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 ]
Despite winning awards, these little-known beautiful and thought-provoking literary fiction books, like Last of Her Name by Mimi Lok, remain criminally underrated. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-01 10:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bestselling YA novelist Elizabeth Acevedo explains why 'Family Lore,' her first novel for adults, features sex, magic and an 'alpha vagina' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-07-31 13:00:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sixty-nine (nice, but in Elvish) years ago this week, the godfather of high fantasy, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, published the first novel in a proposed thee-volume epic “largely concerned with hobbits.” The Fellowship of the Ring has, in the decades since publication, shifted over 150 million... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-28 16:55:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Here is the best new Korean literature in translation, from science fiction like Counterweight by Djuna and translated by Anton Hur to literary fiction, short stories, and poetry. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-27 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Finding Her #ownvoice: A Conversation with Ivy Ngeow, by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Tue, 07/18/2023 - 15:46 Ivy Ngeow grew up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and now makes her home in London. An architect and interior designer by... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-18 20:46:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The pseudonymous South Korean author’s first novel to be translated into English pits a multinational conglomerate against life on earth. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-07-09 09:00:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Billed as ‘a therapeutic novel’, the publisher’s first foray into fiction follows 29-year-old Anna’s mental health journey – with a view to helping the reader. But how useful can such clunky writing be?At 29 years old, Anna is full of self-loathing. She hates her job, her boyfriend is having an... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-07 15:45:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Author of a series of comic novels that focused on the tragi-comic nature of relationships and the general absurdities of lifeMavis Cheek, who has died aged 75, was the author of a series of comic novels that cast an acute eye on middle-class marriage and relationships and marked her out as one... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-04 16:07:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
First edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone bought by UK book collector goes up for auction next weekIt is a book that has certainly lived up to its name: a rare edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone bought for 30p could fetch up to £5,000 at auction.The first novel... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-30 09:29:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Braschian Wave: All the Solitude of an Empire in a Bottle Thrown into the Sea, by Carlos Labbé Essay [email protected] Wed, 06/28/2023 - 14:55 Photo by Javardh / UnsplashCarlos Labbé wonders whether it is “still possible to speak of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-06-28 19:55:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Two giants of the literary world died last week. In this episode, the Book Review celebrates their lives. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-23 22:11:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Libri Group’s takeover by Mathias Corvinus Collegium raises fears of crackdown on literary freedomsThe takeover of Hungary’s largest publishing house and bookstore chain by a private foundation with close ties to the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has prompted walkouts from authors who... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-23 11:38:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The literary magazine will be back in print in August, with a new publishing partner: The Nation. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-22 10:10:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Barbara Kingsolver and others are no longer oppressed – they dominate book salesThere is a point at which all special treatment becomes patronising. And we have reached that point, I think, when it comes to giving women a leg-up in the business of writing fiction.Genghis Khan sacked and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-18 06:31:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Lorrie Moore's fourth novel, 'I Am Homeless If This is Not My Home,' follows a grieving man through the chaos of 2016 and some wondrous metaphysical byways. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-06-14 13:00:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
One of my moments of greatest relief as a writer—equal, perhaps, to the swell and crest of learning that my first novel would be published—was when, decades ago, my Intro to Creative Writing professor assigned Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” and I arrived at this passage: “Very few... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-06 08:53:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With a first novel that chronicles a love affair between two young men, 23-year-old Ani Kayode Somtochukwu asserts a commitment to “queer resistance.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-05 16:02:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some of us do our best thinking in the shower, others do it while on the toilet. Renee Descartes, he pondered most deeply while ensconced in a baker's oven. The man simply needed to be convinced of the oven's existence before climbing in. Such are the quirks of the most monumental minds humanity... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-28 14:30:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Flaws used to feed their sales but now writers are expected to be saints‘As you get older you realise that all these things – prizes, reviews, advances, readers – it’s all showbiz, and the real action starts with your obituary.”Martin Amis first started spinning in favour of his future... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-27 17:31:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The third day of the U.S. Book Show was capped off on an entertaining note with a keynote given by Matthew Gray Gubler; the actor-turned-children’s book author-illustrator, who is known for his role as Dr. Spencer Reid on 'Criminal Minds,' made a segue into the literary world with the 2019... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this