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 ]
Letter to Mohamed Choukri: Writing between Silence and Prattle, by Mohamed Berrada Cultural Cross Sections [email protected] Wed, 08/07/2024 - 15:25 Mohamed Choukri (left) and Mohamed Berrada / Photo courtesy the estate of Mohamed ChoukriIn the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-07 20:25:04 UTC ]
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Something about historical fiction + fantasy just hits different. What are your faves? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-08-07 15:30:00 UTC ]
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Queer-Feminist Writing from 1970s Turkey: A Conversation with Maureen Freely on Sevgi Soysal, by Ipek Sahinler Interviews [email protected] Tue, 08/06/2024 - 16:31 Maureen Freely (left) & Funda Soysal (right)Maureen Freely is an author,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-06 21:31:04 UTC ]
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No Sally Rooney, one clear favourite and a novel set in space - this is a longlist of unexpected discoveries and big ideas• Three British novelists make Booker 2024 longlist among ‘cohort of global voices’It is 10 years since the Booker prize expanded its remit to include American novelists. The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-07-30 13:04:15 UTC ]
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The 13-strong longlist for this year's 2024 Booker Prize has been announced. Among those listed are three debut novelists and several marquee names, including Percival Everett, Rachel Kushner, and Richard Powers. Six Americans made this year's list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-07-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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While reading a debut novel, oftentimes, there exists a momentary thrill of forgetting about craft. Instead, it can feel as if these writers grew up alongside their stories—in parallel lines and lives, naturally accumulating sentences with every inch they grew. There is a tender, literary... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-07-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Arts Club recently awarded Colm Tóibín the Medal of Honor for Achievement in Literature. Read remarks by novelists Jeffrey Eugenides and Yiyun Li, who spoke about Tóibín’s influence and friendship. Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-07-17 08:55:27 UTC ]
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An environmentalist mermaid, a cookbook for young scientists, the story of an Olympic champion, and more of today's best kids' book deals! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-07-03 15:05:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Prime built its popularity by offering subscribers faster free shipping, access to streaming movies and TV shows, and exclusive deals (most noticeably during the company’s Prime Day dealfest, coming again July 16 and 17). But Prime membership includes other perks, too: Everything... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-07-01 13:28:52 UTC ]
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The bestselling books of the week, the best historical fiction of 2024 so far, book banning updates, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-06-29 15:00:00 UTC ]
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“A memoir is closer to historical fiction than it is to biography” writes artist and author Jill Ciment in her retrospective memoir Consent. At seventeen, Ciment had an affair with her forty-seven-year-old painting teacher. The two married, and Ciment wrote the original account of the affair in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-06-24 08:55:21 UTC ]
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This trio of novels ushers readers into three different but equally mesmerizing long-ago worlds. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-06-12 13:28:10 UTC ]
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Restaurateur Josh Niland and recipe developer Hetty Lui McKinnon scoop prizes in food publishing awards, which also honoured aid worker Zomi FrankcomGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailTwo Australian cookbook authors have won prizes in this year’s James Beard Foundation awards, dubbed the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-06-11 07:21:43 UTC ]
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Molly Baz, the cookbook author whose recent billboard for breastfeeding brand Swehl was deemed too spicy for Times Square, is following up that controversy with a new sponsorship. Baz, in a timely alliance with Kellogg's, will become the first pregnant woman to appear on... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-06-04 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The days are long, but this summer’s bounty of historical fiction will remind you that the years are short. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-05-31 09:01:00 UTC ]
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It’s not pretty but conference calls at dawn keep us showing up. We’ve got novels to write, which is the only work we really want to doGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastWhen you work solo, peer accountability is sacred.Three mornings a week I set my alarm... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-30 00:56:10 UTC ]
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Poetry from the Young People’s Poet Laureate, the adventures of Eloise, a DIY cookbook for young chefs, and more of today's best children's book deals. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-05-29 15:16:09 UTC ]
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The events will showcase writers and speakers from countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa to UK audiences, and feature up-and-coming UK writers selected as part of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 2023 list.This specially selected event series brings together our work with the... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2024-05-24 10:51:02 UTC ]
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The campaign, featuring pregnant and near-nude celebrity cookbook author Molly Baz, was deemed indecent by a billboard company ahead of Mother’s Day. In case you missed it, last week, Times Square was the home of a 45-foot billboard featuring an image of pregnant celebrity cookbook author Molly... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2024-05-14 22:45:00 UTC ]
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If you weren't familiar with breastfeeding brand Swehl before this week, you surely are now. This week, the company's 45-foot billboard featuring cookbook author Molly Baz, her pregnant belly, a rhinestone bikini and two lactation cookies covering her breasts took over... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-05-14 21:45:47 UTC ]
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