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 ]
Interviews Get to know the participants of the upcoming 2020 Neustadt Festival in this series of short interviews. First up: David Bellos! David Bellos is a professor of French and comparative literature as well as director of the Program in Translation... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-08-25 20:30:39 UTC ]
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Picador has picked up the first novel in eight years from award-winning Irish author Keith Ridgway. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-24 11:52:26 UTC ]
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Makenna Goodman on leaving New York publishing behind for the farms of Vermont, and why publishing her first novel was traumatic. Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2020-08-20 17:18:24 UTC ]
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“There isn’t much literary fiction that deals with evangelicalism. ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain,’ by James Baldwin, was the first book I read that spoke to that part of my life and it moved me so deeply to see faith rendered on the page with such care and brilliance.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-20 09:00:04 UTC ]
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The 2020 Edinburgh International Book Festival will be presented online from Saturday 15 to Monday 31 August. The programme, made up of over 140 events for adults, families and children, will offer both live and pre-recorded conversations featuring leading writers, poets and participants from... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-08-07 14:45:31 UTC ]
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Gayl Jones published her first novel in 1975. It was hailed by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and John Updike. Then Gayl disappeared from the literary scene. Now she's releasing her first novel in 20 years. The post The Long-Awaited Return of Gayl Jones appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-08-05 20:30:18 UTC ]
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Ingrid Persaud made the grandest of debuts in the literary world by winning the BBC Short Story Award in 2018 with “The Sweet Sop,” the first short story she ever wrote. After this extremely auspicious beginning, the Trinidad-born writer, whose resume includes stints in legal academia and art... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Steven Millhauser: Pulitzer Prize winner. Certified Writer’s Writer. Big in France. Reported Ping-Pong champ. A master short story writer who never quite seems to get his due. George Saunders before George Saunders, though sans the gooey center. Lit Hub’s own Jonny Diamond recently called him... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-03 08:49:28 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph is publishing the first novel from Dawn French in five years, called Because of You, this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-29 17:04:51 UTC ]
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Full disclosure: I may not be the right person to answer the question posed in this headline. After all, I wrote my first novel almost entirely from bed. In fact, I am writing this essay from bed now. Like Edith Wharton, Colette, and Proust, I am more creative when reclined, and when... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-28 10:44:03 UTC ]
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Tsukiyama’s first novel in nearly a decade takes readers to the 1930s Hawai’i of her Japanese father, where sugar was king and labor was hard. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-20 12:07:23 UTC ]
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Headline Review has won Radhika Sanghani's first novel for adults, 30 Things I Love About Myself, in a "heated" auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-17 00:46:50 UTC ]
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A wide array of books, from literary fiction to romance to YA, have borrowed their titles from songs by The Beatles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-07-10 10:34:48 UTC ]
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Over the past few months, as gyms and yoga studios and fitness centers have remained closed, many of you antsy yogis and barre-enthusiasts and Zumba-addicts have gone back to that most elemental of exercises: the run. For those of us who like to read and run, well, plenty of books on the subject... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-23 08:49:25 UTC ]
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Interviews Veronica Esposito Photo by Camila Valdés Megan McDowell has translated many contemporary authors from Latin America and Spain, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, and Lina Meruane. Shortlisted for the Man Booker... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-22 15:20:00 UTC ]
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As the lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 begin to be relaxed across the UK, we’re bringing you the final instalment of our Literature on Lockdown series.Following the worldwide demonstrations, protests and public events in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-06-16 16:00:51 UTC ]
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Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, will be published by Faber & Faber on 2nd March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 08:35:46 UTC ]
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Nineteen books from 15 countries and 13 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, including the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 01:27:30 UTC ]
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A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
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The Desmond Elliott Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first novel is written in English and published in the UK. Since 2007, it has supported and heralded new writers; the honor comes with a £10,000 prize. It’s heartening to see, especially right now, that this year the Desmond Elliott... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 17:58:53 UTC ]
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