'I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year

Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while Agatha Christie played on seasonal stresses with titles including The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding in 1923 and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas in 1938. But these days, there are acres of festive crime and rags-to-riches romances under the mistletoe to choose from. All tastes are catered for, whether it’s a love of trains (Edward Marston’s Victorian railway detective story A Christmas Railway Mystery), religion (Unlikely Santa: An Amish Christmas Story) or even festive erotica. Ebook retailer Smashwords stocks romance titles including The Old Dragon of the Mountain’s Christmas, and the inventive-sounding A Cyborg’s Old Terran Christmas. (“Interstellar bride Nell and her three children are forced to enter space-sleep capsules in the hope of surviving a calamity. She wakes over 700 years later on a ship of cyborg warriors. In this strange environment, Nell can’t imagine what their future will hold, but she is determined to keep her promise and make Christmas for her children.”)It may sound futuristic, but it is part of a long tradition beloved by readers. As Christina Storey at Allison & Busby, an independent publisher whose titles this year range from Anna Jacobs’ Christmas in... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
News tagged with: #print run #allison busby #wonderful time #independent publisher

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Picador lands 'magnificent' Wood novel set in Bauhaus art school

Picador has acquired a “magnificent” new novel by Naomi Wood set in Germany’s Bauhaus art school. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Big Write children's workshop returns to Harrogate International Festivals

The North’s biggest children’s creative writing workshop The Big Write is returning in May, Harrogate International Festivals has announced. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Graphic novels, poetry and art history make up SoA Translation Prizes shortlists

Graphic novels, poetry and art history make up some of the Society of Authors’ Translation Prizes shortlists for 2019, with 31 translations from seven languages up for awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Curtis Brown celebrates 120th birthday with novel-writing prize

Curtis Brown is to celebrate its 120th birthday with a series of events spearheaded by a team of young agents, culminating in the Curtis Brown 120 Novel Writing Prize.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hannibal Lecter creator's first novel in 13 years to centre on 'evil, greed and dark obsession'

William Heinemann has revealed the new novel from Hannibal Lecter creator and The Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris will be Cari Mora: "a new story of evil, greed and the consequences of dark obsession". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney's second novel named Waterstones' Book of the Year 2018

Sally Rooney's "astounding" love story Normal People (Faber & Faber) has been named Waterstones' Book of the Year 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Patterson to appear at next year's Harrogate crime festival

Thriller giant James Patterson is to appear at the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate next July. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Boyne writes novel about transgender teen for PRH Children's

Penguin Random House Children's will next year publish a YA book about a transgender teenager and her brother by John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PRH to publish 'Silence of the Lambs' author's first novel in 13 years

Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, is returning after more than a decade with a new novel, to be published by Cornerstone imprint William Heinemann next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Discovery of 100-year-old gardener’s notebook inspires debut novel

Usborne has acquired The Garden of Found and Lost, a debut middle-grade novel based on the discovery of a 100-year-old gardener’s notebook at the National Trust’s Ickworth house in Suffolk. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bath Children’s Literature Festival gears up for biggest year to date

David Walliams, Philip Pullman and Children’s Laureate Lauren Child are just some of the authors and illustrators lined up to take part in this year’s Bath Children’s Literature Festival, which is gearing up to be the event’s best year yet, according to artistic director John McLay. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sherez scoops 2018 Theakston Crime Novel of the Year

Stav Sherez has scooped the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for The Intrusions (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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National Writing Day events up 83%

The number of events held for this year’s National Writing Day increased 83% compared to 2017, according to the organisers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zen, Writing, and the Art of Facing Cancer: Natalie Goldberg

Zen teacher and bestselling author of ‘Writing Down the Bones’ Natalie Goldberg explores how being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia led to an acceptance of suffering that not only changed how she wrote, but also her approach to survival. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Herron, McDermid, Mina shortlisted for Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year

Mick Herron's lauded espionage thriller Spook Street (John Murray), already a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger winner, has now also been shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (£3,000). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TCAF 2018 Marks Festival's 15 Years

This year's Toronto Comic Arts Festival celebrated its 15 anniversary while honoring Toon Books' 10th year, and hosted appearances by manga star Inio Asano, and artists Ho Che Anderson, Hope Larson, Mariko Tamaki and others. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Photo Mania: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2018

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival was held May 12-13 at the Toronto Reference Library. TCAF is an annual showcase of independent, self-published and international comics. PW was on hand to bring back images of the artists, publishers and fans at this year’s TCAF. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ian McEwan helped his son write an essay about his own novel. His son got a C+

If you're a student who's been assigned to write an essay about an Ian McEwan novel, there's one person you shouldn't ask for help: Ian McEwan. The Man Booker Prize-winning British author, known for his novels "Amsterdam" and “Atonement,” told the Daily Mail that he offered to help one student... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Q&A: Former Times critic Robert Hilburn on writing about Paul Simon and the struggle to protect art

Pop music writer Randy Lewis and pop music critic Robert Hilburn worked together at The Times for a quarter-century before Hilburn retired in 2006. They sat down recently to talk about Hilburn’s latest book, “Paul Simon — The Life,” to be published by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday, just ahead... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Librarian wins £10k Cheltenham Literature Festival First Novel competition

A Bristol librarian has won the inaugural Cheltenham Literature Festival First Novel competition with her “clever, pulsing story”, scooping a book deal with Borough Press. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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