Every now and then I encounter people who can’t suspend disbelief. They ask how I can write about ‘such terrible things’Feeling unappreciated is your lot as a writer. Few readers; no readers. Scathing reviews; no reviews. Publishers saying, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” or not taking a punt on your second book because the first sold poorly. The fat American and English imports on display at the front of many bookshops, a tiny Australian section in the back corner. Beverley Farmer finding her short-story collection Milk shelved with books on nursing mothers; me finding my novel The Stencil Man shelved in Art and Craft.Most of these indignities occur while you’re still at your desk. They multiply once you appear in public. Elizabeth Jolley, signing books at a department store in Perth, was scrutinised by a beady-eyed woman who eventually approached and asked, “How much is the table?” A bookseller stuck the first page of a US thriller under my nose and said, “Once you can learn to write as good as this …” Related: Harold Bloom’s defence of western greats blinded him to other cultures | Kenan Malik If I say, 'Worse things happen in real life than I invent, just read a newspaper,' I learn they don’t read newspapers Related: Peter Handke's Nobel prize that dishonours the victims of genocide | Ed Vuilliamy Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-11-03 17:00:27 UTC ]
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Legal thriller writer John Grisham is to headline the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate this July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin is launching a pop-up bookshop stocked solely with titles by female writers for International Women’s Day. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jacaranda Books, in partnership with Words of Colour Productions, has launched an initiative to publish 20 Black British writers in the year 2020 across adult fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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George R R Martin is funding a new annual scholarship at a science fiction and fantasy six-week course to “help the next great fantasist on the long journey ahead”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph has acquired three crime thrillers from debut author Gytha Lodge in a "significant" six-figure pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent poetry publisher Offord Road Books is opening its submissions window exclusively to writers from black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds until March. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Chris Brookmyre and his wife Dr Marisa Haetzman, discuss writing a historical crime series together under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Catherine Eccles reflects on the history of the Eccles British Library Writer's Award and how it supports authors' careers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scottish Book Trust has revealed the winners of this year’s New Writers Awards, each of whom will receive £2,000 to help with their career. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scottish writer Claire McFall’s Ferryman trilogy is set to be turned into films and graphic novels by a US production studio. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Topped by Margaret Atwood, the UK’s Top 10 bestselling authors of literary fiction last year features only one male writer, Haruki MurakamiFlying in the face of Norman Mailer’s infamous comment that “a good novelist can do without everything but the remnant of his balls”, Haruki Murakami was the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Palm Springs compound owned by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk has come on the market at $2.495 million. The stone-walled house, built in the 1940s, was once a retreat of actors Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood. One could say a lot of character has developed here during the decades.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Women have dominated the winners' list at the Writers’ Guild Awards, with debut novelist Sheena Kalayil honoured along with British playwright Caryl Churchill. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Waterstones branch is dedicating its ‘Staff Recommends’ bay to female writers to celebrate the 'Year of Publishing Women'. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The BBC adaptation of Misha Glenny’s book is more than a Bond audition for Norton, with globe-spanning scope that manages to hit the markMcMafia recap – series one, episode oneMcMafia. Sounds like a bad sketch, but it isn’t. It is, the press release assures us, “a groundbreaking international... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I’m not surprised sales of literary fiction are in decline – too many authors fail to engage their readers with any sort of story• Tim Lott is an author and journalistFollowing the announcement from Arts Council England that sales of literary fiction are plummeting, it is suggested that arts... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A working class writers’ collective has formed in response to author Kit de Waal’s “powerful call to arms” to see more such voices represented in literature, with Carmen Marcus and Kerry Hudson among its members. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Matthew Salesses' wife, Cathreen, was diagnosed with cancer in March, not long after the birth of their second child. Now, friends and colleagues in the Asian American writing community are offering literary rewards in a GoFundMe campaign to support the family. Author Margaret Rhee... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Merle Nygate has won the inaugural Little, Brown Award for crime fiction at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Pemsel, CEO of Guardian Media Group, is concerned about Facebook but bullish on the ability of philanthropic contributions to fund publishing. The post ‘Our relationship with Facebook is difficult’: The Guardian’s David Pemsel says the platform doesn’t value quality appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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