A footnote on the British Council. I don't want to argue with what
has been said about their gig policy, but I wonder if anyone can tell
me how books are chosen for their libraries abroad. Is it up to
the particular librarian? In 1993 the British Council library in
Katowice, Poland, had some wonderful and surprising books: alongside
the English Literature Heritage Dept volumes and the English Language
textbooks were Denise Riley's 'Poets on Writing' and Ian Sinclair's
novel 'Downriver' (which mentions Katowice on the first page, but
that's coincidental and probably not the reason the novel was
purchased) and even a book of poems by Barry McSweeney (I can't
remember which). The selection of contemporary fiction was really
excellent, the poetry more limited but even so...
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|