Bookish blogs

Here I am, jetlagged and happy, back in the UK with a big red suitcase stuffed full of blogs to add to the Manchester blogroll. I'll begin with a few blogs of the literary persuasion. First up is the excellent literary blog the Art of Fiction. The man behind the blog is Adrian Slatcher, who also edits the Manchester-based literary review Lamport Court. It offers "comments on the literary scene, and thoughts on the creative process."

While not outwardly identified as a Mancunian blog, Ready Steady Book, a big, beautifully produced group blog concerned with all things literary, makes the blogroll because both blog founder Mark Thwaite and blog designer Kelle Link (nice job, Kelle) live in Manchester.

I also class as literary those blogs which exist mainly as an outlet for creative writing. People have just begun to explore the possiblities of using blogs as a vehicle for a narrative or as a way to experiment with characters or voices. In the sprit of ambiguity I direct you to Community Fair, which landed in my inbox a couple of weeks ago. It's a narrative that appears to emanate from within a government programme in Manchester. Read it from the bottom up, and decide for yourself whether it's real or not.

Correction (26/1):

Mark from Ready Steady Book has set me straight: RSB is not a group blog, and, in fact, it's a whole lot more than just a blog ... it's a literary website. Whoops. Mark writes:

"Not a group blog - only I blog here on RSB - but we do have many contributors adding reviews to the site. On the local front, watch out for some minisites dedicated to local writers and poets coming soon ... "

Cheers Mark, we'll be looking forward to that.