‘I was told I was stupid’: Peep Show’s Paterson Joseph on his debut novel – and writing three operas

He starred in Peep Show, Green Wing and Wonka – and his first novel won an award. Now the star is making operas with 64 homeless people. Not bad going for someone who was written off by his teachersPaterson Joseph is, by his own admission, an unlikely opera librettist. He had turned 50 by the time he got round to going to one, and only went because he was in it, as the “crazy” voice of God in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. “It’s not my world,” says the actor. But therein lies part of his mission: as a black Londoner written off by the school system, his life was transformed by the goldmine he discovered while truanting down at his local library.One of his discoveries, as “a melancholy teen”, was Pushkin’s verse novel Eugene Onegin. “I remember getting it out of the library,” he says, “just because it was a small book. And I started reading this poem out loud, at night in my bedroom. And I laughed – but I was also frightened and frustrated, weeping at the tragedy of it. When I closed the book, it was dawn.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-05-27 04:00:13 UTC ]

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Girl A: Abigail Dean on her shocking debut novel that's taking the book world by storm

Has this Google lawyer written the book of the year? The part-time author talks about the inspiration for her thriller about siblings who flee abusive parents and their ‘house of horror’Abigail Dean was about to turn 30 when she suddenly realised that her job as a lawyer was using up all the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-01-25 06:00:07 UTC ]
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Voiceless in Vienna

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[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-19 18:00:58 UTC ]
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‘The Divines’: Featured Fiction from Ellie Eaton

An excerpt from a debut novel Booklist calls "sharp and haunting." The post ‘The Divines’: Featured Fiction from Ellie Eaton appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-01-19 17:00:59 UTC ]
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Virago to publish first novel in two decades from Gayl Jones

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-17 23:38:33 UTC ]
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Let Us Be Negative Role Models for Each Other

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[ Electric Literature | 2021-01-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Watch the first trailer for the adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-14 19:34:29 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate picks up Goddard's 'exquisite' Hourglass

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 22:27:32 UTC ]
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Duchess of York’s first novel to be published by Mills & Boon

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[ The Guardian | 2021-01-13 10:13:08 UTC ]
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Holliday Grainger to narrate Girl A audio

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 06:22:44 UTC ]
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Duchess of York's debut novel scooped by Mills & Boon

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 22:12:59 UTC ]
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Am I Argentine? On Identity, Tradition and Finding Ties to One’s Homeland

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-12 09:48:41 UTC ]
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A Black Salesman Tries to Bring Down Corporate Racism from the Inside

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[ Electric Literature | 2021-01-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Titan swoops for Deadpool co-creator Nicieza's debut

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-06 00:00:41 UTC ]
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In ‘The Liar’s Dictionary,’ People Work on the Definition of Love and Many Other Words

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[ The New York Times | 2021-01-05 10:00:02 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-05 09:49:10 UTC ]
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Review: A striking debut novel imagines two enslaved men in love

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-12-29 15:00:38 UTC ]
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Richard Osman becomes first debut author to land Christmas No 1

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[ The Guardian | 2020-12-22 15:00:18 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 14:35:34 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury lands first novel in 48 years by Wole Soyinka

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-09 16:14:16 UTC ]
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