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 ]
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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Times Square is no stranger to women's bodies, but a particular advertisement recently stirred controversy, reflecting deep societal tensions surrounding motherhood and female sexuality. The ad promoted lactation cookies in a provocative campaign by breastfeeding startup... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-05-13 20:32:01 UTC ]
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For the past two years, the novelist Alice Elliott Dark has been sending out missives on the writing and reading life via her popular weekly Substack, “Alice on Sunday.” But this March, Dark applied her platform to a curious task: recapping and analyzing old episodes of HBO’s Girls. The project... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-13 18:56:54 UTC ]
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Food is often described as a universal language that brings people together. In recent years, various content creators such as QCP have taken over social media with their food creations. Known for preparing different Italian dishes, Gianluca Conte--also known as QCP--has... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-05-03 18:16:20 UTC ]
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Chloe Walsh’s ‘Taming 7,’ a new entry in her BookTok-popular Boys of Tommen YA series, debuts at #3 on our children’s fiction list. Plus novelists Salman Rushdie and Caleb Carr publish memoirs, and a memoir in Spanish by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a stateside hit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This week, TIME magazine published its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People of the year. Usually, when this list comes out, I complain (to the universe, I guess) that there aren’t enough novelists (“enough” meaning “more than one”) on it. Last year, though, there were four, which was a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-18 17:45:48 UTC ]
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There will be no follow-up to that AI-generated George Carlin comedy special released by the podcast Dudesy. In January, Carlin's estate filed a lawsuit against the podcast and its creators Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, accusing them of violating the performer's right to publicity and infringing... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-03 07:52:24 UTC ]
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These historical fiction books are set during the Aztec empire, 1900s Manchuria, Meiji-era Japan, and more. Which eras do you like to rad about the most? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-03-27 17:00:00 UTC ]
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This trio of new novels shows real people in their natural habitats, drawn with writerly flair. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-03-19 15:22:43 UTC ]
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