‘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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Jonathan Escoffery: ‘I was trying to write novels aged nine’

The If I Survive You author on the suspense of the Booker ceremony, Americans’ warped view of the Caribbean, and writing his next novel on the roadJonathan Escoffery, 43, was born in Texas and lives in Oakland, California. His debut, If I Survive You, about a second-generation Jamaican in Miami,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-27 18:00:42 UTC ]
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Shilpi Somaya Gowda Wants to Move Beyond the Rhetoric

For the bestselling author, fiction is a way to explore an increasingly polarized and volatile world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bestselling author


Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee on Remembering Earth

Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-22 09:02:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #emerging stories #emergence magazine #online publication #sacred connection #narrated essays #print edition


‘There is joy, and there is rage’: the new generation of novelists writing about motherhood

From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a motherThey say nothing prepares you. Before having my baby, I approached the literature of motherhood as though I were about to sit an exam. If my studies tempered the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #shirley jackson #adrienne rich #toni morrison #margaret atwood #angela carter #early 2000s #present day #novelists


Lisa Marie Presley started writing a book before she died. Riley Keough completed it

Lisa Marie Presley's posthumous memoir will hit shelves later this year, with the help of her daughter Riley Keough, who picked up the pieces. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-11 20:25:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #posthumous memoir #hit shelves #memoir


Writing as an Act of Grieving

In her essay for PW, author E.L. Shen reflects on the experience of losing her father as a teenager and the catharsis of writing about grief in her forthcoming book for middle graders, 'Maybe It's a Sign.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Following a Successful 2023, B&N Aims to Open 50 Stores in 2024

Barnes & Noble followed up sales increases in 2022 with more gains in 2023 and CEO James Daunt said the bookseller is "entering a period of significant growth." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barnes noble #sales increases #significant growth #bookseller


Encyclopedia Britannica once published a catalogue of humanity’s ‘102 Great Ideas’ – and it created more questions than answers

Mid-century encyclopaedias claimed the power to decide what counted as knowledge and what didn’t – much as online publishing platforms and social media companies do today. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2024-01-09 17:02:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #encyclopedia britannica #online publishing


Netflix and Hulu pick up TV Golden Globes as Succession dominates

The 2024 Golden Globes represented a return to normalcy after a year dominated by strikes in the entertainment industry. Streamers continued to get recognition for their shows, with Netflix, Hulu and Max picking up a combined 12 television awards. Max (formerly HBO Max) won the most awards,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-01-08 10:25:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #entertainment industry #final season #princess diana #standup comedy #anthology


What Booksellers Can Teach Us About Reading, Writing and Publishing

My longtime girlfriend is a longtime bookseller. Her relationship with bookselling predates ours three times over. It is a surprisingly taxing career path—one that asks of the body, and of the mind. There are the bad days, where she brings home the classic bookseller gripes: failed hand-sells,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-05 09:56:55 UTC ]
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The Healing Power of Words: PW Talks with Danielle Tummino Hansen

The author of 'Speaking of Rape: The Limits of Language in Sexual Violations' (Fortress, Mar. 2024) discusses why she wrote the book and her hopes for its success. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Forever Shelf Talking (shelftalker)

ShelfTalker’s first blogger, Alison Morris, returns to reflect on the blog’s 16 years, and her hopes and concerns for children’s publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
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‘A bellwether for the industry’: why Warner-Paramount talk is no surprise

Investors seemed unimpressed but analysts say even talk of a merger reflects moves to consolidate in a tough market Barbie and Tom Cruise’s Top Gun are planning on getting hitched. Warner Bros Discovery, the Hollywood studio that brought us the Batman, Harry Potter and Barbie films, and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-12-21 17:19:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hollywood studio #paramount global #media company #david zaslav #bob bakish #potential deal #companies declined #early stage #harry potter


Most Parents Want School Libraries for Their Children–But With Restrictions

95% of parents believe every school should have a library, but 60% also believe those libraries should have restrictions. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-12-20 13:21:21 UTC ]
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How brands are combining audio and video formats to boost digital campaign success

Rachel Brooks, associate director of business marketing, global, Spotify Digital media consumers seamlessly transition from audio to video throughout their day — listening to a favorite playlist during a workout or commute, then tuning into video content when relaxing in front of screens at the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2023-12-14 15:56:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #video content #associate director #digital media


Strange Scrawls, by Connor Lee McLean

Strange Scrawls, by Connor Lee McLean Creative Nonfiction [email protected] Tue, 12/12/2023 - 16:11 Photo courtesy of the authorReading a secondhand copy of Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, a reader encounters another consciousness in the... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-12-12 22:11:51 UTC ]
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California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick opens up and performs at the L.A. Times Book Club

On Dec. 12, California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick talks about life on the road at the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-12-12 20:24:33 UTC ]
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Read these great books published by Lit Hub staff members in 2023.

As you probably know, Literary Hub is produced by a small staff; most of us are writers, and/or moonlight as editors on other projects. This year, four of our number—that would be 36% percent of full time Literary Hub staffers, not too shabby—published books, which is certainly worthy of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-11 17:52:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary hub #small staff