Ed Needham: ‘Top editors’ jobs have all vanished’

The founder and editor of literary magazine Strong Words on his appetite for tales of financial chicanery and why he won’t be returning to Jane AustenEd Needham is the editor of Strong Words, a magazine about books that he writes and edits on his own from his flat in Camden Town, a feat that has impressed novelists such as Sebastian Faulks and Elizabeth Day. A former editor of several magazines, including Rolling Stone, he is a champion of books, from graphic novels to literary fiction, biographies to investigative works.When and why did you set up Strong Words?It’s been going for about 18 months. I did it because the world pulled the rug out from beneath the magazine industry when advertising migrated to digital. The chances of getting another editor’s job at the level I was used to had vanished. I don’t know how to do anything else. I can’t operate a crane or crack a safe. So I thought, what can I do? Just as the technology has come along that enables people to make high-quality magazines with tiny teams, that same technology has destroyed the market. But there’s quite a lot of activity in independent publishing and niche markets. I realised that as long as I keep costs down, I don’t need to sell many copies for it to be a viable business. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-05 17:00:51 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Ed Needham: ‘Top editors’ jobs have all vanished’"


Some graphic novels to read in 2020

Gene Luen Yang and Noelle Stevenson are just a couple of the creators with highly anticipated books this year. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-07 16:02:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Best Novels of the 1890s

The 1890s saw pioneering works of science fiction, detective fiction, and Gothic horror all published, by some of the greatest English, Scottish, and Irish writers of the age. In the United States, too, novelists addressed social issues, sometimes in comic ways, while social realism continued to... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2019-12-31 15:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Amazon claims Kindle sales boost in 2019

Kindle sales increased "again in 2019 thanks to independent publishing, Unlimited subscriptions and Amazon Publishing", the company claims. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-24 00:23:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ralph Ellison’s Letters Reveal a Complex Philosopher of Black Expression

“The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison” capture the fiercely intelligent and irreverent author of “Invisible Man” in conversation with other novelists and critics of his day. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas review – how Austen's reputation has been warped

A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Olga Tokarczuk - Nobel Prize Winner

To those familiar with Olga Tokarczuk’s work, it was not so much a matter of whether she would win the Nobel Prize, but when. For many years she has been Poland’s leading contemporary novelist, and her nine novels and three short-story collections have been translated worldwide. The... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-12-10 10:18:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘The Ferrante Effect’: In Italy, Women Writers Are Ascendant

“My Brilliant Friend” and Elena Ferrante’s other best-selling books are inspiring female novelists and shaking up the country’s male-dominated literary establishment. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-09 10:00:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ann and Jeff VanderMeer On Classic Fantasy, Fearsome Ducks, and Dead Astronauts

In this episode, taped live at the Miami Book Fair, writer Jeff VanderMeer and editor Ann VanderMeer talk to Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about editing The Big Book of Classic Fantasy anthology, historical understandings of fantasy, editing beyond... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-05 09:48:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Help an Independent Literary Magazine Thrive in a Hostile Climate

Every day of the year, Electric Literature is grateful for the people who read and share what we publish. But on this Giving Tuesday, we’re coming to you with a special request: Electric Lit is aiming for 1,000 members by 2020, and we want you to be one of them. Your membership gets you... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Border crossing: How translated fiction can open up the world

The new Elena Ferrante is just one of the exciting novels in translation coming next year. Lara Feigel talks to the UK editors who are rediscovering classics and finding new audiencesThere are voices that speak to us across oceans and centuries with more intimacy than the people who surround us... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-11-23 08:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The best graphic novels, memoirs and story collections of 2019

Raina Telgemeier and George Takei were among the creators whose stand-out books mined traumatic real-life experiences. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-21 14:08:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


7 Standup Comedy Memoirs That Will Make You Laugh And Cry

Writers of literary fiction are supposed to disdain celebrity memoirs. They’re sucking up all the big advances and lowering the bar of what’s supposed to be Literature, right?  But I’ve got a dirty reading secret. I love celebrity memoirs, particularly by standup comedians (and not just because... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On Dennis Cooper’s Elegant Jump to Film

It’s rare for novelists to make the leap to becoming filmmakers, but Dennis Cooper has not only made the transition, his latest movie Permanent Green Light is one of the year’s best. It reworks his longtime themes of young people, intimacy, and violence to create an affecting story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-18 09:47:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Go Beyond Sally Rooney With These 13 Irish Women Novelists

It’s a confusing thing, being Irish. We’re European with none of the sophistication, and for a tiny island, we have an impressive lack of consistency. That said, we also have an impressive literary output. Our politics, social movements, and religions have born enough conflict to make a canon... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Beginning with Abortion

ALMOST NO CONTEMPORARY literary fiction recounts the experience of getting an abortion. Perhaps this is because it can seem politically suspect to write in a nuanced way about its difficulties; opponents of legal abortion are all too eager to turn any mention of these difficulties into evidence... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-11-07 13:30:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Rosalie Knecht and Idra Novey on Translation, Writing Tension, and Literary ‘Retrenchment’

The Authors in Conversation series for Slice Literary Magazine grew out of connections I noticed in my reading. I wanted to bring together authors who explored similar themes in their work or walked adjacent paths in life, to see what resonances might come forth in conversation. Rosalie Knecht... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-06 09:47:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


8 Eerie Reads From the Literary Fiction Shelves

While you're perusing the literary fiction shelves, create a haunting atmosphere with these eerie literary fiction titles for Halloween and beyond. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-10-31 10:40:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For Some Horror Writers, Nothing Is Scarier Than a Changing Planet

While literary fiction often sidesteps the climate crisis, eco-horror is filling the breach. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-10-19 09:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ismail Kadare Wins Prestigious 2020 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

News and Events WLT Photo by J. Foley Opale World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced late Wednesday evening that Ismail Kadare is the 26th laureate of the renowned... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-16 22:21:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Aging Gently, Messily: On Elizabeth Strout’s “Olive, Again”

SEQUELS IN LITERARY FICTION are rare. There’s a risk in returning to characters whose arcs have been resolved or purposely left in ambiguity. A second book may rob readers of the pleasure of imagination, thus undoing some of the magic of the original novel. But sometimes a character so compels... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-10-16 17:00:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this