The Guardian UK has an interesting piece on book dedications and how they originated in the 18th century as a means to woo wealthy patrons. Today, of course, they often resemble a Hallmark card. Special attention is paid to Zadie Smith’s latest:

If there was a Lucozade prize for the sweetest dedication of the season Zadie Smith would win, hands down. On Beauty‘s dedication to Nick Laird ("for my dear Laird"- as in “laird and master") fizzes over to the acknowledgments page: “Most of all, I thank my husband, whose poetry I steal to make my prose look pretty. It’s Nick who knows that ‘time is how you spend your love’, and that’s why this book is dedicated to him, as is my life.”

The article goes on to describe how this can backfire when relationships fizzle in the future, like in the case of Peter Carey—two-time Booker winner and one-time divorcee.

You can attend a reading here with Zadie and Uzodinma Iweala on September 18; Peter Carey is joined by Heidi Julavits on November 6. Both events are part of the Unterberg Poetry Center Reading Series.