‘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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The Story Behind Jonathan Franzen’s New Backlist Book Cover Redesigns

Last year not only marked the twentieth publication anniversary of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, it also saw the release of his first novel in seven years, Crossroads. So it was only fitting that Picador would embark on a redesign of the author’s backlist. We spoke with Alex Merto, the art... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-17 08:54:52 UTC ]
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Lee Cole’s ‘Groundskeeping’ is an empathetic portrait of people across the political spectrum

Lee Cole’s first novel is not only the story of a young man finding his vocation as a writer but also a wrenching examination of class differences Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-14 11:00:51 UTC ]
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Dolly Parton partners with James Patterson for first novel

Dolly Parton has written her first novel with the help of best-selling author James Patterson. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2022-03-10 00:01:14 UTC ]
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British Council Literature Seminar Berlin - Now Neu NI: Contemporary Writing from Northern Ireland

After previous seminars showcased work from Scotland and Wales, this year the focus is on writing from Northern Ireland. Chaired by novelist and non-fiction writer Glenn Patterson, director at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast – a familiar and popular name for British... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 12:14:57 UTC ]
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Review: Marlon James' African fantasy saga continues, and the witch has her say

'Moon Witch, Spider King,' the second in Marlon James' incantatory Dark Star trilogy, flips the script on his first novel to tell a woman's side. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-15 14:00:10 UTC ]
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‘Very Cold People’ Makes Something Beautiful Out of a Painful Childhood

The memoirist Sarah Manguso’s first novel is about a young girl’s life in a small, snowy New England town. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-02-06 10:00:06 UTC ]
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Take an early peek at Hulu’s adaptation of Conversations With Friends.

At the risk of reigniting the Sally Rooney Discourse—today, Hulu and BBC Three released a few early images from their upcoming adaptation of Sally Rooney’s bestselling first novel Conversations With Friends, which will premiere sometime this spring. (If you somehow don’t know what this novel is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-04 13:53:52 UTC ]
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59 Years of Book Covers for The Bell Jar from All Over the World

On January 14, 1963, poet Sylvia Plath published her first novel in England under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas.” The book had a positive but relatively quiet reception; only a few weeks after its publication, on February 11, Plath would die by suicide. It wasn’t published in the US until 1971,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-14 09:50:32 UTC ]
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A Personal Catalogue of the World’s Most Storied Bookstores

Two decades ago, I wrote my very first novel while working at The Community Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. That job enabled me to complete my book, not just because of the flexible hours, but because the other staffers were all aspiring writers, and many of our... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-12 09:50:45 UTC ]
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Beyond Ekphrasis: Rereading Jean Giono’s Ennemonde, by Alice-Catherine Carls

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[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-11 21:02:53 UTC ]
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The remarkable worlds of Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘To Paradise’

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[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-11 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Cosy crime, cookbooks and a surprise hit: what we’ve really read in the pandemic

It was a chance to finally get around to Tolstoy or Proust, but the charts tell a different story. Which books did we actually turn to in the lockdowns? • Let us know in the comments what you were reading Back in spring 2020, when it became clear that coronavirus wasn’t going away, book lovers... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-11 09:00:06 UTC ]
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I write ‘women’s commercial fiction’ –why is my work still seen as inferior to men’s? | Emma Hughes

A recent roundup of the ‘best books of 2021’ had every possible genre of novel – with the unsurprising exception of romanceIn the four months since my first novel came out, I’ve had the same conversation probably a dozen times.“What’s it about?” a well-meaning stranger will ask. “Well,” I’ll... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-05 15:25:24 UTC ]
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Alex Hyde | 'If I was ever going to write something, I was going to start with this story'

Academic Alex Hyde‘s first novel is a lyrical tale about two women named Violet during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-26 18:23:13 UTC ]
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The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka Discusses His First Novel in Nearly Fifty Years

The Nigerian writer explains the origins of his latest book’s title, why novels are harder to write than plays, and the masochistic pull of political activism. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2021-11-02 22:37:29 UTC ]
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Boubacar Boris Diop Wins Prestigious 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

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[ World Literature Today | 2021-10-26 21:56:54 UTC ]
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Review: ‘The Street,’ by Ann Petry

This classic story of a single mother’s struggle against poverty, published in 1946, would become the first novel by a Black woman to sell a million copies. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-22 04:28:52 UTC ]
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Interview: Isabel Allende

The Chilean novelist was living in exile when her first novel was published in 1985. “In a way, I feel that I am working for my country, even if I don’t live there,” she told us. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 15:31:43 UTC ]
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