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 ]
Taylor Harris discusses 'This Boy We Made,' her memoir on seeking answers about her son, the anxieties of Black parenting and her evolving faith Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-01-11 14:00:41 UTC ]
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In “I Came All This Way to Meet You,” the novelist reveals how far she’s traveled — and how many obstacles she’s cleared — to get where she is now. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-11 10:00:05 UTC ]
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In “Lost & Found,” Kathryn Schulz explores the confluence of death, love and hope. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-11 10:00:05 UTC ]
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At the Guardian, Jami Attenberg, author of the recent memoir I Came All This Way to Meet You, reflects on how a key moment of rejection allowed her to carve out her own path as a writer. “I’m old enough to realise that there is one more important part to carving out your creative life: … The... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-01-10 21:30:10 UTC ]
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of the memoir "Lost and Found" unpacks the meaning and importance of joy and grief — and conjuctions. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-01-10 14:00:30 UTC ]
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A messay is a combination of memoir and essay. But something beautiful happens when you smash these words together. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-10 11:38:00 UTC ]
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Canbury Press has landed the first memoir by a Uyghur survivor of China’s "re-education" camps. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-10 06:03:11 UTC ]
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Bernstein’s memoir “Chasing History” is a personal and affectionate look at the past, when journalism was thriving. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-07 20:51:59 UTC ]
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Interviews Victoria Chang’s new collection, Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters. It prompts us to ask, with her,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-05 19:50:39 UTC ]
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Kathryn Schulz’s memoir places the totalizing experience of loss on a continuum with the summons of romantic and even religious love. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-04 20:12:44 UTC ]
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For those of us who want to become real writers—whatever that means—the countless resources available can feel a bit dry and uninspired, ranging from tired but true clichés to well-lauded craft books (Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir on Craft sits dustily on my shelf). Many of us find... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Telling your story in a book is hard enough. But what if it ends up on screen? Adam Kay, writer of This Is Going to Hurt, and Dolly Alderton, who penned Everything I Know About Love, relive the shocksMore cultural highlights of 2022Most people find seeing themselves on screen distinctly... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-29 14:00:23 UTC ]
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The unsparing observer of US culture, politics and public life won huge acclaim for her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking• Read Alex Clark’s interview with Joan Didion from February 2021• Obituary: Joan DidionJoan Didion, the eminent journalist, author and anthropologist of contemporary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-23 17:19:56 UTC ]
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Ai Weiwei’s memoir “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows” pushes back against the Chinese government’s efforts to silence him and his poet father. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-12-20 22:31:48 UTC ]
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Serpent's Tail has bagged a post-apocalyptic novel and a memoir from 2020 Goldsmiths Prize winner M John Harrison, who is leaving his long-term publisher Gollancz after 40 years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-19 23:45:16 UTC ]
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White went from the streets of Baltimore to the philharmonic. In his memoir "I'm Possible," he tells the story of how he transformed his life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-18 13:00:13 UTC ]
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Stephanie Land’s best-selling memoir inspired the popular Netflix series. She’s not done fighting for people navigating the red tape of poverty. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-16 10:00:03 UTC ]
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Nine Eight Books, the music imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired the “compelling and pertinent memoir” from 1960s soul legend P P Arnold. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-15 22:10:47 UTC ]
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The beloved Guardian writer finished Holding Tight, Letting Go before she died of cancer earlier this yearA memoir by the late journalist Sarah Hughes, who died from cancer earlier this year, will be published next March, tackling topics from planning your own funeral to the importance of trashy... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-13 14:25:04 UTC ]
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A student of mine was writing a memoir about being in an abusive marriage. She’d divorced her husband in middle age and returned to college, and her prose was stark and beautiful. After a few months, however, her classmates grew restless. “He was horrible,” they said. “A bullying jerk.” Still,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-13 09:51:42 UTC ]
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