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 ]
How historical fiction gave one reader deeper and more vivid insights into history and guided her career in teaching and librarianship. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-09-28 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Linux is one of the most widely used operating systems among system administrators, and even modern application and server development is heavily reliant on the Linux platform. The Linux Administration Cookbook is your go-to guide to get started on your Linux journey. It will help you understand... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2020-09-22 15:03:07 UTC ]
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Viking has acquired a historical debut by Annie Garthwaite, reimagining the story of Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York and mother to two kings of England—Edward IV and Richard III. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 20:07:38 UTC ]
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With no room for Hilary Mantel’s conclusion to her Wolf Hall trilogy, the six finalists also include four debutsHilary Mantel will not win a third Booker prize with the final novel in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, after American writers made a near clean sweep of this year’s shortlist.With four... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-09-15 12:21:07 UTC ]
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A Christmas cookbook of historic Vatican recipes; Titles to nurture women's thirst for faith; Resources for parents of LGBT youth, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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From contemporary and historical fiction to science fiction and fantasy, including Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao, these 21 books are must-reads for 12th graders. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-09-03 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Gollancz has landed a sci-fi debut by fantasy novelist Miles Cameron, who also writes historical fiction as Christian Cameron. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-26 17:11:19 UTC ]
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African-American food writers are seeing more interest among publishers, but the ones who have been burned by the experience warn that the industry’s problems go further than advances and paychecks. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-24 09:00:23 UTC ]
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An awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-08-23 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Ah, yes, the good old days: when novelists lent their faces and testimonials to advertisers hoping to sell tires, or a certain kind of beer, or fancy watches. It’s something you don’t see very much anymore, because we writers have become too principled to participate in advertising campaigns.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-19 17:14:06 UTC ]
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Chris Bohjalian, Mary Kay Andrews and other novelists have turned to Zoom and Facebook Live to find their audience. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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From 'islands of pain' to the 'peril of exposure,' writers have captured the fear, emptiness and despair that characterize life during the current pandemic, writes a poet and English scholar. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-08-17 12:24:39 UTC ]
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Novelists including Candice Carty-Williams, Beth O'Leary and Jeanette Winterson are in the running for the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 13:06:20 UTC ]
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The Women's Prize for Fiction has just published 25 literary works by female authors with their real names for the first time. Could we do the same for Miles Franklin and Henry Handel Richardson here? Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-08-13 06:43:53 UTC ]
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A new collection of short historical fiction stories is characterized by its beautiful prose and its author’s gentle curiosity and sense of wonder. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-08-11 21:24:15 UTC ]
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A new collection of short historical fiction stories is characterized by its beautiful prose and its author’s gentle curiosity and sense of wonder. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-08-11 21:24:15 UTC ]
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A new collection of short historical fiction stories is characterized by its beautiful prose and its author’s gentle curiosity and sense of wonder. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-08-11 21:24:15 UTC ]
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“Make Russia Great Again” and “Rodham” are two recent novels that benefit from blending fact and fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Abir Mukherjee, Courttia Newland, Guy Gunaratne, Paul Mendez and Okechukwu Nzelu on why British writers of colour are left out of the conversationAfter this week’s Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked “Where are the new male hotshot novelists?” I was... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]
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John Blake Publishing has scooped the debut cookbook from Chris Stark, a BBC Radio 1 and 5 Live DJ who co-hosts the hit "That Peter Crouch Podcast". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-30 12:39:19 UTC ]
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