Catherine Lacey: ‘That constant nervous Twitter energy repels me’

The American novelist, whose latest work is a fake biography of an avant-garde artist, on growing up in Mississippi and why her fiction has ‘never actively involved cellphones or the internet’Catherine Lacey, 37, is the author of three previous novels, including The Answers, currently being adapted for television by Darren Aronofsky, and Pew (2020), about a nameless amnesiac of ambiguous race and gender. Her new novel, Biography of X, set in a parallel America, follows a widow untangling the life story of her wife, an avant-garde artist known as X. The New York Times has called it “sprawling and ambitious… strange and dystopian”. Lacey, one of Granta’s best young American novelists in 2017, was speaking from her home in Brooklyn.Which part of the book came first: the alternate history or the fake biography?I liked the idea of writing a fake biography and the biographies I like best are usually written by someone with some kind of compromised perspective. I thought the worst person to write a biography would be a surviving spouse with a bit of a grudge, but I didn’t want to get into the heterosexual dynamics of a man writing about a woman or a woman writing about a man; it had to be two women. At the same time, I wanted the novel to be set in the mid-20th century but I wasn’t interested in writing about the actual struggles a prominent lesbian couple would have gone through in that time. So my alternate history grew out of that problem. I thought, if I have an America... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-01 17:00:01 UTC ]
News tagged with: #alternate history #mid-20th century #takes place #novelists

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Catherine Lacey: ‘That constant nervous Twitter energy repels me’'


Twitter reportedly eyeing $1bn Flipboard acquisition

Social network and magazine app have been in talks since the beginning of the year, according to reportsTwitter is discussing the possibility of acquiring the social media aggregation app Flipboard at a valuation of more than $1bn, according to reports.Twitter’s chief financial officer Anthony... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #$1bn #news publishers


Hub City Writers Project Celebrates 20 Years of Literary Energy

Hatched over coffee 20 years ago, the Hub City Writers Project has grown into an indie press, a nonprofit bookstore and driving force behind the literary arts in Spartanburg, SC. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indie press #driving force #literary arts


Meerkat integrates address books, befriends Facebook after Twitter snub

Meerkat is reducing its dependency on Twitter by integrating address books and letting users post live video streams to Facebook.Installing the updated app now brings up an option to enter your phone number and give Meerkat access to your address book, so it can find other people who are using... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #phone number #address book #post videos


Tweets versus Wall Street: analysts fear for Twitter in the battle for advertising

The social network’s results and revenues are failing to impress investors – especially when compared with Facebook’s and Google’sGood news travels fast, but bad news even faster – especially if it’s the release of lacklustre results from Twitter. That’s what happened on Tuesday last week when,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #scheduled release #official release #bad news #published early #$1bn


Twitter boss confirms plans to expand curated 'experiences' to all users

Users should not panic about a Facebook-style filtered timeline just yet, but Dick Costolo says curation will happen for ‘logged in users’ as well as passing visitorsTwitter will expand its efforts to “curate” tweets and media for its users, according to chief executive Dick Costolo, although... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #published early


Turkey blocks Facebook, YouTube and Twitter; Zuckerberg caves in, Google fights back

Today Turkey blocked access to a number of websites including YouTube and Twitter. The ban came after the sites published images of a prosecutor being taken hostage at a court in Istanbul earlier in the week. Google has vowed to getting things back up and running, but it's not the same story for... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2015-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #court ruling


Twitter and Hachette partner on author videos

Hachette UK is working with Twitter to launch a series of videos featuring its authors talking about what they are writing live from their location using Twitter’s new Periscope app. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hachette uk


Why Facebook and Twitter shouldn’t be the only ones with native mobile video

Nikao Yang is the senior vice president of global marketing at Opera Mediaworks and senior vice president of business development and marketing. “Scrolling the feed” is the new flicking through TV channels with a remote. It’s the alternative to flipping the pages in a magazine. It’s even... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #global marketing #business development #tv channels


J.K. Rowling stays positive in her Twitter discussion with a fan

When a fan questioned Rowling's statement that she envisioned 'Harry Potter' character Dumbledore as gay, the author replied that 'gay people just look like ... people.' 'Amazing answer,' the fan replied. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harry potter


Twitter partners with Foursquare to add precise locations to tweets

Twitter is about to catch up to Facebook circa 2011. The self-styled information network recently announced it will partner with Foursquare to let you tag your tweets with specific locations. Until now, including your location in a tweet only added the general area you were in, such as a city or... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #video showing #facebook users


HarperCollins Looks to Sell Books via Twitter

To mark the opening of the 'Insurgent' film, HarperCollins and Twitter are partnering to offer fans of Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy a discounted hardcover of the 'Insurgent' movie tie-in edition via Twitter links. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sell books #veronica roth #divergent trilogy #movie tie-


Controversy: Pearson Publishing Monitoring Students’ Twitter Posts

The New York Times reports that educational publisher Pearson has been “monitoring student media” to find possible "leaks" of the company's tests. The post Controversy: Pearson Publishing Monitoring Students’ Twitter Posts appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #twitter posts


Facebook, Twitter, YouTube? How ‘@TheBuzzer’ decides where to post its videos

"@TheBuzzer," a Fox Sports network show that exists almost entirely on social platforms, has reduced its output on YouTube over the past several months in favor of publishing videos directly to Facebook and Twitter. In doing so, it has found that Twitter is best for videos about breaking news... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #social platforms


Twitter Launches Embeddable Video

Twitter on Monday began giving publishers the ability to embed Twitter video on their sites, meaning YouTube and Facebook now have some new competition in the category. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta buys Lacey story collection

Granta Books editor Anne Meadows has acquired a “darkly funny, whip-smart” novel and a collection of short stories from Catherine Lacey, whose debut novel Nobody is Ever Missing will be published - also by Granta - this week. Meadows acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including Australia New... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #darkly funny #short stories #including australia #wylie agency #5th february #young woman


Twitter finally delivers group messaging and video

At its heart, Twitter seems to be suffering from some sort of existential crisis, struggling to work out if it's a social network, a messaging service or a publishing platform. Today sees the company launch two features that, if we're honest, only re... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #existential crisis #messaging service #publishing platform


Turkish government threatens to cut off Twitter access—again

Turkey’s citizens may once again find themselves without access to Twitter: According to the New York Times, that nation’s government has threatened to block access to the microblogging service within the country unless Twitter blocked an account belonging to a newspaper that published details... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #twitter account #published details


Now Trending on Twitter: Public Libraries

Using the hashtag #becauseofapubliclibrary, Ferguson (Mo.) Municipal Public Library library director Scott Bonner sparked an outpouring of library love from the Twitterverse after he tweeted “I was able to help our community.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #public libraries


Hachette Tests if Gumroad Can Sell Books on Twitter

Hachette has partnered with Gumroad, a company that enables direct sales through Twitter, to see if the social media platform can sell books. The post Hachette Tests if Gumroad Can Sell Books on Twitter appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #twitter appeared #sell books


Hachette turns to Twitter to sell books

Hachette is selling three of its titles, including Amanda Palmer's new book 'The Art of Asking,' using buy buttons on Twitter. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sell books #buy buttons