Gore Vidal appreciation: Writer served as canary in a coal mine

To him, the world was both subject and spectacle. Yet he remained, always, an author difficult to categorize.Gore Vidal, who died Tuesday night at age 86, was a fixture on the American cultural landscape for so long that it seems hard to imagine our literature without him. From 1946, when his first novel, "Williwaw," became one of the first to evoke World War II in fiction, through the publication of his final memoir, "Snapshots in History's Glare," in 2009, Vidal was ubiquitous: a writer and a social critic, a talk show guest and raconteur. Continue reading at 'Los Angeles Times'

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A brief (and inadequate) introduction to the writing and writers of Shetland

Shetland literature has a short history. Or, more accurately, the long history of Shetland literature has been truncated — the result of a double disadvantage, as far as official histories are concerned: an oral culture, in which few people could read or write, and a language that died out... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-02-13 12:54:04 UTC ]
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A writer is holding Patrick deWitt’s website hostage—until he reads their manuscript.

The following post has been updated with a response from the website squatter. There are traditional ways to get a book published—pitches, queries, agents, enduring months and years of soul-crushing work and silence—and then there’s blackmail. A writer is currently squatting on Patrick deWitt’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-30 16:55:01 UTC ]
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Brazilian Writer Deletes Children's Book Co-Written By Kobe Bryant

Novelist Paulo Coelho told AP he's deleting the draft of the book he wrote with Bryant "because it didn’t make any sense to publish without him" and it “wouldn’t add anything relevant to him or his family." Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-01-27 23:42:14 UTC ]
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‘American Dirt’ is a novel about Mexicans by a writer who isn’t. For some, that’s a problem.

“I wished someone slightly browner than me would write it,” said Jeanine Cummins, the author of the highly anticipated book. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-22 12:23:18 UTC ]
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For many writers, Zora Neale Hurston’s work has been a guiding light. Now there’s even more to read.

Sixty years after the legendary African American author’s death in relative obscurity, a new collection of short fiction has arrived. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-16 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: 'Uncanny Valley' serves up a biting slice of start-up life

'Uncanny Valley' by Anna Wiener is a biting, funny memoir from inside San Francisco's start-up culture. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-10 20:16:25 UTC ]
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Writers to Watch Spring 2020

The authors of these 10 unflinching works of fiction offer nimble explorations of weighty issues: technology, precarious labor, incendiary political movements, government censorship, immigration, and femicide. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Sonny Mehta: A Brief Appreciation

Sonny Mehta arrived in New York from Pan in 1987, hand-picked by Bob Gottlieb to succeed him as only the third editor-in-chief in the history of Alfred A Knopf. Our paths inevitably crossed after I became book news editor of Publishers Weekly two years later. I’d worked in London publishing, and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-01 18:26:58 UTC ]
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The financial system is supposed to serve the economy — not harm it

Nicholas Shaxson argues that big banks are thriving at the expense of everyone else. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Was This Decade The Beginning Of The End Of The Great White Male Writer?

In the 2010s, the publishing industry finally wrestled with its problems with diversity. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2019-12-22 13:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing industry


The Economic Hardship Reporting Project Gives Writers a Hand

Founded in 2012 to help freelance and unemployed journalists get published in newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, the organization now wants to ensure that more books by such writers pass through the publishing pipeline. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A Memoir That Serves as a Playbook for Your 20s

Audacious Brit Dolly Alderton explores a raucous decade of living and loving in her debut, 'Everything I Know About Love.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Mining for Truth: An Indie Success Story

A BookLife Prize finalist discusses her newly published historical fiction novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A black writer on individualism, identity and indifference in Trump’s America

Clifford Thompson explores the dissonance surrounding race — and his own worldview. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-19 21:49:25 UTC ]
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Indigenous Writers Deserve More Credit for Being Hilarious

Tiffany Midge is the author of several books including the recent memoir Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, a collection of prose that blends humor with social commentary and meditations on love and loss. Her poetry collection The Woman Who Married a Bear won Kenyon Review’s Earthworks Prize... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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When Your Family Figures Out You’re a Writer… and Loves You For It

My first baby is two years old, arms draped around my neck, cheek pressed into my chest. The scent of his musky head is inebriating. I read him a book called Baby Mickey’s Nap. He is convinced that if Mickey naps, he should too. We are still inchoate; neither of us know it, but we […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-19 09:47:36 UTC ]
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Aria takes two more from romance writer Baggot

Head of Zeus imprint Aria has snapped up two more novels by romance writer Mandy Baggot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-16 02:43:56 UTC ]
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The Makings of Grace Paley: Writer, Activist, Feminist

Though Grace Paley never stopped writing, and the publica­tion of her first book demonstrated that she was in fact “a writer,” her energy turned increasingly to political activity after 1960. Her desire to remain outside the literary world was abetted by her interest in the growing peace... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-11 09:48:14 UTC ]
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‘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 ]
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In London, Raymond Antrobus Named 2019 Young Writer Award Winner

For Antrobus' 'commitment not just to recognizing difference but to the difficult act of forgiveness,' the Young Writer Award goes to poetry this year. The post In London, Raymond Antrobus Named 2019 Young Writer Award Winner appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-12-06 13:02:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young writer