Every author wants to write a book like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Two decades after it first hit the shelves, the author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow celebrates its daring, dazzling appealPity the writer who believes they have written the next Cloud Atlas! A literary agent once told me that when a fledgling writer compares their novel to David Mitchell’s, he invariably knows it will be awful. Once you have written a book like Cloud Atlas, you have not written Cloud Atlas because Cloud Atlas is not like anything.When the novel was published in 2004, critics compared it to everything. AS Byatt in the Guardian invokes Herman Melville, Raymond Chandler, Martin Amis, George Orwell and Ursula K Le Guin among others. Tom Bissell in the New York Times adds to the mix Cervantes, Defoe, Isherwood, William S Burroughs, and, in a last paragraph twist, James Joyce’s Ulysses. Theo Tait of the Telegraph writes in a rare negative review that “Cloud Atlas spends half its time wanting to be The Simpsons and the other half the Bible.” This line is funny more than apt, but had I read it at the time, it would have sold the book to me. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-04-06 10:00:31 UTC ]
Since 1985, literary agent Richard Curtis has irregularly chronicled the state of trade book publishing in verse in the pages of 'Publishers Weekly.' In honor of his final year-end poem, we've republished them all here. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Some time ago–a decade at least, but it feels longer–a literary agent read a manuscript that I’d written and told me that she loved it, loved my style, but the book felt too calculated, too much like a math problem. It didn’t lack heart per se, she said, but it felt too much like a […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-11-18 09:55:11 UTC ]
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Books removed from Florida libraries include books by and about marginalized people as well as classic authors like George Orwell. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-11-15 12:15:00 UTC ]
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If you’ve read only one book about the Spanish Civil War, chances are it’s either Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls or George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia. And if you’ve read only two, as to what they might be, I’d confidently push all my chips into the center of the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-11-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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International bestselling author Freida McFadden signs a major deal with Sourcebooks; Pantheon lands a graphic novel adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Irish city, once home to the likes of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, is known for its bookstores, libraries and pubs, where writers found inspiration over pints of Guinness. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-10-02 09:01:07 UTC ]
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Betsy Lerner has spent decades in the publishing industry. Writing her first novel, “Shred Sisters,” unlocked a completely new side to her creativity. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-10-01 19:20:03 UTC ]
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In honor of the 75th anniversary of George Orwell's iconic dystopian novel, we've rounded up some recent books that reflect the legacy of '1984' with their stark visions of the future and sharp critiques of our social and political moment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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From fairy porn to romantasy via the Omegaverse, publishing is sexier than ever. The reason? A big shift in gen Z and millennial attitudes to respectability and shame ...I spent a fortnight reading nothing but smut and I don’t need to give you a reason. But since there is one, here it is:... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-08-06 04:00:33 UTC ]
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Two writers discuss the literary forebears who directly inspired their latest novels. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-06-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I’d bought my copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses at a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan in 1999, the summer before I left for college, along with a stack of other novels that I was convinced my much-smarter classmates would have already read. How I even decided which novels those were, I am still not... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-06-14 08:56:12 UTC ]
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Plus: an auction in support of a more diverse publishing workforce, a YA anthology to fight book bans, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-06-11 15:00:00 UTC ]
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The cultural commentator, speaker, literary agent, and author's first children's book 'My Guncle and Me' (Running Press) is a gentle, authentic story of Henry Higgleston, a young boy bullied and teased at school for being different until his “guncle” comes for a visit and shows young Henry that... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Reid's blogs, 'Query Shark' and 'Miss Snark,' were widely read destinations for frank commentary on the publishing industry and the querying process. After a more than 20-year career as an agent, she died after a brief illness on April 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Chris Silbermann, whose clients include Dr. Seuss Enterprises, has been named one of nine managing directors at Creative Artists Agency, while motion picture literary department co-head Ida and literary agent Sloan Harris have joined the CAA board. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Every author wants to write a book like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Two decades after it first hit the shelves, the author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow celebrates its daring, dazzling appealPity the writer who believes they have written the next Cloud Atlas! A literary agent once... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-04-06 10:00:31 UTC ]
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When I was ghostwriting full-time, I produced twenty books in fourteen years. Thanks to a suggestion from my literary agent, I realized a ghostwriter might make a great heroine—they’re under tremendous pressure, often while adjacent to the fame machine—so Mari Hawthorn, the ghostwriter at the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-15 12:05:00 UTC ]
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William Gladstone, the literary agent, publisher, author, and founder of Waterside Productions, died on December 27. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The group in California started on the notoriously challenging novel by James Joyce in 1995. In October, it reached the end. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-07 10:40:10 UTC ]
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His tiny California newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for its exposé of Synanon, a renowned drug rehabilitation program that had turned into a violent operation. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-01 21:32:07 UTC ]
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