Granta 163: Best of Young British Novelists 5 review – more solipsism than state of the nation

The latest celebration of emerging literary talent brings thrills, charm and emotional punch to the page. But this new generation have taken an inward turn compared with the more worldly themes of bygone yearsEvery decade since 1983, an editor of the literary quarterly Granta has tasked a panel of writers and critics with naming the 20 best British novelists aged under 40. The first list, which included Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Pat Barker, William Boyd and Graham Swift, defined the nation’s literary fiction not just for a generation but a lifetime, at least for anyone young enough to be eligible for this year’s selection. Subsequent lists had star quality, too. In 1993, Hanif Kureishi and Alan Hollinghurst. In 2003 came Zadie Smith and Monica Ali, listed when Brick Lane was still a manuscript. The 2013 list spotlit Ross Raisin, Evie Wyld and David Szalay, who each went on to publish exceptional novels, while Naomi Alderman won the Women’s prize for The Power, now a hit TV series. If nobody talks them up as a golden generation, it probably says less about their calibre as writers and more about the diminishing clout of a marketing wheeze dreamed up when four-channel TV was still a novelty.The class of 2023 are a rangy bunch with some fantastic writing already under their belts. Eley Williams brings emotional punch to tickled wordplay. The slow-burn thrill of Eleanor Catton’s many-tentacled plotting. The tragicomic charm of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-16 06:00:03 UTC ]

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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 ]
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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 ]
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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... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-05 17:00:51 UTC ]
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Rewriting the historical epic: African women writers go big

Petina Gappah’s “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” is the latest example of a new generation of African novelists reinventing historical fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-10-03 17:21:24 UTC ]
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Rewriting the historical epic: African women writers go big

Petina Gappah’s “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” is the latest example of a new generation of African novelists reinventing historical fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-10-03 17:21:00 UTC ]
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Rewriting the historical epic: African women writers go big

Petina Gappah’s “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” is the latest example of a new generation of African novelists reinventing historical fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-10-03 17:21:00 UTC ]
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When Will Ben Lerner Admit He’s a Novelist?

In 2012, a colleague and I decided to curate an interview series for the website where we then worked; we boldly and cleverly titled said series The Future of American Fiction. Yes, imagine it in (internet) lights. Per the title, we asked a handful of young and formally or thematically... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-30 08:48:58 UTC ]
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Psst: Novelists – Steal These Screenwriting Secrets! Part 3 Query Letters

In part 3 of "steal these screenwriting secrets," we delve into marketing and query letters. In other words, these are screenwriting secrets to steal after you write and specifically related to crafting killer query letters. The post Psst: Novelists – Steal These Screenwriting Secrets! Part 3... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-09-30 01:46:56 UTC ]
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DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Its Longlist

The 2019 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature's 15-title longlist includes seven debut novelists and was chosed from 90 submissions this year. The post DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Its Longlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-09-27 11:30:31 UTC ]
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You’re on Your Way: An Interview with Jamie Mason

IF YOU ASK a group of crime novelists to list the most exciting stylists working today, Jamie Mason’s name is bound to come up. In many thrillers, the language is workmanlike — plain, even. The suspense is the point; the sentences are the delivery system. In Jamie’s books, however, the words... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-09-22 19:00:08 UTC ]
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Laila Lalami, Colson Whitehead among National Book Award fiction nominees

10 novelists make the National Book Awards fiction longlist: Laila Lalami, Colson Whitehead, Ocean Vuong, Julia Phillips and more. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-09-20 18:20:50 UTC ]
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Here are the 10 best lines from Vulture’s profile of “book-fluencer” Zibby Owens.

First, can we all agree that it should be “lit-fluencer”? Moving on: 1. “Gertrude Stein had time to read books. But do moms?” 2. “Owens’s dinner will be in a decidedly lower key: a gingham tablecloth, uniformed servers passing out pigs in blankets, Zibby’s kids popping in occasionally to whisper... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-17 19:31:52 UTC ]
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“Between the Facts”: A Conversation with Monique Truong, by Renee H. Shea

Interviews Renee H. Shea Monique Truong / Photo © Haruka Sakaguchi Monique Truong, who came to the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, began exploring untold and ignored histories in her first novel, The Book of Salt (2003), told through... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton scoops Avni Doshi's 'sharp' betrayal novel

Hamish Hamilton has bought a book by author Avni Doshi, billed as “a sly and searing debut from an unmissable new voice in literary fiction”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 07:57:52 UTC ]
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What we're reading August 2019

Lowborn by Kerry HudsonKerry Hudson is best known for her award-winning fiction. Her first book, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish First Book Award and earned her a place on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Her latest book, Lowborn,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-08-30 08:51:45 UTC ]
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Tales of The Handmaid’s Tale

How The Handmaid’s Tale keeps going, with Margaret Atwood, Ann Dowd, and novelists Louise Erdrich and Megan Hunter. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-08-29 21:00:04 UTC ]
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The Matrix 4 is happening, and Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell wrote the script.

Welcome back to the 90s. (And, I guess, the early 2000s.) As Variety reports, there is officially a fourth Matrix film in the works, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back in the saddle as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski will direct; she also wrote the script with novelists Aleksandar Hemon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 20:44:00 UTC ]
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The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History

The internet search histories of novelists can be quite disturbing. Writer Kathleen Valenti shares the methodology behind web searches for her newest medical mystery. The post The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History by Kathleen Valenti appeared... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-20 14:00:45 UTC ]
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12 Books That Prove the Literary/Genre Distinction is Bogus

When I first joined a workshop in 1994, American literary fiction was dominated by and continually lauded a “quiet” kind of writer, one often influenced by J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, or Raymond Carver. I loved literary fiction—I’d been reading, writing, and submitting it since high school.... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-08-16 11:00:22 UTC ]
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Experiments in Postcapitalism: On Dempow Torishima’s “Sisyphean”

SCIENCE FICTION HAS BEEN mapping the topography of a yawning postcapitalism since the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s, a laborious undertaking still ongoing in the 21st century. Before cyberpunk, Deleuze and Guattari pointed the way in their books on capitalism and schizophrenia; after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-03 12:30:19 UTC ]
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