“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 ]
News tagged with: #literary legacy #restaurant workers #cookbook #historical fiction #novelists

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Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #3 Featuring Sara Desai & Jen Frederick

The third installment in the AAPI Communities in Conversation series will feature Sara Desai, author of 'The Singles Table' and Jen Frederick, author of 'Seoulmates' in conversation with librarian Seungyeon (Sue) Yang-Peace from the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. The live stream is set... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Nepal and Pan-Nepalese Identity: A Conversation with Samrat Upadhyay, by Koushik Goswami

Interviews For many years, better opportunities on foreign shores, political turmoil, and the Maoist insurgency in Nepal have contributed to a large-scale migration to foreign countries. Many Nepalese writers, now settled in the West, have begun writing... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-14 22:32:24 UTC ]
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Take an early peek at Hulu’s adaptation of Conversations With Friends.

At the risk of reigniting the Sally Rooney Discourse—today, Hulu and BBC Three released a few early images from their upcoming adaptation of Sally Rooney’s bestselling first novel Conversations With Friends, which will premiere sometime this spring. (If you somehow don’t know what this novel is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-04 13:53:52 UTC ]
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Trapeze wins four-way auction for Arthanayake’s conversation guide

Trapeze has signed Nihal Arthanayake’s "game-changing" Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations following a four-way auction.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-25 22:13:43 UTC ]
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Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #2, Featuring Gina Apostol

Apostol, whose latest novel 'Bibliolepsy' earned a starred review from Publisher Weekly, will appear in conversation with librarian Jenna Rae Cabrera from the San Francisco Public Library on Tuesday, February 1, at 1:00 p.m. ET. Registration is free! Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A Novel of Old Shanghai: In Conversation with Weina Dai Randel, by Susan Blumberg-Kason

Interviews   Weina Dai Randel burst onto the literary scene a number of years ago with her duology about Empress Wu Zetian, China’s first woman leader. After winning the prestigious Rita Award in 2017 and seeing her novels translated into seven... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-20 14:33:49 UTC ]
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AAPI Communities in Conversation #1: Sujata Massey and Naomi Hirahara

In the inaugural discussion, which streamed live on January 4, 2022, Adrienne Cruz of the Azusa City (California) Library spoke with Naomi Hirahara, author of 'Clark & Division,' and Sujata Massey, author of 'The Bombay Prince.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-07 05:00:00 UTC ]
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What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright

Interviews Victoria Chang’s new collection, Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters. It prompts us to ask, with her,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-05 19:50:39 UTC ]
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Reading Reality through the Imagination: In Conversation with Enrique Vila-Matas, by Anna María Iglesia

Interviews   Photo by Diane Picchiottino / Unsplash That Famous Abyss (Wunderkammer, 2020) is a book of exclusive interviews with Enrique Vila-Matas by cultural journalist Anna María Iglesia, covering such themes as why write, the places of... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-11-29 21:46:44 UTC ]
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A Deep Bow to Mombasa (and Sea Monsters): A Conversation with Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Khadija Abdalla Bajaber’s astonishing debut novel, The House of Rust, winner of the inaugural Graywolf Press Africa Prize, arrived in October as if on a magical wave, imbued with an assortment of creatures—human and animal, real and... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-11-15 21:42:08 UTC ]
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‘We Are Not Like Them’ continues an important conversation. We shouldn’t look away.

Christine Pride and Jo Piazza’s novel explores the fallout after the shooting of an unarmed Black teen. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-11-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperFiction promotes Shea and Clarke

HarperFiction has announced two promotions in its marketing team with Sarah Shea and Fleur Clarke both stepping up. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-01 09:04:55 UTC ]
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Podcast: Author Shea Serrano thinks Mexicans are perfect

We're hanging out with Shea Serrano, who's a bestselling author and probably the nicest cholo nerd around. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-10-25 12:00:49 UTC ]
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A World to Be Repaired: A Conversation with Dimitris Lyacos, by Toti O’Brien

Interviews Dimitris Lyacos with Marsias / Photo by Walter Melcher In 2019 I interviewed Dimitris Lyacos on the occasion of the US tour/launch of his trilogy, Poena Damni, which had been recently released in the English complete edition. When we... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-10-04 20:23:19 UTC ]
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Balancing on the Edge of Fashion and Art: A Conversation with Amber Ambrose Aurèle, by Margaret Larmuth

Culture Photo by Deborah Vaia Amber Ambrose Aurèle is a shoe designer, teacher, and art historicist. In 2012 she graduated as one of the first-generation Master Shoe Design at ArtEZ Fashion Masters. She searches for the boundaries between fashion... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-09-03 14:43:50 UTC ]
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Keeping a Critical Eye on Brazil: A Conversation with Emilio Fraia, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Emilio Fraia’s Sevastopol, out this summer from New Directions, is the sort of book that beguiles and dazzles in equal measure. Consisting of three disparate stories—of a mountain climber attempting to scale Mt. Everest, a mysterious loner... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-08-09 20:31:30 UTC ]
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Toni Tone | 'My publishers have been great at highlighting the fact that there is a lane for me'

Galvanised in the wake of a break-up, Toni Tone turned to Twitter, sharing her shrewd take on relationships, which paved the way for her resonant self- help début Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-28 01:33:29 UTC ]
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Poetry and Nursing in the Filipino Diaspora: A Conversation with Romalyn Ante, by Marianne Chan

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At Abu Dhabi International Book Fair: Salha Obaid on Fact and Fiction

The Emirati writer's fiction explores the rapid changes in her home country in recent decades, with factual research as a foundation. The post At Abu Dhabi International Book Fair: Salha Obaid on Fact and Fiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-05-26 15:30:15 UTC ]
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In Francisco Goldman’s ‘Monkey Boy,’ an author grapples with the alternative facts of his family history

A train ride becomes a pretext for a long train of thought, as a man looks back at his past. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-18 16:00:48 UTC ]
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