Headbutts, snark and furious obsession: a toxic history of literary rivalries

When her first book came out, Lulah Ellender became obsessed with an author whose book launched the same week. She reflects on past feuds and how resentment now festers onlineWhen my first book was published last year I wasn’t prepared for how unhinged I would become. I’d expected review-induced nerves and worries that swung from “No one will read it” to “Oh God, someone is actually going to read it”. But I hadn’t foreseen the appearance of a wholly one-sided and indecorous obsession with another author.This author’s book launched in the same week as mine. It was nothing like my book, a memoir based on lists written by my grandmother, so its existence should not have troubled me, yet my writing life somehow became combatively interwoven with his. I had a review in a broadsheet; the next week he had a full-page spread in the same paper. I did a radio interview; he appeared on the same show. Every time I read about his achievements (pretty much every time I checked his social media), it diminished my own. It was like a nasty bruise I couldn’t resist pressing.I didn’t wish him any actual harm. Just, in writer Roxane Gay’s words, “papercuts and abject failure” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #writing life #radio interview

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Headbutts, snark and furious obsession: a toxic history of literary rivalries'


Headbutts, snark and furious obsession: a toxic history of literary rivalries

When her first book came out, Lulah Ellender became obsessed with an author whose book launched the same week. She reflects on past feuds and how resentment now festers onlineWhen my first book was published last year I wasn’t prepared for how unhinged I would become. I’d expected review-induced... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writing life #radio interview


Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing review – did tech change literary style?

Frank Herbert on his Boeing, Stephen King on his Wang, and Philip Roth worrying that writing would become too easy … Matthew Kirschenbaum’s account of literature in the digital ageIn a photograph taken in his high-tech home office at 29 Merrick Square, London, in 1968, thriller writer Len... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stop printing


Place History: How an L.A. bookshop became the house bar of a literary golden age

L.A. transplant Stanley Rose's short-lived 1930s bookstore and boozy backroom became a literary haven for Chandler, Fante, Faulkner, West and many more. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-04-14 13:00:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #place history #literary haven #bookstore #bookshop


Place History: How Vroman's made Pasadena a literary capital

The oldest bookstore in SoCal has always known its customers best, from tourists to Caltech professors and the diverse clientele that adores it today. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-04-14 13:00:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #place history #oldest bookstore #bookstore


Benjamin Zephaniah | 'To tell the real, honest truth about the history of Britain would mean changing the history books'

The latest book by Benjamin Zephaniah follows a Trinidadian woman who boarded the Windrush to pursue her singing dream. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 07:13:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #history books #benjamin zephaniah


Profile lands Kars' Cundhill History Prize-winning history of Guyanese revolt

Profile has acquired the Cundill History Prize-winning Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast, a "gripping and immersive" work of history uncovering a little-known slave revolt, by Marjoleine Kars. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-13 00:06:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #slave revolt


History Press lands book on how CIA shaped history from Charlwood

The History Press has snapped up a new book on how the CIA has shaped history, by David Charlwood.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-21 23:38:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #history press


The Literary Arts Emergency Fund will award 3.5 million to 282 literary organizations this year.

Exclusive: the Literary Arts Emergency Fund, launched and administered by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazine & Presses, and the National Book Foundation, has announced that it will distribute $3.5 million in emergency funding to 282 nonprofit literary arts... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-15 19:00:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american poets #literary magazine


Histories of Violence: Unlearning History

THIS IS THE 37th in a series of dialogues with artists, writers, and critical thinkers on the question of violence. This conversation is with Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, a theorist of photography and visual culture. She is a professor of Modern Culture and Media and the Department of Comparative... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-03-02 13:30:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post histories #critical thinkers #modern culture #comparative literature #brown university


Living History: 5 Comics About History and Culture

Next time you or the kids are looking for an informative nonfiction or historical fiction read, pick up one of these comics about history and culture. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-10 11:42:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #living history #historical fiction


Literary Fiction Literary Agents Open to Submissions

Literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry. Find literary fiction literary agents open to submissions in this post. List will be updated regularly. The post Literary Fiction Literary Agents Open to Submissions by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-26 11:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing industry #updated regularly #literary fiction #literary agents


A brief history of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time

The late physicist’s editor, Peter Guzzardi, recalls his first meetings with Hawking and how his book became a bestsellerStephen Hawking dies aged 76I first encountered Stephen Hawking on the cover of the New York Times magazine. Inside, its pages told a story we all know today, but at the time... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stephen hawking #finished reading #literary agent


Industry Notes: Europeana Opens ‘Literary Tour’; Trio in UK Opens Literary Events Consultancy

Keyed on World Book Day, the cultural heritage platform Europeana opens a literature focus, as a new consultancy for festivals opens in the UK. The post Industry Notes: Europeana Opens ‘Literary Tour’; Trio in UK Opens Literary Events Consultancy appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


The Atlantic Hires Former TNR Literary Editor Leon WieseltierThe Atlantic Hires Former TNR Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier

Leon Wieseltier has been hired by The Atlantic as a contributing editor and critic, the media company announced today. In his new position, he will write about “his customary wide range of subjects” for the magazine ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #contributing editor


Foreword Literary Now Fuse Literary

Following an out-of-court settlement with Fore Word Magazine, Foreword Literary, the literary agency formed in March 2013, has changed its name to Fuse Literary. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #out-of-court settlement


Literary Agent Q&A: Melanie Rostock, K Literary Agency in Spain

Melanie Rostock with the K Literary and Film Agency in Barcelona offers best-practice advice for literary agents and tips on promising international markets. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary agency #literary agents #film agency


9 facing charges in Canada's biggest gold theft in the country's history

Canadian police say nine people are facing charges in the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-04-18 00:54:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pearson


Oh, Queer Canada: A Reading List for Americans in Search of LGBTQ Canadian History

When I was a child, my grandfather was embroiled in a quiet, and possibly entirely one-sided, feud with his next-door neighbor. Every summer I would visit my grandparents for a week, and follow Grandpa on his morning walks through the woodlot, along a path that skirted the neighbor’s field. Each... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-10 08:54:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #reading list


First US Anthology Celebrates Literary Translators’ Work from Nineteen Languages, by The Editors of WLT

First US Anthology Celebrates Literary Translators’ Work from Nineteen Languages, by The Editors of WLT News and Events [email protected] Mon, 04/08/2024 - 14:33 The first US anthology celebrating the breadth of literary translators’ work debuts... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2024-04-08 19:33:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #deep vellum #anthology