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 ]
News tagged with:
#uncannyjoy williams
#story collections
#numerous awards
#published earlier
#work ranges
#philosophical examination
#urgent engagements
#environmental catastrophe
#sonoran desert
#earlier collection
#ve moved
#deathbed poem
#gorgeous creation
#ensouled earth
#recent book
Indie publisher Canbury Press is released the Unbound-funded illustrated book 99 Immigrants Who Made Britain Great, featuring an introduction from Bonnie Greer. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-25 10:42:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#illustrated book
#indie publisher
A growing number of publishers and prominent authors have added their voices of support for Booker Prize-shortlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga, who was arrested in Harare in July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-24 09:46:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#tsitsi dangarembga
#growing number
In the early summer of 1994, I walked into Alice’s Bookshop in North Carlton; a small shop in an old terrace on a straight boulevard that runs north out of Melbourne, Victoria. Being so close to the venerable sandstone of Melbourne University, there’s an old-fashioned gravity about the place.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-24 08:48:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#giving voice
#early summer
#small shop
#bookshop
My correspondence with K-Ming Chang began with fan mail. I had recently read her flash fiction story Gloria in Split Lip—a knife-sharp story about queerness, shame, and faith—and instantly devoured the rest of her fiction and her poetry, moved by the possibilities in her writing. A Kundiman... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-24 08:48:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#k-ming chang
#recently read
#literary award
Back in March, I was watching Twitter like it was a countdown, waiting like so many others for the inevitable to happen and for the London Book Fair to be cancelled. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-23 20:10:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book fairs
#london book fair
Faber is to publish musician and composer Warren Ellis' debut title, Nina Simone's Gum, featuring an introduction by Nick Cave. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-23 16:08:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#debut title
#nick cave
Simon & Schuster Children's is to publish Nadia Shireen's first middle-grade series, Grimwood, after winning a heated six-publisher auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-23 07:15:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#middle-grade series
With so many contemporary memoirs devoted to the sins of the author’s mother, a focus on a loving dad seems a welcome change. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-23 05:01:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#pays tribute
#life story
The book takes a “Sliding Doors” approach, as a woman, on the heels of a near-death experience, contemplates her next move. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-22 14:35:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book takes
#powerful story
#near-death experience
Helen Garnons-Williams is leaving HarperCollins to join Penguin General as publishing director for Fig Tree. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-22 14:02:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#leaving harpercollins
#fig tree
#publishing director
#harpercollins
The Northern Irish author was best known for his story of Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare, which sold more than 50m copiesSam McBratney, the author of the bestselling picture book Guess How Much I Love You, has died at the age of 77.The Northern Irish author died on 18 September, his... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-09-21 14:12:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#picture book
#irish author
Explore Indigenous Futurisms by reading these 25 science fiction and fantasy books by Indigenous authors with Indigenous main characters! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-09-18 10:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sff books
#indigenous authors
#fantasy books
#science fiction
Nearly six months into the pandemic, increased time spent at home has led to unique challenges for women. PW reached out to authors who are also mothers to learn how the coronavirus has affected their work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Sphere has acquired a book in which the author tells the story of her own investigation into the long-unsolved murder of her stepsister. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-17 23:03:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#author tells
In order to fit more texts into my Asian American literature course, I sometimes assign the play adaptation of Jessica Hagedorn’s novel Dogeaters. The novel is canonized within Asian American literature and features an imagined version of the Philippines made from film and radio tropes, found... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-17 11:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#future appeared
#electric literature
#american literature
Loyalty spurred the best-selling author to visit a neuroscientist’s lab. What she saw there inspired her next narrator. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-17 09:00:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#transcendent kingdom
#yaa gyasi
#best-selling author
U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo serves as lead editor of this new collection, which showcases a range of poems as vast as the continent. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-09-16 19:52:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#powerful voices
#lead editor
#anthology
U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo serves as lead editor of this new collection, which showcases a range of poems as vast as the continent. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-09-16 19:52:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#powerful voices
#lead editor
#anthology
U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo serves as lead editor of this new collection, which showcases a range of poems as vast as the continent. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-09-16 19:52:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#powerful voices
#lead editor
#anthology
The First Woman, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's powerful feminist novel about a headstrong young woman’s coming-of-age in 1970s Uganda, has had a long and fraught path to publication. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 17:05:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this |