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ARTICLE: Reading Between the Lines - Katie Ives

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 UKC Articles 12 Nov 2019
Katie Ives, Editor-in-Chief of Alpinist magazine. In this series of interviews, prominent climbing writers share their reading habits between—or even during—routes and expeditions, focusing not only on the growing realm of mountain literature, but also on books of other genres that have informed their thinking and writing.

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 Sean Kelly 12 Nov 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

Not sure what I was expecting but that was an interesting read and informed more fully about one of the judges for the forthcoming BT award. We then realise where they are coming from, so to speak. she certainly has some diverse reading influences. Thanks for posting and I will continue to read books in hard copy.

 john arran 12 Nov 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

My one experience of working with Katie was in 2005, after our successful Angel Falls climb.

Because the ascent generated a lot of interest from climbing news sources around the world, I'd written a few different write-ups for different magazines, which had then been translated into numerous languages.

Alpinist wanted something different, so I wrote a longer, more involved and more emotional piece, which I remember being quite pleased with.

The reply from Katie came back brimming with further ideas and suggestions for a substantial rewrite which, initially, I resented. I'd put a lot of effort in and created something good already. But then I saw the added value potential and started working to implement her ideas and suggestions.

The result turned out to be one of the most satisfying things I've ever written, and I'm not too proud to admit that I would never have got there without her help and her creative insight.

Thank you (somewhat belatedly!) Katie!

 benw681 14 Nov 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

‘I confess to some pleasure from… a rattling oath in the mouth of truckmen and teamsters. How laconic and brisk it is by the side of a page from The North American Review.’

IMO ‘elegantly constructed sentences’ are a trap.

There is a faux-grandeur to some mountaineering writing – though not all. Hayden Kennedy was a brilliant writer.

A lot of climbers like fantasy writing like Lord of the Rings and there is a proliferation of it in modern culture – His Dark Materials, Even Killing Eve was fantastical - but in essence it is still writing for children, really.

Alpinist looks like a fine magazine but I rarely get past the pictures. Katie Ives is right when she likens it to a fantasy landscape – at least for us Brits with our scrambles and our Munros, or our Alpine Club and our aristocracy. Mountaineering literature is perhaps best thought of as something you put on a shelf and is a good remedy for an insomniac night.

Post edited at 17:16
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 Michael Gordon 14 Nov 2019
In reply to benw681:

Do you mean that fantasy as a genre is 'writing for children', or just the examples you give?

pasbury 14 Nov 2019
In reply to benw681:

A lot of generalisations there! And most without the kernel of truth that gives them any value.

1
 felt 14 Nov 2019
In reply to john arran:

> Alpinist wanted something different, so I wrote a longer, more involved and more emotional piece, which I remember being quite pleased with.

"Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson


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