“Between the Facts”: A Conversation with Monique Truong, by Renee H. Shea

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 ]

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Here are the 10 best lines from Vulture’s profile of “book-fluencer” Zibby Owens.

First, can we all agree that it should be “lit-fluencer”? Moving on: 1. “Gertrude Stein had time to read books. But do moms?” 2. “Owens’s dinner will be in a decidedly lower key: a gingham tablecloth, uniformed servers passing out pigs in blankets, Zibby’s kids popping in occasionally to whisper... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-17 19:31:52 UTC ]
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“Between the Facts”: A Conversation with Monique Truong, by Renee H. Shea

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... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
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Candy Jar and Hoho join forces for Shane the Chef cookbook

Welsh indie Candy Jar has joined forces with Hoho Rights to publish a new children's cookbook to accompany the Channel 5 animated series "Shane the Chef".  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-16 17:12:19 UTC ]
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5 Historical Fiction Books to Read If You Don’t Like Historical Fiction

Think you don't like historical fiction? Try these books out and prove yourself wrong. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-09-14 10:33:10 UTC ]
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11 anticipated music books this fall

Patti Smith and Liz Phair memoirs, Questlove's cookbook and more highly anticipated music books coming out this fall. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-09-13 18:02:09 UTC ]
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Historical Fiction Literary Agents Open to Submissions

Literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry. Find historical fiction literary agents open to submissions in this post. List will be updated regularly. The post Historical Fiction Literary Agents Open to Submissions by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-09-11 12:59:53 UTC ]
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Mitchell Beazley bags second Dirty Vegan tie-in cookbook

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-03 10:59:43 UTC ]
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Food and Cookbook Literary Agents Open to Submissions

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[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-31 13:00:08 UTC ]
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What we're reading August 2019

Lowborn by Kerry HudsonKerry Hudson is best known for her award-winning fiction. Her first book, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish First Book Award and earned her a place on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Her latest book, Lowborn,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-08-30 08:51:45 UTC ]
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Tales of The Handmaid’s Tale

How The Handmaid’s Tale keeps going, with Margaret Atwood, Ann Dowd, and novelists Louise Erdrich and Megan Hunter. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-08-29 21:00:04 UTC ]
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This Cookbook from 1942 Is a Textbook for Making a Better World

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[ Electric Literature | 2019-08-29 11:00:20 UTC ]
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New Pinch of Nom cookbook slated for December

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The Matrix 4 is happening, and Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell wrote the script.

Welcome back to the 90s. (And, I guess, the early 2000s.) As Variety reports, there is officially a fourth Matrix film in the works, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back in the saddle as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski will direct; she also wrote the script with novelists Aleksandar Hemon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 20:44:00 UTC ]
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The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History

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It’s Not Always Excellent to Be Jamie Oliver

Twenty years after he vaulted to fame, the brash British chef, TV star and cookbook author has lost his restaurant empire — but not his taste for hard work. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-08-20 10:11:06 UTC ]
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The Archers cookbook goes to Seven Dials

Orion imprint Seven Dials has licensed "The Archers" brand and characters to create a cookbook based on the BBC radio drama, written by scriptwriter Keri Davis. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-13 03:20:37 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: August 9, 2019

“The phrase ‘common-or-garden dick’ in a medieval poem? Yes, please.” On the gleefully indecent lines of the Medieval Welsh feminist poet Gwerful Mechain. | Lit Hub For the anxious historical fiction writer, Caitlin Horrocks offers some permissions for writing into the past. | Lit Hub “As a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-09 10:30:36 UTC ]
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HQ buys cookbook from Luminary Bakery

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-09 03:04:25 UTC ]
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Experiments in Postcapitalism: On Dempow Torishima’s “Sisyphean”

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7 Books About Past Decades That Feel Like Traveling Back in Time

The Amazon review for my debut novel was glowing, including words like “compelling” and “fun.” And then there was this: “If you love historical fiction, you’ll love The Last Book Party.” Say what? How could my novel, which is set during the 1980s—a decade of my own youth—be historical fiction?... Continue reading at Electric Literature

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