Monday, May 17

I’ve had an email from Signe Bergstrom, my editor at HarperCollins New York with some interesting news. There is to be an e-book version of South African Art Now, the large sized hardcover overview of contemporary art in this country which was launched in October last year.

The book is going electronic!

Signe explained that with the launch of the Apple i-Pad, technology has caught up with the reproduction of colour images. The first electronic device designed as a hand held device which would allow e-books to be read page by page was The Kindle, (which became available in South Africa late last year, at a cost of about R3000). The problem with The Kindle was that it could handle black and white text and images only.

Now that the Apple i-Pad is here with its groundbreaking full colour technology, HarperCollins is in the process of converting all their titles to an e-book format. The permissions form HarperCollins required artists signed to allow reproduction of their works in the book anticipated this development, and covered electronic reproduction.

Of course, the i-Pad costs a bit more than The Kindle, and is being advertised online here at R7599. But it would be nice to carry round your entire library in your pocket.

In the meantime, the book (the one with paper pages) continues to sell nicely in the States, garnering reviews in such unlikely publications as Urban Ink ‘the Tattoo magazine for people of color’.