Elizabeth Strout: ‘All ordinary people are extraordinary’

The Pulitzer prize winner on uniting Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton in her new novel, her unfathomable dreams, and how she went from ‘blabbermouth’ to writerPulitzer prize winner Elizabeth Strout, 68, has wooed readers and critics alike with a string of bestselling novels set in Maine, where she grew up and now mostly lives. Her latest, Tell Me Everything, unites two recurring protagonists from recent books – self-effacing author Lucy Barton and abrasive nonagenarian Olive Kitteridge – with sometime lawyer Bob Burgess, who first appeared in her 2013 novel The Burgess Boys, and is now set to be hauled out of semi-retirement by a murder case. As a New England winter finally yields to spring, pathos and dry humour gild tender reflections on loneliness and connection, and the redemptive power of storytelling.What made you want to bring all three characters together?I never ever intend to keep writing about the same people, but it gradually came to me that they are all living nearby. I wanted to get Olive and Lucy together – that was a propelling force. I just thought it would be so much fun, and of course Olive can’t stand her at first. The working title was The Book of Bob because Bob has always intrigued me. He’s such a decent person and doesn’t know that about himself, and I wanted him to come out of semi-retirement and do something big and meaningful. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-09-07 17:00:22 UTC ]

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This Week's Bestsellers: April 30, 2018

With 357K print copies sold in a single week, 'A Higher Loyalty' by James Comey is #1 in the country. Meanwhile, 'New Yorker' staff writer and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Lawrence Wright debuts at #19 with 'God Save Texas,' and more in this week's bestseller news. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Essential Arts & Culture: Getty Villa's redo, speaker dresses and Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzer — damn!

Hip-hop upends the Pulitzer Prize and a pair of musicians take to the stage in dresses made out of speakers. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with the week’s rocking culture news (and essential cumbia remixes): ESSENTIAL IMAGE The 2018 winner of the Pulitzer Prize... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kendrick Lamar’s work has long alluded to other Pulitzer Prize winners

Kendrick Lamar’s achievement as the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music is an epochal achievement in hip-hop, and in Pulitzer history for acknowledging the genre’s importance in American cultural life. But there is some precedent and narrative behind this particular award. It’s not the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Compton's Kendrick Lamar makes history with Pulitzer Prize win

Their names are inked in history books and on the walls of hallowed concert halls as winners of American music’s most esteemed award, the Pulitzer Prize for music: Aaron Copland, George Crumb, John Luther Adams, Ornette Coleman, Caroline Shaw and dozens more. Add to that list the man nicknamed... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Weinstein stories that sparked #MeToo win Pulitzer Prize

The New York Times and The New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal with reporting that galvanized the (hash)MeToo movement and set off a national reckoning over sexual misconduct in the workplace. The Times and The Washington Post took... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin's European series to counter 'political climate'

Penguin is launching a European Series in April to celebrate “forgotten classics”, with introductions by acclaimed contemporary authors such as Colm Toibin, Elizabeth Strout and Deborah Levy. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Anything Is Possible’ Wins The Story Prize

Strout was awarded The Story Prize and a $20,000 cash prize for her acclaimed short story collection 'Anything Is Possible,' at a ceremony at New York's New School. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pulitzer-winning photographer who captured the despair of war dies at 104

Former Associated Press photographer Max Desfor, whose photo of hundreds of Korean War refugees crawling across a damaged bridge in 1950 captured the desperation of wartime and helped win him a Pulitzer Prize, has died at the age of 104. Desfor, who died Monday in Silver Spring, Md., volunteered... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Linney takes on My Name is Lucy Barton for London stage debut

Elizabeth Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton is being adapted for the stage with American actress Laura Linney taking up the title role in her London stage debut. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Complex and Satisfying, You Should Read the 'Black Panther' Comics

The recent books by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, and Evan Narcisse have had great character-driven stories. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2018-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Taylor Mac is a MacArthur genius. If you don't know about his 24-hour extravaganza, here's why you should

Gender-bending performance artist Taylor Mac whose 24-hour show "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music," resulting in him being a finalist for this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama, is a recipient of a 2017 MacArthur 'Genius Grant." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides

Like certain comets, books by Jeffrey Eugenides appear only rarely. Since 1993 he has dropped a novel a decade: The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, which won a Pulitzer Prize, and most recently The Marriage Plot. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2017-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“There’s No Office Left to Run For”

On this week’s episode of my podcast, I Have to Ask, I spoke with David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker. Remnick began editing the magazine in 1998; before then, he was a staff writer for the magazine and a Moscow correspondent for the Washington Post. His coverage of the fall of communism... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2017-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tracy K. Smith Is the New Poet Laureate

Tracy K. Smith has published three volumes of poetry and won the Pulitzer Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2017-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Meet our new U.S. Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith is a highly accomplished poet (she has a Pulitzer Prize), but at 45, she's several decades younger than many recent US poets laureate Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tracy K. Smith Named U.S. Poet Laureate

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of 'Life on Mars' has been named to the highest public office reserved for an American poet. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indie House Rides the Pulitzer Wave

Seattle-based poetry publisher Wave Books is seeing a surge of interest after one of its titles, 'Olio' by Tyehimba Jess, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Teaching Writing At the Writers Studio

The non-MFA writing school, run by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Philip Schultz, turns 30 this year, and marks the milestone with a new anthology. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Whitehead shortlisted for Arthur C Clarke Award

Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winning The Underground Railroad (Fleet) has found itself a place on the shortlist for this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award for science fiction literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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