Amis, Hitchens and Larkin: bad behaviour and a messy personal life were once a gift for authors. Not any more | Martha Gill

Flaws used to feed their sales but now writers are expected to be saints‘As you get older you realise that all these things – prizes, reviews, advances, readers – it’s all showbiz, and the real action starts with your obituary.”Martin Amis first started spinning in favour of his future obituarists in 2003 – at the juncture, post Yellow Dog, at which prizes, reviews, advances and readers began to turn against him. He knew how things would play out. After two decades of the literary world quiet quitting Martin Amis, there has been a sudden rehabilitation. In the past week the pages of obituary sections have exploded with a strangely pre-2003 phenomenon – a semi-tolerant fascination with Amis’s personal life, and the way it may have bled into his work, and vice versa. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-27 17:31:09 UTC ]
News tagged with: #martin amis #bad behaviour #martha gill #past week #personal life #vice versa #literary world

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Amis, Hitchens and Larkin: bad behaviour and a messy personal life were once a gift for authors. Not any more | Martha Gill'


Amis, Hitchens and Larkin: bad behaviour and a messy personal life were once a gift for authors. Not any more | Martha Gill

Flaws used to feed their sales but now writers are expected to be saints‘As you get older you realise that all these things – prizes, reviews, advances, readers – it’s all showbiz, and the real action starts with your obituary.”Martin Amis first started spinning in favour of his future... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-27 17:31:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #martin amis #bad behaviour #martha gill #past week #personal life #vice versa #literary world


Why bother organizing your books? A messy personal library is proof of life.

As the French writer Georges Perec wisely put it, book arrangements are “hardly any more effective than the original anarchy.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-06-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Amis to pen novel about Larkin, Bellow and Hitchens

Martin Amis is writing an autobiographical novel about three fellow writers - poet and writer Philip Larkin, Nobel Prize winning novelist Saul Bellow and essayist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens - all of whom have died since he started writing the book. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Society of Authors calls use of bad reviews for book blurbs ‘morally questionable’

After several critics complained of being quoted out of context on the covers of Jordan Peterson’s new book, the industry body has spoken out against the practiceThe Society of Authors (SoA) has spoken out against publishers misrepresenting negative reviews on book covers and the UK publisher... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-01 06:02:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jordan peterson #back cover #industry body #authors soa #paperback edition #bonnier


Female novelists don’t need their own prizes. Let’s abolish them | Martha Gill

Barbara Kingsolver and others are no longer oppressed – they dominate book salesThere is a point at which all special treatment becomes patronising. And we have reached that point, I think, when it comes to giving women a leg-up in the business of writing fiction.Genghis Khan sacked and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-18 06:31:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writing fiction #martha gill #barbara kingsolver #central asia #literary world #novelists


The best gifts for the new grads in your life

Surviving years of college is no small feat, so the graduates in our lives deserve rightful praise and celebration. Whether your graduate is going out into the world to get their first job or continuing with their education, there are a number of gadgets you can gift them that will make them... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-05-01 13:15:46 UTC ]
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New Aussie drama Bad Behaviour gives us a complex portrayal of girlhood and queer stories

Stan’s new series adapted Rebecca Starford’s memoir gives brutal and honest insight into the consequences of bullying. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2023-02-17 02:14:58 UTC ]
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Struggling authors know writing is a rich person’s hobby | Letters

Stephen Carver, Guinevere Glasfurd, Brian Needham and Jo McMillan respond to Joanne Harris’s article about horribly low pay in the publishing worldRegarding Joanne Harris’s article (Horribly low pay is pushing out my fellow authors – and yes, that really does matter, 7 December), I guess I’m a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-12-11 17:07:25 UTC ]
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Ali Hazelwood’s sort-of-secret life as a best-selling author

“Love Hypothesis” author Ali Hazelwood didn’t intend to keep her scientist identity separate from her author identity. She didn’t intend to become an author. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-20 12:00:22 UTC ]
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‘More zeros than I’ve seen in my life’: the author who got a six-figure deal via ‘BookTok’

After she was dropped by her agent, Alex Aster turned to a books-obsessed corner of TikTok to gauge interest in her YA novel … and now Lightlark is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the yearHaving finally published her first novel, Alex Aster was feeling disheartened. The book had... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 13:32:30 UTC ]
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Amy Bloom documents her heart-wrenching journey to help her husband end his life

In Amy Bloom's memoir, she writes of her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis and all that followed. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-08 13:00:45 UTC ]
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Who was Vivian Maier? A new book explores the inspired life of the nanny with a secret gift for photography

‘Vivian Maier: Developed’ is a revealing and beautiful biography about the mysterious caregiver who left behind a trove of her own art. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book explores


'Libraries saved my life', says Lowborn author Kerry Hudson

Lowborn author Kerry Hudson has told a Scottish conference that libraries saved her life. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-09 23:41:04 UTC ]
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For author Jenny Lawson, life is brutal — and hilarious

In “Broken,” Lawson is honest about her physical and mental health, but her levity is her buoy and brand. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-01 13:00:00 UTC ]
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In-Person Author Tours Won't Be Back Anytime Soon

There are a number of big questions to be answered and logistics to be ironed out before authors hit the road again. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Finding 'value in the valley': YA authors at a Festival panel on Black life and self-love

At a Times Book Festival panel on Black YA fiction, Dean Atta, Morgan Parker, Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi discussed stories of teens making it through. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-18 01:13:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ya authors #black life #dean atta #yusef salaam #times book


Two authors expose the deceptive, self-aggrandizing absurdity of online life

Lauren Oyler’s “Fake Accounts” and Patricia Lockwood’s “No One Is Talking About This” critique our Internet-attenuated lives. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-10 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #online life #lauren oyler #fake accounts #patricia lockwood


Mary Catherine Bateson, anthropologist and author of ‘Composing a Life,’ dies at 81

She also wrote a memoir about her parents, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-15 14:46:04 UTC ]
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A gift guide for the fans of science fiction, fantasy and horror books in your life

Anthologies like “The Big Book of Modern Fantasy” cover a lot of ground. Illustrated books like “Flyway” offer something special. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-07 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Which books make the best gifts? Authors weigh in.

Rumaan Alam, Janet Evanovich and Glennon Doyle, among other writers, are here to help with your holiday shopping. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-25 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books make #authors weigh #rumaan alam #janet evanovich #glennon doyle #holiday shopping