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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Twitter Extends Pre-Roll Video Ads to Periscope Livestreams

Periscope videos will start showing pre-roll ads on Twitter.The media service is expanding a program it uses to push pre-roll video ads ahead of clips from publishing partners on the platform, and will now serve commercials before Periscope livestreams. On Tuesday, Twitter announced the new ad... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2017-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing partners #ad inventory #natural extension


Sayeeda Warsi's Muslim Britain to be 'serialised' on Twitter

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is publishing a book with Allen Lane, The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain, which she will be promoting through a Twitter serialisation to engage more diverse audiences. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #diverse audiences


Twitter Is Pitching Its Live Video During Its First NewFronts Presentation

For the first time, Twitter is planning to participate in the Interactive Advertising Bureau's 2017 Digital Content NewFronts, giving the social platform a chance to showcase its live video and and other content offerings to marketers in New York. Dozens of major digital publishers and platforms... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2017-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #live video #newfronts presentation #social platform #content offerings


Facebook and Twitter Could Face Fines in Germany Over Hate Speech Posts

A Facebook office in Berlin. A report published on Tuesday found that Facebook and Twitter had failed to meet a German target for removing hate speech from their platforms. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2017-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #face fines #report published


ESPN drops false play buttons on Facebook, maintains them on Twitter

The sports publisher is still holding on to a sneaky traffic-boosting tactic. The post ESPN drops false play buttons on Facebook, maintains them on Twitter appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2017-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #twitter appeared


Twitter personality Hrtbps crowdfunding photo book with Unbound

Twitter personality Hrtbps, who has almost 50k followers, is crowdfunding a photo book about Britain with Unbound. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #photo book


More DC Rebirth titles restore energy to tales of classic comic characters

The rejuvenated line of comics releases graphic novel collections of the Justice League, the Flash, Nightwing, and Green Lanterns Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #justice league


The Neuroscience Of Music, Behavior, And Staying Sane In The Age Of Twitter

Neuroscientist and author of This Is Your Brain On Music Daniel Levitin talks about information overload. Neuroscientist and author of This Is Your Brain On Music Daniel Levitin talks about information overload.When it comes to music and the human brain, Daniel Levitin's... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2017-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #human brain #information overload


Hurt this peddler of hate speech by mocking his idiocy | Catherine Bennett

The best response to serial irritant Milo Yiannopoulos is not be enraged but to leave his new book on the shelfFor everyone outraged by the rise and rise of Milo Yiannopoulos, it may be some consolation that the British journalist has yet, for all his efforts, to join the list of notables –... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #simon schuster #worst men #loyal fans


Best of the week: Twitter’s woes and Snapchat Live Stories doubts

To get you ready for the weekend, we've rounded up some of our best stories this week: Twitter is falling out of favor with publishers as a reliable driver of traffic. It doesn’t have the audience scale, visual storytelling tools and ad products that Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook do. On... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ve rounded #audience scale #ad products #paying customers


In the shadow of Facebook, Twitter loses traction with publishers

Social publishing is becoming a zero-sum game. As media companies clamor for readers on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, Twitter is losing the attention battle. Publishers are waking up to the fact that Twitter doesn't have the audience scale, visual storytelling tools and ad products that the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers appeared #social publishing #audience scale #ad products #media companies


Catherine Taylor leaves English PEN after redundancies

English PEN is making five of its 12-strong team redundant following an organisational restructure. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #english pen


Fall Regional Bookseller Shows Full of Energy

The word most frequently used to describe this year's fall regional bookseller trade shows was 'energetic.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Readers Now Voting on Ireland’s Bord Gáis Energy Book Awards

Called in promotional text “exclusively Irish, inclusive in every other sense,” the Bord Gáis Energy Book Awards shortlists are now open for readers’ votes. By Dennis Abrams | @DennisAbrams2 November 11 Is Vote Deadline he shortlists for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards have been... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post readers


3 Waves of Cyberattacks Brought Down Twitter, Spotify, Pinterest, NYT and Other Sites

UPDATE: There were three waves of cyberattacks today, but as of 7 p.m., they appear to have been resolved.  It all started Friday morning, when a slew of digital publishers and other ecommerce players were hit by a cyberattack, causing their sites in some parts of the U.S. to go out in a... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #boston globe #hacker news #ad impressions #ddos—attack


ACLU: Police use Twitter, Facebook data to track protesters

According to an ACLU blog post published on Tuesday, law enforcement officials implemented a far-reaching surveillance program to track protesters in both Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD during their recent uprisings and relied on special feeds of use... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2016-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook data #recent uprisings


Donald Trump's video apology goes out over Facebook, Twitter

Hours after the Washington Post published a video of Donald Trump in 2005 stating, among other things, that "And when you're a star, they let you do it...You can do anything. Grab them by the p---y," the candidate issued a video response that went ou... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2016-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Publishing signs major Catherine Cookson deal

Amazon Publishing has acquired two new and unseen titles by the late novelist Catherine Cookson, including a memoir. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter Opens 'Moments,' Its Once-Hidden Tweet Collection Feature, to All Users

Once upon a time, Twitter Moments was a closely guarded fortress surrounded by moats of publishers vying to get a spot on the throne. The feature, which aims to be "the best of Twitter in an instant," was only available to Twitter employees and certain publishing partners.  But that changed... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #michael brown #readers don #quality control


NEIBA 2016: A High Energy Show

From the opening keynote with Zadie Smith to the closing lunch with Douglas Preston, the energy at the 43rd annual NEIBA fall conference never failed. In part booksellers were buoyed by a strong year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #opening keynote #zadie smith #douglas preston #strong year