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 ]
Hodder Studio has pre-empted a "captivating and joyous" debut novel from Buzzfeed editor and writer Tomi Obaro, set in Lagos and following the evolving fates of three best friends. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-30 07:36:18 UTC ]
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I DON’T KNOW when I first became aware of Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s writing, but it was probably sometime between 1980, when Raymond Carver lauded her on the basis of her National Book Award–nominated first novel Rough Strife, and 1989, when Sven Birkerts raved about Schwartz’s PEN/Faulkner... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-29 15:00:49 UTC ]
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In one of my earliest memories I am standing on a beach with my father and we are sculpting the shape of a woman’s body out of sand. In my mind it is winter—Avalon in the off-season—and I see us huddled in coats, wrapped in wool, bracing ourselves against the salt wind that blows in […] The post... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-29 08:50:18 UTC ]
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Headline Review has triumphed in a multi-publisher auction for Isaac and the Egg, a debut novel by journalist Bobby Palmer. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-28 08:45:16 UTC ]
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Interviews Ari Larissa Heinrich / Photo by Tara Pixley Ari Larissa Heinrich is the translator of Qiu Miaojin’s Last Words from Montmartre (New York Review Books) and Chi Ta-wei’s The Membranes (forthcoming from Columbia University Press). They... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-27 22:09:23 UTC ]
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This one goes out to all the writers in the Year of our Lord 2020, as we all worry that our total inability to put a sentence together could turn into a lifetime of non-production: It’s never too late. Wole Soyinka, who in 1986 became the first person from sub-Saharan Africa to win a Nobel... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-27 19:39:22 UTC ]
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ON JULY 2 of this year, I interviewed the author Nadia Terranova at her mother’s house in Santa Marinella, Italy, on a Zoom call from my apartment in Santa Monica, California. Back in 2015, I’d written a review of her first novel Gli anni al contrario (The Years in Reverse) and we’d met for... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-27 17:00:01 UTC ]
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Publishing a debut novel can be a stressful process for all concerned – not least the authors. Even those who feel prepared and knowledgeable can find themselves coming unstuck. As part of a group of traditionally published authors whose novels hit the shelves in 2020, I’ve experienced all the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-27 11:56:20 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired the debut of former bookseller Daniel O’Connor, launching "a startlingly bold new voice". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-26 19:12:42 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton is to publish "Who Dares Wins" host Mark "Billy" Billingham’s debut novel, after triumphing in a multi-publisher auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-25 21:34:49 UTC ]
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In her 20s, she set up her own company, publishing everyone from James Ellroy to the Worst Witch series, and changing Britain for the better, book by book There is a revealing story Margaret Busby tells, about the first novel she published. A family friend had bumped into a former US serviceman... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-22 05:00:17 UTC ]
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No Exit Press will publish Russell Banks’ new novel Foregone as a lead fiction title in June 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-13 01:47:40 UTC ]
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Wildfire will publish Mother Mother, the debut novel from DJ and broadcaster Annie Macmanus, popularly known as Annie Mac. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-11 19:57:39 UTC ]
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In this debut novel set on the river that separates Cleveland from Ohio City, an orphan builds a mythology around his big brother. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-06 09:00:08 UTC ]
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William Heinemann is publishing the first novel in almost 20 years from actor, writer and director Ethan Hawke: A Bright Ray of Darkness. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-05 04:15:41 UTC ]
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Today the Center for Fiction announced the shortlist for its 2020 First Novel Prize. The prize, first awarded in 2006, recognizes the best debut fiction of the year, and it comes with $15,000; each finalist receives $1,000. Previous winners include De’Shawn Charles Winslow, Tommy Orange, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-01 15:05:06 UTC ]
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Serpent’s Tail will publish Oana Aristide's debut novel Under the Blue as a lead title in March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 02:17:21 UTC ]
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Emily Temple’s debut novel The Lightness tells the story of a “Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls” Continue reading at Guernica
[ Guernica | 2020-09-29 14:13:13 UTC ]
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K-Ming Chang’s debut novel tells the stories of three generations of Taiwanese women through the beasts, both real and mythical, they encounter. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-29 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph has triumphed in a five-way auction for Evening Standard features editor Phoebe Luckhurst's “hilarious” debut novel The Lock In. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 12:02:59 UTC ]
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