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 ]
Patience, Perspective, and the Power of Story: An Interview with Toni Ann Johnson, by Scott LaMascus Interviews [email protected] Mon, 10/16/2023 - 13:46 Storyteller Toni Ann Johnson uses her skills as an actor, playwright, and fiction writer to... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-16 18:46:19 UTC ]
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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle reviews John Plotz’s personal reading of a fantasy classic by Ursula K. Le Guin The American author Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) is widely regarded as one of the finest authors of what is broadly termed ‘speculative fiction’.... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-10-13 14:00:53 UTC ]
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Istanbul's accomplished literary agent Nermin Mollaoğlu is opening a new press in London with Tasja Dorkofikis and Geraldine D'Amico. The post Frankfurt-Bound Nermin Mollaoğlu Opens a Press in the UK appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-10-12 20:29:08 UTC ]
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The Booker winning author talks about how his most recent work was inspired by Hilary Mantel, and the way the books world has changed since his debut was published more than 40 years agoToo many people have been dying lately,” Julian Barnes reflects over the phone from his home in north London.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-09-16 08:00:25 UTC ]
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American screenwriter and producer behind the creation of the hugely successful soaps Dallas and Knots LandingDavid Jacobs, who has died aged 84, was an aspiring novelist when he created the show Dallas, a worldwide phenomenon and US television’s first peak-time soap success since Peyton Place.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-23 13:56:48 UTC ]
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My cousin Carol Smith, who has died aged 84, was a literary agent and author best known for her thrillers Kensington Court (1996) and Unfinished Business (2000).Born in London to Winifred (nee Mapleston), a teacher, and David Smith, a businessman, Carol attended the North London Collegiate,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-25 15:31:17 UTC ]
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Letting a Wild Ride Be a Wild Ride: A Conversation with Amy Spangler, by Ipek Sahinler & Iclal Vanwesenbeeck Interviews [email protected] Wed, 07/05/2023 - 14:43 Amy Spangler is the co-translator (with Nermin Menemencioğlu) of Leylâ Erbil’s A... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-05 19:43:55 UTC ]
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Sound too good to be true? Well I have news for you, dear aspiring writer, you can get yourself a phone call or a manuscript critique from a fancy literary agent by bidding at this year’s Literary Agents of Change Auction. The LAOC is an organization that believes that advancing the publishing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-15 17:12:39 UTC ]
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Caroline Raphael, who has died of Parkinson’s disease aged 85, was for 20 years editor-in-chief of The Good Hotel Guide. She had worked on every edition from the first, in 1978, until her retirement in 2021, when the 2022 edition had gone to press.The Guide was launched by the literary agent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-28 16:03:11 UTC ]
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Flaws used to feed their sales but now writers are expected to be saints‘As you get older you realise that all these things – prizes, reviews, advances, readers – it’s all showbiz, and the real action starts with your obituary.”Martin Amis first started spinning in favour of his future... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-27 17:31:09 UTC ]
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He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, best known for a scathing, dazzling trilogy of novels on money-saturated '80s London and the memoir "Experience," died Friday at 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-20 20:05:38 UTC ]
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The celebrated author of Money and London Fields, whose works defined the 80s and 90s literary scene, died of oesophageal cancer on Friday at his home in FloridaMartin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 18:53:35 UTC ]
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Some in the book industry have already begun exploring automation of its pitches to readers. We took this functionality for a test drive“Blurb writing is a mini art form,” Iris Murdoch once wrote in a letter to former Penguin blurb writer Elizabeth Buchan. And like many other art forms,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 09:00:05 UTC ]
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After New Leaf "amicably" parting ways with literary agent Jordan Hamessley on May 12, authors affected by the agent's departure took to Twitter to express concern over how the transition was handled as the agency defends their actions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel died last September at age 70, but a memorial service just this week revealed something of use to those who miss her words. The Guardian’s Saturday Paper will be publishing excerpts from an unpublished project mashing together Jane Austen’s works. “She was having the greatest fun... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-21 16:03:28 UTC ]
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Wolf Hall trilogy author remembered at memorial service at Southwark cathedral on ThursdayHilary Mantel, the celebrated author of the Wolf Hall trilogy, was working on a “mashup” of Jane Austen novels when she died suddenly, her literary agent told a packed memorial service at Southwark... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-20 17:46:20 UTC ]
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In the latest “Craftwork” episode, a deep-dive conversation about literary agents with Carly Watters, herself a longtime literary agent and the co-host of the popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Carly is “very online” with a keen understanding of the digital... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-03 08:53:09 UTC ]
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If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
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The Women’s Prize Trust hopes to make the first award in 2024, after research showed female writers were far less likely than men to be reviewed or win prizes The Women’s prize is to launch a non-fiction award to sit alongside its long-running fiction prize, in response to research that found... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
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