A Leningrad Underworld: Polina Barskova’s Living Pictures, by Sibelan Forrester Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 03/27/2023 - 16:33 Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel / Unsplash What is the role of the past in our psychic universe? What happens to us if we learn only later about terrible things that took place in our streets, our parks, our own families, revealing dark tunnels beneath everything we thought we understood? Questions like these may strike anyone who grew up in the former Soviet Union, with its repressions and labor camps, but they are especially urgent for a poet and scholar born in in Leningrad like Polina Barskova, author of a new collection published by New York Review Books. Living Pictures (2022), translated by Catherine Ciepiela, refers to a game where participants dress up and assume the poses of famous paintings, quite different from charades—a game more familiar to anglophone readers. Born in 1976, Barskova debuted as a poetic prodigy, her first book published when she was nine. She left the Russian Federation at twenty for graduate school, then became a college professor in the United States with a research program focused on writing from the Siege of Leningrad (1941–44). Leningrad has sunk into history, with the city once again called by its original name, St. Petersburg (Sankt Peterburg). With so many personal ties to the place, Barskova is particularly qualified to study the topic and particularly... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2023-03-27 21:33:19 UTC ]
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In 2008, I published my first book, Please Excuse My Daughter, a memoir about my mother and me and how I grew up, and it dipped a little into my mother’s family’s history, which was rich and interesting. Her mother’s uncle, Sam Golding, developed the neighborhood of Rego Park in Queens during... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-16 08:49:26 UTC ]
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In “I Live a Life Like Yours,” Jan Grue, a Norwegian professor, writes of living with a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-15 09:00:03 UTC ]
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The 2020 Tokyo Games will be defined by many things—the anachronism of its title, the risk of superspreading, the welcome absence of Matt Lauer—but, hopefully, these Olympics will also be remembered for bringing mental health to the forefront of popular discourse. Simone Biles’ “twisties.”... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-08-10 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The essay collection will show what “really makes her tick” as she writes about marriage, motherhood and her career in show business. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2021-07-20 13:34:18 UTC ]
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Líra Könyv made to pay £600 for failing to clearly indicate the story featured ‘a family that is different than a normal family’A bookshop chain in Hungary has been fined for selling a children’s story depicting a day in the life of a child with same-sex parents, with officials condemning the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-08 12:09:32 UTC ]
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Carolyn Ferrell’s beautifully hair-raising debut novel takes readers into a house of horrors where some survivors have a better chance than others. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-07 09:00:03 UTC ]
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Faber is to publish Black British Lives Matter, a collection of essays commissioned by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-03 12:11:51 UTC ]
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The Children's Bookshow charity has announced it will be returning to theatres across the country this autumn with a series of 15 live events featuring authors, poets and illustrators, including Michael Rosen and Val Bloom. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 17:59:37 UTC ]
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Bennett’s new memoir, “(Re)Born in the USA,” traces an offbeat journey from obsession to proud citizenship. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-01 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan returns to familiar themes, including the human capacity for cruelty. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-31 16:41:08 UTC ]
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Jane Buckley, who won the inaugural Designer of the Year prize at the recent British Book Awards, discusses her recent promotion and the art of pairing writers and illustrators together. I speak to Jane Buckley just after what must have been a pretty good couple of days for her. On 13th May, at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 15:18:52 UTC ]
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Kicking off the day of children’s editors' picks was a conversation between eight editors on forthcoming picture books moderated by 'PW' senior children’s reviews editor Amanda Bruns. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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At the Chicago Review of Books, Eric Nguyen discusses his new novel, Things We Lost to the Water, and how Vietnamese American literature processes the ongoing influence of colonialism, as seen in two of the book’s characters, Công and Ben. “Công’s narrative is parallel with Ben’s, who doesn’t... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-05-17 20:30:35 UTC ]
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In this panel—scheduled for May 27 from 11:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m. ET— Ryan T. Higgins, Pat Zietlow Miller, Nabela Noor, and Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney discuss their latest books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Air Miles has been illustrated by his wife Helen Oxenbury and finished by Bill Salaman, friend of the author who died in 2019The final picture book from the late, much-loved children’s author John Burningham – in which “difficult dog” Miles goes on one final journey – has been completed by his... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-05-15 06:00:18 UTC ]
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Having flipped the script in her début, author Laura Kay makes the case for fiction that embraces all aspects of the queer experience. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-30 16:04:30 UTC ]
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Puffin has picked up Welcome to the World, a “tender and lyrical picture book” from Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-20 03:03:23 UTC ]
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Edward White’s interlocking essays consider different facets of the director’s personality, as a family man, a dandy and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
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These pick-a-path picture books include Choose Your Own Adventure titles, storybooks with multiple endings, and collaborative storytelling. Start with Where the Bugaboo Lives by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Neal Layton! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-04-09 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Sari Feldman reflects on how these “wizards of the literary world” can be the key to a lifelong love of reading. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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