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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Taco Bell Quarterly is the literary magazine for Taco Bell-inspired literature. When I started it, I had heard the jokes about the looming cease and desist that Taco Bell would eventually banhammer down upon me. Rebellious and having no working knowledge of copyright laws, my motto was RIDE OR... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-19 08:49:11 UTC ]
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Granta Books has acquired lecturer Alex Hyde’s first novel, Violets, in a four-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-19 06:51:31 UTC ]
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#granta books
Maura Wilding has urged publicists and marketing teams to think about "mirroring the real world" when organising online events. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-19 01:03:37 UTC ]
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News and Events The Editors of WLT From left to right, prose winner Jamie Lauer and writer Pía Barros, poetry winner Russell Karrick, poet Lucía Estrada. Jamie Lauer and Russell Karrick recently were named as the recipients of the third annual... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-05-18 13:29:17 UTC ]
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Laing champions the very attempt on the part of artists to make a dent in the collective consciousness. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-18 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Ryan Chapman hosts Nerd Jeopardy, the online literary game show. Tonight Ryan is joined by Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things, and Katie Whittemore, translator of Sara Mesa’s Four by Four. This week’s indie bookstore spotlight is on Magers & Quinn. Sign up for next week, May 20,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-15 15:43:54 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel, Susan Orlean, T.C Boyle, Marlon James and others share apocalypse reading picks. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-13 18:56:28 UTC ]
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From hip hop to Yiddish works to sourdough starter, explore some of the most niche libraries and collections found on the globe and online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-11 10:32:24 UTC ]
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On April 1st, I sent the final draft of my book, a memoir that revolves around my relationship with my cartoonist grandfather, to my editor. It was also on this day that there were nearly one million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, almost 50,000 deaths, and thousands of overwhelmed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-07 08:48:18 UTC ]
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Deborah Moggach’s The Carer (Tinder Press) been optioned by Noho Films & TV. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-07 00:55:29 UTC ]
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As an industry, we are uniquely positioned to meet many of these needs and support the nation right now. After all we are in the business of informing, educating and entertaining people. And our industry has responded in many ways, with authors leading the charge. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-06 15:37:20 UTC ]
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Children's author and illustrator Rob Biddulph is attempting to break the world record for the largest online art lesson, in partnership with HarperCollins and global talent investor Entrepreneur First. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-06 15:32:05 UTC ]
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Mysteries from the Golden Age, Arthur Conan Doyle and a helluva good book about a Texas book dealer. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning are among a handful of celebrities who will be reading various chapters of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone” exclusively on Spotify. Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2020-05-05 18:54:51 UTC ]
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April 2020 found the publishing industry entering a period of unexpected change as bookshops closed and the focus turned to digital sales. The COVID-19 lockdown has forced writers to re-evaluate the future in this difficult time. As a narrative psychologist and fiction writer, I am interested... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-05 04:49:45 UTC ]
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“Clap When You Land,” the latest novel from the National Book Award winner, delves into the split lives that many immigrants experience. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-04 09:00:24 UTC ]
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Roddy Doyle and Joseph O'Neill have been longlisted for the £30,000 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-02 23:49:24 UTC ]
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In her new audiobook, “On the Horizon,” the children’s book author remembers her childhood against the backdrop of the Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-01 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Two celebrated memoirists of mental illness—Marin Sardy, author of The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia, and Sarah C. Townsend, author of Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis—discuss writing, families, and the struggle to make meaning out of madness. * Sarah Townsend:... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-01 08:47:51 UTC ]
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Sales increased to $75.5 billion in the second quarter at Amazon, even as it acknowledged that the surge in demand forced it to prioritize essential items such as household staples and "dampened demand" for non-essential products. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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