthing these connections felt like falling down a rabbit hole.As Parlett tumbled deeper into the past, conflicting ideas emerged through the writers’ experiences on the island that, on its face, promised freedom and pleasure. Notoriously heavy drinkers like McCullers and Highsmith moved in the same circle with Marty Mann, an early figure in Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that has often been at odds with the LGBTQ community because of its religious ties. Baldwin, who visited throughout the 1950s and ‘60s when he was a high-profile civil rights activist, found himself looking for respite in an almost exclusively white community. Across generations, writers from Auden to Holleran observed how body fascism influenced the parade of barely clothed, toned bodies on the island’s beaches and dance floors. “You can’t talk about Fire Island without addressing how exclusive it is, and how exclusionary it can be,” Parlett said.Fire Island.Courtesy Jack ParlettAccording to the author, any discussion of Fire Island must also include its storied hamlets: the historic, party-centric Cherry Grove and the more subdued, affluent Pines. The history of the hamlets are woven throughout the book, which traces how the areas were developed, beginning with a hurricane that hit the island in 1938. “They are very different places, Cherry Grove and the Pines,” Parlett said. “Sometimes, it can be easy to overstate those differences or the rivalry between them. But crucial to any reader’s understanding of the place is understanding how they were developed differently, the different kinds of demographics they’ve catered to historically, and the different ways that people dress — or undress.”Parlett, whose book was published in both the U.S. and U.K. this month, anticipates that some of his readers will already have a sense of these distinctions, having already made many pilgrimages of their own. “The stakes will be different for people for whom this is an imaginary space — its own kind of literary tourism — as compared to people who live in New York and elsewhere for whom this is a really sacred space and has been for a long time,” Parlett said. “The book is for both categories of people.” “I’m not that card-carrying member of the Fire Island community. I come to that as an outsider, but [one] for whom these questions matter, too,” Parlett said. “Fire Island is certainly a place that feels important to me as a queer person. That’s how I found it.” | Writing and Literature |
Is Bobbie’s cry, “Daddy, my daddy!” in The Railway Children the most haunting line in children’s literature? Well, it has my vote. The author Edith Nesbit’s father died when she was nearly four, and in so many of her books, from The Story of the Treasure Seekers to The Phoenix and the Carpet, it feels as though she is somehow using the process of writing as a seance in which she attempts to reach him.There have been seven screen adaptations of The Railway Children, but it is Jenny Agutter’s performance as Roberta “Bobbie” Waterbury and her emotional greeting in the 1970 film, written and directed by the actor Lionel Jeffries, that has framed the story in most of our memories (as well | Writing and Literature |
(NEXSTAR) — Book bans have been on the rise over the last year with over 1,600 different books being banned or challenged since last summer alone, a new report has found. Earlier this year, PEN America, a nonprofit organization that aims to support freedom surrounding literature, found that between July 2021 and March 2022, over 1,100 different books were challenged or pulled from libraries and classrooms. Roughly 500 additional titles were banned or challenged between March and July 1, 2022. In total, between July 2021 and June 2022, PEN America found 2,532 instances of individual books being banned in school districts across 32 states. The American Library Association reported last week that the number of challenges to books for 2022 is already approaching last year’s totals, which were the highest in decades. So far this year, the ALA has documented 681 challenges to books through the first eight months of this year, involving 1,651 different titles. Both PEN America and the ALA rely on media accounts and reports from libraries or other local officials to compile their findings. What books are being banned? Books with LBGTQ+ themes or prominent characters, as well as those with prominent characters of color, were banned more often than others, PEN America reports. Other commonly-banned subject matter includes sexual content, issues of race and racism, and themes of rights and activism. Three-quarters of the titles that have been banned are works of fiction, and roughly half are intended for young adult readers. PEN America estimates that at least 40% of books banned over the last year “are connected to either proposed or enacted legislation, or to political pressure exerted by state officials or elected lawmakers to restrict the teaching or presence of certain books or concepts.” Well-known impacted titles include “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, and “Gossip Girl: A Novel” by Cecily von Ziegesar, all of which have been turned into television series. Other banned stories include those turned into films, like “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson, “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, and “Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four” by Margot Lee Shetterly. “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, titles that were commonplace among schools not long ago, have also been challenged. Below are the most frequently banned books and the number of instances in which they’ve been banned, courtesy of PEN America: “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe (41)“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George Johnson (29)“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez (24)“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison (22)“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas (17) All five of these books are among the 10 most banned titles of 2021, according to the American Libraries Association. The five other books on the ALA’s list were also among PEN America’s most banned titles. Those titles are: “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews“This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson“Beyond Magenta” by Susan Kuklin Where are books being banned? Of the 32 states in which PEN America reports book bans happened during the 2021-22 school year, four have banned more than 300 titles each. These five states had the most books banned throughout the previous school year: Texas: 801 bans, 22 districtsFlorida: 566 bans, 21 districtsPennsylvania: 457 bans, 11 districtsTennessee: 349 bans, 6 districtsOklahoma: 43 bans, 3 districts In PEN America’s report earlier this year, Tennessee had conducted just 16 bans across four districts. Other states reporting book bans include Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Book bans have occurred in 138 school districts, which serve 5,049 schools for a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students. Both reports from PEN America and the ALA are timed with Banned Books Week, which began Sunday and will be promoted around the country through table displays, posters, bookmarks and stickers and through readings, essay contests and other events highlighting contested works. Banned Books Weeks is overseen by a coalition of writing and free speech organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Authors Guild and PEN America. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Writing and Literature |
Whenever you try to lay down restrictive definitions or lists of rules to be followed or even broad guidelines in creating good stories, you’re always going to come across two problems. There will be great books that ignore your rules, and there will be terrible books that follow them. So, everything I say below should be viewed with at least a little skepticism. It’s also true that in general what makes a good piece of young adult literature is pretty much the same as what makes any genre, type, or age of literature worth reading: great characters, great plot, great setting, great writing. Duh. But, with those caveats, I’ve tried to come up with some of the principles that float around in my head while I’m writing YA. (3 Tips for Writing Dystopian Young Adult Fiction)Might be worth saying that while my new book, Dogs of the Deadlands isn’t strictly YA, it is the kind of children’s book that I hope will appeal to all readers, from 9-90, and certainly including teenagers. And although most of the main characters are dogs, wolves, and the hybrid offspring of the two, much of what follows applies to them, too. Kinda.1. Create a main character your reader will love.YA readers hurl themselves wholeheartedly into books—it’s why they are such a rewarding audience to write for. And what they want above all else is a main character they can fully invest in. No, let’s use the L word—a character they can love. An easy way to short-circuit this is simply to make your character likable. You can show them being kind to animals, small children, old people. Or you can subject them to Bad Things they Don’t Deserve, like being made an orphan, or being bullied, or having an illness, ideally both dangerous and yet not too disfiguring. If you do these things, you won’t lose any money. Your readers will be on the side of your protagonist. YA is full of these likable characters. If they have faults, it’s what I call the Astrology Faults—the kind of thing you read about in cheesy astrology columns. “You’re too generous.” “You’re too honest for your own good.” “You put other people ahead of yourself—why not put yourself first for once?”Or they are the sort of faults that might endear you to the world—being a bit scatty or forgetful, being dreamy or impractical, or wearing strange hats. You all know those types of character. They live in books, but never in the real world, where actual humans are more complex, more nuanced, more difficult.So, what I like to do is to add back in some of that complexity, that marbling. This is potentially dangerous. If you make your character too unlikeable (or, as I would term it, too realistic), the reader will never fall in love with them. Your character has to “earn” the right to be dark and difficult. The reader must know that the overall balance is still weighted to the good. But bearing that in mind, give your central character some serious flaws. Perhaps they are capable of violence. Perhaps they lie or steal. Or they’re self-centred. If you can take that person on a journey, in the course of which they realize the flaws in their own character and heal those flaws while also defeating the monster—heck, perhaps only defeating the monster because they’ve healed those flaws—then you have a character who has earned the love of the reader.In Dogs of the Deadlands, the main characters are a female dog called Zoya, who may have a little wolf in her, and her offspring, half-wolf brothers Misha and Bratan. Misha is the main point of view character, and the story is really about his coming of age. As he’s essentially a dog, there isn’t room for too much light and shade in his character, though you’re certainly supposed to fall in love with him. Perhaps his most appealing quality is his determination to look after his disabled brother. But being half wolf, Misha is a fierce predator, and the reader has to endure some pretty violent scenes. There’s also a human character, Natasha, who loses her beloved puppy at the beginning of the story, and only finds consolation and happiness right at the end. She is certainly quite complex: wounded and damaged and lonely, but essentially good.2. Put your characters in a world your reader will find both familiar, and yet strange.YA readers like to read books set in a world that corresponds in some ways to their own, mirroring the challenges and trials they face. But they also love escapism, to be taken out of their own humdrum life, and put down in a place where those challenges have higher stakes. Think of all those stories where seemingly ordinary teenagers, dealing with schoolwork, romance, gangs, and bullying, find they have superpowers. Or the mashup between ordinary life and the supernatural in something like Twilight. In Dogs of the Deadlands, the world might seem very far removed from that of most YA. It’s the blasted, desolate, but also beautiful area around the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant. Into this world there come the dangerous beasts, previously excluded by the humans: lynx, bear, bison, wolves. This is the world my dogs have to learn how to survive. Is it a bit like high school? Perhaps a little!3. Offer a central challenge that feels both fresh and universal.It’s hard being a young adult. At school you have to deal both with the requirement to cram information into your head and get the grades that will dictate the sort of future life you’ll lead. And yet you also have to deal with the supernova of first love, and the complexities of friendship, with a brain and emotional apparatus that are still in the process of being formed. At home you have parents who may want the best for you, yet who appear as the Great Enemy, stopping you from doing the things you dearly want to do. All YA literature will feature all or some of these challenges. But it’s not enough. There needs to be a unique twist, an added intensity, something to wrench the characters out of the ordinary. In Dogs of the Deadlands, the central challenge is to survive in that brutal but beautiful landscape. But there’s also a mystery to be revealed, and redemption for the human characters. And also romance . . . IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon[WD uses affiliate links.]4. Provide an antagonist you can safely hate.If you have a central character the reader must love, it’s almost as important to have an antagonist the reader can hate. That’s partly because every great story needs peril, and a good villain is the best way to generate that danger. But also, teenage life and the school environment are among the very few times in life where we genuinely come up against people who want to harm us, people who, from our point of view, are unequivocally the baddies. I like to see in an effective antagonist a figure who, at first, appears to the central character as truly evil (or at least despicable), someone who seems focussed on ruining their life, on destroying or even killing them. The villain must appear almost as the embodiment of evil, a figure of nightmare. We should feel that hate and that fear along with the protagonist. Ideally then I would add some complexity, some understanding of the forces that have generated this monster. Do we ever come to fully comprehend, or even sympathize with the monster? Probably not! But at least you’ve created a living thing, and not a mere puppet. In Dogs of the Deadlands, there are a series of villains, set on killing the dogs, most notably a lynx, and a female wolf called Cross-face. From the point of view of the dogs, the wolves are the main threat, and with the dogs we fear and loathe them. But by the end, we’ve come to understand them better and, without wanting to give too much away, there’s a … coming together.5. End with eucatastrophe.J.R.R. Tolkien introduced the concept of eucatastrophe in an essay he wrote on fairy tales in 1947. In its simplest form the term just means a happy ending. But for Tolkien it was a particular type of happy ending. All is lost. The main character is at the lowest imaginable point. They are doomed, with no hope of redemption. And yet somehow, they triumph: Light emerges from absolute darkness. And crucially, this reversal, this plucking of glory from the ashes, is a result of the qualities of the main character: their goodness, their courage, their intelligence. That switch from despair to unexpected joy is hugely powerful. In a YA novel it might not be some Tolkienesque battle in which good triumphs over evil: It could just be that our cute but hopeless main character gets the girl or the boy or the job or the college place when it seemed all they’d get was humiliation.In Dogs of the Deadlands I have a series of crises, each one of which seems inescapable, and each one of which is more fraught and desperate than the last. If the dogs survive, it is because of their resourcefulness and dauntless courage and fraternal love. And if Natasha finally finds happiness, from a position of hopelessness, it is again through her own indomitable will and determination.Are you new to writing fiction for young adults? Do you want to learn how to write a young adult book and break into the market? Let Writing the Young Adult Novel be your guide. When you take this workshop, you'll get step-by-step instruction on writing for young adults and learn how to sell your novel.Click to continue. | Writing and Literature |
Saudi Gazette reportRIYADH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman issued on Thursday a royal order appointing Hala Al-Tuwaijri as head of the Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC).Dr. Awad Al-Awwad has been relieved from his post as president of HRC and has been appointed as Advisor at the Royal Court.Al-Tuwaijri served as the secretary-general of the Saudi Family Affairs Council from 2017 and was the head of the Women’s Empowerment Team at G20 Riyadh.Al-Tuwaijri gained a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 1998, a master’s degree in English literature/drama in 2004, and a Ph.D. in American literature/drama in 2011, all from King Saud University (KSU).She started her career as a teacher, but then joined KSU as a lecturer in 2004. She is currently an assistant professor of English literature at the university, teaching modern English literature and literary criticism.Al-Tuwaijri was appointed vice chair of the department of English language and literature in 2012 and was the vice dean of KSU’s College of Arts from 2013 to 2015. | Writing and Literature |
U.S. Updated on: August 31, 2022 / 5:39 PM / CBS News 60 high schools to offer new AP class AP African American Studies class to be offered for first time at 60 high schools 05:27 The College Board has announced it will begin offering an Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course at 60 unnamed high schools across the U.S. this fall, CBS News has learned. The AP program, which gives high school students an opportunity to take college-level courses before graduation, currently covers 38 subjects, including English literature and composition, U.S. government and politics, statistics, and art history. The AP African American Studies course is the College Board's first new offering since 2014, according to TIME, and will cover over 400 years of African American history. The curriculum will span several topics, including literature, political science and geography. This summer, teachers involved in the the pilot program's rollout met at Howard University — a historically Black institution — to review the framework of the course and prepare for launch. Marlon Williams-Clark, a social studies instructor at Florida State University schools, has taught one of the first classes in a state that has banned teaching critical race theory in public K–12 institutions. "You can tell there is a thirst [students] have to obtain this knowledge," he said in an interview with CBS News' Elaine Quijano and Lana Zak. "I think that this course will be the forerunner for other histories on...marginalized people." On why AP European history courses have been offered for years with no African American history counterpart, Williams-Clark said, "What we have to understand is that history is told from the perspective of the winner.""I'm very proud of the College Board for taking this step and the work that they have put in to create this course. It is really historic, but it is also something that is very much needed," he added. Henry-Louis Gates, Jr., one of the country's foremost experts on African American history, helped develop the AP African American Studies program. He told TIME that the class "is not CRT. It's not the [New York Times'] 1619 Project. It is a mainstream, rigorously vetted, academic approach to a vibrant field of study, one half a century old in the American academy, and much older, of course, in historically Black colleges and universities." In a statement to CBS News, the College Board said it has been working on this course for nearly a decade, and that it is "designed to offer high school students an inspiring, evidence-based introduction to African American Studies."The course will be offered in 200 schools next year, before it's offered to all interested U.S. high schools starting in the 2024-25 school year. The College Board says the phased rollout will give colleges and universities time to establish accreditation policies that allow students to apply these course credits to their higher education requirements. The new course comes at a contentious time for race-based education in America. A report from PEN Education found that 137 "educational gag order" bills — which the organization defines as "state legislative efforts to restrict teaching about topics such as race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ identities in K–12 and higher education" — have been introduced in 36 states this year. That's more than double the number of bills introduced last year, when 22 states introduced 54 bills. Six of the seven bills passed this year specifically included race as an impacted educational topic.Last year, dozens of Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, wrote a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona criticizing the Biden administration's proposed priorities for teaching diverse American history courses in schools, one of which was titled, "Projects That Incorporate Racially, Ethnically, Culturally, and Linguistically Diverse Perspectives into Teaching and Learning."According to the senators, the proposed priorities "double down on divisive, radical, and historically-dubious buzzwords and propaganda." "Americans never decided our children should be taught that our country is inherently evil," the letter read.While the general public cannot yet view the curriculum itself, the College Board plans to post the course framework in its entirety on the AP Program website in spring 2024. In a statement, Trevor Packer, the senior vice president of AP and Instruction at the College Board, said the class "will introduce a new generation of students to the amazingly rich cultural, artistic, and political contributions of African Americans." "We hope it will broaden the invitation to Advanced Placement and inspire students with a fuller appreciation of the American story," he added. In: Education Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue | Writing and Literature |
Former children’s laureate Michael Rosen has written a new poem to mark the 75th anniversary of the release of Anne Frank’s diary.The poem is titled Sonnet for Anne Frank; Rosen wrote in this form, he said, because sonnets have “a certain kind of dignity” and give “you time to reflect”.Michael Rosen. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty ImagesRosen addresses Frank directly in the poem writing, “you compressed so much life into that loft”, but that “each time we read, we struggle to enjoy / your love of life while knowing how it ended”.Rosen said: “I’ve got an unresolved dilemma in the poem, which is that in the diary you’re reading a person who is so alive and so full of hope and life’s details and problems from a teenager’s point of view, but it’s almost impossible to read it without thinking of her terrible fate. So there is an awful paradox between the living spirit of the diary and the knowledge that you have.“[The poem] makes a space for the reader to dwell on that paradox, which is in its own way quite painful. You laugh a lot with Anne Frank, and you think she’s having fun at the neighbours’ expense, and then you just suddenly have this simultaneous sense of being appalled by the terrible end.“And that’s why it ends on the word ‘ended’.”Frank received a blank diary for her 13th birthday on 12 June 1942, and wrote in it while she and her family were in hiding in a secret annexe above her father Otto’s workplace in Amsterdam.After the family were discovered by the Nazis, Otto’s secretary Miep Gies found the diary in the annexe. When the war was over Gies gave it to Otto, the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust, and he decided to publish it, as Anne had wished. When translated from Dutch to English, the book’s title became The Diary of a Young Girl.The poem was commissioned by the Anne Frank Trust, an education charity that teaches young people to challenge prejudice.Rosen, who is a longtime supporter of the trust, is currently professor of children’s literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. He served as children’s laureate from 2007 to 2009.As well as much-loved children’s poems and the classic picture book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, his books include The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II, which was released in 2020 and traced family members who died in the Holocaust.Sonnet for Anne Frank by Michael RosenSince you took us into that attic spaceno room under the eaves has been the same.Wherever we go – our homes or others’ –whenever we dip and duck under beamsyou are in the shadows, writing pageslaughing, crying, eating, daring to loveimagining a better world than yours.How you wrote leads us to think we know you.You compressed so much life into that loftwhich we pore over and love you for ityet the real world – not the one you imagined –didn’t allow you to live and write any more.Each time we read, we struggle to enjoyyour love of life while knowing how it ended. | Writing and Literature |
Nobel prizewinner Toni Morrison was arguably the greatest American writer of her time, leaving behind an impressive body of boundary-pushing work when she died, aged 88, three summers ago. Maybe her novels have long been sitting on your “to read” pile, or perhaps you’re a lifelong fan who wants to revisit your favourites. Either way, writer Bernice McFadden, whose novel The Warmest December was praised by Morrison herself, can guide you through this brilliant writer’s work. Photograph: APThe entry point:Toni Morrison might be best known for her 11 novels, but her short story Recitatif has received renewed attention since being published as a standalone volume earlier this year.Originally published in 1983 in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women edited by Amiri Baraka, the 96-page tale tells the story of eight-year-old girls, Twyla, and Roberta, one white and one Black.The brilliant thing about this story is that it is about race, but Morrison never explicitly mentions that. In fact, we are never told which of the girls is white and which is Black, we are left to intuit it through their behaviours, actions, and reactions.Recitatif is a compact introduction to her trademark use of language and her layered, lyrical narrative style.Morrison called Recitatif an experiment. I call it genius.The book club pickMany of Morrison’s novels have been called difficult and dense. The truth, I believe, is that critics and the reading public have labelled them as such because Morrison is a such a master at juggling several literary techniques at once, rarely ever dropping the metaphorical ball.Sula, perhaps the least intricate in Morrison’s catalogue, is the perfect novel to win over anyone who might have struggled with her work before. It’s a complex yet extremely compelling look at two friends, Sula and Nel. They are both such intriguing, fully realised characters that it’s hard not to become invested in them. And while it might be viewed as an “easier” read than, say, Beloved, don’t be fooled into thinking that Sula lacks the complexity, layers and lush language found in Morrison’s other books – there’s plenty for groups of friends to discuss and unpick here.The most topical oneThe HBO series Watchmen turned a spotlight on the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 when angry white mobs destroyed Greenwood – a city district so prosperous they called it Black Wall Street. Bombs were dropped on homes and businesses and innocent Black people were shot in the streets like rabid dogs.But decades before Watchmen, Toni Morrison penned Paradise, the third novel in the “trilogy” that also includes Beloved and Jazz. The novel is set in the fictitious town of Ruby in Oklahoma; a town that, like Greenwood, was founded by formerly enslaved Black people. Here, the threat to the conservative community is a group of women who have taken up residence in a convent on the edge of town.Eager to protect their legacy and way of life, nine male leaders set out to rid the town of the independent thinking, non-conforming female menace.Published in 1998, Paradise was Morrison’s first novel after winning the Nobel prize in literature in 1993 and it was well worth the wait.As was her custom, Morrison paid humble tribute to the ancestral origins of her characters. In Paradise, she transports the reader all the way back to the founding of Ruby in 1891 and gently moves us into the present-day setting of 1972 – thus creating a story that is powerful, fully realised, and realistic.And Paradise, apart from anything else, has one of the best first lines of any of Morrison’s novels: “They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time.”As with Recitatif, Morrison never disclosed who the white girl is in the story. And that unanswered question remains the topic of hot debate – Morrison herself said that while many readers over the years offered guesses, “only one of them was ever correct”.The one that deserves more attentionSet in the 1680s when slavery was still in its infancy, A Mercy, Morrison’s ninth novel, focuses on Florens, a young, literate slave who is sold to pay a debt. Florens is crushed by being separated from her mother, and in her new life she attempts time and again to fill the open and aching wound.Though less widely read than Beloved, A Mercy has plenty in common with Morrison’s most famous book. Here again, the writer examines the intricate and often mystical bonds that exist between mother and daughter. It’s a truly brilliant story that should be much better known.If you read one, it should beIn Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove is a little Black girl “who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes”.This searing and haunting story explores many things, but mostly it speaks to the oppression, subjugation and the sexual violence carried out against Black women.The story unfolds in Depression-era America, but the storyline and the themes of incest, colourism and self-hatred would ring true in any period. The novel is a unique piece of literature because it is both timeless and relevant.Physical and emotional horrors … Oprah Winfrey in the 1998 film adaptation of Beloved. Photograph: Maximum Film/AlamyThe ClassicMany have come to know Morrison’s voice and distinctive style through her Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning novel, Beloved.In it, protagonist Sethe escapes the bonds of slavery with her children. Sethe’s former enslaver pursues her and when she spots him coming up the road towards her home, she sets out to murder her children to keep them from being re-enslaved.Only one child – Beloved - succumbs to her injuries. Years later, she returns as an apparition, haunting Sethe into madness.The novel is a metaphor and the psychic manifestation of the physical, mental, and emotional horrors suffered by enslaved people.More than one of Morrison’s books could be classed as masterpieces, but this one is famous for a reason: everyone should read it. | Writing and Literature |
A self-published book has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin for the first time in the award’s 65-year history, with Michael Winkler’s cult hit Grimmish clearing the final hurdle before Australia’s most prestigious literary prize is announced on 20 July.Announced on Thursday evening, Grimmish joins Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s The Other Half of You, Michelle de Kretser’s Scary Monsters, Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light and Alice Pung’s One Hundred Days to compete for the $60,000 prize.Winkler’s “exploded nonfiction novel” Grimmish was called “wearisome” and “repellant” by the publishers he approached, according to the author’s interview with Guardian Australia last week: “Everyone said there was no way they could sell it.”But the book – an experimental, meta, kind-of-biography of the boxer Joe Grim, which opens with a faux-review and disputes itself throughout – found its way to readers through indie bookshops, exultant critics and word of mouth. It also won praise from writers including Helen Garner, Murray Bail and JM Coetzee.In their comments accompanying the Miles Franklin shortlist, the judges described it as an “unusual novel that is by turns playful, funny, heartfelt and deeply reflective … Daring and hilarious, Grimmish is a uniquely witty and original contribution to Australian literature.”Also shortlisted is Michelle de Kretser’s Scary Monsters, a book that is actually two books, with a different cover on each side that you can read in either order. De Kretser is one of Australia’s most celebrated authors, and won the Miles Franklin in 2013 (Questions of Travel) and 2018 (The Life to Come). The judges described Scary Monsters, her seventh novel, as “a witty, meticulously witnessed and boldly imaginative work that rages against racism, ageism and misogyny”. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s weekend culture and lifestyle emailMichael Mohammed Ahmed’s the Other Half of You is the third instalment of an auto-fictional series exploring the life of a young Muslim boy in western Sydney named Bani Adam. In The Other Half of You, which follows on from the Miles Franklin-shortlisted The Lebs and Ahmed’s first novel The Tribe, Bani is now a man; the book takes the form of his “body bruising, soul-searing confessional letter to a child”, according to the judges, who hailed it as “the howl of an Australian voice striving to be heard”.Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light tells the devastating story of a life on the fringes, starting with a five-year-old girl’s harrowing journey through the state care system. The book is told through an “astonishing voice that reinvents itself from age six to sixty”, the judges said. “With ethical precision, Down insists that we do not look away from the destructive consequences of … decades spent in the shadows of institutionalised neglect, socially sanctioned loneliness, unforgivable poverty and the attendant abuse.”Rounding out the shortlist is One Hundred Days by Alice Pung, who was awarded an Order of Australia for services to literature this year. The novel follows a 16-year-old girl who becomes pregnant, and is locked into her housing commission flat by her Philippines-born Chinese mother for 100 days before the birth – a postpartum confinement tradition in many cultures, which can be read as both an act of love or an act of emotional abuse.“Within this story, mothering practices transcend the ordinary and intimate, becoming instead an epic site of intergenerational cultural struggle between mother and daughter,” the judges said. “Pung has gifted us with a novel of national significance, by making visible the stories of those deemed powerless, and vividly patterning the mosaic of Australian literature.”The Miles Franklin is judged by a panel including literary critics Bernadette Brennan and James Ley, literary scholar Mridula Nath Chakraborty and author and editor Elfie Shiosaki. The panel is chaired by Richard Neville, the Mitchell Librarian at the State Library of NSW, who praised the shortlist for its “range of dynamic and diverse voices that address the experience of pain, intergenerational trauma and intergenerational dialogue with compassion, exceptional craft and rigorous unsentimentality”.Earlier this month, the Miles Franklin prize pulled The Dogs by John Hughes from its 2022 longlist, after Hughes apologised for plagiarising parts of it from a Nobel laureate “without realising”, as uncovered in a Guardian Australia investigation. More instances of apparent plagiarism were subsequently found, including from The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina and All Quiet on the Western Front. Hughes has denied he is a plagiarist. | Writing and Literature |
Authors of a new collection of stories featuring one of Agatha Christie’s most beloved creations, Miss Marple, have described the character as a “feminist icon” and “one of the great unsung heroines of literature”.The collection, titled Marple, marks the first time anyone other than Christie has written “official” (as recognised by the Christie estate) Miss Marple stories. The 12 women who contributed to the collection include award-winning crime writers Val McDermid and Dreda Say Mitchell, historical novelist Kate Mosse, classicist and writer Natalie Haynes and New York Times bestselling author Lucy Foley.Marple. Photograph: HarperCollinsJane Marple first appeared in 1927 in the short story The Tuesday Night Club, which was included in the collection The Thirteen Problems. The first full-length Miss Marple novel was The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and the character went on to appear in a total of 12 novels and 20 short stories. She was partly based on Christie’s grandmother and her grandmother’s friends, although Christie wrote that her fictional sleuth was “far more fussy and spinsterish than my grandmother ever was”.Miss Marple is a “feminist icon in a way”, according to Foley. “She’s patronised, she’s overlooked, she’s slighted yet she runs rings around everyone.”Mitchell said Miss Marple was a “cracking character” who was “rocking it for single ladies, for post-menopausal women”, while Mosse called her “one of the great unsung heroines of literature”. She is also an “extraordinarily subversive character”, Mosse added, due to being an “old woman who’s there in her own right”.“I do think the invisibility of older women is still an issue,” the Labyrinth author said. Miss Marple stands out, being one of the few “great enduring characters” of her demographic. And, Mosse notes, the stories have “nothing to do with who she marries or who she loves”.Marple’s 12 writers, who also include British crime writers Elly Griffiths and Ruth Ware, Israeli-American fantasy author Leigh Bardugo and New York Times bestselling novelist Jean Kwok, were given certain criteria. Firstly, the stories had to be set within the period covered by Agatha Christie’s own Miss Marple fiction. They could draw on characters and situations that occurred in any of the Marple novels and short stories, but weren’t allowed to incorporate characters or events from any of Christie’s non-Marple books, nor to invent any backstory upon which Christie herself had not touched.Foley’s story, Evil in Small Places, finds Marple visiting an old school friend as the village she lives in celebrates its version of Halloween. The author was inspired partly by “being locked down with my parents” during the pandemic in a little village.“There is a lot of curtain twitching,” Foley said. “I love that sort of village dynamic [where] if you’re a newcomer you stand out like a sore thumb.”Mosse’s story, The Mystery of the Acid Soil, is set shortly after the second world war and involves Miss Marple solving a mystery by using her gardening knowledge. “I think what is so great about Miss Marple is that everything she understands comes from the person she is,” said Mosse. “It’s that she has observed human nature for a very long time, and the things she knows about are the things that give her the clues to say what’s happening.”Dreda Say Mitchell. Photograph: Richard Saker/The GuardianA Deadly Wedding Day, Mitchell’s story, sees Miss Marple team up with friend Miss Bella – a former member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force whom Miss Marple met in an air raid shelter – at the wedding of the latter’s niece, Marie Baptiste.Mitchell said she was fascinated by the role of Caribbean women in the war effort, and the story gave her the “opportunity to create a character who’s an amateur sleuth, like Miss Marple”.The book also includes stories from Naomi Alderman, Alyssa Cole and Karen M McManus. It feels timely, Mitchell believes, coming at a point when “we are talking about the role of women”, particularly “women who are going through a certain cycle in life”.Mosse agreed that the character is highly relevant right now. “I think she has integrity,” she said. “We are in times where there is apparently a great lack of that.” | Writing and Literature |
Jeffrey Brown: Salman Rushdie the man and the writer and the wider impact of the attack against him.Joining me now is Ayad Akhtar. He's a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and novelist. He's also the current president of the free speech organization PEN America, a position previously held by Salman Rushdie himself.And, Ayad Akhtar, thank you for joining us.Salman Rushdie is your friend, I know, but you have also told me that he's a role model. Tell me what he is for you. What do you see in him?Ayad Akhtar, Novelist and Playwright: Well, I grew up in a Muslim family.And when Salman wrote "The Satanic Verses" in 1988 and 1989, the fatwa came down, and he was — a price was put on his head by the Iranian government. It was a big event in my life. And it was a big event in my community's life and in my family's life.And that book had such a pivotal effect on my understanding of the force of literature, what writing could do, how it could question the most fundamental things you believed. And it could do so in a playful way, in a satirical way. It could do so in a brilliant way.And it could get you into a lot of trouble. Maybe that wasn't the part of it that was the role model. But it was such a powerful experience to read that book as a young person, a young writer, as a young Muslim. And it and it changed my life. And it really did shape so much of my body of work to come. | Writing and Literature |
So, you want to write about food. How do you get started? Here, food writer Deanna Martinez-Bey shares 4 critical keys to becoming a food writer.The history of chocolate. Sharing how food is at the forefront in your family. A recipe for the world's most delectable carrot cake with cream cheese icing. These are prime examples of food writing.(The Braided Essay: What It Is and Why I Used This Writing Structure for My Food Memoir)Critical key number one: To be a successful food writer, you must write about what you know and enjoy.The term "food writing" is a broad term. Food writing can be broken down into smaller, more specific topics, such as recipes, food and cooking guides, the best places to eat, the history of food, and specialty foods such as gluten-free or low carb, to name a few. There are hundreds of genres to choose from regarding food writing.Do you remember the Food Network program Good Eats? The show was based on the scientific evidence behind food and how it is cooked or baked. Alton Brown explained in great detail how to make a recipe work and why particular ingredients made it work. If you were to write about food in this manner, it would be considered "the scientific explanation" behind food, and if you enjoy science, it could be an exciting genre to write about.Select food writers choose to write about how food is essential in their lives. Others create and write about recipes. To take food writing a step further, many have written books on the subject of food, whether fiction or nonfiction.Find your niche. Get creative, choose a genre of food writing that you enjoy and never be afraid of research.Critical key number two: To be a successful food writer, one must first be a good writer.For example, if you are writing about food as something you have tasted and enjoyed, you want to describe the texture and flavor in a way that evokes the reader to want to try the food for themselves.If you have created a recipe you want to share, it is essential to list every ingredient and explain how to prepare the recipe in a way that makes it easy for the reader to understand. These are two examples of good writing, AKA good food writing. It never hurts to brush up on your writing skills. There are a wide array of online courses available to assist in sharpening your writing skills.Critical key number three: Choosing the type of food writing that hones in on your skills.Something to consider as a food writer is where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Do you enjoy writing and publishing your articles? Do you prefer working alone or with others? Would you rather write multiple short pieces about food or take everything you know and include it in a book intended to help others? Have you considered writing a fiction story with a strong thread of food running through it?Search out top-rated food blogs to see what they have to offer. Look into influential food magazines and see what types of articles they are sharing. Always remember that you are unique and have a voice like no other food writer.Critical key number four: Find your voice and always stay uniquely you!Next month we will dive into the specifics of these ideas to consider and how to implement them.Push yourself beyond your comfort zone and take your writing to new heights with this novel writing course, designed specifically for novelists who are looking for detailed feedback on their work. When you take this online course, you won't have weekly reading assignments or lectures. Instead, you'll get to focus solely on completing your novel.Click to continue.Your Story #119Write a short story of 650 words or fewer based on the photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.Managing Point of View: Emotional DistanceIn the second of a three part series, novelist and WD columnist Sharon Short explains how to change a character's point of view depending on their emotional connection to what's happening. | Writing and Literature |
Parents are pushing back after a committee whose members sit on a Wisconsin school board did not move forward with approving a book about Japanese American incarceration during World War II for a sophomore English literature class.The backlash comes after Muskego-Norway school district board members said that the inclusion of the book would require “balance” with perspective from the U.S. government, according to two parents in the district. They also tell NBC News that minutes from a heated meeting with board members on the topic were not posted, and a video of another board meeting was reportedly edited.“She clarified and said that she felt that we needed the perspective of the American government, and why Japanese internment happened. And so then again, we had raised voices at this point. I told her specifically, I said, ‘The other side is racism.’”
Ann Zielke, parent, on her conversation with the board vice president.As of Thursday, almost 200 parents, alums, community members and staff of the Waukesha County district have signed a petition demanding the committee reconsider Julie Otsuka’s book — “When the Emperor Was Divine” — which was not moved forward during the early stages of the approval process June 13. Board members also reportedly said that a book cannot be chosen for the sake of adding diversity to the curriculum, said the parents, who spoke with board members and attended the school board meeting earlier this month. Ann Zielke, a parent in the district who kept a detailed log of her interactions with board members and shared them for this article, said that discussions around the book began months ago, after the district’s curriculum planning committee approved the novel in April. The book was subsequently sent to a group made up of three board members who approve educational materials before they’re purchased by the school board known as the educational services committee. Rather than move forward with the book, the committee — which is currently made up of School Board Vice President Terri Boyer, Treasurer Tracy Blair and member Laurie Kontney — requested more time for review, the parents said. Zielke said she reached out to two board members for its rationale and eventually had a conversation the next month with Boyer, who sits on the committee. In the exchange, Boyer said that the addition of the book — alongside the class’ existing inclusion of “Farewell to Manzanar,” a separate memoir about Japanese American incarceration during WWII — to the curriculum created an “unbalanced” account of history, Zielke recounted. Zielke said she was told, “We can’t just provide one side or the other side,” before the parent pressed Boyer on the issue, demanding the board member clarify her definition of “other.” “What she said to me was that we actually need an ‘American’ perspective,’” said Zielke, who said she pointed out that those incarcerated were in fact Americans, before the conversation grew increasingly heated.“She clarified and said that she felt that we needed the perspective of the American government, and why Japanese internment happened. And so then again, we had raised voices at this point. I told her specifically, I said, ‘The other side is racism.’” Book cover of “When the Emperor Was Divine” by Julie OtsukaBoyer said in an email the book was not approved due to “concerns in our process, not the content of the book.” She wrote in a follow-up email that district policy states the selection of instructional materials “shall not discriminate on the basis of any characteristics protected under State or Federal law.” and that “concerns were raised about whether the policy was followed.” “To ensure the policy is followed, staff pulled the book from being recommended and will start the process over to ensure a fair and non-discriminatory process will be used to select a book for this class.” The historical fiction novel, published in 2002, is loosely based on the lives of author Otsuka’s own family. It follows the experiences of a Japanese American family from Berkeley, California, who leave their lives behind after the U.S. government forcibly imprisons them in a camp in Utah during WWII, when anyone of Japanese descent was deemed a national security threats after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Zielke said Boyer told her she received a tip that the book was chosen on the basis that it was written by a nonwhite author. When Zielke asked if Asian students in the district deserve to see themselves in the curriculum, she said Boyer responded, saying, “they can go to the library and check out any books they want.” School Board President Christopher Buckmaster also brought up concerns around balance in a separate call with Zielke, she said. When asked to clarify what kind of balance Buckmaster sought, he recommended the students read about the Rape of Nanjing, Zielke said. In the tragedy during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military raped at least 20,000 women and girls, and killed 150,000 male “war prisoners” and 50,000 male civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Buckmaster did not respond to a request for comment. Brett Hyde, another board member, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he sensed board members felt that the perspective presented in Otsuka’s novel too closely mirrored that of “Farewell to Manzanar,” and suggested material related to the bombing of Pearl Harbor to provide “some history as to why the citizens of Japanese descent were viewed as a threat and what was the reasoning to have them put into the internment camps.” Another board member, Kevin Zimmerman, said in an email that he did not believe anyone on the board had concerns regarding balance. Records of the June meetings that featured discussions and arguments around the book are not available. Minutes from an educational services meeting, which took place June 13, have not been shared to the school board website, where the records are generally posted. When a copy was requested, Boyer replied in an email that the minutes have not been approved. A board meeting took place later that same day. When Zielke submitted an open records request for the video, Assistant Superintendent Jeff Petersen replied in an email, seen by NBC News, that the portion of the video that was removed was “unrelated to the official business of the meeting.” Exchanges between board members and parents over the book took place before the meeting actually started. Tensions grew and both parents said that they were not given a fair opportunity for a true discussion with the board. When one alum expressed the desire to speak before the meeting officially began, Zielke said an argument ensued. The discussion is not featured in the latest version of the video, which saw seven minutes of footage cut, Zielke said.The district’s YouTube channel livestreams its board meetings, but Zielke, who repeatedly checked the page herself, said that the recording was uploaded, then deleted June 14. The video of the meeting reappeared later that day, with the seven minutes removed, she said. “In response to your records request, the District’s technology personnel made efforts to determine whether the deleted portion of the recording was recoverable, and they have concluded that it is not,” he wrote. “As a result, there are no records responsive to your request.”Neither Petersen nor Boyer responded to requests for comment on the altered video. At the June 13 committee meeting in which it decided against moving forward with the book, the members reportedly provided no rationale, both Zielke and another parent in the district, Allison Hapeman, said. “The dozen parents and alumni and students who showed up to that meeting just started yelling questions, because they were ready to gavel it out with zero explanation,” Zielke said. Buckmaster confirmed the book was brought to the committee, but never moved forward to the full board. But he wrote that “at no point was this book banned or denied by the committee of the board or the full board.”“Rather, district staff recommended that it be sent through the staff committee process again,” he wrote. However, Zielke said, in both private and public conversations, board members were clear in their disapproval of the book and did not indicate the novel would be sent through the process for another review. In a June 10 email from Boyer to Zielke, seen by NBC News, the board vice president wrote, “not approving a piece of curriculum should not erase the other 99% we do approve.” “The board is now saying that the district staff recommended the book come back but that was not made clear to anyone at that ESC meeting,” Zielke said. “I walked away knowing the committee didn’t approve something having to do with ‘diversity.’ … It feels like a backpedaling reason to explain this.” Hapeman confirmed that when pressed by parents, the board members brought up similar arguments that were previously presented to Zielke. She said that the committee took particular issue with how the book was chosen to bring a diverse perspective into the curriculum. The committee's comments “pointed to their understanding or their belief that the fact that this book came from a diverse perspective meant that the committee that chose it was discriminating against white people.” Allison Hapeman, parent“At one point, Terri Boyer, in the meeting, did say, ‘How would you feel if they were only allowed to choose books by white people?’” Hapeman said. Hapeman said that while many parents attempted to air their concerns, they were cut off. “They get to have final say in who they will listen to. We were at the meeting that we are supposed to be able to speak,” Hapeman said. “But we were gaveled out while we were still speaking.”Hapeman added that the committee’s comments in the meeting “pointed to their understanding or their belief that the fact that this book came from a diverse perspective meant that the committee that chose it was discriminating against white people.” “They didn’t use that language, but everything pointed to that,” she said. Zielke said she has yet to hear from any parents who object to the book, and Hapeman added that the parents who’ve shown up to meetings have only supported its inclusion in the curriculum.“I’m looking for my children to get an education that prepares them to live in the wider world … And that’s what I believe that public education needs to provide to all our students,” Hapeman said. “We’ll be in the district for many years to come here and I want my kids to be prepared for the life that comes next. And if these are the kinds of decisions that are continuing to be made, by narrowing the perspectives that they’re taught, then they won’t be prepared.”The Muskego-Norway School District’s decision has drawn ire from the Japanese American community as well. David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, sent the school board a letter earlier this month, demanding it reconsider the book’s use in the curriculum, particularly given the alleged arguments from board members. “In the case of the Japanese American incarceration, the United State government has formally apologized to the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated, admitting our actions as a nation were constitutionally and morally wrong,” he wrote. “The story of what happened to the Japanese American community is an American story, one that balances the challenges of injustice, but also the patriotic stories of service and resistance. If anything, these are stories that need to be told more in our schools.”“It is the absolute definition of racism to try and exclude something because it is a minority perspective,”David Inoue, Japanese American citizen's league.Inoue called the school board’s concerns around the book choice being potentially discriminatory “ridiculous.” “It is the absolute definition of racism to try and exclude something because it is a minority perspective,” Inoue told NBC News.Otsuka also expressed disappointment in the school district, telling NBC Asian America that in the two decades since the book was published, the material has never been the source of debate in schools. She said that it’s critical for schools to lift up the perspective of marginalized communities, like Japanese Americans, whose stories have predominantly been framed through a white lens. Over the years, she said she’s heard from numerous high school readers about how her book served as their first introduction to the subject of the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.“For so long, history has been presented in a very one sided way. It’s been written by mostly white men and it historically has been about white men,” Otsuka said. “A revisitation of history. And just, you know, I think, from the perspective of people who might have been left out of the official account is long overdue.Otsuka added that reading stories from a diversity of communities is a “radical act of empathy” and can only serve to benefit all students. “By reading, it collapses all distance between yourself and the other. You enter into their story,” she said. “It’s how we learn to be more compassionate human beings — by reading about people who are different from us.” | Writing and Literature |
Concern is mounting about the fate of the humanities in higher education after Sheffield Hallam University announced that it would be suspending its degree in English literature.A university spokesperson confirmed that English literature is among a small number of courses which are being either suspended or closed, but said the changes would not involve job losses.A number of universities have made cuts to arts and humanities provision after a government crackdown on what ministers regard as “low value” courses.Under new rules, universities could face penalties if fewer than 75% of undergraduates complete their courses and fewer than 60% are in professional jobs or studying for a further degree within 15 months of graduating.The universities of Roehampton and Wolverhampton have similarly proposed cuts, and the University and College Union (UCU) has said jobs are also at risk at De Montfort and Huddersfield.A Sheffield Hallam spokesperson said: “As a large comprehensive university offering more than 600 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, we keep our portfolio of courses under constant review to ensure that they align to the latest demands from students and employers.“Whatever students choose to study at Sheffield Hallam, they will graduate with the confidence and skills to tackle real-world problems, having had the chance to complete work experience in every year of their chosen programme of study.”Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BSTDr Mary Peace, a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam who specialises in 18th-century literature, expressed dismay at the decision on social media.“English lit degree at Sheffield Hallam is being ‘suspended’,” she tweeted. “University responding to government who will no longer fund degrees where 60% [of] students don’t end up in “highly skilled” jobs within six months.“When was it ever more important in our history for young people to be able to manipulate language and to understand how they are manipulated by language and stories?”“What kind of society will we have if there is no place for people from all social classes and backgrounds to have the chance to read and think (or to work in a bar for two years while they try to write a novel) before they have to make themselves compliant with the workplace?”In another post, she added: “The demise of humanities in the post-92 [universities] is cultural vandalism.”In recent years universities have experienced a slump in applications for humanities courses. According to the universities admissions service Ucas, acceptances for English studies, including English literature, decreased from 9,480 in 2012 to 6,435 in 2021.Sheffield Hallam said arts and humanities remained a vital part of the university and added that from 2023 it would be offering English literature as part of a broad-based English degree, taking in language, literature and creative writing. Jo Grady, the general secretary of the UCU, said: “The decision by Sheffield Hallam to shut down its English literature course is as shocking as it is depressing but seems part of a wider agenda being forced on universities by the government against the arts and humanities.“Decisions like this and at other universities such as Huddersfield and Wolverhamptonwill be hugely damaging for access, creating geographical cold spots as many courses are dropped.“The universities most vulnerable are those with a higher number of less well-off students and it is unconscionable to deny them the chance to study subjects like literature, art, drama and music.” Michelle Donelan, the minister for higher and further education, said the government recognises that all subjects, including the arts and humanities, can lead to positive student outcomes.But she added: “Courses that do not lead students on to work or further study fail both the students who pour their time and effort in, and the taxpayer who picks up a substantial portion of the cost.” | Writing and Literature |
After years of journalist writing, author Lucy Ward had to relearn how to incorporate her own voice when it came to writing her nonfiction book. Here, she shares 9 ways to insert your own voice and style into research-based nonfiction.Writing my nonfiction book The Empress and the English Doctor was, for me, as much a process of unlearning as of acquiring new writing techniques. By trade, I’m a journalist: After studying English at university, I trained on a local newspaper in the no-nonsense county of Yorkshire, where any fancy ideas about style and voice were swiftly drummed out of me in favor of speed and accuracy. Counting the number of fire engines at a warehouse blaze or correctly spelling the names of local councillors were the skills I needed; elegantly turned paragraphs (and indeed any writing over 500 words) could wait.(The Time Is Now: Securing First-Hand Accounts of History for Writing Projects)I moved on to national papers, and the sentences got a little longer, but the basic rule remained the same: News reporting is no place for personal views or idiosyncratic style. It’s actually rather formulaic: You tell the story economically and with the most important details at the top (in print days, this was partly to ensure that, if space was short, the article could be cut from the bottom).When I came to write Empress, which explores Catherine the Great’s decision to defy superstition and have herself and her son inoculated against smallpox by an English Quaker doctor, I knew I needed to rid myself of these hardwired habits. Apart from anything else, “Royals survive smallpox shot” would make rather a short book. Just as I had as a journalist, I would be marshalling facts and recounting a true story, but now there was no style guide or firm conventions to hide behind. The challenge of finding a form and “voice” to maintain interest over more than 100,000 words was down to me.Initially, the prospect was daunting: I had file after file of hard-won research to somehow craft into a single narrative. But my apprehension gave way to a feeling of liberation. There are multiple ways to tell even a true story. Where there are no real rules, your way of writing is the right way for your book. The key, I think, is to try and identify your individual strengths and interests as a writer and work out how they intersect with your material to present your story your way. So, it’s less about inserting your style and voice into your writing than recognizing what your voice is and letting it sing.My files of notes are now a book. If you’re beginning your own writing journey, you may find a few of these tips helpful.IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon[WD uses affiliate links.]1. Work out your relationship with the facts. This sounds obvious, but it’s fundamental to the way you’ll tell your story. My own book draws entirely on researched information, and I am deeply wary of speculating or inventing (a legacy of my journalism training). Even where I describe my protagonists’ state of mind—for example, the anxiety experienced by the English doctor Thomas Dimsdale when his trial inoculations went wrong in St Petersburg—I base this on letters or other accounts. Where you want atmospheric detail that is lacking in your sources, it may be possible to discover it: I looked up tables of phases of the moon to check whether Thomas’s evening journey to the Winter Palace would have been illuminated. Other writers are willing to take a more creative approach, even under a nonfiction banner. I feel it’s possible to bring life to a story through narrative technique (see #5) without making anything up.2. Decide on your own presence—or lack of it—in the narrative. Again, this is a key building block in defining your voice. You might choose to include yourself literally in the book, perhaps in explaining and tracing your research quest, or to describe a location as it looks today. More likely, though, your voice will emerge through judgements and conclusions. Do you want to tell your readers explicitly what to think, or let your perspective emerge through the writing? This, for me, is one of the trickiest authorial challenges. I found my confidence increased as the book progressed, and I felt less wary of making my personal interpretations clear.3. Use what you’re good at. Your particular strengths should shape your writing. In my case, my professional experience means I place a premium on accuracy, cross-checking, and on doing my best to ensure sources are reliable. But it has also given me a passion for authentic voices: I’ve always loved to bring stories to life through quotes. Writing my own book, I was lucky to have multiple witnesses and descriptions of events, from personal letters to ambassadorial correspondence to medical treatises. I used them to add texture, authenticity, and drama to the story, almost echoing the soundscape of the period. This can go too far, though: My editor gently told me several times that I was beginning to adopt baroque 18th century sentence structures. One of my edits was dedicated to taking them all out!4. Work with the strengths of your research material. Your voice as a writer needs to adapt to the sources and facts you’ve uncovered: Bluntly, you want to showcase your best findings. The story of Thomas Dimsdale and Catherine the Great was not new—it appears briefly in several biographies—but I had access to family papers that included Thomas’s medical notes for the Empress’s inoculation and even a health questionnaire he gave her, together with contemporaneous letters to a friend revealing his private impressions and emotions. This meant I had personal accounts and often multiple perspectives on the same event, allowing me to build a richer, almost filmic narrative that had not been told in detail before. This formed the core of the book.5. Borrow techniques from fiction. As we saw in #1, facts are precious, and we blur them at our peril. But that doesn’t mean the narrative can’t incorporate the arts of storytelling, including character, pace, and tension. When researching, it’s vital to keep an eye out for colourful references to place, weather, seasons, clothing, and more to help locate events in time and space and bring them to life through sensory description. The smallest details can be the most resonant: I was able to describe Thomas Dimsdale, feverish with pleurisy, lying in a horse-drawn sleigh with a lantern blowing out and a bottle of wine next to him frozen in the winter cold. Imagining scenes through the eyes of your protagonists is helpful too: I described both St Petersburg and Catherine from Thomas’s point of view.6. Don’t include everything you know. Research is hard and time-consuming, and it can be heart-breaking to leave out hard-won material. But just because you sat for days in an archive and photographed dozens of pages doesn’t mean the result is interesting! Writing is a process of selection: You’re producing a book, not a catalogue or a chronicle, and you need to put the reader first. Excessive detail interrupts the narrative drive. I found research was rather like an iceberg, with only a modest proportion of my findings making it into the book, but the rest still invaluable as foundational knowledge. And now I’m promoting Empress, I find I draw on much of the background information I didn’t have room for in the text.7. Your readers are interested but not expert. After a long period of research, it’s easy to forget how much knowledge you now take for granted. Remember to keep the lay reader in mind, explaining complex concepts simply and early. In my own book, this meant clarifying the confusing terminology of inoculation and vaccination (terms that are generic now but had specific meanings in the 18th century) .8. Listen carefully to what is grabbing your own attention. Before you write, try to step away from the detail of your research and become almost new to the story again. What drew you most powerfully to this subject in the first place? Have faith that your enthusiasm will carry the reader too, and use that instinct to help structure your book. You may well need to start, as I did, at the key action point to intrigue your audience, and then pull back to set the scene before working forwards again.9. Road test your storytelling on others. When people know you’re writing a book, most will ask what it’s about. Give them your summary, and you’ll soon see what gets their attention and what makes them glaze over. It can be a little bruising, but don’t worry: This is a free focus group! Refine your description to make it punchier, and take it into account when you plan your book.These are just a few pointers, drawn from my own experience. No one but you can define your voice, but thinking about these ideas should set you on the road to finding it for yourself. Good luck!Authors are increasingly responsible for their own marketing, a task most writers find boring, irritating, depressing, and often fruitless. In this live webinar, William Kenower turns marketing on its head so that authors can take the skills and passion they have for writing and learn how to apply them to marketing. This is not a how-to-market workshop. Instead, it is a how to enjoy marketing workshop. Once you enjoy it, once you stop being afraid of it, you’ll learn how to market your book the same way you learned how to write it.Click to continue.Managing Point of View: Emotional DistanceIn the second of a three part series, novelist and WD columnist Sharon Short explains how to change a character's point of view depending on their emotional connection to what's happening.Fiction Gives Me HopeAfter nearly 20 years of experiencing varying degrees of censorship for her nonfiction, writer Nandita Dinesh turned her creative eye toward another form. Here, she details why fiction gives her hope.Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 613Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a dad poem.9 Pros and Cons of Co-Writing a NovelWriting is often an isolating and personal endeavor, and co-writing offers an opportunity to share the experience with someone else. Here, the co-writing team Ali Brady break down the pros and cons of co-writing a novel. | Writing and Literature |
If you’re new to the writing and publishing spaces, you might have seen people talking about MFA programs. What are they? Who can go? Are they worth it? Managing Editor Moriah Richard answers these questions and more.I want to get this out of the way first: Having an MFA degree does not automatically make you a successful writer. Sure, it’s great to have on your résumé, but there are plenty of bestselling authors out there who didn’t get the degree.
I say that as someone who got their MFA very early on in my writing career—when my bachelor’s education was coming to an end, I knew I wasn’t ready to leave the academic space, that I wanted more time and space to write. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to a program right out of my undergrad degree, and I spent two (very hard) years working to receive my degree. It was during this time that I really solidified my dream of being an editor! I wouldn’t trade those two years for anything, but I also realize the value of not receiving the degree.
So, what’s the point of the MFA? How do you know if it’s right for you? I’ll answer as many of these questions as I can so that you can make an informed and confident decision about whether an MFA program is right for you.
MFA vs. MAMFA stands for master of fine arts. This is different from a master’s of arts (MA) because it’s more craft-focused. MA’s are more focused on reading and analyzing the works of others; MFA’s will have at least one workshop class per semester where your professors and peers can critique your original creative work. Where the goal of an MA is generally a thesis where the focus is critical, theoretical, and/or historical, generally, the goal of an MFA program is to have a creative manuscript-length work completed at the end.
The MFA is a terminal degree, meaning that there’s no way to receive a PhD in fine art; this means that getting the degree shows that you’ve become an expert in the field and can apply to grants and some scholarships. Because of this, the MFA also opens more possibilities for teaching at the higher academic levels—many professorial positions these days require either an MFA or PhD. (Writer's Digest Presents: Beginnings (Podcast, Episode 1))StructureThere are usually about five parts of an MFA program:
1 workshop/semesterWorkshop is where you will do the bulk of your writing; you’ll have a set number of times a semester where you’ll need to present work to the class and then everyone will critique youTraditional workshop structure is that the author will sit silently while the class discusses what worked or not in their piece, and then the author will have a set limit of time at the end of the discussion to ask questionsSome workshops are now reversing that so that the class is quiet and the author asks specific questions about things they think are working or aren’tAsk about workshop structure if you’re someone who is anxious about others reviewing their work—sometimes workshops can be brutal!Certain number of craft, manuscript, or special topics coursesFor example, my program had a flash fiction craft course and a journal editing class for special topicsCertain number of elective coursesDuring my program, we could only take electives from the English literature department, and I took classes like Early American Literature and Black Writers Write About Writing—since I graduated, the department now allows students to take classes from other departmentsAsk about elective options during your application processComprehensive examSome programs have an actual test you take to show what you’ve learned during your program while others have essaysMine was a 10-page essay where we had to discuss our thesis project without actually talking about our thesis project; we did this by interrogating craft components of different published worksThe exam is generally due before your final semesterThesisA culmination of your learning, this should be a manuscript-length project of your best workCould be a novel, collection of short stories, chapbook, or scriptSome programs don’t require a completed manuscript, just a certain number of words or pagesWho can go to an MFA program?Many people are surprised to learn that you don’t need to have earned a bachelor’s to attend an MFA program. You typically do need a college degree, though it’s not limited to degrees in English literature or a related field. Anyone with a strong writing portfolio and a passion for the craft of writing can apply and get accepted to an MFA program.
Is an MFA right for you?Only you can answer this! But, if it helps, I’ve drawn up a list of pros and cons for you to consider:
ConsDoes not lead to a job or to literary success
Genre can be frowned upon while in your MFA degree—many programs don’t like to see romance, sci-fi, or YA in workshop spaces
Workshops can be brutalThis is a big one—many writers have talked about the dangers of being “workshopped to death” and workshop spaces have historically been hostile toward the “other” (read: queer and/or non-white)Electives can be frustrating and pull focus
Funding is extremely competitive and sometimes more limited than advertisedAlong these lines, the degree is usually incredibly expensive to obtain, even with funding
ProsMakes you a better writer
Gives you contacts and a support systemSome of your favorite writers could be professors!Forces you to have a deadline to write new pieces
Allows you to experimentFirst time I wrote flash fiction was for class!Access to lit journals, magazines, and literary conferencesI became the editor-in-chief of TINGE literary magazine while at my MFA, which gave me a lot of experience I use here at WD!I also went to AWP’s conference one year because my school had a membership, and it was significantly cheaper for me to attend(Writer's Digest Presents: Flash Writing (Podcast, Episode 2))What kind of MFA programs are out there?If you’re seriously considering getting an MFA, the first thing you should consider is what kind of MFA you’d like to get. I got my MFA in fiction, but my program didn’t have specialties like romance or YA. So, the first thing you’ll need to decide is what category you’d like to study (screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, or poetry) and whether you’d like to attend a program that allows you to narrow your focus even further (like YA or romance). Something else you need to consider is whether you’re interested in studying across categories. I went into my program thinking I could take some poetry craft courses as electives; I was wrong. My program didn’t allow that. If this is something you’d like to do during your studies, be sure to ask about that during your application process.
The next thing you’ll need to consider is the physical learning space you’d like to have while in your program:
Full-residencyA traditional college experience, this kind of program requires that all your classes be in-person and, obviously, live nearby the campusMost full-residency programs have an option for you to be full-time or part-time; part-time students have fewer classes a semester and their degree takes longer to achieve, but they still must take a required number of classes a semester to be considered an active MFA candidateLow-residencyThis kind of program is mostly done online, though many will require students to be on campus for anywhere between 7–10 days a year for an in-person workshopping experience (generally in the summer)In all my research on MFAs, I admit that I’m still unsure if you can be part-time while attending a low residency program, so I would ask the program’s contact if this is a concern of yoursThe last aspect you might want to take into consideration is whether you’d like to obtain a dual degree. Some schools will allow you to obtain two degrees simultaneously, like an MFA and English MA or an MFA and MBA. Doing this could save you money in the long run if you’re looking to obtain more degrees.
How can you apply?If you’re seriously considering applying to a program, there are several components you’ll want to make sure you have prepared:
GRE (though not all programs require this)Stands for Graduate Record Examinations (though I like to call it the Standardized Test from Hell)Most schools would like a score range of 130–170Takes about 3 hours and 45 min to completeAt the time of writing this article, it costs $205 to take the test; there’s an additional cost every time you need to send your results to a schoolYour score lasts 5 years after taking the testYou can take the test as many times as you want to get the score that satisfies you; your previous scores won’t affect your newest scoreTranscriptsFormal transcripts are sent from your undergraduate university to the new program; you’ll most likely need to pay for a formal transcript for every school you apply toWhen I applied to schools in 2014, the costs for transcripts were about $5/eachA resume or CVBecause anyone with a university degree can apply, it’s more important to show a timeline on your resume rather than “proving” that you’re a writer You’ll want to show your education and work experience, of course, but be sure to include extracurriculars to show them the things that interest you and are related to the program—are you a member of a long-standing book club? Tutored or taught anything (think everything from swimming lessons to 3rd-grade math)? Do you have a blog? Published anything local or national?Letters of recommendationIf you’re coming out of your undergraduate degree or still have ties to your professors, it’s always a good idea to have at least one of your letters come from someone who can vouch for your academic career—after all, an MFA is an academic pursuitYour boss, supervisor, or colleagues are another great avenue if your job requires you to show off your writing skillsMost schools advise against having family or friends write your letters; it probably wouldn’t get your application discounted, but it wouldn’t be taken as seriously as other applicationsLetter of intentAlso called the statement of purpose or personal statementThe purpose of this letter is to let the admissions team get to know who you are and what your goals are for the futureYou might be tempted to be flashy or cutesy to stand out, but this is a mistake (unless you’re a naturally flashy or cutesy writer)Should be straightforward and include details like:What kind of writer are you?Where are you coming from?How has your life experience shaped your writing?What motivates you?What (or who) inspires you?What are your goals for your MFA experience?What do you intend to do with what you’ve learned in their programThere are no hard-and-fast rules for the letter of intent; just be honest and be yourselfWriting sampleMake sure that your sample adheres to program guidelines; if they don’t accept genre fiction and you only write fantasy, they’ll throw your sample out as soon as they see itSelect material that you feel embodies what you’re interested in pursuing; if you wrote an awesome detective novel but you’re no longer compelled to write detective fiction, I wouldn’t recommend submitting an excerpt for considerationFormatting matters! Look at the school’s formatting guidelines for every single application and ensure that your sample is formatted to their specificationsDon’t exceed the requested number of pages (or poems)!Have someone you trust review your sample for typos and grammatical mistakes, or, if you’re really worried, hire a freelance editorMoney, money, moneyEach school will generally have a submission fee, so be sure to include that in your budget when you’re looking to applyI hope that this article has given you an introduction to the world of the MFA! If I can give you advice, it’s to ensure that if you do get your MFA, you want the program to fit your life and not the other way around. Education doesn’t define success and an MFA doesn’t make you a writer. Your passion and determination do that!
When you take this online writing course, you'll discover your voice, learn the basics of grammar and examine the different types of writing. No matter what type of writing you're planning on crafting—nonfiction or fiction—you'll need guidance along the way.Click to continue.What is an MFA Program?If you’re new to the writing and publishing spaces, you might have seen people talking about MFA programs. What are they? Who can go? Are they worth it? Managing Editor Moriah Richard answers these questions and more.Sloane Crosley: On Writing Humor and FriendshipAuthor and essayist Sloane Crosley talks about her new novel, Cult Classic, writing with humor, and the tangled romance of friendship in this interview from the July/August 2022 issue of Writer's Digest.How to Get Started in Food WritingFood writer Deanna Martinez-Bey shares her thoughts on how to get started in food writing by asking writers to consider the answers to a few questions. | Writing and Literature |
Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a dad poem.Last month, we wrote a mom poem for Mother's Day; so this month, with Father's Day upon us...Let's write a dad poem. While not everyone gets (or even wants) to be a dad, everyone has a dad. On gift card holidays like this coming Sunday, the father is celebrated. That said, not everyone knows their dad, and some wish they did not. For many, whether they get along or not, the relationship can be very complicated. So explore that experience today.Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment away. It's free, easy, and the comments (for the most part) don't require manual approval like on the old site.*****Write a poem every single day of the year with Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming. After sharing more than a thousand prompts and prompting thousands of poems for more than a decade, Brewer picked 365 of his favorite poetry prompts here.Click here to learn more.*****Here’s my attempt at a Dad Poem:“Fatherhood,” by Robert Lee BrewerWhen I sit down with a really nice journal,I don't want to write in it, especially with ink,because I'd hate to ruin something so precious,so I sit and rack my mind for the perfect thing to communicate (all the while doing nothing,because I want what I do to be perfect) and then,when I finally have it (so much time has passed),I realize that someone has taken the journaland scribbled all over it in any way that theywished and that there's no longer any spacefor me to make even the simplest of marks.Your Story #119Write a short story of 650 words or fewer based on the photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.Managing Point of View: Emotional DistanceIn the second of a three part series, novelist and WD columnist Sharon Short explains how to change a character's point of view depending on their emotional connection to what's happening.Fiction Gives Me HopeAfter nearly 20 years of experiencing varying degrees of censorship for her nonfiction, writer Nandita Dinesh turned her creative eye toward another form. Here, she details why fiction gives her hope.Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 613Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a dad poem. | Writing and Literature |
“Spectacular talent” Maddie Mortimer has won the Desmond Elliott prize for her “incredibly inventive” novel Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies.Mortimer was announced as the winner of the prize, which is given for a debut novel published in the UK and Ireland, at a ceremony in London this evening.Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies was inspired by Mortimer’s mother, who died of cancer in 2010, and focuses on the character of Lia and the shapeshifting cancer inside her body. Moving between Lia’s past and present, the book is a look at memory, mother-daughter relationships, and coming to terms with death.Calling the novel “sprawling and ambitious”, the Guardian review explains that Lia “shares the spotlight with ‘I, itch of ink, think of thing’, an impish, verbose and mysterious narrator that appears to be neither human nor nonhuman. Confined to its own short chapters early on, its signature bold type begins to infiltrate the standard third-person narration.”Mortimer called the novel “an elegy to my mum and to our relationship”.“I wrote it as a way of spending time with her, working through grief and the intense period of experiencing someone die,” she added. “So having the book out in the world as a piece of us and our relationship is one thing. Having it win the Desmond Elliott prize is extraordinary and deeply moving. I wish she was here to see it.”Author Derek Owusu, who won the prize in 2020 for That Reminds Me, chaired the panel of judges this year. He was joined by Channel 4 News correspondent Symeon Brown and Lyndsey Fineran, programme manager for the Cheltenham literature festival. The judges, said Owusu, went “back and forth for days after the winner was due”, but ultimately decided on Mortimer’s book feeling “confident that we would be assisting with, and bearing witness to, the launching of a new and spectacular talent”.Owusu said that Mortimer had “penetrated the body and spirit of literature, taking an experience, one familiar to so many of us, and making it unique”.“This is a book full of poetry and wonder, interior and exterior examination, sadness, though without the pessimism that sometimes accompanies it, love, and through all things, hope,” Owusu continued. “You’ll re-read passages like pulling a song back to its start, wanting to evoke and experience those chills, or be enlightened again and again.”Fineran said the novel was a “standout read” in a “very strong list”. Brown added: “It’s an incredibly inventive and, at times, genius novel, seamlessly blending competing values from science and religion to bluntness and subtlety.”Mortimer, who as well as being a writer has had short films screened at festivals around the world, wins £10,000, alongside a year of support from the National Centre for Writing, which runs the prize. The other books on the shortlist were Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy, about two women thrown together on a wild road trip through Britain, and Tice Cin’s Keeping the House, following three generations of women as they navigate the complex and precarious heroin trade in north London.Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer. Photograph: PRThe 2021 Desmond Elliott prize was awarded to AK Blakemore for The Manningtree Witches, a historical novel about Essex witch trials in the 17th century. Previous winners include Lisa McInerney, Preti Taneja and Francis Spufford. Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer is published by Picador (£14.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. | Writing and Literature |
The late literary icon's granddaughter found letters from lHollywood actors, world leaders and fellow literary giants —now shown as part of his Nobel prize anniversary.A collection of letters are displayed in a room decorated with a photograph of late Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez at his home in Mexico City, on June 15, 2022.Fernando Llano / APJune 16, 2022, 12:46 PM UTC / Source: Associated PressMEXICO CITY — While reviewing the photo archives left by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, one of his granddaughters came across a mysterious plastic box with the word “grandchildren” written on its label.At first, Emilia García Elizondo was afraid to open the box but curiosity overcame her. Inside were 150 unpublished letters that he received from Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Cuban President Fidel Castro and actor Robert Redford, among others.Forty of the letters will be exhibited for two months starting June 16 in the colonial house in the southern part of Mexico’s capital where García Márquez lived with his wife, Mercedes Barcha, from the 1980s until his death in 2014.The exhibition is part of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of his winning the Nobel literature prize. Another event, which includes the exhibition “Gabriel García Márquez: The Making of a Global Writer,” will open June 18 in Mexico’s Museum of Modern Art.“I’m 32 years old and all this continues to impress me,” García Elizondo, who is director of the García Márquez foundation, told The Associated Press, describing her shock at finding the box in a cabinet on the second floor of her grandparents’ house. She had passed the cabinet many times wihtout paying much attention to it.A letter from American film director, Woody Allen is displayed during an exhibition at the home of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez in Mexico City.Fernando Llano / APGarcía Márquez’s granddaughter said the discovery was a surprise for the family because they thought all his letters and personal correspondences were in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which possesses the largest collection of the writer’s documents.“One never expects to find this kind of thing even though one already knows who Gabo is ... I will always think that Gabo does everything like magic,” she said. García Márquez is know affectionately in Latin America as Gabo.Among the letters that will be exhibited are five from Castro, one from Neruda, two from Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, two from Mexican guerrilla leader Subcomandante Marcos, one from Redford, one from director Woody Allen and seven from Clinton.In one of them, dated Dec. 28, 1999, Clinton told the Colombian writer the emotion he and his wife, Hillary, felt at a concert of Colombian vallenato music given by young people at the White House. He described the music as a “treasure” and a “wonderful counterpoint to the negative images often associated with your beautiful country.”Also included is a letter that Castro wrote by hand, dated Dec. 10, 2007, in which he writes: “I am subject to a rigorous exercise regimen that I must not fail to comply with if I intend to continue being useful to the revolution.”Gonzalo García Barcha, the writer’s youngest son and Emilia’s father, said the family misses García Márquez very much. García Márquez has four grandchildren.“That’s why we do these kinds of activities. We want to keep this house alive,” he said.Follow NBC News Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. | Writing and Literature |
University bosses slap trigger warnings on more than 1,000 texts including works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dickens over 'challenging' contentUniversities withdraw books or make them optional in case they harm studentsAffected texts include Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground RailroadIt includes works of authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare Published: 17:01 EDT, 9 August 2022 | Updated: 17:04 EDT, 9 August 2022 Universities have applied trigger warnings to more than 1,000 texts and started removing others from reading lists to protect students from ‘challenging’ content.An investigation has revealed ten institutions – including three from the elite Russell Group – have either withdrawn books or made them optional in case they harm undergraduates.Affected texts include 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and August Strindberg’s classic play Miss Julie. The work of authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie have been given trigger warnings. An investigation has revealed ten institutions – including three from the elite Russell Group – have either withdrawn books or made them optional in case they harm undergraduatesAlmost 300 freedom of information requests were sent by The Times to all 140 UK universities asking about trigger warnings and removal of texts due to content concerns.Essex and Sussex universities admitted to pulling books for this reason – believed to be the first time it has happened at British institutions. The Underground Railroad has been ‘removed permanently’ from an Essex University course reading list because of its ‘graphic description of violence and abuse of slavery’.But a spokesman insisted the book was still available in the library and remained an option for future lists.And the University of Sussex has ‘permanently withdrawn’ Miss Julie from an undergraduate literature module due to its discussion of suicide – a decision made after students complained about the potential ‘psychological’ and ‘emotional effects’ of the material. The work of authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie have been given trigger warningsRussell Group members Warwick, Exeter and Glasgow are among those to have made texts optional, with the investigation uncovering 1,081 examples of trigger warnings on courses across the UK.The University of Exeter’s FOI response stated students of 18th and early 19th century literature can opt not to read The History of Mary Prince as it contains ‘racism, slavery and extreme violence’. They are ‘encouraged to contact the convenor to discuss alternatives’, but a spokesman said none had done so to date.Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss said: ‘Universities should not be mollycoddling students like this. It patronises them and is not good for wider public debate.’ Advertisement | Writing and Literature |
New York Historical Society/Getty Liberal education and the liberal arts have fallen on hard times of late. And if we think there’s reason to resuscitate and revive them, and still a window in which to do so, we better not rely on the bromides of the past. The most damaging accusation against a liberal arts education is that it is practically useless, even if morally and spiritually valuable. But that is simply untrue — both for individuals and for society at large. It’s easy to show how the study of medicine or business might be of use to individuals as well as to society. But when it comes to the liberal arts, and especially the humanities, showing the personal benefits or the societal benefits of Suzie learning Latin or Joey studying poetry seemed not all that obvious. In the domain of utility, the liberal arts do not bake bread, nor do they mend fractured bones; in the realm of moral virtue, they do not always work to soften a stony heart. So, let us begin with what might be the use of a liberal education for each of us as individuals. The liberal arts, properly conceived and taught, can introduce our students to the best thinkers, authors, and artists from antiquity to the present, give students exposure to what would be, for them, new ideas and perspectives, and offer them the chance to think through these matters for themselves and come to their own conclusions through reason and reflection. This might cultivate the ability in them to possess their own minds, freely, even in the face of what our culture, their peers, today’s ever-present “celebrities,” or even their more ideological professors might think. This is among the weightiest arguments for liberal education: The freedom to think, to imagine, to question, and to dissent is part of what it means to be a free man or woman. Moreover, it seems unlikely that freedom of thought and inquiry can be constricted without impinging on freedom more generally. If we learn nothing else from classic literature, the great works of philosophy, or the study of historical figures, we should see that constraining freedom of the mind today leads to control in other, perhaps all, areas of human life and flourishing later. Still, even this is not enough. I vividly remember reading in a biography of Abraham Lincoln that he ferociously studied Shakespeare, the Bible, poetry, and Jefferson not just to understand this or that better but, above all, to see what the pattern of a man’s life might be like. It was not enough for him to scan the world of learning and become more knowledgeable about many of life’s most serious matters — Lincoln wanted to see what he might be and do. That is, he needed to understand better how he should live. In overcoming our ignorance of the past through history and our ignorance of human nature through philosophy and literature, we are less likely to be ruled by slogans or unexamined opinion, less likely to be moved simply by emotion or by demagogues, and perhaps even less easily duped because we lack a conception of the evil possibilities of our common natures. In keeping with my view that we should stop overpromising the good that the liberal arts can do, I am not sure studying the liberal arts will make us better people, at least not as the world today often understands “better” — more charitable, kinder, perhaps more caring and compassionate, or, all in all, more “liberal.” There is, however, one attribute that a liberal education might indeed cultivate, though it is hardly counted as a virtue by many sides today — moderation. Perhaps this is the virtue a liberal education cultivates best, as well as the virtue for which it is often criticized most. We live, as we all recognize, in a most immoderate age. Too much is passion, too much is commitment. But consider an education that encourages us and our students to look back with openness and respect for possible guidance, to look at the most important questions from many sides, to be skeptical of the biases and felt truths of the day. Such an education will do little to turn our students into what the vocal and committed on every side want us to be — warriors for this cause on the Right or fighters for that cause on the Left. There is no dearth of extremism, of passionate intensity in this world. If the thoughtfulness cultivated by our arts can put even a small brake on our enthusiasms, or can be a decent refuge from zealotry, well, that would be a great virtue. Unquestionably, there are those in the humanities who pretend to have no idea what we’re talking about. “Of course,” they might argue, “we make our students more moral! We have taken the liberal arts from being something merely academic, merely antique and intellectual, and brought them into the realm of social justice, into the realm of politics and political activism. Through our teaching, we are producing university graduates who are progressive, supportive of all lifestyles, egalitarian in their views toward income redistribution, critical of narrow patriotism, and cosmopolitan rather than nationalistic in their worldview. Moreover, it follows that encouraging our students to be social justice activists along these political lines is part of the moral obligation of higher education.” My sense is that many if not most Americans are suspicious, even scornful, of using higher education for political purposes of any stripe. To be thoughtful, to deliberate, and to begin to understand the meaning of personal morality and social justice is one thing, but to preach to our captive audience the answers that we think we know or to be dismissive of common beliefs is another. And moral self-righteousness rarely bears the aspect of virtue. Again, thoughtfulness is a hallmark of the liberal arts, but elitist sanctimony is another reason why much of the public finds itself so alienated from the liberal arts. In trying to discern the benefits of a good liberal education to us as individuals, what shall we conclude? They can keep us from being ruled over by slogans and the untutored opinions of those around us; they can give us greater insight into matters of great importance; and, in a most practical way, they give us insight into our character and the character of those we meet. Now, let me turn this analysis away from how a liberal education might benefit us as individuals and consider what I’d most like us to see — how a liberal education is of value to our country. Let me return to what I know best, the American founding. I believe that if you told any of the founders that the highest knowledge is knowledge for its own sake, or knowledge untethered from any practical use, or learning only for our own edification and delight, or even learning for our own personal liberation, they would have found it hard to agree. Consider Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was perhaps the most liberally educated person of his day. It seems likely that he could read in six languages and was fluent in four. There was hardly a scientific teaching up to his time of which he didn’t have knowledge, nor were there many classic or philosophic texts beyond his understanding. After the Library of Congress was burned during the War of 1812, his personal library (all 6,487 books) became the basis of the new congressional library. Linguist. Scientist. Philosopher. Yes, all of that, but more than that. His education also made him an amateur archeologist, a skilled architect, a valuable diplomat, our third president, founder of the University of Virginia, and the eloquent author of those basic principles of liberty and equality that gave America hope and direction. Jefferson learned from the study of modern political philosophy the self-evident truths that lay behind the writing of his, and our, Declaration of Independence. Spurn its history or disdain its author, but know that without it and the vision of human equality that the Declaration contains, we would not be this country. Or consider Lincoln. If all his education did was make Lincoln into a private man useful to himself in his everyday life, few of us would notice, and none of us would truly care. What we should appreciate about Lincoln, and before him all the great men of the founding of our country, is the awareness that what was good for them as private intellects might also be of great value, of great use, to creating and then recreating a whole nation, perhaps a whole world. Or consider James Madison. Without his study of the troubled history of all prior democracies or his inquiries into all confederacies, both classical and modern, coupled with his deep reflection on what we were once bold to call “human nature,” Madison could not have become the father of the Constitution. Without their philosophical, political, and historical studies of the preconditions of popular governments and the nature of tyrannical rule, Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay could not have written The Federalist Papers, nor could the populace have read and understood them. It was hardly modern political science that was behind the making of America — it was the liberal arts. Or think of John Witherspoon, a professor of moral philosophy and an early president of what would later become Princeton University. In ways far from modern commencement addresses, Witherspoon famously admonished his students: “Do not live useless and die contemptible.” To Witherspoon, to go to college and not draw from it things, many things, of use to oneself and to the world at large would have seemed a tragic waste. Recognizing that among those who went to Princeton and listened to President Witherspoon were nine future Cabinet members, 12 governors, 21 senators, 39 congressmen, three Supreme Court justices, a vice president, and a president (James Madison) who was also one of five of Witherspoon’s students at the Constitutional Convention, I can only assume that Witherspoon thought it was particularly contemptible to be useless in the public realm, not just ineffectual in our private lives. Even in saying all this, we have not gone far enough. Yes, the liberal arts were able to help raise up statesmen for this country when it was most in need — at the beginning and again when we were on the brink of the great dissolve. But let us remember things more ordinary: Few of us are called to be great leaders in this or that aspect of high public life. We are called to be parents, friends, neighbors, and citizens. The study of Western civilization, its history and works and thought, was absolutely needed in our early leaders and rulers, but what of today? We live under a democratic government whose rulers are not appointed or anointed but whom we choose. Yes, the liberal arts may have once been the domain of aristocrats and gentlemen rulers, but in this democracy, we are all rulers. So, what characteristics should we want our co-rulers to have? To be ignorant of the past? Ignorant of our laws and mores and the reasons behind them? Forgetful of those who sacrificed to uphold them? Do we look for neighbors who are crude, blind to the beautiful, devoted to their own daily tasks and little else? Who in the world would want to be ruled by people like that? The list goes on. Should we, as a people, be unaware of our history or the history of other countries? Should we live in ignorance of our national principles and the arguments for them? Should we know ever so little about the roots, attractions, and limits of other principles, principles perhaps antagonistic to our own? Should we be manipulated by the latest slogan or the newest emotional crusade to come along? Should we be swayed by demagogues or by appeals to our passions and our biases? Should we choose as our leaders “celebrities” — those only known for being known? Is not the answer to all these questions evident? Madison writes in the Tenth Federalist that there were three evils — he called them “diseases” — to which all democracies historically are prone: ignorance, instability, and injustice. The last two could, he hoped, be mitigated by constitutional arrangements and institutional structures: the separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and the like. But no political arrangements could solve the first problem, ignorance. For that, a rich, broad, and liberal education would be the foremost remedy. And not only for our leaders but, just as important, for all of us who choose our leaders. As Madison wrote, “What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty & Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual & surest support?” You may rest assured that Madison did not think that what passes for liberal education today would be enough to sustain this country and our democracy. John Agresto is the former president of St. John's College and has served in senior positions at the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is the author of The Death of Learning: How American Education Has Failed Our Students and What to Do About It, from which this essay is adapted. | Writing and Literature |
For a while I considered the collapsed prestige of the English literature degree one of the important misfortunes of my life. I grew up knowing Clive James had written that literary criticism was essential to civilisation. I was aware that when the novelist Martin Amis worked at the Times Literary Supplement in the 1970s he was able to believe that English literature and criticism constituted the “core” of our culture. Both theories now seem eccentric. “Just think,” I used to growl to myself as a penniless book reviewer subsisting in a box room above one of London’s less salubrious branches of KFC, “I could have been so important! So employable!”When I left school in 2011, English was still the most popular A-level in Britain. | Writing and Literature |
TIFF: Frances O'Connor makes her directorial debut with this ravishing, safely revisionist biopic about the author of "Wuthering Heights." Despite writing one of the most rugged and enduring novels in all English literature before her 30th — and final — birthday, Emily Brontë spent the whole of her life in a suffocating environment that saw her brilliant imagination dampened at every turn. It was dampened by the patriarchy scared of her talent (“Wuthering Heights” was of course published under a pseudonym), by the individual men who knew her personally, and even sometimes by her own sisters, two of whom survived childhood to become accomplished writers themselves. Vindicating as it might be that Brontë’s one great book is still read widely some 200 years later, her remarkable victory over death pales in comparison to the poetic irony of her legacy: Few authors of any age have ever so inflamed public imagination by the mere fact of their existence. In that light, it’s easy to appreciate why Brontë’s life so naturally lends itself to the sort of film that long-time actor (“Mansfield Park,” “Bedazzled,” “A.I.”) and first-time filmmaker Frances O’Connor has made about her in “Emily,” a ravishing period drama that plays fast and loose with the facts in order to paint a portrait of the author that bleeds with the same heart-in-its-hands emotionality she had to suffuse into her work. Of course, Brontë’s blank canvas allure won’t stop purists from scoffing at O’Connor’s Gen Z-friendly decision to cast “Sex Education” star Emma Mackey in the title role (a brilliant idea, it turns out). And those same people will surely be up in arms over her melodramatic vision of how literature’s most famous middle child came to write “Wuthering Heights” — not least of all because it involves getting high on opium and giving a blowjob to the hunkiest new member of the Yorkshire clergy while Abel Korzeniowski’s vortex-like violin score goes absolutely hog wild over the soundtrack.
But such invented splashes of rebellion and romance only add to the ecstatic truth that “Emily” brings to its windswept tale of a stultified woman survived by her inner strength. They’re all the more agreeable in a movie that (mostly) eschews the presentism that’s become so en vogue in Victorian-era adaptation, and resists the urge to go full “Shakespeare in Love” in its suggestion that Brontë lived a bit of “Wuthering Heights” before she put it to paper.
And yet, it’s reasonable to assume that Brontë really did project some of her own suffering onto the tragic saga of Heathcliff and his Catherine, particularly because her lived experience was so narrow. So the trouble for a movie like “Emily” — and the insurmountable challenge that confronts O’Connor’s unremarkable but sensitively rendered script — is that its mere existence implies that someone already turned Brontë’s life into an immortal work of genius that heaves with many of the same ideas. There’s no harm in highlighting her story for a new generation, or in rekindling the embers of someone who burned too bright for this world, but even a movie as evocative and well-mounted as this one can’t help but feel like a shadow of a shadow. It traces the silhouette of “The Strange One” without ever achieving the emotionality it needs to feel her touch first-hand. Still, there’s real pleasure to be had in watching it try. Much of that stems from the film’s conception of Emily herself, which starts with the author on her deathbed (“How did you write ‘Wuthering Heights?’” her older sister demands to know), and then goes back in time to answer the question of why a super-repressed introvert — stranded on the surface of the moon, grieving the loss of her mother and two eldest siblings, and denied every chance to follow her passions — might be inspired to pen something that reflects the harshness of Victorian life. That may not be the world’s greatest mystery, but O’Connor’s film wonderfully shudders with the shock of Brontë’s time.
It’s clear from the start that Emily is as lost in her family as she is in her thoughts. Her older sister Charlotte (a suitably pinched Alexandra Dowling) is the apple of her father’s eye, her younger sister Anne (Amelia Gething) is still just a cute presence around the house, and her older brother Branwell (“Dunkirk” lead Fionn Whitehead) is just enough of a fuck-up to usurp any of the family’s leftover attention. But Emily has her stories, and — without putting too fine a point on it — there’s no doubt that she can see all sorts of powerful energies swirling around the moors that surround the Brontë house in all directions. It’s a testament to cinematographer Nanu Segal that the film’s Caravaggio-like interiors articulate those volatile auras with the same intensity as its awe-inducing shots of the landscape beyond.
The first hour of O’Connor’s leisurely film (well-paced until its endgame sprint to the finish) does a brilliant job of establishing how Emily found solace in her siblings, and also how she felt alienated from them. She’s different, to be sure — as we see in a virtuoso montage of her brief, difficult time at a school away from home — but hardly the sort of Wednesday Addams-esque proto-goth her minister father might want to hide in the attic. The film’s best scene memorably cuts to the heart of the matter (while also hinting at the bleeding heartache of Mackey’s beautiful performance), as a masked guessing game ends with Emily channeling the Brontës’ dead mother so well that we almost believe she’s being possessed. Anne and Charlotte love their sister, but they’re scared for her as well; they share the depth of her pain, but struggle to understand the impetuous ache of its expression.
Branwell has a slightly better grasp on what makes Emily tick, but the simpatico energy between them betrays a painful covetousness once Emily begins to swoon for the handsome new clergyman their father has brought in from the big city. Emily rolls her eyes at William Weightman’s (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) initial sermons about how “God is in the rain” and whatnot, but such bad writing can only do so much to hide the poetic soul behind it, and it’s only a matter of time before their long, unsubtitled French lessons — masterclasses of body language and batted lashes — lead to unsubtitled French lessons of another kind. We never believe that William is worthy of Emily, but O’Connor never really asks us to. What matters is that he stokes her lust for life, even as he’s scared by the “ungodly” talent that their secret trysts help tease out from her. Suffice it to say that Emily isn’t the only one made cruel by her terror; while everyone around her is scared of the woman she’s becoming, she’s petrified of the woman she’s supposed to be. “Emily” ultimately contrives a domino-like sequence of tragedies from that disconnect, mirroring “Wuthering Heights” in the broadest of strokes without quite bordering on déjà vu. It’s sad and well-arranged, even when it’s stunted by the palpable sense that a truly great work of art is hiding just over the horizon.
Grade: B
“Emily” premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Bleecker Street will distribute it in the United States. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. | Writing and Literature |
The right to dissent is fundamental to human development but, throughout history, writers and thinkers who have dared to challenge the orthodoxies of their time have faced persecution and violence. It takes extraordinary courage to persist in the face of mortal threats intended to intimidate, silence and terrorise.For more than 30 years, Salman Rushdie has refused to be cowed by a fatwa calling for his assassination, issued in 1989 by the late supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The violent attack on Rushdie on Friday was not just a heinous attempt on the life of one of the world’s most insightful storytellers but an attack on the right to disagree, on liberal democracy and on freedom itself.Even more shocking than the fatwa, issued when democracy looked ascendant, was the failure of democracy’s defenders to stand alongside Rushdie as he was forced into hiding for almost a decade and his associates were murdered by fanatics. Many so-called liberals, including senior British politicians, appeared more concerned to express sympathy with those he offended or to say why they disagreed with him than to unequivocally condemn those who called for his death or burned his novel The Satanic Verses in an attempt to get it banned in Britain.When Rushdie was awarded a knighthood for services to literature 18 years later, some argued it was a grievous misstep, as if the offended should have the power of veto over the celebration of exquisite talent.Rushdie has fiercely resisted attempts to define him through the threats to his life but he has become one of the most powerful champions of free expression in the face of the increasingly censorious cultures that have been allowed to flourish on the political right and left in countries such as the US and the UK. Even as people die fighting for their freedom in parts of the world, free expression rights are regarded by too many not as precious things to be defended against erosion, but to be taken for granted as won and banked.Yet as the British writer Hanif Kureishi observed: “Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it.” When the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was awarded a freedom of expression courage award by PEN America a few months after eight of its staff and four other people, including two policemen, were murdered in Paris by Islamist terrorists on 7 January 2015, more than 200 prominent writers wrote to PEN, criticising it for “valorising selectively offensive material”. In France, a teacher was decapitated in October 2020 after using satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in his lessons; in Britain, a teacher has been forced into hiding as a result to threats to his life in similar circumstances. Threats of violence against those challenging religious and secular ideologies have become commonplace. While the government has hugely expanded the powers of the police over the right to protest, British courts have ruled that police forces have been unlawfully threatening individuals expressing views on far-from-settled contemporary debates, and noted that bad-faith claims of bigotry are being weaponised to silence dissenters. Two years ago, Rushdie was the co-signatory of an important letter that warned of the consequences of growing societal intolerance of dissent.Rushdie has paid a devastating price for his defence of free expression. Let this attempt on his life be what shocks complacent liberals out of their stupor. “The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible,” he said in 2005. How right he was then, now, and always. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at [email protected] | Writing and Literature |
Conference OfferingsThe Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference was created in 2006 by author/filmmaker Clay Stafford in an effort to bring together forensic experts, writers, and fans of crime and thriller literature.Our objective is simple: to educate and empower aspiring and established writers, and connect them with other industry professionals. We pride ourselves on our intense, intimate workshops and panels, and on our close-knit community of writers.At the conference, we try diligently to ensure that the weekend has something for every writer and lover of literature, and our sessions are structured to assist writers on multiple career levels. Our learning tracks tackle the craft of writing, business of writing, marketing, and forensics.Killer Nashville features 60+ panels & workshops, nine breakout sessions for intense smaller group interaction, an authors’ bar (free for hotel guests), a moonshine and wine tasting, agent/editor roundtable pitch sessions, a mock crime scene designed by special agents and other law enforcement professionals, cocktail receptions, the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner, film previews, live music performances and—of course—all the great activities one can enjoy in downtown Nashville.Killer Nashville reserves the right to change conference offerings at any time based upon any unforeseeable circumstances. | Writing and Literature |
Terrible jobs are a staple of literature. But it is a somewhat loaded term inviting images of scrubbing toilets, cleaning vomit, etc, when, really, all jobs are terrible, otherwise they would not have to pay us to do them.I knew I wanted to write a novel about modern cultures of work. We’re working longer hours than ever and the gig economy workforce has almost tripled in the last five years. The Odyssey is set aboard a gargantuan cruise ship and explores this central contradiction: a requirement of devotion to your job which is then not reciprocated with basic security.The employees on the ship work punishing short-term “rotations”, moving around different jobs (you might be a croupier for a while, then a photographer, then a customer services assistant, then a manicurist). Ingrid, the heroine, works in one of the many gift shops when she is accepted on to a mysterious employee mentorship scheme, “the programme”, run by the ship’s captain, Keith. Keith is a devoted if ill-informed follower of wabi-sabi – a Japanese aesthetic tradition that celebrates transience and decay. Ingrid must prove her devotion to her job and to Keith as she engages in a series of cult-like tests. Still, Ingrid doesn’t think her job is terrible – she thinks it’s great! She’s searching for total obliteration of the self and she finds it.A few years ago I came across a Grace Paley interview in which she stated she cannot write a character until she knows who their family are and where they get their money: a writing practice I fully endorse. And so all fictional characters generally need a terrible job. Here are my top 10 …1. Microserfs by Douglas CouplandSet on the Microsoft campus in Washington state, Microserfs explores the feudal-like work culture at the company: the employees the novel follows are the serfs presided over by Bill Gates. It was one of the first novels to anticipate a dystopian culture in the tech industry that would soon become the norm, and one particular scene in which an employee slips “flat foods” (such as slices of processed cheese) beneath the office door of another employee, to ensure that they actually eat while working, has haunted me for 20 years.2. The Blindfold by Siri HustvedtIris Vegan is a graduate student who works as research assistant for an older, reclusive man named Mr Morning. She is tasked with cataloguing a series of objects “belonging to a girl who died three years ago” (and, it transpires, was murdered). Iris’s job is to unbox each object (a white glove, a hand mirror), study it, smell it, attempt to understand it, then record herself describing and responding to the object in a neutral whisper. Hustvedt captures the stifling mundanity of repeating a task over and over again under perplexing, stultifying constraints.Montgomery Clift in the 1958 adaptation of Miss Lonelyhearts (1958). Photograph: IMDB3 .Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael WestIn New York City during the Great Depression, an unnamed male narrator responds to letters for his advice column, which he writes under the pen name “Miss Lonelyhearts”, in perhaps the ultimate book about a terrible job. Growing increasingly despondent and burdened by the miserable New Yorkers seeking his advice, Miss Lonelyhearts searches for ways to escape – through alcohol and religion to name a couple – as he barrels towards a full-blown existential crisis. A gorgeously written and pleasingly short and sharp satire.4. Something Happened by Joseph HellerThe insanely named Bob Slocum prepares for a promotion, longs for a divorce and navigates his fear of closed doors in what Kurt Vonnegut described as “one of the unhappiest books ever written”. Sometimes criticised for being too long and meandering, which it probably is, it still has so many moments of stark absurdity, pitch black humour, and psychic unravelling, it is hard not to find it anything but an exhilaratingly masochistic joy.5. Pastoralia by George SaundersSpecifically the titular first story in the collection, about the employees of an open air theme park who play the cavemen in a diorama. They communicate with the management via fax. The unnamed narrator tells us of praise for displays of extreme commitment to their performances (eating raw meat, grooming insects from co-workers), and being punished for any concessions to actual humanity (talking in fully developed language). He eventually stops getting paid in a story so stifling (but funny!) you’ll want to step outside for a breath of fresh air once you’ve read it.Peculiarly uplifting … 1946 illustration of a scene from The Diary of a Nobody. Illustration: Culture Club/Getty Images6. Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon GrossmithWritten by two brothers, this 19th-century comic novel and class satire gives us the diary of George Pooter, a bumbling and generally easily pleased clerk at a vaguely referenced bank or accountancy firm. It recounts the daily tribulations and minor triumphs of his life and mundane job. A successful joke, a moderately interesting anecdote or a bit of gossip provide many a reason to not just get out of bed and into the office, but a reason to live, in this peculiarly uplifting novel.7. Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe and Lost in Work by Amelia HorganTwo absolutely essential non-fiction books which interrogate modern narratives surrounding work. Featuring an array of case studies from all walks of life, Work Won’t Love You Back examines the myth that work should be done for love not money, and questions the lack of validity or compensation afforded particular kinds of work (domestic labour, art). Lost in Work queries a different myth about work: that we all have access to flexible, exciting and fast-paced employment, when what is really happening is a blurring of the lines between work and pleasure (“leisure treated as something we should make profitable; each hobby a potential ‘side gig’.”).8. Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry by BS JohnsonMalry is a self-described “simple man” who wants two things: sex, and to understand how money works. His job at a London bank affords him the chance to take a bookkeeping course, in which he learns double-entry bookkeeping (a two-sided method in which every entry requires a corresponding opposite entry to a different account). Eventually bored by the bank, he quits, then later has the idea to apply this method to his own life: for each personal misfortune (“four misshapen chocolates’’) he is “credited” to act out compensatory (and increasingly violent) misdeeds against society.9. There’s No Such Thing As an Easy Job by Kikuko TsumuraThe unnamed narrator of Tsumuru’s deadpan novel walks into an employment agency in search of work that requires no reading, no writing and minimal thinking. What she finds is a series of bizarre jobs that hover around the fringes of actual work: writing self-help copy for rice cracker packets; inexplicably surveilling a novelist suspected of being in possession of “contraband”. There is a hypnotising uncanniness to this strange working world, and an odd satisfaction as the narrator pinballs from terrible job to terrible job.10. All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus MillsAnother unnamed narrator finds himself at a Lake District campsite before he plans to set out on a motorbike trip to India. He agrees to paint a gate for the campsite’s owner: seemingly a simple enough task, even if the payment for the job is vaguely skirted around. The painting of the gate leads to another task, then another, and there is always a reason he cannot continue on with his travels, perpetually something that keeps him on at the campsite. As his work becomes ever more sinister and absurd, he becomes resigned to the hopelessness of his situation – and we are resigned to never painting a gate. | Writing and Literature |
Subsets and Splits