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 ]
A new Superman comic, written by Gene Luen Yang, and a medical memoir about a rare and debilitating disease are both featured in the latest Graphic Content column. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-16 09:00:09 UTC ]
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Fifty years ago this month Jim Bouton set the baseball world on fire. His kindling was Ball Four, a book that torched everything the game’s standard bearers held sacred. There had been sports diaries before, which, structurally-speaking, was what Ball Four was, but there had never been a sports... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-15 08:48:10 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK has acquired Christa Parravani’s "harrowing and beautifully written" memoir Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of Choice, Children, and Womanhood for its new literary imprint Manilla Press. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 17:12:09 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Sejal Shah, author of the memoir-in-essays This is One Way to Dance, published by the University of Georgia Press. Shah’s essays, many of which are about race, place, and belonging, were written over a span of 20 years,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-10 19:00:31 UTC ]
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The sadness, exhaustion, anger and frustration that have been expressed by Black people across social media this week have, of course, been felt for centuries.But, by living so much through our screens right now, observing video footage, scrolling through reposted statements and infographics,... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-06-05 16:46:27 UTC ]
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Among the notable deals last week were the sale of a memoir from a PBS NewsHour correspondent, a novel about a woman who gives birth to an owl, and international bestseller Michel Faber’s latest novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘How to Be an Antiracist’ and other books addressing systemic racism return to our bestseller lists. Plus musician Mikel Jollett debuts with the memoir ‘Hollywood Park,’ and science journalist James Nestor discusses the importance of ‘Breath.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Katy Waldman reviews “The Shapeless Unease,” by Samantha Harvey, a memoir about the author’s yearlong battle with chronic insomnia. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2020-06-04 18:55:26 UTC ]
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Little A, an imprint of Amazon Publishing, will publish Matt Greene's memoir, Jew(ish): A Plea. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-04 01:10:30 UTC ]
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“The Dragons, the Giant, the Women” is a migration memoir of separations, relocations and reunions. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-02 09:00:08 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Matt Ortile, author of the memoir The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I’ve Made About Race, Resistance and Romance, published by Bold Type Books. Ortile writes about owning his identity as a gay,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-01 20:04:21 UTC ]
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Transworld has bought UK and Commonwealth rights for memoir The Bright Field by Margaret Reynolds, professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 08:56:53 UTC ]
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W&N has acquired Miss Aluminium, a memoir by Susanna Moore describing her experiences in Hollywood in the 1970s and her own "hard-won arrival at selfhood". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-31 19:23:49 UTC ]
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My approach to memoir writing demands a different schedule. It may be more organized. I take notes, I write in condensed bursts. I do that with poetry also, but the process is more alchemic. It’s uncontainable. It’s fluid, I can drift in another realm. The post I Didn’t Have a Plan: The Millions... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-05-29 10:00:01 UTC ]
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Christian singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken brings her debut to B&H, Convergent signs a mother and son’s memoir about opioid addiction, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Patrik Svensson mixed natural history with memoir for his debut, which has become a surprise best seller and award winner in his native Sweden. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-22 09:00:23 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Stephanie Danler, author of the 2016 bestselling novel Sweetbitter, and now the memoir Stray, just published by Knopf. In the book, Danler poignantly tackles a variety of issues, including: the destructive nature of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-21 17:00:57 UTC ]
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"Hollywood Park," a new memoir from the frontman for the Airborne Toxic Event, recounts his childhood in L.A.'s Synanon cult — and his recovery. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-20 16:33:40 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has acquired Bananarama's memoir Really Saying Something in a "strong" six-figure deal, and will publish this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-20 05:26:25 UTC ]
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Stephanie Danler’s memoir Stray invites us to look closely at our own life: our family dynamics, our loss, our trauma, and the moments of happiness that still exist within that fragile frame. With deep introspection and stunning prose, Danler tells us about the years she spent after writing her... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-19 11:00:55 UTC ]
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