When I first joined a workshop in 1994, American literary fiction was dominated by and continually lauded a “quiet” kind of writer, one often influenced by J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, or Raymond Carver. I loved literary fiction—I’d been reading, writing, and submitting it since high school. But what nagged at the corners of my mind […] The post 12 Books That Prove the Literary/Genre Distinction is Bogus appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'
[ Electric Literature | 2019-08-16 11:00:22 UTC ]
On March 28, Small Press Distribution (SPD), the 55-year old company that helped 385 indie publishers deliver their books to customers, collapsed without warning. This is an existential blow in a business where finances are delicate at the best of times. Books remain stranded in warehouses and... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-26 11:10:00 UTC ]
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Journalist Sasha Vasilyuk’s debut novel Your Presence Is Mandatory is a poignant look at the reverberating effects of war through the story of a Ukrainian World War II veteran’s struggle to hide a damaging secret for the sake of his family. Vasilyuk’s book begins with death—the first chapter... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-25 11:00:00 UTC ]
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With March Madness and the Super Bowl recently crowning champions and the Grammys and Oscars awarding music and movies, it’s finally time for the literary world to have its own big moment in the sun. And that can only mean one thing: It’s Pulitzer time! While there are many book awards that... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-19 11:15:00 UTC ]
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In January 2016, I was an unpublished writer working on my first novel when I learned of an artist residency on a tiny island off the west coast of South Korea. Excited, I daydreamed of finishing my manuscript in my motherland, visiting family, and of course, eating an abundance of delicious... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-18 11:05:00 UTC ]
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I have always loved the versatility of the short story, how it can so easily take on the forms of other things. There are playlist short stories, recipe short stories, diary and epistolary-style short stories. There are flash fiction stories, short short stories, and long short stories that... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Homeseeking, the highly-anticipated debut novel by Karissa Chen, which will be published by Putnam on January 7th, 2025. You can pre-order your copy here. An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:10:00 UTC ]
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I suspect many writers spend hours and hours at their local library and, if they’re anything like me, they can often feel like they’re swallowed up in a grandiose, if not downright mythological reservoir of knowledge. I remember living in Los Angeles, going to the Los Angeles Public Library,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Short stories can do things novels cannot because they’re short. They’re limber and can dart in and out of close-fitting places. They can be weird and daring in ways that novels cannot always sustain. Joy Williams writes in, “8 Essential Attributes of the Short Story (and one way it differs from... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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I was balancing a plate of honeydew in the green room of a book festival when I walked by a white man bemoaning the state of the publishing industry. The man wore a suit, and he spoke to a white woman; both of them looked to be in their 40s. As the man speared a […] The post I Don’t Have To... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-27 11:05:00 UTC ]
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The biting cultural commentary that emanates from the pages of Alexandra Tanner’s debut novel Worry is like the too-bright light of a smartphone screen at night, pulling you closer and keeping you absorbed late into the night. One year following a secret suicide attempt that only Jules, our... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Rita Bullwinkel’s debut novel Headshot takes place in the confines of a boxing ring in Reno, Nevada, over two days of championship matches to determine the winner of the 12th Annual Women’s 18 & Under Daughters of America Cup. Her protagonists, eight teenage girls, fight each other in a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Leslie Jamison’s new memoir Splinters follows the aftermath of divorce and the awakening of motherhood, but it explores desire more than it does any kind of death. Jamison wants to make meaning, to connect, to love, to feel, to mother, to write, and to revise her life endlessly. There are losses... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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When I began writing my unborn son a letter in 2018, a book was the furthest thing from my mind. I wasn’t trying to unpack the countless ways in which the words “all men are created equal” have failed us in this country. Instead, I was thinking that I would write a letter, something that […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Every Tuesday, a wave of new books is published, fresh off the printing press onto the shelves of bookstores around the world. Even for a book editor like me, it gets overwhelming to keep track of all the forthcoming titles. So we’ve turned to our most trusted source for recommendations: indie... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-29 12:00:00 UTC ]
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From one girl’s aspiration to Olympic gymnastics glory, to a boy’s stint living in the Idaho wilderness in hopes of fixing his unruly behavior, something that remains a guiding principle in Black storytelling is the breadth of our lives. These stories, a collection of some of EL’s most-loved... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
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When I was ghostwriting full-time, I produced twenty books in fourteen years. Thanks to a suggestion from my literary agent, I realized a ghostwriter might make a great heroine—they’re under tremendous pressure, often while adjacent to the fame machine—so Mari Hawthorn, the ghostwriter at the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-15 12:05:00 UTC ]
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Ah yes. Literature. The vehicle through which we may explore faraway lives we would have otherwise never imagined. From my little, rugged armchair, I can witness forbidden love in the 18th century. Peek into a bustling kitchen in New York City. Discover the dramatic betrayal that fractured the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Temim Fruchter’s debut novel centers around a young woman, Shiva, seeking answers about her family’s past after the death of her father. Told in revolving perspectives, between women in Shiva’s family and a mysterious, omniscient narrator, the book explores the interior lives of women,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-01-24 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Temim Fruchter’s debut novel centers around a young woman, Shiva, seeking answers about her family’s past after the death of her father. Told in revolving perspectives, between women in Shiva’s family and a mysterious, omniscient narrator, the book explores the interior lives of women,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-01-24 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The new memoir in essays Sex With a Brain Injury from Annie Liontas, author of the novel Let Me Explain You, is a highly formally and thematically risky work of nonfiction exploring traumatic brain injury (TBI), queerness, addiction, mass incarceration, and chronic illness. Weaving “history,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-01-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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