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 ]
“The Turn of the Key” pays scrupulous homage to James’s “The Turn of the Screw” and also slyly updates it. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
SCIENCE FICTION HAS BEEN mapping the topography of a yawning postcapitalism since the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s, a laborious undertaking still ongoing in the 21st century. Before cyberpunk, Deleuze and Guattari pointed the way in their books on capitalism and schizophrenia; after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-03 12:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
During one of my first open mics in New York City, the comic running the mic tapped me on the elbow after my set and said, “Hey, you’re funny!” She sounded surprised. I was, too. Being funny wasn’t my main goal. I was there to spy on comics, trying to experience the highs and lows […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-31 08:49:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a genre, historical fiction allows us to shuttle back in time to stand in the shoes, clogs, chopines, and go-go boots of people—real and imagined—to consider the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-15 11:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Businesses and public policy makers are tapping novelists to imagine the path forward. But how much stock should we put in the predictions of storytellers? Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-07-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Cultural Cross Sections Margaret Randall Children’s choir at the 2014 La Matanza Book Fair / Photo by Mauro Rico / Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación / Flickr When good engineers or scientists emigrate, they are able to continue their work. Novelists... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-10 21:07:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The New York Times invited Asian-American authors to choose photos from our archives and write short young-adult fiction inspired by them. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 17:18:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Claire Adam has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for first-time novelists with her "electrifying" debut Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-18 18:50:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
News and Events WLT Norman, Okla. (June 11, 2019) – Robert Con Davis-Undiano, Neustadt Professor and executive director of the World Literature Today organization at the University of Oklahoma, this week announced the names of nine writers to be the jury... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-06-10 16:04:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Poor working conditions for book editors are ingrained. It’s time for that to change – no matter how much we love our jobsBook editors love their jobs, perhaps more than the average worker. We work diligently with motivated and inspiring peers on projects we are proud of. You may not realise... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The all-seeing Amazon, Google, and Facebook have every incentive to help the national security state undermine privacy, free speech, and democracy. We’ve read this book before. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This week, the author Curtis Sittenfeld tweeted that it feels like we are now living in her 2005 novel Prep—and she did not mean it in a good way. The book is set at a fictional elite New England boarding school, a place not altogether unlike Georgetown Prep, the Maryland high school that... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2018-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Comic book Sabrina by Nick Drnaso is on the longlist for the prize, but it’s just the latest in a fine traditionHow am I supposed to feel about the fact that for the first time a graphic novel has made it on to the Booker longlist? As someone who loves comics, and who has championed them in this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
New York City looms large for debut novelist Hermione Hoby's main character, and on the Strick&Williams–designed book jacket. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Turtles All the Way Down is best-selling author John Green's first novel since 2012's runaway success, The Fault in Our Stars. While that book tackled the issue of teens with cancer, this book centres on a protagonist suffering from anxiety and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviour. Green,... Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
"It's funny, as people ask me that all the time, and I just wish I was more interesting." Min Jin Lee is talking about the similarities between herself and the main character in her 2007 debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires. Published again this month after the success earlier this year of... Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury Children’s is set to publish a new novel from Elizabeth Wein, telling the story of Julie Beaufort-Stuart, the main character from her novel Code Name Verity, before the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Abrams is to publish Mr Robot: Red Wheelbarrow, a book based on the journal of the main character of the US TV series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Nothing pains me quite as much as having to admit I might have been wrong about something. But news breaking last week may force me to reconsider my opinion of Dave Eggers' 2013 novel "The Circle."I don't think the book has gotten any better. The main character is still annoying and, worse, a... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2016-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this