‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing

The two bestselling authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fictionIn the four years since Richard Osman published his first Thursday Murder Club novel he has consistently topped the bestseller lists, and now his quartet of retirement-age detectives will be portrayed on screen by a cast including Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Having grown up in Sussex, Osman started out in TV, where he created and co-hosted the gameshow Pointless. His forthcoming novel We Solve Murders – the start of a new series – features a writer billed as the world’s bestselling novelist, “if you don’t count Lee Child”. Child, the creator of former military police officer Jack Reacher, has enjoyed phenomenal popularity since he left his career – also in TV, where he worked on shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown and Cracker – and started writing, with his first novel published in 1997. Raised in Birmingham, he moved to the US in 1998 and now lives between Manhattan and rural Wyoming. He wrote 24 Reacher novels before announcing in 2020 that he would be handing the series to his brother Andrew.Lee Child I feel that writing is always a second-phase career, or at least should be. It’s that rare thing that not only can you do it when you’re older, but you should do it when you’re older. Pick your cliche: your gas tank is full, your database is compiled. You are a person. You are ready to write.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-09-14 09:00:23 UTC ]

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MJ reveals October novel from Dawn French

Michael Joseph is publishing the first novel from Dawn French in five years, called Because of You, this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-29 17:04:51 UTC ]
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Is This the End of Writing in Cafés?

Full disclosure: I may not be the right person to answer the question posed in this headline. After all, I wrote my first novel almost entirely from bed. In fact, I am writing this essay from bed now. Like Edith Wharton, Colette, and Proust, I am more creative when reclined, and when... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-28 10:44:03 UTC ]
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Author loses spot in Top 10 after buying 400 copies of his own book

Mark Dawson’s purchase pushed his thriller The Cleaner up the Sunday Times chart, but the sales monitor Nielsen has now revised its figuresAuthor Mark Dawson has lost his Top 10 position in the Sunday Times bestseller charts for his thriller The Cleaner after revealing that he bought 400 copies... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-22 11:24:02 UTC ]
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An author bought his own book to get higher on bestseller lists. Is that fair?

Author Mark Dawson has attracted criticism after bulk buying his own book gave him a high chart position. But that isn’t breaking any rulesFor any author, being able to describe yourself as a bona fide bestseller is key to conferring your career with a certain gravitas – and will often bring you... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-20 15:59:35 UTC ]
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In Gail Tsukiyama’s ‘The Color of Air,’ characters reel in the wake of the Mauna Loa volcanic eruption

Tsukiyama’s first novel in nearly a decade takes readers to the 1930s Hawai’i of her Japanese father, where sugar was king and labor was hard. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-20 12:07:23 UTC ]
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Headline wins Sanghani’s 'irresistible' adult fiction debut

Headline Review has won Radhika Sanghani's first novel for adults, 30 Things I Love About Myself, in a "heated" auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-17 00:46:50 UTC ]
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Lockdown learning helps education market rise as study guides’ sales surge

Though Nielsen has been unable to provide volume sales throughout the lockdown, the presence of multiple study guides in the bestseller lists points to a relative purple patch for the education sector. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-19 11:00:02 UTC ]
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Lockdown learning helps education market rise as study guides’ sales surge

Though Nielsen has been unable to provide volume sales throughout the lockdown, the presence of multiple study guides in the bestseller lists points to a relative purple patch for the education sector. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 19:58:31 UTC ]
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Can #BlackoutBestsellerList be the reckoning the publishing industry needs?

The social media campaign could force publishers to focus on black writers by encouraging readers to buy their booksCould the New York Times’ Best Seller book list ever be filled entirely by black authors?As industries undergo reckonings around race, in the wake of international demonstrations... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-17 10:00:17 UTC ]
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Literature on Lockdown 9: #CultureConnectsUs

As the lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 begin to be relaxed across the UK, we’re bringing you the final instalment of our Literature on Lockdown series.Following the worldwide demonstrations, protests and public events in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-06-16 16:00:51 UTC ]
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New Ishiguro novel coming in March 2021

Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, will be published by Faber & Faber on 2nd March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 08:35:46 UTC ]
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Black US authors top New York Times bestseller list as protests continue

Michelle Alexander and Ijeoma Oluo among those on list, marking first time top 10 entries are primarily titles on race issuesGeorge Floyd killing – latest US updatesBlack American authors, including Michelle Alexander and Ijeoma Oluo, have surged to the top of the latest New York Times’... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 18:10:43 UTC ]
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South Sudan title among PEN Translates award-winners

Nineteen books from 15 countries and 13 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, including the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 01:27:30 UTC ]
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Grace Edwards, Harlem Mystery Writer, Dies at 87

A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
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This Week's Bestsellers: June 8, 2020

‘How to Be an Antiracist’ and other books addressing systemic racism return to our bestseller lists. Plus musician Mikel Jollett debuts with the memoir ‘Hollywood Park,’ and science journalist James Nestor discusses the importance of ‘Breath.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This year’s Desmond Elliott shortlist features all black writers.

The Desmond Elliott Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first novel is written in English and published in the UK. Since 2007, it has supported and heralded new writers; the honor comes with a £10,000 prize. It’s heartening to see, especially right now, that this year the Desmond Elliott... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 17:58:53 UTC ]
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The Path Not Taken

Stephanie Danler’s memoir Stray invites us to look closely at our own life: our family dynamics, our loss, our trauma, and the moments of happiness that still exist within that fragile frame. With deep introspection and stunning prose, Danler tells us about the years she spent after writing her... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-19 11:00:55 UTC ]
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Adam wins Authors' Club Best First Novel Award

Claire Adam has scooped the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award for her “outstanding” novel Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-17 13:26:01 UTC ]
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What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition

Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
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Two Novels, Two Global Catastrophes, Two Decades Apart

My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago. Everything went wrong. First my editor quit after which my publishing house kinda-sorta forgot I existed. Orphaned was the word they used. Since nobody gave a damn, I at least got to choose my own book cover. The photograph I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 08:49:54 UTC ]
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