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 ]
In this in-depth BookBeat review, let’s find out what makes this service better than Scribd for English-language audiobook listeners. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-24 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Blackstone Publishing has built a backlist of about 800 print and 950 e-book titles since it released its first books in those formats in 2016. The goal now, company president Anthony Goff said, is to continue to ramp up production across all formats. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The recipes in foodie audiobooks add that something extra and deserve to be heard by audiobook listeners. Here's why. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-22 10:36:00 UTC ]
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‘Young Goodman Brown’ is an 1835 short story by the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Inspired in part by the Salem witch craze of 1692, the story deals with a number of key themes. But what are the most prominent themes of Hawthorne’s story, and how should we approach and interpret […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-14 15:00:15 UTC ]
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The Norwegian developer of bespoke audiobook platforms, Beat Technology, is creating a new service, 'Volume,' for Poland's Sonia Draga. The post Poland’s Draga Group Announces an Audiobook Platform appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-13 18:04:35 UTC ]
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The vertical TikTok-style video feed has invaded a lot of the apps we use on a daily basis and now it's officially coming to one more. After announcing a beta test last year, Spotify will begin rolling out a new design for the Home section of its mobile app with a "more visual, dynamic" look.... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-08 18:33:59 UTC ]
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American author Laurie Halse Anderson is the winner of the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s book prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-07 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The German Audiobook Prize opens the Lit.Cologne festival with new 2023 honors in seven categories including 'Best Radio Play.' The post The German Audiobook Prize Names Its 2023 Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-01 12:52:23 UTC ]
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Celebrate your love of audiobooks with these cute audiobook-themed shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, mugs, stickers, and more!- Gia R. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-28 11:33:00 UTC ]
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Spotify is waving goodbye to its heart icon. The company is combining the icon, which enables you to quickly save music to your library, with the "add to playlist" prompt under a single plus button.The plus button works a little differently on Spotify than it does on Apple Music, where tapping... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-27 18:15:00 UTC ]
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What’s the best audiobook service? In this Scribd vs Audible rundown, let’s break down their features, pricing, pros and cons, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-23 11:39:00 UTC ]
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Audiobook subscription company Storytel cites a 22-percent increase year over year, at 3.2 billion Swedish kronor. The post Storytel Touts Q4 Results in a ‘Truly Remarkable Year’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-02-17 13:56:54 UTC ]
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Looking for a great new audiobook to put in your ears? Check out the new audiobooks Libro.fm users are most excited to listen to. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-16 11:30:00 UTC ]
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After a backlash, Spotify paused an arrangement that allowed Apple to train machine learning models on some audiobook files. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-02-14 16:03:54 UTC ]
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘In the Desert’ is a poem by the American author Stephen Crane (1871-1900), published in his 1895 collection, The Black Riders and Other Lines. Crane is perhaps best-known for his American Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, and this is his... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-02-14 15:00:27 UTC ]
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Viola Davis, one of the best actors of her generation, achieved EGOT status last night at the Grammys when she went home with the hardware for Best Audiobook (Narration and Storytelling), for reading her own memoir, Finding Me. (EGOT is when someone has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-06 15:16:55 UTC ]
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Viola Davis won a Grammy Award Sunday for the recording of her memoir, Finding Me. She has previously won an Emmy, Oscar and two Tony awards. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-02-05 22:33:19 UTC ]
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The former president's $49.8 million lawsuit alleges that Woodward and Simon & Schuster breached his copyright interests by publishing an audiobook based on interviews recorded for Woodward’s 2021 book 'Rage.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Mother Tongue’ is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. Tan wrote ‘Mother Tongue’ in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. In the essay, Tan discusses her relationship with language, and how her […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-01-20 15:00:27 UTC ]
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First week of the controversial memoir’s sales breaks official UK records reports Nielsen, Guinness World Records and WaterstonesPrince Harry’s Spare has sold almost half a million copies in the UK in its first week on sale, making it the fastest-selling nonfiction book since records... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-17 16:13:57 UTC ]
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