The combative broadcaster’s memoir mixes engaging snapshots of his early career with some score-settling and a robust defence of his interviewing styleJohn Humphrys is the first to admit he doesn’t deal well with authority. He inherited it from his father, who refused to use the service entrance at the grand houses where he worked as a French polisher and, as a child, once watched his aunt get a humiliating dressing-down from the vicar for missing church. Humphrys had his own brush with condescending authority figures when he was in hospital with a cyst on his spine at 13, and an “arrogant posh bastard consultant” told his retinue of trainees it was because he didn’t wash regularly. “I don’t like being defined or told what to do, whoever is in charge,” he notes, a stance that has proved useful for grilling politicians (he has interviewed eight prime ministers), though it has also landed him in hot water.His memoir mixes engaging snapshots of his early career and analysis of the evolution of broadcasting with diatribes and petty score-settling. The early chapters tell of his passage from teen lackey on the Penarth Times in Wales, where his main task was standing outside the local church taking the names of those attending weddings and funerals, to being the first journalist on the scene at the Aberfan disaster, near Merthyr Tydfil, in which 116 children and 28 adults died after a colliery tip collapsed. Later he became a BBC foreign correspondent, reporting on the 1971 war... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-10-10 06:30:10 UTC ]
In Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility, Michelle Tea chronicles her path to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40-year-old, queer, uninsured woman. The tone is irreverent, the storytelling is hilarious, and the topic—choosing to exercise one’s reproductive freedoms—is extremely timely.... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In our conversations and emails, his determination to not let the fatwa define him has been evidentThat Salman Rushdie was nearly murdered at an event in New York while talking about whether the United States was a safe haven for exiled writers is an irony he’d have rejected as too far-fetched... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-14 12:39:00 UTC ]
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A new memoir on the unfinished sexual revolution explores the difficulty of enacting one’s political beliefs in intimate spaces. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2022-08-14 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Meeting language at its most elemental place: Belinda Huijuan Tang reflects on re-learning Chinese. | Lit Hub Memoir What do animals understand about death? | Lit Hub Science “When people try too hard to pin it down, they often ruin everything that makes poetry magical.” Chris Martin on poetry,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-13 10:30:45 UTC ]
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Ingrid Rojas Contreras tells the story of her grandfather Rafael Contreras Alfonso, a Colombian healer with otherworldly gifts. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-11 14:57:38 UTC ]
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Ingrid Rojas Contreras is the author of the memoir The Man Who Could Move Clouds, available from Doubleday. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts! From the episode: Brad Listi: I want to hear you talk about creative strategies that you undertook to overcome... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-10 08:50:58 UTC ]
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Lynne Tillman’s taut memoir of caring for an aging parent runs an emotional gamut. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-08-08 19:30:06 UTC ]
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If you have unprocessed trauma, $50,000, and a sense of adventure when it comes to your mental health, a new “wellness recovery program” created by Augusten Burroughs—author of the best-selling memoir Running With Scissors—may be right up your alley. The week-long program, called Focus-Directed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-08 14:41:32 UTC ]
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Ella Risbridger muses on the pain-writing-money trifecta, Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, and memoir as fiction. | Lit Hub Criticism Lulu Miller in praise of “the uncrushable beetle.” | Lit Hub Nature How Kiki de Montparnasse, a muse with a mind of her own, “essentially invented the idea of making an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-06 10:30:41 UTC ]
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'iCarly' and 'Sam & Cat' star Jennette McCurdy says in her new memoir that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 not to talk about her experiences there. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-06 01:42:15 UTC ]
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Little, Brown buys a memoir from MacArthur fellow Nicole Fleetwood, Spiegel & Grau takes on a debut novel, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This week on The Maris Review, CJ Hauser joins Maris Kreizman to discuss her new memoir in essays, The Crane Wife, out now from Doubleday Books. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts. * On the beauty of the second person: I have a beloved teacher, the writer Mark... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-04 08:52:39 UTC ]
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'This Goes Out to the Underground: A Mother, Her Daughter, and How We All Rise Together,' the debut memoir from Pardis Mahdavi, was canceled by Hachette Book Group shortly before its planned July 26 release. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“It seemed like having a kid was the only adventure I hadn’t undertaken.” Michelle Tea on embracing (unconventional) motherhood. | Lit Hub Memoir Are contemporary novels that don’t acknowledge the pandemic just alt-history? Clare Pollard has thoughts. | Lit Hub Criticism “For every pet that’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-02 10:30:03 UTC ]
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As you all undoubtedly know, Britney Spears landed a $15 million book deal with Simon & Schuster earlier this year. Her untitled memoir is apparently already finished(!) and her team was vying for a January 2023 release date… until the paper shortage reared its ugly head, baby, one more... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 16:05:23 UTC ]
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Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner of National Novel Writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:12 UTC ]
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Lori Garver's new memoir details her struggles to get NASA colleagues to embrace SpaceX and Blue Origin. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2022-07-29 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Ghostwritten book, with interviews conducted mostly during ‘peak rage’, expected to be published by end of yearThe manuscript is, reportedly, written; the ink now dry. Publication is said to be on course to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market.Few crumbs, if any, of the contents of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-29 11:04:37 UTC ]
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“The US immigration system knows I am here. I shudder to think where my information is stored within the government apparatus and for what purpose.” Luz Aguirre on living as an undocumented American. | Lit Hub Memoir The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in August, from the Sandman... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-29 10:30:57 UTC ]
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From a memoir about African-Jewish cooking, Koshersoul, to one about grieving our pets, Good Grief, these new memoirs take a different approach to the genre. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-28 10:33:00 UTC ]
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