Essay John Weir Adapted from a photo by Jake weirick on Unsplash Like a dead pop star, Susan Sontag left behind a lot of fans who claim they knew her. After the release last September of Benjamin Moser’s new biography, Susan Sontag: Her Life and Work, they were all over the internet, sharing stories. Writers, of course. Especially queer writers. Does every queer writer who lived in New York City and published a book sometime between 1960 and 2000 have a Sontag story? I do! Here’s mine: Eighteen years ago, shortly after she won the National Book Award for her fourth novel, In America, some of which she had been accused of plagiarizing, and a few months before she published, in the New Yorker, maybe the only response to the 9/11 attacks, in their immediate aftermath, that was worth considering, she was invited, along with John Updike and Norman Mailer, to read at Queens College CUNY, where I teach creative writing. Surely the most impressive trio of literary bigwigs of a certain era ever to read together in Flushing. Three idols. I had long regarded their work with awe and envy. In my early twenties, in the 1980s, in a studio apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, hot and airless in summer, frigid in winter, I read—eagerly, jealously—everything they wrote. I was an aspiring writer, and they were my workshop instructors and problematic literary parents. Updike’s Couples taught me how to do a party scene. Mailer’s An American... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-07 22:09:56 UTC ]
Book club and literary community Rebel Women Lit aims to ‘showcase the amazing range’ of Caribbean literature with the newly launched Caribbean Readers' Awards. The post In Jamaica, Rebel Women Lit Launches the Caribbean Readers’ Awards appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-18 19:25:33 UTC ]
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Ernest Cline has the #2 book in the country with 'Ready Player Two.' Charles Yu won the National Book Award for Fiction and Holly Black's book reaches #5 on our children’s fiction list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Jason Reynolds: two-time National Book Award finalist, TIME 100 Next honoree, and, apparently, real-life angel. Yesterday, for Giving Tuesday, the Look Both Ways and Ghost author let us know via Twitter that he’d bought the entire inventory of his books from local bookstores across DC, so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 18:19:56 UTC ]
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Yes, the two-time National Book Award finalist and America’s most famous contemporary practitioner of the Joni Mitchell school of marriage fiction (think about it) is returning to the novel game. Riverhead Books announced earlier this afternoon that Matrix—Groff’s first novel since 2015’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-01 18:25:06 UTC ]
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Yu Miri won a National Book Award for “Tokyo Ueno Station,” a novel whose main character is the ghost of a homeless construction worker. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-27 10:00:27 UTC ]
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Sponsored by the National Book Committee, the National Book Awards honored writers in ten categories in 1974. In March, the National Book Committee announced the finalists. In poetry, the nominated books were Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich; From Snow and Rock, from Chaos, by Hayden... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-23 09:49:45 UTC ]
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One of four debut novelists among the six writers shortlisted this year, Stuart wins for 'Shuggie Bain,' also a National Book Award finalist. The post Douglas Stuart Wins the 2020 Booker Prize for ‘Shuggie Bain’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-11-19 20:23:21 UTC ]
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The nonfiction prize went to Les Payne and Tamara Payne for “The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X.” The crime novelist Walter Mosley received a lifetime achievement award. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-19 02:32:00 UTC ]
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Dust off your formal wear and break out the bubbly because the National Book Awards (a.k.a. the Oscars of the book world) are nearly upon us. Yes, in just a few short hours, five dumbstruck authors will be fêted, garlanded, and welcomed into the American literary pantheon. For those of you... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-18 17:04:53 UTC ]
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Faber is to publish two non-fiction titles by editor and author Francesca Wade, including one on Gertrude Stein. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-16 16:01:55 UTC ]
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In Gavriel Savit’s “The Way Back,” a National Book Award finalist, two children leave their shtetl and venture to the Far Country. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-13 08:14:28 UTC ]
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Jason Reynolds! The two-time National Book Award Finalist, and current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, will host the 71st National Book Awards on November 18, 2020. “To be at the forefront of ushering in the celebration of my peers would’ve been a gift at any point in my... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-05 15:00:37 UTC ]
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Listen to the audiobooks by this year's National Book Award 5 Under 35 honorees, all of which are women of color! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-11-03 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, a National Book Award finalist for “The Undocumented Americans,” talks immigration, her unconventional approach to nonfiction and why impostor syndrome doesn’t faze her. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-21 09:00:29 UTC ]
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News and Events Photo by Christopher T. Assaf World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, today announced Cynthia Leitich Smith as the winner of the 2021 NSK Neustadt Prize... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-20 23:56:14 UTC ]
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Yōko Ogawa’s acclaimed surrealist novel—the story of a young woman, struggling to maintain her career as a writer on a island where objects are disappearing, who concocts a plan to hide her endangered editor from the Memory Police—was one of the sleeper hits of 2019, garnering rave reviews, a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-09 15:15:45 UTC ]
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National Book Award winning author Jacqueline Woodson, acclaimed sci-fi author N.K. Jemisin, and novelist Cristina Rivera Garza were among the handful of authors chosen to receive this year’s 21 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowships. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Book Award Finalists are here! The winners will be announced November 18, 2020, in a virtual ceremony. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-06 16:50:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Randy Ribay was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest. He’s the author of After the Shot Drops and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His latest book, Patron Saints of Nothing, is a powerful coming-of-age story about... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-09-29 13:14:12 UTC ]
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Autumn means changing leaves, apple-based baked goods, decorative gourds, pumpkin spice lattes—and an avalanche of literary award longlists. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the must-read National Book Award nominees you’re now realizing you didn’t read, why not base your TBR pile off of... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-25 11:00:06 UTC ]
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