Lit Lists Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate a single book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a brief statement explaining their choice. We published the longlist and then invited readers to vote on their favorites. Here are the top vote recipients, followed by the respective nominating statements: 1. M. NourbeSe Philip, Zong! 2. Deborah Levy, Things I Don’t Want to Know: On Writing 3. John FitzGerald, The Mind 4. Roberto Bolaño, 2666 5. (tie) Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing, and W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz To mark the occasion of Zong! winning the readers’ poll, M. NourbeSe Philip and Philip Metres recently took part in an email interview about the book. It will be published tomorrow on the WLT Weekly. M. NourbeSe Philip Zong! Wesleyan University Press, 2008 I discovered M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong! only after I’d written abu ghraib arias, when critics saw parallels in the work. Zong! is at once a brilliant documentary long poem and a sort of ritual exorcism of the demons of the slave trade. Built out of the language of the legal document of Gregson v. Gilbert, Zong! brings to light the murder of Africans on board a slave ship in 1781 for financial gain. The kidnapped and enslaved Africans had been purposely thrown overboard so that the owner of the Zong could benefit from his insurance policy. Philip’s visionary use of the burying language... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-28 13:32:05 UTC ]
Last year, Timothy Snyder published a very short book titled On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century. A Yale professor who had been known for his work on World War II—specifically for his history Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin—Snyder’s focus on how to keep autocracy... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2018-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s Books has bought a middle-grade book about a mouse whose home is bombed in World War Two by debut writer Anna Fargher. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has revealed it is publishing a posthumous collection of "powerful" short stories by Helen Dunmore, a day after the late author was given the Costa Award for Poetry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A literary historical début, the redemptive tale of two sisters torn apart by the Second World War, breaks the long-held silence on the plight of Korea’s "comfort women". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The historian did important work on the Peterloo massacre and the suffragette movement, says Lindsey German, and deserves greater prominence than the failed memoir forger Clifford IrvingIt shows a somewhat strange priority that your main obituary on 27 December described the life of Clifford... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Children’s will publish what is believed to be the first ever all-female authored Doctor Who collection of short stories, with input from writers Jenny Colgan, Dorothy Koomson, Scottish comedian Susan Calman and Doctor Who author Jacqueline Rayner. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The literary editor and memoirist turns 100 this month, and what better way to celebrate than answering Guardian readers’ questions? She’ll be online on Monday 11 December from 2pm GMT 3.14pm GMT On 21 December 21, Diana Athill will be 100 years old. This is an achievement in itself, though... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Raymond Chandler, the crime novelist, in 1946. One of his short stories, “It’s All Right — He Only Died,” was recently discovered and published by Strand Magazine, a literary quarterly. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired To War with the Walkers, a new social history of World War Two, following a five-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every era has its own fairy tales—fables that teach children what a princess looks like, and what monsters they should fear. According to the short stories in Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado’s exhilarating debut collection, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction, our... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2017-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion has acquired "a hilarious and heartwarming" début by Caroline Hulse at auction and a collection of short stories from Man Booker shortlistee Emily Fridlund. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Walker Books will publish a new collection of short stories from American YA author Cassandra Clare featuring characters from the bestselling Shadowhunter world. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egmont Publishing has signed a new deal between Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Barroux based on the "epic", true story of Morpurgo’s uncles during World War Two. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tickets to actor Tom Hanks' only event in the UK to promote his new collection of short stories, Uncommon Type (William Heinemann), have sold out in under two hours. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Connelly has the #1 book in the country with series launch ‘The Late Show.’ Plus Joshua Green’s ‘The Devil’s Bargain’ looks at the relationship between Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, and ‘World War Z’ author Max Brooks writes the first official Minecraft novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber is to publish Sleep No More, a new collection of short stories from the late "Queen of Crime" P D James. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Natalie Dye’s debut novel about the sinking of the Arandora Star ship during World War Two, killing 865 people, has been optioned for television. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comedian Whitney Cummings hosted novelists Stephen King and his son Owen, Claire Messud, Jesmyn Ward, astronaut Scott Kelly, and former White House photographer Pete Souza at the BookExpo Adult Author's Breakfast. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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These literary gems are proof that good things come in small packages. How many classic short stories have you read? How much do you know about their authors? Take our quiz and find out. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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