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 ]
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She introduced Americans to new cuisines and helped transform cooking from a domestic chore to a cultural touchstone, inspiring her daughter, Alex, to be a chef. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-11 23:05:52 UTC ]
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We spoke with authors and editors of forthcoming biographies about the importance of narrative nonfiction to educate and empower kids and teens about environmental issues. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Mary-Kay Wilmers is stepping down as editor of the London Review of Books after nearly three decades in the post. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-29 16:45:23 UTC ]
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Influential editor and co-founder of the literary magazine to be succeeded by senior staffMary-Kay Wilmers is stepping down from her role as editor of the London Review of Books, a position she has held for almost 30 years.Wilmers was one of the founders of the literary magazine in 1979, along... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-29 15:28:52 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has commissioned Gifts of Gravity and Light: A Nature Almanac for the Twenty-first Century, edited by Pippa Marland and Anita Roy and featuring a foreword from Bernardine Evaristo. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-06 23:06:31 UTC ]
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Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
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Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
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Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
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Jason Reynolds: two-time National Book Award finalist, TIME 100 Next honoree, and, apparently, real-life angel. Yesterday, for Giving Tuesday, the Look Both Ways and Ghost author let us know via Twitter that he’d bought the entire inventory of his books from local bookstores across DC, so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 18:19:56 UTC ]
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You know what they say: November is the new December! When’s the best time to support your local bookstore and get holiday gifts? Well, there’s no time like the present. (Get it?) (I’m sorry.) (But seriously, support your favorite indie and check out these new books!) * Jonathan Lethem, The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-10 19:44:02 UTC ]
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After 26 years at The New Yorker, he became chief editor at Random House, overseeing works by a raft of luminaries. He wrote a half-dozen well-received books of his own. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-27 16:47:41 UTC ]
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Our commenters had some thoughtful responses to a story about novels that ended in disappointing ways. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-24 12:00:00 UTC ]
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As in life, saying goodbye is not easy for storytellers. Parting can be such sweet sorrow or such putrid disappointment. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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What do actual readers think about the books which land on the New York Times Bestseller List? A new study finds out. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-09 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Janet Wong is a graduate of Yale Law School and a former lawyer who switched careers to become a children’s author. Her dramatic career change has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN’s Paula Zahn Show, and Radical Sabbatical. She... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-05 14:35:32 UTC ]
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Interviews Monica Brown is the author of the Lola Levine chapter book series, Sarai chapter book series, and many award-winning picture books, including Waiting for the Biblioburro (illus. John Parra), Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match / Marisol McDonald... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-01 15:44:23 UTC ]
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Brit Bennett, Dara McAnulty, Kiley Reid and Rutger Bregman are among the authors shortlisted by booksellers for this year's Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 00:27:03 UTC ]
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Interviews Randy Ribay was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest. He’s the author of After the Shot Drops and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His latest book, Patron Saints of Nothing, is a powerful coming-of-age story about... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-09-29 13:14:12 UTC ]
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IN HONOR of Banned Books Week, LARB’s editors have compiled a brief anthology of essays on works of literature that were — and, in some cases, still are — officially unavailable to large groups of readers around the world, as well as interviews with authors who have faced censorship. In this... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-27 12:30:06 UTC ]
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Interviews Adib Khorram is an author, graphic designer, and tea enthusiast. Iranian American, he was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. A theater kid in high school, he went on to study design and technical theater at Southern Illinois... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-09-25 11:55:24 UTC ]
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