Shetland literature has a short history. Or, more accurately, the long history of Shetland literature has been truncated — the result of a double disadvantage, as far as official histories are concerned: an oral culture, in which few people could read or write, and a language that died out before literacy became widespread.The Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland would once have been rich in songs, poems and stories, spoken and sung in Norn (the closest extant relative of which is Faroese). But after Shetland became part of Scotland, in the late fifteenth century, the language was gradually replaced by a distinctive local variant of Scots. And by the time cultural collectors began to take an interest in such things, a few hundred years later, Norn was pretty much gone. Only a single full-length ballad, ‘Hildina’, was ever transcribed.Romanticising the pastWhen writers from Shetland did begin to publish their work, in the early nineteenth century, the islands were already being written about by authors from elsewhere. Most significantly, Walter Scott used the islands as the setting for his 1822 novel The Pirate, in which he imagined a rather glamorous version of Shetland’s history, with a particular emphasis on its Norse heritage. That portrayal, by one of the world’s most famous authors, was influential, but it also highlights a conundrum for writers in the islands: A romanticised, exoticised depiction of Shetland may be more appealing to readers than one that shows the... Continue reading at 'British Council global'
[ British Council global | 2020-02-13 12:54:04 UTC ]
Rafael Agustin dishes about "Illegally Yours," his candid new memoir about a childhood without documents, and the TV pilot that never made it. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-07 13:00:42 UTC ]
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“I grew up working class and money was a factor in everything we did,” says the poet and novelist, whose new book is the memoir “Crying in the Bathroom.” “That’s why I always write about the financial realities of my characters.” Continue reading at The New York Times
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"The Pallbearers Club" is presented as a found memoir manuscript, complicated by the contradictory annotation of an enigmatic woman. Continue reading at The Washington Post
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Dive into a tender coming-of-age memoir by Isaac Fitzgerald, a biography of Vladimir V. Putin and novels from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Bolu Babalola and Daniel Nieh. Continue reading at The New York Times
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Solitary confinement is a form of torture that the prison system makes commonplace. Continue reading at Slate
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'Our neurodiversity is a gift,' as Pan Mac/Picador's commentary about Jen Hadfield's 'The Stone Age' positions her 'visionary panpsychism.' The post Scotland’s Highland Book Prize Goes to Jen Hadfield’s ‘The Stone Age’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-06-22 18:57:49 UTC ]
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Arceneaux, an astronaut on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 last September, describes how having cancer as a child changed her faith and the rest of her life in ‘Wild Ride: A Memoir of IV Drips and Rocket Ships’ (Convergent, Sept. 6). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?At the end of March, a book that had been condemned to die came back to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-18 08:00:13 UTC ]
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After publishing a tell-all memoir about her family’s struggles with undiagnosed mental illness, Lindsay Wong was surprised by their reaction when she moved back in with her parents during the pandemic. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-06-17 15:51:56 UTC ]
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Spiegel & Grau takes on actor Rob Delaney’s memoir about the death of his young son, Julia Fine sells a novel set in 18th-century Venice to Flatiron, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
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A memoir of Ativan withdrawal, a British Jamaican coming-of-age on the streets of Bristol, a tour of the sensory world of the animal kingdom, and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-16 09:00:27 UTC ]
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Ada Calhoun hoped to finish a biography of O’Hara once started by her father, the art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Instead, she wrote a searching memoir about creativity and family. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-15 02:06:51 UTC ]
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“In a perversion of all laws of the universe, I’m about to read my father a story before bedtime.” Séamas O’Reilly on reading his memoir to the man who taught him to love books (and skipping over the hardest bits). | Lit Hub Memoir Lousy at first impressions: When tomatoes made their debut in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
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In her memoir “Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me,” Ada Calhoun set out to write a poet’s biography and found a connection to her father instead. Continue reading at The New York Times
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The comedian’s memoir was funny. But when the new show based on it tries for something deeper, it sinks into bathos. Continue reading at The New York Times
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In the memoir “James Patterson by James Patterson,” the best-selling author opens up — kind of — about how he came to be such a force in the literary world. Continue reading at The Washington Post
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The actress who became America’s sweetheart in “Dirty Dancing” explores how her looks -- and her alteration of them -- affected her career Continue reading at The Washington Post
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Charles McGrath’s “The Summer Friend” recounts happy days and the gut punch of an untimely death. Continue reading at The New York Times
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In "Mean Baby," "Cruel Intentions" star Selma Blair discusses the very long road to her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis with charm and candor. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
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The best audiobooks 2022 has to offer includes everything from memoir to literary fiction and even poetry. Find your next listen! Continue reading at Book Riot
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