Interviews Weina Dai Randel burst onto the literary scene a number of years ago with her duology about Empress Wu Zetian, China’s first woman leader. After winning the prestigious Rita Award in 2017 and seeing her novels translated into seven languages, she is back now with a new historical novel set in 1940s Shanghai. Keeping with her love of strong women characters, her new book, The Last Rose of Shanghai, centers on a nightclub owner named Aiyi Shao who falls for a Jewish refugee who had recently escaped Nazi Germany. Through their love of jazz, they develop a forbidden bond set during one of Shanghai’s most volatile and exciting eras. Randel is the first Chinese American author to write about Shanghai Jewish refugees, although there have been dozens of memoirs, narratives, and novels about this phenomenon from Jewish authors. We recently spoke over Zoom about what made Shanghai so special and why it matters now, along with the reasons Jews escaped to Shanghai during World War II and how Chinese and Jewish traditions are so similar. Susan Blumberg-Kason: It seems that the popularity of 1930s and ’40s Shanghai rose both in China and the US about twenty-five years ago. Can you talk about the appeal of this time and why it’s so special, both to people in the US and China? Weina Dai Randel: I think many aspects of Old Shanghai appeal to us today. From the late 1920s to the early 1940s, the period of Old Shanghai was a symbol of... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-20 14:33:49 UTC ]
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Interviews Weina Dai Randel burst onto the literary scene a number of years ago with her duology about Empress Wu Zetian, China’s first woman leader. After winning the prestigious Rita Award in 2017 and seeing her novels translated into seven... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-20 14:33:49 UTC ]
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Exploring the Burning Questions: A Conversation with Cara Lopez Lee, by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Tue, 08/27/2024 - 15:32 I first came across Cara Lopez Lee on a listserv group (remember those!) for authors who write about... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-27 20:32:44 UTC ]
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Finding Her #ownvoice: A Conversation with Ivy Ngeow, by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Tue, 07/18/2023 - 15:46 Ivy Ngeow grew up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and now makes her home in London. An architect and interior designer by... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-18 20:46:55 UTC ]
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Culture Adrian Aguilera (Mexican, b. 1981) and Betelhem Makonnen (Ethiopian American, b. 1972), untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be), 2020 (installation view). Printed standard flag fabric,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-15 19:45:53 UTC ]
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO if the person who hurt you most refused to say they were sorry? Could you forgive anyway? Best-selling author Susan Shapiro explores this universal question in her intriguing, insightful, all-too-relatable new book The Forgiveness Tour, out this past January. In her... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-21 18:00:04 UTC ]
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Discuss our November book club selection, “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” by Gabriel García Márquez, with the Book Review. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-11-01 18:49:03 UTC ]
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Discuss our October book club selection, “Intermezzo,” by Sally Rooney, with the Book Review. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-27 14:22:30 UTC ]
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Share recommendations of books you think would pair well with our October book club selection, “Intermezzo,” by Sally Rooney. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-27 14:12:10 UTC ]
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Want to discuss spoilers related to our October book club selection, “Intermezzo,” by Sally Rooney? Post them here. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-27 14:10:25 UTC ]
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Give me more Putinas, por favor: A Conversation with Giannina Braschi, by Sandra Guzmán Interviews [email protected] Mon, 09/23/2024 - 15:16 Photo by Laurent BadessiThe last time I saw Giannina Braschi was a year ago at the 92NY in New York City.... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-09-23 20:16:07 UTC ]
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For this installment in a long-running series of interviews with contemporary poets, contributing editor Peter Mishler corresponded with Srikanth Reddy. Reddy’s latest book of poetry, Underworld Lit, was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize, the Poetry Society of America’s T.S.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-11 08:55:13 UTC ]
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“Wild Text Raging”: A Conversation with Threa Almontaser, by Renee H. Shea Interviews [email protected] Tue, 09/03/2024 - 14:05 Photo courtesy of the author / ThreaWrites.comThe Wild Fox of Yemen, by Threa Almontaser, received the Academy of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-09-03 19:05:24 UTC ]
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Discuss our September book club selection, “The Hypocrite,” by Jo Hamya, with the Book Review. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-08-30 14:53:58 UTC ]
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More Than One Life: A Conversation with Lyn Coffin, by Alaaeldin Mahmoud Interviews [email protected] Mon, 08/19/2024 - 14:53 Lyn Coffin / Photo by Irmaguru / WikimediaDescribed by Iron Twine Press as “the most accomplished writer most Americans... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-19 19:53:51 UTC ]
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Susan Wojcicki, best known as the head of YouTube but also a key player in convincing the book world to allow Google to scan books into its search engine, died of lung cancer on August 9. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Queer-Feminist Writing from 1970s Turkey: A Conversation with Maureen Freely on Sevgi Soysal, by Ipek Sahinler Interviews [email protected] Tue, 08/06/2024 - 16:31 Maureen Freely (left) & Funda Soysal (right)Maureen Freely is an author,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-06 21:31:04 UTC ]
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For the bestselling author, motherhood, erotic love, and obsession all go hand in hand. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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