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

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Hachette to sell books through Twitter

Hachette Book Group in the US has partnered with Gumroad to sell books directly through Twitter. From later this week (11th December), tweets from certain authors will contain buy buttons allowing customers to buy the books without leaving Twitter. The first book to be offered this way will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Tries Selling Books via Twitter

The Hachette Book Group is partnering with native commerce platform Gumroad in a special promotion to sell print books by Amanda Palmer, Chris Hadfield and The Onion via Twitter beginning December 11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Brands Are Wasting Time And Money On Facebook And Twitter, Report Says

"Stop making Facebook the center of your relationship marketing efforts," says Nate Elliott, VP and principal analyst at Forrester.Today market research firm Forrester published a report for brands titled "Social Relationship Strategies That Work."Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PLR Twitter campaign sees 70 new authors sign up

A Twitter campaign to encourage more authors to sign up to Public Lending Right has been successful, according to Tracy Chevalier. Seventy authors registered for PLR in the first week of the campaign, led by Chevalier - an increase of 400% on the same period the year before. Chevalier, chair... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tamblyn takes to Twitter to give his views on Amazon

Kobo’s president has launched a Twitter tirade about why indie authors should beware of Amazon’s supplier negotiation tactics. Michael Tamblyn, president and chief content officer of the Canada-based ebook company, took to social media today (17th October) to warn self-published authors in 32... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fox’s Maria Bartiromo Follows Everyone From Matt Damon to Matt Drudge on Twitter

Specs Who Maria Bartiromo Claim to fame: Global markets editor, Fox Business Network; host of Opening Bell With Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business (weekdays at 9 a.m. ET) and Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on Fox News (Sundays at 10 a.m. ET) Base New York What’s the first information... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Brilliantly Witty Book Mined From Twitter’s Wannabe Novelists

For the last several years, the New York artist has fastidiously tracked the phrase "working on my novel" as used on Twitter. His new book, Working On My Novel, collects hundreds of these tiny declarations of literary intent. It's a clever conceit, but it's also something more. Taken together,... Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2014-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to automate your Facebook and Twitter posts with Buffer

So you've got "a friend" who is a social media addict. They check in to every location, Instagram every meal, even use "hashtag" in conversation. Well, Buffer can help them keep their social media feeds flowing with content without chaining them to a phone or laptop. The way Buffer works is... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Mitchell tells Twitter story

Novelist David Mitchell is to tell a 6,000-word story on Twitter, beginning today (14th July).... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Game of Thrones': Twitter users put a Westeros twist on children's books

Twitter users are subbing in 'Thrones' themes for famous children's book titles. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter users put 'adorkable' into Collins

"Adorkable" will be added to the next edition of the Collins English Dictionary, after... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How You Will Find Your Next Job On Twitter

Add value and share content with your followers to nab your next gig, 140 characters at a time.You've probably heard about people who landed a book deals from their popular tweets, or that Seth Meyers found several writers for his new show on Twitter.Read Full Story     Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The week when Mick Jagger found the true cost of fame | Catherine Bennett

Some of the coverage of L'Wren Scott's death was shameful but it doesn't justify curbs on the pressIdeally, the British press would have behaved a lot better last week, when it reported the premature death of the fashion designer L'Wren Scott. Who was also the girlfriend of Mick Jagger. Critics... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta signs Lacey debut

Granta Books has signed Nobody is Ever Missing, a debut novel from Catherine Lacey. Anne Meadows... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can A Startup Help Publishers Cut Out Twitter, Facebook, And Flipboard?

Connecting content creators and consumers would be an enormous coup for news sites, magazines, TV networks, and other media. We look at three startups that could help.At magazines like Fast Company, we rely on distribution networks to get our articles to our readers. In print, the primary... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Neknominate needs health warnings on Twitter and Facebook, say councils

Local Government Association calls on websites to highlight dangers of drinking game linked to several deathsTwitter and Facebook should introduce warnings about the drinking game neknominate, which has been linked to several deaths, councils have said. The Local Government Association (LGA),... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Way Publishers Cash In Twitter Referrals Now (Hint: More Ads)

Much bandwidth has been consumed discussing the effects of Facebook's recent algorithm change to favor sites offering "high quality" content. It's been said to hurt viral sites like Upworthy -- a notion the site's founders have denied -- while rewarding other publishers including Mental... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Catherine Ryan Hyde Settles Into Hybrid Status

Catherine Ryan Hyde has written 24 novels, most of them published by Big Five houses. One of her works, Pay It Forward (S&S, 1999), was adapted into a (fairly successful) Hollywood film. She’s been invited to the White House to talk about her writing. More recently, she’s dabbled in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter Turns to Flipboard to Acquire Users for Vine

Got growth problems? Here's one way to solve it: advertising.Growth is a top-of-mind concern for Twitter and it appears app install ads are part of the strategy. In this case, a beautiful, magazine-like placement running in Flipboard this week for its six-second looping video app Vine.Digital ad... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can Twitter co-founder take an 'evolutionary leap' into storytelling?

Collaborative publishing website Medium, which aims to reinvent the blog, secures first external investmentMedium, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams's online publishing venture, has no shortage of ambition – to reinvent the blog as a digital storytelling format and match the impact of the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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