The novelist and short story writer on her new book about Azrael, the angel of death, her encounters with Raymond Carver and Richard Yates, and why fiction should be uncannyJoy Williams, 80, has written five novels and four story collections and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her most recent book of short stories, Concerning the Future of Souls: 99 Stories of Azrael (Tuskar Rock), was published earlier this year. Her work ranges from the philosophical examination of being, belief and morality to urgent engagements with environmental catastrophe; James Salter wrote of her that she belongs in the company of Céline and Flannery O’Connor. Born in Massachusetts, she now lives in the Sonoran desert.An earlier collection of yours was called 99 Stories of God, and now you’ve moved on to Azrael (the angel of death and transporter of souls) as the subject. What drew you to him?I read in a WS Merwin collection his translation of Hadrian’s deathbed poem to his soul – Animula vagula blandula – so sorrowful and succinct. The soul, a worthy subject. And Azrael has always fascinated me: he was death, but not death exactly. He was more a gorgeous creation of Islam. I picture him as responsible for all the souls of this ensouled Earth. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-10-19 17:00:20 UTC ]
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Faber & Faber has acquired The City That Fell of a Cliff by historian Matthew Green following a "heated" nine-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How do writers and publishers handle charged topics like climate change? Environmentalist Jamie Clarke makes a case for including more perspectives, both for the sake of book sales and the planet. The post Can Better Writing Make Climate Change Less Polarizing? appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Open letter from writers including David Almond, Michael Rosen and Meg Rosoff calls on publisher to ‘reverse its decision to derecognise unions’Children’s authors David Almond, Michael Rosen and Meg Rosoff are among more than 140 writers, booksellers and librarians who have signed a letter... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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DK has unveiled its Rogue One: A Star Wars Story global publishing program today (16th December), following the film's nationwide release this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 1974, children's author and illustrator Arnold Lobel published his first Frog and Toad book. Four years later, he came out to his family as gay. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 76ers honored Allen Iverson before the game and at halftime, and among his fans was one player on the opposing team. Lakers guard Lou Williams counts himself as fortunate to have played with Allen Iverson for a time. “Playing with him, watching how he prepared for games,” Williams said. “[He]... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The ouster of Barnes & Noble's CEO, the sale of Perseus, and Follett's purchase of Baker & Taylor were the big publishing stories of 2016. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW takes a look back at some of the library stories that captivated the publishing world in 2016, and what they portend for 2017. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Heinemann has acquired Biased: The New Science of Race and Inequality by social psychologist Dr Jennifer Eberhardt at auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Annual short story competition the White Review Short Story Prize will be running simultaneously in the UK & Ireland and in the US & Canada for the first time next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author, historian and broadcaster Professor Kate Williams has been selected to chair the nine-member judging panel that selects the overall winner of the 2016 Costa Book of the Year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook's going to need all the help it can get to combat fake news. With that in mind, the company is enlisting users to fight the good fight, revealing a five-part plan to cleanse its platform of faux publishers that make money off click-bait headlines that contain blatant untruths. The... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld is publishing a collection of Jack Reacher short stories in June 2017, set to be the first time all Lee Child's shorter fiction featuring Jack Reacher has been collected into one volume. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writers including A L Kennedy, Sebastian Barry and Courttia Newland are to participate in an event which will see MPs given copies of A Country of Refuge (Unbound) in the hopes that this will "change the tone of the debate on refugees". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Here are the ten most popular stories about graphic novels and comics published on publishersweekly.com in 2016. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From the ever-changing terrain of Christian fiction to a preview of religion books getting big-screen adaptations, here are PW’s most-read religion and spirituality stories of 2016. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The popular colouring books will now remain VAT-free unless they are specifically marketed towards adultsHMRC has announced that it will not impose VAT on most colouring and dot-to-dot books for adults – reversing its plans from earlier this year which were greeted with dismay by fans and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Salman Rushdie has put his name to an open letter, alongside J M Coetzee, Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman, calling on Chinese president Xi Jinping to reverse his state crackdown on dissidents. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Report in the Australian says property portal is buying ad space on pornographic and illegal download websites to inflate its audience figuresFairfax Media has accused News Corp of gutter journalism after the Australian claimed the company placed advertising for its property portal Domain on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To get you ready for the weekend, we've rounded up some of our best stories this week: Twitter is falling out of favor with publishers as a reliable driver of traffic. It doesn’t have the audience scale, visual storytelling tools and ad products that Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook do. On... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2016-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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