He is long known to have used composite characters and a new biography will reveal more embellishments – but perhaps that’s the magic of his workOver the weekend, the feathers of American literary journalists ruffled lightly in the breeze of a review that appeared in the New York Review of Books. The review, written by longtime New Yorker staff writer Janet Malcolm, was of an upcoming biography of another New Yorker staff writer, Joseph Mitchell, due to be published in the United States on 28 April. Malcolm’s review can be read as a pre-emptive defence of Mitchell’s legacy as one of the giants of American literary journalism. The biographer in question, Thomas Kunkel, has apparently found more evidence of what was already somewhat known: that Mitchell embellished his nonfiction, often condensing characters and facts to smooth out his stories. In one already well-known example, a long piece called Old Mr Flood condenses several men’s stories into the titular Mr Flood. Mitchell admitted this openly in a preface to the book later published under that name.He has mixed up nonfiction with fiction. He has made an unwholesome, almost toxic brew out of the two genres. It is too bad he is dead and can’t be pilloried. Or perhaps it is all right that he is dead, because he is suffering the torments of hell for his sins against the spirit of fact. And so on.Every writer of nonfiction who has struggled with the ditch and the bushes knows what Mitchell is talking about, but few of us... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshops have been a bellwether measure during this crisis. The media hunger for information on the recovery of bookshops has been insatiable, and the outpouring of affection for bookshops as they re-open extremely moving. Bookshops stand as emblems for the prospects for the high street as we... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-12 12:14:23 UTC ]
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The Post’s Margaret Sullivan on the harm when local news is lost, and the efforts to revive it. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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TV presenter Phillip Schofield has revealed he is publishing his autobiography with Michael Joseph this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-07 10:04:39 UTC ]
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Transworld has bagged Between the Covers, a collection of journalism from Jilly Cooper. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-02 16:14:49 UTC ]
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The killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the protests that followed, helped spark a debate in many newsrooms and journalism schools around the country about the time-honored principle of objectivity in journalism, and whether it serves any useful purpose. Former... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-07-02 11:57:40 UTC ]
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Michael Dirda is taking a vacation next month, and he’s already getting his to-be-read pile in order. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-01 16:17:23 UTC ]
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Set during an extremely wet December, Carys Bray’s new novel tells the story of the cooling climate of a marriage, as well as dealing with climate anxiety. Though she started writing the book almost four years ago, she notes that in the intervening years discussion of the issues she explores in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-26 02:55:29 UTC ]
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Being a 144-year-old information provider to the agricultural industry, Farm Journal Media typically likes to stage its development deliberately. But when the COVID-19 pandemic rendered all-important live events off-limits, CEO Andy Weber describes the ensuing weeks at the company as more like... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-06-25 13:36:08 UTC ]
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In an especially challenging year for print media advertising, The Wall Street Journal and Barron's Group executives spent their NewFronts presentation (virtually) touting their first-party data on consumers, especially the new paying readers who signed up during the pandemic. "There's a lot... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2020-06-24 18:42:54 UTC ]
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The National Literacy Trust today released new research for National Writing Day, which found that more young people have been writing and reading in lockdown. Following already promising research from the Reading Agency in April, showing that 45% of young people were choosing to read more, it’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-23 13:42:51 UTC ]
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Renowned poets Jericho Brown (2020 Pulitzer Prize winner) and Nikky Finney (2011 National Book Award winner), formerly student and teacher, reunite to address the current moment of uprising and solidarity in the face of anti-Black violence, in a visceral conversation about art, identity, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-09 17:00:01 UTC ]
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Waterstones has said Covid-19 closures means a charitable donation to Black Lives Matter is not currently possible despite a petition set up by booksellers calling for the chain to financially support the cause. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-08 15:36:16 UTC ]
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Publishers and authors have continued to share reading lists and offers of help following the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-05 10:41:41 UTC ]
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It’s early 2012 and a young boy is walking home when he is fatally shot in the back by a neighbourhood watch officer. The officer claims the boy – only seventeen at the time – was reaching for a gun. All the boy had on him was a packet of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea. Now it’s the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-02 22:33:58 UTC ]
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The book trade has been showing its support of the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking out across social media and making donations to relevant organisations, following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 06:44:29 UTC ]
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Of the 112 printed newspapers shut down by News Corp this week, 76 will survive as digital-only publications but the Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2020-05-29 21:38:27 UTC ]
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Suburban and regional papers won’t have standalone websites. Plus: ABC reposts tweet after backlashOf the 112 printed newspapers shut down by News Corp this week, 76 will survive as digital-only publications but the devil is in the detail.The suburban and regional papers – such as the Inner West... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-05-29 01:07:11 UTC ]
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Octopus imprint Mitchell Beazley will publish a second book by BrewDog titled BrewDog: Craft Beer for the Geeks. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-28 02:18:21 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph is releasing a new book from Stephen Fry this October, Troy, retelling the story of the siege of Troy that is both mythical and grounded in history. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-19 04:12:38 UTC ]
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We are living through an unprecedented time in global history. The coronavirus pandemic has hit every industry, and – this is not news to any of you – publishing is no exception. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, the theme is ‘kindness’, chosen because we need to reach out to those... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-17 22:41:35 UTC ]
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