The Collision of Technology and Literature

Everywhere we turn these days, it seems as if technology is changing the way we experience literature. Amazon's Kindle is growing in popularity, more people get their news from the web than from print newspapers (with the result of print newspapers dying out faster than you can say "RSS feed"), and authors are interacting with fans on a whole new level via Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

I think the jury's still out with regards to how this all affects literature overall, but I have the say its brought about some interesting things. I'm a fan of Twitter; I use it regularly. So do a number of authors, all of whom embrace the opportunity to talk directly to and with their fans. First Issue Blog has compiled an extensive list of authors, both non-fiction and fiction alike, who have Twitter accounts and participate in the community. You can check out the link to see if your favorite author made the list, but I want to highlight a few of my favorites:

John Hodgman (@hodgman), best known for the "Mac/PC" commercials, is also a hilarious humorist who writes fantastic books about absolutely nothing; Paulo Coelho (@paulocoelho), the Brazilian author who wrote the brilliant allegorical novel, The Alchemist; Stephen Fry (@stephenfry), again better known as an actor, but someone who is also a well-regarded and successful novelist and playwright; Cory Doctorow (@doctorow), who's Hugo-nominated novel, Little Brother, was one of the best science-fiction novels of the year; Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself), one of my all-time favorite sci-fi/fantasy writers whose work includes Stardust, The Graveyard Book, and Coraline; and lastly, Laurie Halse Anderson (@halseanderson), the critically acclaimed YA author of Speak and Wintergirls.

And if that wasn't enough to tempt you to join the Twitter dark side, you can even participate in a virtual book club. Organized by @booksquare and linked by the hash tag #tbc (i.e., Twitter Book Club), anyone can read the book on their own, then join in to discuss with book lovers all across the country and world. The first "meeting" will take place on May 16th at 6pm (EST, I presume); the first book up for discussion is Colson Whitehead's Sag Harbor.

So what do you think, bookworms? How has technology changed the way you interact with literature?

[Twitter Bird image from Google Image Search]