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 ]
Dedicated to her lover and muse Dieter Roth, Dorothy Iannone’s handwritten cookbook buzzes with recipes and intimate observations. Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2019-07-12 14:00:23 UTC ]
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Businesses and public policy makers are tapping novelists to imagine the path forward. But how much stock should we put in the predictions of storytellers? Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-07-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Seven Dials has snapped up Feed Your Family For £20 a Week by Lorna Cooper within 24 hours of submission, following a whirlwind four-publisher auction with multiple pre-empt attempts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-12 00:40:31 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Margaret Randall Children’s choir at the 2014 La Matanza Book Fair / Photo by Mauro Rico / Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación / Flickr When good engineers or scientists emigrate, they are able to continue their work. Novelists... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-10 21:07:28 UTC ]
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The New York Times invited Asian-American authors to choose photos from our archives and write short young-adult fiction inspired by them. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 17:18:37 UTC ]
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Historical fiction authors bring textbook events to life. By creating backstories and intricate narratives, authors can turn a few lines ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-06-28 10:36:47 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has snapped up The Batch Bible and another book from Scottish YouTube home cook The Batch Lady, Suzanne Mulholland, in a six-figure pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-26 22:57:55 UTC ]
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When Miguel Patricio, former Anheuser-Busch InBev global chief marketing officer, was announced as the next CEO of Kraft Heinz earlier this year, you’d be forgiven for assuming job cuts were coming. After all, both companies are affiliated with penny-pinching Brazilian investment firm 3G... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-26 07:00:00 UTC ]
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Ckbk, a new digital subscription service billed as “Spotify for cookbooks”, is launching for the professional market with licences in place with publishers and big name UK chefs including Gary Rhodes and Ken Hom. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-24 05:59:01 UTC ]
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Quarto imprint White Lion Publishing has snapped up a "Downton Abbey" cookbook and collection of cocktail recipes to coincide with a film version of the hit series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-19 11:12:00 UTC ]
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Claire Adam has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for first-time novelists with her "electrifying" debut Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-18 18:50:22 UTC ]
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Robin Robertson has become the first Scot to win the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction with his book The Long Take (Picador). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-17 13:23:17 UTC ]
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BuzzFeed has found success in licensing its Tasty food brand across different consumer products including food, kitchenware and cookbooks. The Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-06-14 19:25:07 UTC ]
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Books are a go-to gift for Father's Day, but if you rely on chain bookstore displays, you'll probably find a lot of the same things: cookbooks with recipes for grilling obscenely large hunks of meat, ghostwritten memoirs by pro athletes, and techno-thrillers featuring very long descriptions... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-11 17:30:00 UTC ]
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News and Events WLT Norman, Okla. (June 11, 2019) – Robert Con Davis-Undiano, Neustadt Professor and executive director of the World Literature Today organization at the University of Oklahoma, this week announced the names of nine writers to be the jury... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-06-10 16:04:37 UTC ]
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A “dazzling” six-book shortlist has been announced for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For nearly 20 years, Namwali Serpell has been writing “The Old Drift.” If you don’t find that fact alone to be staggering, consider this: The 576-page book blends English with a multitude of Bantu languages spoken in Zambia. Incorporating elements of historical fiction, sci-fi, magical realism,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has unveiled its longlist, as the chair of the judges warns choosing a shortlist “from these corkers is going to be a tough task”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Germany, Turning Point, the finale of Carmen Korn’s Century Trilogy, a historical series about four women in the 20th century, topped the fiction bestseller list in September, and prolific mystery novelist Charlotte Link was in second with The Search, about a missing teen. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In her first work of historical fiction, bestselling author Patti Callahan explores the life and love of Joy Davidman, the wife of C.S. Lewis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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