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 ]
Before writing my debut novel Bestiary, I began a year-long process of translating letters written by my grandmother, many of which were addressed to people I didn’t know. While attempting these translations, I realized the impossibilities and possibilities of the task—the losses and gaps and... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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John Murray Press will publish Ilona Bannister's debut novel When I Ran Away on its Two Roads imprint. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 10:28:24 UTC ]
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Viking has pre-empted Our New Names, a “heartbreaking” debut novel from Khashayar J Khabushani. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-25 03:48:29 UTC ]
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Nunez’s first novel since winning the National Book Award follows a woman and her terminally ill friend. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-16 16:32:08 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury is to publish Patricia Lockwood's first novel No One Is Talking About This, after winning a 10-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 02:57:52 UTC ]
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“Everything is copy.” That was an Ephron family saying that I’ve adopted as my own maxim, and it is in that spirit that my debut novel A World Between––a tale of two queer women of color, Eleanor and Leena, who grow away from and towards each other over the course of 13 years––is a web […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-15 08:48:45 UTC ]
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Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing told the story of two branches of a Ghanaian family, one descended from a woman who marries a white slave trader and whose line stays in Ghana, another descended from her half-sister who is captured and sent to America in bondage. Gyasi’s second novel... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The new book from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell takes place in one house, but in it, she finds infinite space. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2020-09-10 18:15:39 UTC ]
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An excerpt from a debut novel Kirkus calls "hypnotizing and inscrutable." The post ‘Pink Mountain on Locust Island’: Featured Fiction from Jamie Marina Lau appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-09-09 10:00:12 UTC ]
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“The Discomfort of Evening,” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, winner of this year’s International Book Prize, is about strictly religious dairy farmers mourning a son’s death. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-08 16:16:33 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker has won a debut novel by K-Ming Chang in a "heated" five-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-07 06:51:52 UTC ]
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Oprah’s Flatiron imprint nabs a nonfiction title by a Nobel laureate, Holt buys a debut novel by a PRH UK editor, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What was the first novel? Why was it written? What need did it fill? Who wrote it? And most importantly, can you still read it today? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-09-02 10:32:00 UTC ]
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HQ has scooped The Steel Girls, a debut novel from journalist and university lecturer Michelle Rawlins, in a three-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-01 19:21:33 UTC ]
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In her first novel in five years, the author of “My Brilliant Friend” revisits old themes. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-01 09:00:11 UTC ]
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Ros Anderson’s debut novel may not break new ground, but the depth of its first-person presentation is a quiet triumph. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-30 06:19:39 UTC ]
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In 'Transcendent Kingdom,' Yaa Gyasi's second novel, she focuses on America — its promise and peril — and on one Ghanaian American family in Alabama. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-08-27 16:49:47 UTC ]
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A story collection offers a cleareyed survey of the Black American experience, and a debut novel traverses hundreds of versions of Earth. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-27 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Janet, the acerbic narrator of Lucie Britsch’s debut novel Sad Janet, is a resister. She’s sad—has been for most of her life—and doesn’t want to take the pills that big pharma, her mother, and the culture at-large is pushing on her to “fix” her. She’s content with sadness, and she’s not into the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Get to know the participants of the upcoming 2020 Neustadt Festival in this series of short interviews. First up: David Bellos! David Bellos is a professor of French and comparative literature as well as director of the Program in Translation... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-08-25 20:30:39 UTC ]
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