Mountains to Sea Festival 2010 | Readers, Writers and the Digital Revolution

I have attended a few of the events this week in the Mountains to Sea Book Festival, but this forum discussion will be the highlight on Sunday – Readers, Writers and the Digital Revolution.

The preview from the official Mountains to Sea Book Festival site:

Recently, Jeff Bezos reported that Amazon now sells more e-books than new hardbacks. What does this portend for the future of reading? Are traditional bookshops, the paperback, the novel itself facing extinction? A stellar panel of experts debates the question – how will we be reading in the year 2020?

Tim Waterstone was the greatest bookseller of his generation. Founded in 1982, the Waterstone’s chain changed our reading and book-buying habits fundamentally. He sold Waterstone’s in 1993 and is now a novelist and business speaker.

Rachel Cooke is a writer and columnist at The Observer and The New Statesman. In 2006, she was named Interviewer of the Year at the British Press Awards. She is an impassioned champion of books and libraries.

Jamie Byng is among the most dynamic of UK publishers. In his mid-twenties he bought out Canongate Books, and turned it into an ultra-hip haven for writers as diverse as Yann Martel, Nick Cave and Barack Obama.

Matthew Kneale is the author of five novels the most famous of which, English Passengers, won the Whitbread Award in 2000. He was born in London, read history at Oxford and now lives in Rome.

The discussion will be moderated by Eoin Purcell Editor, Irish Publishing News.