Interviews Renee H. Shea Monique Truong / Photo © Haruka Sakaguchi Monique Truong, who came to the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, began exploring untold and ignored histories in her first novel, The Book of Salt (2003), told through the voice of Binh, the cook of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris. Her autobiographical second novel, Bitter in the Mouth (2010) is a coming-of-age story set in North Carolina. In her most recent novel, The Sweetest Fruits (Viking, 2019), Truong tells the story of Lafcadio Hearn from the perspective of three women: his mother, Rosa; his first wife, Alethea; and his Japanese wife, Setsu. Shea: At its core, The Sweetest Fruits is a story about storytelling—and it’s Russian dolls of narrative! It’s not only that three different women have their say about Hearn and their relationship with him, but each is telling her story to a specific audience—so issues of mediation and agency add further complications, as do oral vs. written stories and translation. How did you arrive at this approach instead of just telling the story in the voice of one person, then the next, then the next? Truong: This question is a Russian doll of inquiries! You’re absolutely right that the novel is interested in the different ways that stories are transmitted to us: oral vs. written, in our mother tongue vs. in translation, private story vs. public history, women’s voices vs. men’s, face-to-face vs.... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
I kind of love acknowledgement pages. When I was trying to find an agent for my first novel, I would go to the local Borders (it was a lifetime ago) open to them often to discover which agents and editors novelists worked with, which MFA programs they’d attended, who their early readers were. My... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-18 09:56:43 UTC ]
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Russell Banks, who has died at age 82, carried on the legacy of great American novelists probing big themes through the small lives of heroic underdogs. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-09 21:54:28 UTC ]
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With easy-to-follow recipes developed in her native Canada, she became one of the world’s top cookbook authors, publishing more than 30 million copies. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-01-09 20:19:55 UTC ]
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How does a microwave work to soothe single people’s woes? I tried some truly demented recipes from "Microwave Cooking for One & Two" to find out. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-12-29 20:56:31 UTC ]
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Jean Paré, a farm girl from a small village in rural Alberta, and who gained worldwide fame for her Company's Coming cookbook series, has died. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-12-27 15:54:46 UTC ]
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To try out the recipes in the new cookbook Fabulous Modern Cookies, I asked the baker I trust the most to join me in the kitchen. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2022-12-23 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Whether you love spy fiction, romances, sprawling sagas, or even horror, there’s a new historical fiction book for you on this list, like In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-21 11:36:00 UTC ]
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In today's Cookbook Showdown, Susie tests multiple fried chicken recipes from various popular cookbooks to see which one reigns supreme. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-19 11:35:00 UTC ]
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No DeLorean necessary: Let ten of the best historical fiction books of 2022 -- including Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang -- take you on a trip back in time! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-06 11:36:00 UTC ]
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These sturdy time machines have two things in common: They’re built to last and they’re constructed by pros. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-04 12:20:13 UTC ]
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There’s something for everyone in this season’s bumper crop of novels set in other times and places. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-02 14:45:08 UTC ]
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In her new cookbook, the acclaimed owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen traces the Great Migration’s influence on West Coast cuisine. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-11-28 18:51:40 UTC ]
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We pit nine cookbooks against each other to find the best vegan Thanksgiving recipes for brussels sprouts, potatoes, and a pumpkin dessert. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-11-22 11:36:00 UTC ]
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If you’re a literary genius, you’ve got it easy—right? Wrong. Even Jane Austen, indisputably one of the greatest novelists in the English language, spent years struggling to be published and became so dispirited that there were moments when she almost walked away. The story begins with an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-18 09:54:04 UTC ]
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Load up your TBR with these top 25 tiktok book recommendations, including everything from historical fiction to thriller, YA and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-10-28 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Read your way into the best Japanese historical fiction, ranging from novels to manga and historical fiction about Japanese Americans. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-10-28 10:35:00 UTC ]
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When 2019 Beacon Award winner Eva Longoria launches a new venture, it's usually serious business. And yet, when the actor, producer, director, cookbook author, activist, philanthropist and entrepreneur debuted her new cookware line, she chose a moniker evocative of the joy she hopes it will... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2022-10-05 16:13:34 UTC ]
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‘She saw and felt things us ordinary mortals missed,’ her agent says of Booker prize-winning author who died on Thursday• Hilary Mantel remembered: ‘She was the queen of literature’• ‘The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write’: Hilary Mantel in her own wordsThe Booker... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-23 11:29:23 UTC ]
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Mantel was credited with reenergizing historical fiction with “Wolf Hall” and two sequels about the 16th-century English powerbroker Thomas Cromwell. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2022-09-23 10:42:20 UTC ]
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Held in person for the first time since 2019, the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) 2022 conference brought over 300 authors, agents, publishers, and aspiring novelists together in St. Louis, Mo. from September 8-11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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