Save Our Libraries Day

Today is an important day for anybody who believed in the power of reading and knowledge through books in quiet libraries. Throughout UK, the British people are out protesting on Save Our Libraries Day today because 400 libraries are under threat of closure due to budget constraints.

Therefore with the support of many writers, the British citizens protested against this decision by taking part in mass-reads, author events and much more.

This is sad news for people because libraries provide a free source of countless knowledge. Parents, writers and children have all shown their displeasure towards such a ridiculous decision.

I think it not at all a positive sign for any society. Here we wish for more and libraries where people could acquire more knowledge; where children group up going through all the wonderful children's books. It is an experience and a lifestyle that should be promoted rather than closing down libraries. In modern age, we have well equipped libraries with computers and internet. I think this is one of the most stupidest things I have heard. Who the hell closes down libraries?What is so wrong with a decent institution and noble practice of reading? Or is it all a thing of the past?

Writers 'at greater risk of depression', survey finds

Writing is one of the top 10 professions in which people are most likely to suffer from depression, with men particularly at risk from the illness.



Irregular pay and isolation contribute to the propensity for writers to succumb to depression, says the site, with nearly 7% of male artists and writers likely to suffer a major episode of the illness.

Novelist Simon Brett, who has acknowledged his own struggles with depression, agreed with the tenor of the findings, citing writer suicides including Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, Anne Sexton and Arthur Koestler.

"You spend long hours sitting on your own," he said. "Writing can be wonderful therapy, but you are digging into yourself, and if you are writing fiction and creating characters, a certain amount of self-examination and self-doubt is inevitable." Many writers are also introverted, quiet people, and find it stressful to have their work assessed publicly, Brett added

There are two points in the novel-writing cycle when authors are particularly vulnerable, he believes. "Almost every writer I know goes through the same reaction after a novel is finished – there are 24 hours of euphoria and then all the negative thoughts you have shut out while finishing it come out, and either you get drunk or depressed or get the flu.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/13/writers-depression-top-10-risk?CMP=twt_fd