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 ]
Why must writers from Africa always bear the burden of representing their continent? They should be granted artistic freedom, as other authors areAfrican literature, as it’s called, is enjoying a bit of a moment, with the western media regularly heralding splashes, rebirths, dawns. When I... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Bloody Scotland festival is to offer free tickets to unemployed people or those on low incomes as part of a scheme to reach new audiences. The festival, which takes place in Stirling from 11th to 13th September, will give away standby tickets on the day of events if there is good... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Table and seat bookings for The Bookseller Industry Awards will close in one week’s time (Tuesday 5th May 2015 at 5pm). There are a very few tables and seats left for the event, which takes place at the Hilton Park Lane on May 11th. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Macmillan and Southbank Centre have teamed up to put on an immersive theatre production to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As part of the Imagine Children’s Festival, sponsored The Book People, which takes place from Monday 9th February to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hodder & Stoughton's personal development imprint Yellow Kite is to host a two-day online festival to help people stay on track with their New Year’s resolutions. This is the Year, which takes place this Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd January, will help “transform your body and mind, get... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins and the BFI are collaborating to hold a virtual sci-fi festival on 15th and 16th November. The festival will take place as part of the BFI’s three month celebration of sci-fi, "Days of Fear and Wonder", which takes place at BFI Southbank and venues across the UK until... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The debut novel by S.E. Grove has earned almost unanimous critical praise for its originality and the fascinating world in which it takes place. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Children’s authors and books will, as always, be well represented at this year’s Indies Choice Book Awards and E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards ceremony, which takes place during today’s Celebration of Bookselling luncheon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
London's new Australia & New Zealand Festival of Literature & Arts had a glamorous, clever launch on Monday. It takes place May 29-June 1, 2014. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The novel takes place across decades and tells overlapping stories as it tries to piece together a fallen world.Gods Without Men Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 14:49 The Literature Prize is to be awarded in the spring of each year, with founder Andrew Kidd saying it will take place for the first time in 2012 if the necessary funding is secured by the end of this year. Kidd said the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Written By: Robert Stokes Publication Date: Wed, 05/10/2011 - 15:18 Liber, the 29th International Book Fair for the Spanish speaking world, starts today [5th October] in Madrid and takes place against the backdrop of the launch of Amazon.es, which publishers hope will lead to greater interest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:52 Setting books within the wider cultural scene and building collaborations are set to be key themes at this year's Book Industry Conference, as organisers revealed the event programme. BIC 2011, which takes place between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this