Can We Truly Be Free of Our Past? A Conversation with Wendy Chen, by Xixuan Collins Interviews [email protected] 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 ]
The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. It is from Story Club with George Saunders, a Substack publication and literary community where Saunders offers weekly discussions of the craft of the short story. Both free and paid subscriptions are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-25 09:51:07 UTC ]
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After previous seminars showcased work from Scotland and Wales, this year the focus is on writing from Northern Ireland. Chaired by novelist and non-fiction writer Glenn Patterson, director at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast – a familiar and popular name for British... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 12:14:57 UTC ]
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'Moon Witch, Spider King,' the second in Marlon James' incantatory Dark Star trilogy, flips the script on his first novel to tell a woman's side. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-15 14:00:10 UTC ]
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The memoirist Sarah Manguso’s first novel is about a young girl’s life in a small, snowy New England town. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-02-06 10:00:06 UTC ]
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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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On January 14, 1963, poet Sylvia Plath published her first novel in England under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas.” The book had a positive but relatively quiet reception; only a few weeks after its publication, on February 11, Plath would die by suicide. It wasn’t published in the US until 1971,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-14 09:50:32 UTC ]
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Two decades ago, I wrote my very first novel while working at The Community Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. That job enabled me to complete my book, not just because of the flexible hours, but because the other staffers were all aspiring writers, and many of our... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-12 09:50:45 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Jean Giono at his home, Le Paraïs, in Manosque, France, 1942 / Photo by André Zucca / Courtesy Les Amis de Jean Giono Written late in life, “Le Haut Pays” and “Camargue”—once again paired in the Archipelago Books edition of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-11 21:02:53 UTC ]
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"To Paradise," by Hanya Yanagihara, is the author's first novel since "A Little Life" became a major literary event in 2015. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-11 13:00:00 UTC ]
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And just like that . . . 2021 is over. Like any year, it had its share of disappointments, triumphs, and scandals. There were some good books published and some good literary adaptations to watch. There were great book covers, great book reviews, and even (if we do say so ourselves) a few great... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-05 14:17:54 UTC ]
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Little A, the literary fiction and non-fiction imprint of Amazon Publishing, has acquired a "powerful" memoir by Paul Burston, founder of the Polari Prize, the UK’s first and largest LGBTQ+ book award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-09 09:18:56 UTC ]
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A recent roundup of the ‘best books of 2021’ had every possible genre of novel – with the unsurprising exception of romanceIn the four months since my first novel came out, I’ve had the same conversation probably a dozen times.“What’s it about?” a well-meaning stranger will ask. “Well,” I’ll... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-05 15:25:24 UTC ]
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Academic Alex Hyde‘s first novel is a lyrical tale about two women named Violet during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-26 18:23:13 UTC ]
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Here are Libro.fm's top 10 bestselling audiobooks of 2021, including book club picks, mysteries, memoirs, nonfiction, and literary fiction. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-11-18 15:24:26 UTC ]
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Monica Ali, Jennifer Egan and Laline Paull were among those headlining the Little, Brown Literary Fiction Spring Showcase 2022. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-11 16:38:57 UTC ]
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Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of heated discourse surrounding a trend in book covers in which many new releases opt for variations of the same colorful abstractions: The Blob. Somehow deemed appropriate for everything from dystopian debuts to literary fiction bestsellers, these... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-11-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nigerian writer explains the origins of his latest book’s title, why novels are harder to write than plays, and the masochistic pull of political activism. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-11-02 22:37:29 UTC ]
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From magic realism and folklore retellings to literary fiction and nonfiction, here are some of the best paperback releases for book club. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-10-28 10:30:00 UTC ]
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On this day in 1940, Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, CA. Kingston, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, took the literary world by storm with her seminal work The Woman Warrior (1976), which blends autobiography and mythology. The Woman Warrior, the winner of the 1976 National Book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-27 16:42:53 UTC ]
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