She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
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Faber will publish Sally Rooney's third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, this September, following bestsellers Conversations with Friends and Normal People. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 03:36:01 UTC ]
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Explore libraries that have unusual collections, exist in strange places, or use novel modes of transportation to deliver books to readers. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-11 11:30:00 UTC ]
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W&N has acquired "a timely critique of wokeness", The Awokening by Ayishat Akanbi, which urged readers to unify in a time of polarisation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-10 16:53:47 UTC ]
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Modern life has multiplied our conundrums. Susan Liautaud’s “The Power of Ethics” tries to help. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-08 06:00:00 UTC ]
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His exhaustive coverage of the Vietnam War also led to the book “A Bright Shining Lie,” which won a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-07 23:20:39 UTC ]
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AS SOON AS I picked up Dan Chiasson’s latest book of poetry, The Math Campers, I was immediately drawn into a collaborative experience in which writer and reader make meaning together. Chiasson’s lyrical ruminations can take the form of a “choose your own adventure,” but the poet skillfully... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-06 18:00:18 UTC ]
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Mussolini is overshadowed by Hitler, but his deeds were despicable too, John Gooch writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-31 17:28:51 UTC ]
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With a new Black editor in chief and ambitious promises to do better, a little corner of the Conde Nast universe is taking racial and cultural injustice one recipe at a time Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2020-12-24 18:32:00 UTC ]
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New fiction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barack Obama’s accent game, a Wilco frontman’s memoir and romance by Vonnegut. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-12-22 23:58:19 UTC ]
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The Radio 2 Book Club, now marking 10 years on air, is moving to a prime-time daytime slot on Steve Wright's show. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-18 12:29:27 UTC ]
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A new Julia Donaldson picture book, The Christmas Pine, will be published by Alison Green Books in autumn 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-18 03:31:45 UTC ]
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A Wave Blue World is an independent comics and graphic novel publisher with an unusual model. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Watch Karla Cornejo Villavicencio and Marcelo Hernandez Castillo at the L.A. Times Book Club Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-12-16 02:55:22 UTC ]
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Lit Lists Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved from bookstores to Zoom. Writers and... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-14 20:55:17 UTC ]
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His genius was that his re-imaginings of people and events have proved more memorable than the real things. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-14 10:02:24 UTC ]
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Subscribe on Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | This week co-hosts Kate and Medaya are joined by author Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, whose latest book is the collection of short stories Likes. Sarah discusses the magic of childhood, the difficulties of family life in the current political climate, and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-12-02 22:35:05 UTC ]
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Wellcome Collection and Profile Books will publish An Extra Pair of Hands by Kate Mosse, her own "deeply personal" story of finding herself, in middle age, caring for her relatives. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-02 21:14:32 UTC ]
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Exactly a century after the burning of Washington another invading army encountered a library, and saw it as a perfect way to strike a blow at the heart of their enemy. This time the action would have a global impact, as the means of spreading news had been transformed in the century since the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-02 09:48:49 UTC ]
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Nigel Jones, formerly of Ottakar's and the Totnes Bookshop, and his wife Claire Jones, a former W H Smith children's buyer, are to open their own independent bookshop in Totnes, two weeks before Christmas. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 12:29:44 UTC ]
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Noel Bowler photographed some of the largest newsrooms across the world, exploring the physical spaces that house our modern press. With declining readership, reduced advertising and persistent questions about ‘truth’ and relevance of newspapers in the 21st century, the structures of print media... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-30 06:00:50 UTC ]
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