‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up

In this post-Fleabag world, publishing has become obsessed with the inner turmoils of messy millennials – but isn’t it time they pulled themselves together? Meet the novelists subverting the clichesYou’ve probably come across this woman: she is unfulfilled in her career, has been abandoned by at least one man, she is aimless and lamenting the obstacles in her life (of which, in reality, there don’t appear to be many). She is not just miserable, she’s a mess; self-absorbed and full of self-loathing.If you’ve read a book by a woman, about a woman, that has been published in the last five years, then it’s overwhelmingly likely that this woman was the protagonist. The narrative likely circled around this character’s sadness, her passive struggle to overcome it, and little else. Typically, such stories have notes of darkness but will rarely deliver the actual thing. Usually the main character (like the author) will be middle-class, if not incredibly wealthy. Almost always she will be white. The book’s cover will probably feature a devastated-looking woman with her hair covering her face or her head cradled in her hands. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-08 15:19:43 UTC ]

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Michaela Coel plays the first on-screen writer I can relate to | Candice Carty-Williams

I May Destroy You skewers the weirdness of fandom and captures just how terrifying the publishing industry can beMichaela Coel’s critically acclaimed new TV series I May Destroy You (BBC One), the journey of a young woman uncovering and trying to deal with sexual trauma, is a show that I fall... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-11 07:00:06 UTC ]
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Will coronavirus slump lead to a broadsheet revival for the Guardian? | Brief letters

Classical music | Priceless reading | Broadsheet Guardian | Vacancy at LBC | Gin and tonicI’ve read my four column inches relating to classical music in Friday’s G2 Film & Music section. I’ve got to be honest, after excellent editorials (The Guardian view on the return of live music: hope... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-14 17:26:19 UTC ]
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Charles Dickens: how two novelists gave Great Expectations a second life in the Pacific

Two sequels which show how the Victorian novelist's stories can be adapted to reflect post-colonial narratives. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-06-08 16:19:12 UTC ]
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Literature on Lockdown 8: #BlackLivesMatter

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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10 Eighteenth-Century Novels Everyone Should Read

Although it was the nineteenth century when the novel arguably came into its own, with novelists like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters writing novels that are still widely read and studied today, the eighteenth century was the age in which the novel emerged as a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-23 14:00:38 UTC ]
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What will post-pandemic fiction look like? The novels that followed 9/11 offer some clues.

It always takes a little time for novelists to shape a real-life nightmare into a story. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-21 06:58:16 UTC ]
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YA Authors Move Online

Debut and veteran novelists dive into the world of digital events amid the pandemic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Mantel, O'Farrell and Atwood announced for Hay Festival Digital

Novelists Hilary Mantel, Maggie O'Farrell and Margaret Atwood are among the list of big-name writers and thinkers taking part in the first fully digital Hay Festival. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-06 10:09:46 UTC ]
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In Italy, Coronavirus Books Rush to Publication

Doctors, novelists and other writers are exploring, as quickly as they can, the pandemic’s impact on a country that was among its earliest victims. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-09 14:40:54 UTC ]
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The Italian Quarantine, by Baret Magarian

Cultural Cross Sections Baret Magarian Photos by Pierpaolo Florio A novelist living in quarantine in Florence looks back at Italy’s cultural history and then forward, considering whether something positive might rise from the ruins that the virus will... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-03-23 21:14:07 UTC ]
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Novelists Ignite A Mighty Blaze in Response to Extinguished Book Tours

Two novelists have partnered to build A Mighty Blaze, a initiative to promote other authors and their new books on social media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Without Places to Gather, Debut Novelists Reimagine Book Promotion

First-time novelists with books out or coming soon talk about their changes of plans and how they’re spending these unusual days. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-18 20:00:14 UTC ]
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Pandemics in the Pages of ‘The Stand,’ ‘Severance’ and More

For centuries, novelists and fiction writers have imagined what plagues and virus outbreaks could look like, and many readers are seeking these books out amid concerns about the coronavirus. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-12 09:00:29 UTC ]
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A new site for headline-inspired fiction launches today with stories by Carmen Maria Machado, Colum McCann, and more.

We can’t stop telling stories about pandemics, even as we wait for one to hit us. As coronavirus spreads across the world, so have headlines about the ways that storytellers, from those in Babylonia to contemporary novelists and Hollywood, have used infectious disease for narrative effect. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-02 16:51:35 UTC ]
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Are novelists obliged to tell the story of their private life?

My Dark Vanessa author Kate Elizabeth Russell was driven to reveal details of her past when accused of inauthenticity – but should we be seeking the truth elsewhere?Our world, more than at any time in history, is all about stories. Snapchat feeds capture your entire day, Instagram users... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-03-02 06:00:36 UTC ]
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British Book awards balance art and selling power to decide best writer in 30 years

Novelists rub shoulders with presidents, chefs, comedians and thriller megastars on longlist to define the title with the biggest impact on the book worldIt could be almost the setup for a joke, but a former president, a Booker winner and an erotic fiction superstar have walked on to the British... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-02-14 06:01:23 UTC ]
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New Cassandra Cain graphic novel shows Asian American girls can be Batgirl too

"Shadow of the Batgirl" author Sarah Kuhn wants young Asian American girls to see they can be the main character in superhero stories too. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-08 01:35:48 UTC ]
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What if the main character of your favorite classic book were black? A publisher makes it so

Penguin Random House teams with TBWA and Barnes & Noble to launch #DiversityEditions for Black History Month. During the Pequod‘s last voyage in Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick, Captain Ahab is 58 years old. Physically, he has a prosthetic leg made of whale bone, and a pale white mark or... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-02-05 09:00:42 UTC ]
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The Best Novels of the 1890s

The 1890s saw pioneering works of science fiction, detective fiction, and Gothic horror all published, by some of the greatest English, Scottish, and Irish writers of the age. In the United States, too, novelists addressed social issues, sometimes in comic ways, while social realism continued to... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2019-12-31 15:00:10 UTC ]
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Ralph Ellison’s Letters Reveal a Complex Philosopher of Black Expression

“The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison” capture the fiercely intelligent and irreverent author of “Invisible Man” in conversation with other novelists and critics of his day. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:10 UTC ]
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