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 ]
Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens. In a story that shifts through time, Ramón de Ocampo is a welcome guide, and his narration is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-17 09:00:40 UTC ]
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Headline and Dorothy Koomson have launched "Find My Verity", an open casting call designed to bring more black female voices into the world of audiobooks. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-17 06:25:35 UTC ]
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The New York Public Library is marking its 125th birthday this year—in part with this list of their favorite books written for adults from the past 125 years, which they hope will “inspire a lifelong love of reading.” The list is full of classics, of course, but it’s also got a few refreshing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-14 14:59:09 UTC ]
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Free agent NFL quarterback and social activist Colin Kaepernick plans to publish a memoir via his own publishing venture and release an audiobook version of the untitled book via an exclusive deal with Audible. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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And here it is: Canadian Book-Buying Habits Haven’t Changed Much in the Last Year. In case you’re still reading, for some reason Forbes is reporting that Canadians (my people) aren’t taking to audiobooks in quite the same way their cousins to the south are. Year-over-year American audiobook... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-11 16:22:32 UTC ]
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Each of the American author’s 56 novels was a bestseller and her fiction was extolled by writers from Scott Turow to David Foster WallaceMary Higgins Clark, the “Queen of Suspense” who topped charts with each of her 56 novels, has died at the age of 92.Simon & Schuster president Carolyn... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-02-03 11:54:59 UTC ]
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Five nominees for the Grammys spoken word award offer vastly different listening experiences. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-23 15:00:45 UTC ]
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These days, it seems like every book that gets even the barest amount of hype gets snapped up by a production company in the first month of its publication, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those are the books whose adaptations get made. 2020 starts out with a whole host of movies adapted from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-16 09:50:47 UTC ]
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Seven publishers had sued the audiobook giant last July, claiming that its audio-to-text service Captions was unauthorisedAfter months of back and forth, Audible has settled in a copyright lawsuit with major publishers over its plan to introduce captions to their recordings, a proposal that the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-01-15 14:00:06 UTC ]
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Amazon's audiobook company Audible has reached a settlement with a group of seven US publishers in the copyright lawsuit against the firm's Captions programme, according to a letter from Audible's legal team. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-13 21:30:27 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Audio will publish an audiobook edition of the stage production of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel My Name is Lucy Barton (Viking) by the show’s star, Hollywood actress Laura Linney. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-10 15:27:10 UTC ]
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"Derry Girls" actor Nicola Coughlan will read the unabridged audiobook of Michelle Gallen’s début novel Big Girl, Small Town. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 09:51:32 UTC ]
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Kendra Winchester: Hello, I’m Kendra Winchester. And this is Reading Women, a podcast inviting you to reclaim half the bookshelf by discussing books written by or about women. Today, I’m talking to Sarah Moss about her book Ghost Wall, which is out now in paperback from Picador. Welcome to 2020,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-08 09:45:19 UTC ]
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When the news becomes too difficult to watch, these books about refugees will having you questioning the blurred line between fiction and reality. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-07 11:38:59 UTC ]
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When you're looking for an audiobook with a great narrator in addition to a great story, check out these excellent audiobooks narrated by Robin Miles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-07 11:32:32 UTC ]
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Few gifts say I didn’t know what to get you like candles or gift cards. And for about the same price as that throw blanket or wine you were planning to wrap, an audiobook can make you the hero of any gift exchange (and they’re even easier to wrap than books). Choosing books for other […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-18 09:48:15 UTC ]
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Megan Dobson has been appointed publisher of independent audiobook producer RBmedia's ChristianAudio brand. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Here are some recommendations of audiobooks of poetry—in contemporary poetry, classic poetry, and novels in verse—for the Read Harder 2020 task. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-13 11:33:24 UTC ]
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Audible has scooped an original audiobook from Love Factually (Bloomsbury Sigma) author Laura Mucha on attachment theory, following a group of people over the course of a year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 08:00:49 UTC ]
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In the last of three pieces on the audiobook sector in the run-up to FutureBook Live, W F Howes’ Dominic White looks at the future of the format Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 00:45:39 UTC ]
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