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 ]
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Lynda La Plante's next novel for Bonnier UK sees the beloved crime writer set to reach new readers after the recent 'Widows' rework Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-12 16:52:09 UTC ]
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Just two weeks ago, the International Advertising Bureau had deemed this year's Digital Content NewFronts the "new NewFronts." Indeed, the 2020 slate is going to be very different--just not the way the IAB had initially intended. The spread of the novel coronavirus, which the World Health... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2020-03-11 20:24:39 UTC ]
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After the massive blowback from its selection of American Dirt—a book about the migrant experience widely denounced for having very little connection to the migrant experience (or to Mexico, where the book is set)—it makes sense that Oprah’s Book Club would make future selections more... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-05 17:20:51 UTC ]
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Early last year, the city of Baltimore faced an odd political scandal involving then-Mayor Catherine Pugh and her self-published children’s book series about a health-conscious young girl named Healthy Holly. The Baltimore Sun broke the news that while Pugh was a board member of the University... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-27 20:09:58 UTC ]
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Fraud involving the former mayor's "Healthy Holly" books generated more than $850,000, prosecutors said. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2020-02-27 19:47:47 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton is publishing a new standalone novel from Jasper Fforde, tackling topics of racism and privilege in a story about human-sized rabbits. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 10:51:28 UTC ]
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Sphere will publish Sunburn: The Unofficial History of Britain’s Biggest Selling Newspaper in 99 Headlines by Twitter comedian James Felton. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-13 19:55:30 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Alice-Catherine Carls Pachamama / Pichincha / Photo by Scipio Rocío Durán-Barba / Photo by Stephen Carls Rocío Durán-Barba is one of the most important voices of Latin American literature today. The author of more than fifty... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-02-13 15:00:14 UTC ]
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Her new book, “Mr. Nobody,” is a delightfully twisty follow-up to her debut, “Something in the Water.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-02 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Sarah Catherine “Sally” Lindsay, formerly v-p of merchandising and marketing at Koen Book Distributors, died at her home in Rockville, Md., on November 27. She was 70. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In his story collection ‘What Burns,’ Peck doubles down on his urge to unsettle. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-06 16:04:43 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Alice-Catherine Carls My association with the work of Józef Wittlin started when Professor Anna Frajlich invited me to write a paper about Wittlin’s association with France for her 1996 Józef Wittlin conference at Columbia University. I... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-11-05 14:04:18 UTC ]
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Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times are tired of seeing fake media propagate, and they're teaming up to do something about it. The trio has launched a Content Authenticity Initiative that aims to create a standard for digital media attribution. I... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-11-05 00:34:00 UTC ]
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Follow these 25 literary agents on Twitter to learn about their interests specifically and the business of writing in general. The post 25 Literary Agents to Follow on Twitter by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-10-28 22:31:24 UTC ]
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In her first novel to be published in the UK, Catherine Chung tells the story of a gifted mathematician whose studies take her deep into her family history. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-23 07:02:53 UTC ]
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In Frankfurt as part of the fair's 2019 Invitation Program, Egyptian publisher Mohamed Sabry has seen success with his fresh approach to running Kayan Publishing. The post Mohamed Sabry Brings Youthful Energy and Fresh Approaches to his Egyptian Publishing House appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-10-18 07:17:49 UTC ]
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Catherine Cho will join the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency as an additional agent in the adult fiction and non-fiction department later this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-15 16:05:38 UTC ]
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Queer Eye host and “Antoni in the Kitchen” author Antoni Porowski shares his media diet. TV Show Jack Whitehall: Travels with my fatherRead Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-10-03 07:00:13 UTC ]
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The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Discovery Show in Spartanburg, S.C. this past weekend was one of the best attended in years and offered an enthusiastic kick-off to the fall regional season, and a rousing send-off for outgoing executive director Wanda Jewell. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The woman at the helm of one of the UK’s largest children’s specialists discusses the challenges and opportunities in the modern-day global publishing market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-09 21:54:50 UTC ]
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