“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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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

Mitchell Beazley has bagged a second TV tie-in cookbook for BBC series "Dirty Vegan", featuring 80 new recipes from ex "Dirty Sanchez" star Matt Pritchard. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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

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

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-31 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

My stove and I have been at odds for some time now. Beautiful and wasteful, it is the kind that is ubiquitous in Los Angeles kitchens of a certain vintage and which has chrome fins like a muscle car. And like those muscle cars, it is a gas guzzler. Aside from the standard four burners, […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature

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

Bestselling bloggers-turned-cookbook authors Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson have revealed details for their second cookbook, Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light for Bluebird, featuring recipes which all consist of 400 calories or less. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-27 00:34:30 UTC ]
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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

The internet search histories of novelists can be quite disturbing. Writer Kathleen Valenti shares the methodology behind web searches for her newest medical mystery. The post The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History by Kathleen Valenti appeared... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-20 14:00:45 UTC ]
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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

HarperCollins division HQ is to publish Rising Hope, an illustrated cookbook from Luminary Bakery, founded by Alice Williams. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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

SCIENCE FICTION HAS BEEN mapping the topography of a yawning postcapitalism since the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s, a laborious undertaking still ongoing in the 21st century. Before cyberpunk, Deleuze and Guattari pointed the way in their books on capitalism and schizophrenia; after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-03 12:30:19 UTC ]
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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

[ Electric Literature | 2019-08-01 11:00:53 UTC ]
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When Novelists Become Method Actors

During one of my first open mics in New York City, the comic running the mic tapped me on the elbow after my set and said, “Hey, you’re funny!” She sounded surprised. I was, too. Being funny wasn’t my main goal. I was there to spy on comics, trying to experience the highs and lows […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-31 08:49:06 UTC ]
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Hodder bags new Ramsay cookbook of quick recipes

Hodder & Stoughton has bagged a new book from Gordon Ramsay called Quick & Delicious, featuring 100 “knockout” recipes ready in 30 minutes or less. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-22 13:10:06 UTC ]
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Mitchell Beazley scoops cookbook from Masterchef and EastEnders star Partridge

Mitchell Beazley has scooped "EastEnders" actor and "Celebrity Masterchef" winner John Partridge's first cookbook, featuring dishes inspired by personal memories. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-18 13:09:51 UTC ]
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12 Novels about Historical Women to Inspire a Better Future

The Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a genre, historical fiction allows us to shuttle back in time to stand in the shoes, clogs, chopines, and go-go boots of people—real and imagined—to consider the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-15 11:00:13 UTC ]
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Summer reading: dive into the perfect book

As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
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