‘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 ]
News tagged with: #ve read #main character #rarely deliver #novelists

Other Publishing stories related to: '‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up'


Where the Crawdads Sing Author Wanted for Questioning in Murder

A televised 1990s killing in Zambia has striking similarities to Delia Owens’s best-selling book turned movie. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2022-07-11 18:53:00 UTC ]
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Authors for Abortion Access Launch Auction

The auction, running July 12–26, will benefit two grassroots abortion funds and includes donated items from Neil Gaiman, Chloe Gong, and V.E. Schwab. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #neil gaiman #chloe gong


Erika L. Sánchez Wishes More Authors Would Write About Money

“I grew up working class and money was a factor in everything we did,” says the poet and novelist, whose new book is the memoir “Crying in the Bathroom.” “That’s why I always write about the financial realities of my characters.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-07-07 09:00:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #working class #memoir crying #memoir


Stories About Growing Up on the Reservation

Morgan Talty’s The Night of the Living Rez is a searching and honest collection of short stories following a young Penobscot character named David and his coming of age on the rez, where community, family, and tradition are as fraught with colonial entanglement as they are forces for healing. ... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-06 11:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Union Authorizes Strike

The more than 250 members of HC's union overwhelming voted to authorize a strike if current negotiations do not lead to a contract. No deadline for a strike had been announced. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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111 Queer Books Recommended by Librarians, Booksellers, and Authors

While we celebrate queer literature and history all year long at Lit Hub dot com, we also love a good book list. This year, in honor of Pride, we reached out to some of our favorite librarians, booksellers, and authors and asked them about the queer books they find themselves recommending over... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-24 08:52:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #year long #queer books #good book


Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #7, Featuring Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Author of 'Finding My Voice'

Lee is set to appear in conversation with Lynn Nguyen from the Los Angeles Public Library. The live stream is set for Tuesday, July 5th at 1 PM ET. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #register today #aapi communities #live stream


New Kids’ Book Says It’s OK to Ask for Help—Even If You’re a Rabbi

Alice Blumenthal McGinty demonstrates how learning to ask for help can create a stronger community in her new children’s book, ‘A Synagogue Like Home’ (Candlewick, Aug.), which depicts a week in the life of a contemporary synagogue. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson apologizes for saying white male authors face ‘racism’

The 75-year-old writer has penned more than 300 titles, sold more than 500m copies and is worth an estimated $800mThe bestselling author James Patterson has apologized for saying white male authors face “another form of racism”.In an interview with the Sunday Times, Patterson said white male... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-15 18:35:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sunday times #bestselling author


‘Gone Girl,’ a decade later: How does it read?

A new look at Gillian Flynn’s cat-and-mouse tale, the novel that sparked a wave of copycat novels and a blockbuster movie. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-12 11:00:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #gillian flynn


Lit Hub Weekly: June 6-10, 2022

“In a perversion of all laws of the universe, I’m about to read my father a story before bedtime.” Séamas O’Reilly on reading his memoir to the man who taught him to love books (and skipping over the hardest bits). | Lit Hub Memoir Lousy at first impressions: When tomatoes made their debut in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-11 10:30:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #love books #memoir


Panel Mania: Radium Girls by Cy.

Set in 1918, 'Radium Girls' by Cy. is the tragic story of the women working for the U.S. Radium Corporation who unknowingly painted the dials of clocks and watches with the deadly radioactive substance that would destroy their health and ultimately take their lives. An eight-page excerpt. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: May 27, 2022

“It is a fact that if you are looking to raise llamas with another person, you are seriously considering a lifelong commitment to each other.” Aileen Weintraub on finding love in upstate New York. | Lit Hub Memoir When everyone in London was trying to learn Marilyn Monroe’s signature, sultry... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-27 10:30:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #finding love #memoir


Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #6 Featuring Malaka Gharib, author of I Was 'Their American Dream'

The sixth installment in the AAPI Communities in Conversation series, featuring Malaka Gharib, author of 'I Was Their American Dream,' is now set for Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at 1:00 pm ET. Register here. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #register today #aapi communities #american dream #sixth installment #conversation series


Review: With 'Yerba Buena,' a top L.A. author of queer YA romance is all grown up

Nina LaCour's first novel for adults, "Yerba Buena," follows a promising and complicated lesbian love story in the mold of Sarah Waters. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-05-26 13:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #nina lacour #sarah waters #first novel


U.S. Book Show: Humor, History, and Hope at Adult Authors Chat

Sisters confront racism with humor, a fantasy novelist delves into short stories, a military history expert salutes the civil rights movement, and a movie star's memoir goes behind the scenes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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French author Alice Zeniter has won the eye-popping €100,000 Dublin Literary Award.

The Art of Losing (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by French novelist Alice Zeniter has won the prestigious Dublin Literary Award, a prize which comes with a handsome glass trophy and the world’s largest purse for a single novel published in English—a whopping €100,000. Nominations for the Dublin... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-24 16:21:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #whopping €100 #public libraries #literary award


Hazel Henderson, environmental activist and futurist author, dies at 89

She spent decades campaigning for social change, fighting to limit air pollution in New York City and to rethink conventional yardsticks for economic development. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-23 23:59:08 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: May 16-20, 2022

“To live with other people is to be responsible for protecting them from your moods. Or perhaps, to protect the delicate gift of your moods from them.” Seema Reza on the joy of being (completely) alone. | Lit Hub Memoir Hilary A. Hallett investigates the romance genre’s radical roots, from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-21 10:30:28 UTC ]
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Printing fake news, this editor helped push America into World War I

Providence Journal editor John Revelstoke Rathom also had a fake biography, writes journalist Mark Arsenault. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-20 12:00:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world war