Can We Truly Be Free of Our Past? A Conversation with Wendy Chen, by Xixuan Collins Interviews robvollmar@ou.edu Mon, 04/29/2024 - 15:10 An epic family saga that spans over one hundred years and two countries, Wendy Chen’s powerful, lyrical debut, Their Divine Fires (Algonquin, forthcoming on May 7, 2024), is about history, love, passion, loyalty, betrayal, and our desire to be free of our past. In the novel, four generations of women survived the formidable hardship in China during the tumultuous twentieth century—the warlord melee, the Communist–Nationalist civil war, the Japanese invasion, and the Cultural Revolution—each emerging with unspeakable loss and heartache yet undampened spirit for life and the future. An intimate study of family relationships with the backdrop of a chaotic, changing world, this book provides a perspective on Chinese history rarely seen in American literature. Xixuan Collins: You capture the emotions of the four generations of Chinese and Chinese American women so vividly. You have said that you were inspired by your grandmother’s stories of her mother and uncles and the ways they fought, lived, and died for what they believed in. Can you tell us a little more about the story behind your story; that is, what was the moment when you realized you had a story to tell and you felt compelled to sit down and write this novel? Wendy Chen: My grandmother would always tell me stories of her family when I... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2024-04-29 20:10:46 UTC ]
In its fourth and final year, IPA’s Africa Publishing Innovation Fund will support publishers in accessibility. By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson ‘Opening the Literary World to Everyone’ ur readers will recall that at mid-June, we had the announcement of the Africa... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-06-29 10:33:25 UTC ]
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The best literary fiction is in some ways a simple character study. It is a roadmap into the interiority of a specific character: the way they think, how their identity impacts their relationships, and what decisions get made in response to the socio-political pressures shaping their lives. But... Continue reading at Electric Literature
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Patrice Nganang’s Cameroon trilogy challenges the capacities of literary fiction with the turbulent complexities of his home country. Continue reading at New Yorker
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Herzog's novel follows Hiroo Onoda, a real Japanese lieutenant who terrorized the Philippine villagers of Lubang Island with guerrilla tactics for 29 years after World War II’s conclusion. Continue reading at The Washington Post
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Ranging from middle grade fantasy to adult literary fiction and romance, here are Barnes & Noble's top 10 books of 2022 so far. Continue reading at Book Riot
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In the memoir “James Patterson by James Patterson,” the best-selling author opens up — kind of — about how he came to be such a force in the literary world. Continue reading at The Washington Post
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The best audiobooks 2022 has to offer includes everything from memoir to literary fiction and even poetry. Find your next listen! Continue reading at Book Riot
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'Tomb of Sand' is the first novel translated from an Indian language to win the award. Shree and Rockwell split the International Booker's £50,000 purse. The post In London, Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell Win the 2022 International Booker Prize appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-05-26 21:30:55 UTC ]
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No disrespect meant to the downers of the literary world, but sometimes you just want a book that makes you smile. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-26 13:30:15 UTC ]
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Nina LaCour's first novel for adults, "Yerba Buena," follows a promising and complicated lesbian love story in the mold of Sarah Waters. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
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The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel can’t quite bring tricky source material – repressed characters, digital communication – to lifeIt was always unlikely that Conversations with Friends, the new Hulu and BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel, would be able to repeat the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-05-24 06:05:00 UTC ]
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Susanna Clarke’s ‘Piranesi’ is one great book that’s hard to categorize. What hard-to-classify novels do you enjoy? Continue reading at The Washington Post
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Ali Smith's first novel since her seasonal quartet takes place in our pandemic-inflected world. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Monique Roffey, the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch, on the lit-boom that’s happening on the Caribbean islandLast week, Trinidadian writer Lisa Allen-Agostini’s novel The Bread the Devil Knead landed a coveted spot on the Women’s prize shortlist. As a fellow Trinidadian... Continue reading at The Guardian
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“Liarmouth” is about three generations of women in one family who plan to confront or kill one another. It also has a trampoline fun park. Continue reading at The New York Times
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The Hugo Award is the biggest science fiction award in the literary world, and it has just announced its 2022 finalists. Continue reading at Book Riot
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Jennifer Egan walks and talks — about 'The Candy House,' her sequel to 'A Visit From the Goon Squad,' and why she still believes in fiction and humanity. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
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New hero alert: Wong May, the winner of this year’s $165,000 Windham-Campbell Prize in poetry, who expressed surprise at the award given than she has consciously eschewed the literary world in favor of the work itself. On the Windham-Campbell website, Wong May has one of the all-time great... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-29 19:56:25 UTC ]
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Last year not only marked the twentieth publication anniversary of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, it also saw the release of his first novel in seven years, Crossroads. So it was only fitting that Picador would embark on a redesign of the author’s backlist. We spoke with Alex Merto, the art... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-17 08:54:52 UTC ]
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Lee Cole’s first novel is not only the story of a young man finding his vocation as a writer but also a wrenching examination of class differences Continue reading at The Washington Post
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