‘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 ]

Other news stories related to: "‘I was told I was stupid’: Peep Show’s Paterson Joseph on his debut novel – and writing three operas"


Picador picks up new novel from Ridgway

Picador has picked up the first novel in eight years from award-winning Irish author Keith Ridgway. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-24 11:52:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Leaving It All Behind: A Conversation with Makenna Goodman

Makenna Goodman on leaving New York publishing behind for the farms of Vermont, and why publishing her first novel was traumatic. Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2020-08-20 17:18:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Tinder bags debut novel of former Mr B's bookseller Ishiguro

Tinder Press has acquired a debut novel by Naomi Ishiguro, former bookseller and bibliotherapist at Mr B’s Emporium in Bath. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-20 02:07:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘Little Scratch’ drops readers into the reality of a distressed mind

Rebecca Watson’s debut novel has a simple story line and an experimental approach. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-18 07:39:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Allen & Unwin acquires Reeves debut, Victoria Park

Allen & Unwin is publishing Victoria Park, the debut novel of British teacher Gemma Reeves, set in contemporary east London.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-14 03:42:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In ‘Zo,’ Love Must Overcome Class Difference and Disaster

Xander Miller’s debut novel asks how we can stay together when the world is coming apart. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-08-11 18:21:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lee Conell’s debut novel is a gripping tale of class and privilege

“The Party Upstairs” focuses on the tenants of one building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Edinburgh International Book Festival online

The 2020 Edinburgh International Book Festival will be presented online from Saturday 15 to Monday 31 August. The programme, made up of over 140 events for adults, families and children, will offer both live and pre-recorded conversations featuring leading writers, poets and participants from... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-08-07 14:45:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Fourth Estate signs PRH editor's 'dazzling' debut for six figures

Fourth Estate has won a five-publisher auction for the “dazzling” debut novel from PRH assistant editor Kasim Ali, in a six-figure two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-06 21:45:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lee Conell’s debut novel is a gripping tale of class and privilege

“The Party Upstairs” focuses on the tenants of one building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-08-06 14:59:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In ‘Luster,’ Young Black Women Feel Uneasy in a White American Home

Raven Leilani’s debut novel follows an interracial, intergenerational affair as it leads to an unusual redefinition of family. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-08-06 09:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Long-Awaited Return of Gayl Jones

Gayl Jones published her first novel in 1975. It was hailed by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and John Updike. Then Gayl disappeared from the literary scene. Now she's releasing her first novel in 20 years. The post The Long-Awaited Return of Gayl Jones appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-08-05 20:30:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures’ is a story that John le Carré might have written for ‘The Twilight Zone’

Jennifer Hofmann’s debut novel follows a Stasi agent trying to make sense of his past. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-04 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The real reason Jay Manuel from ‘ANTM’ made his debut novel fiction, not a memoir

For 18 seasons, he served as creative director and producer of the global phenomenon ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ But his debut novel isn’t the juicy tell-all you might’ve expected. Makeup artist and stylist Jay Manuel has spent more than 20 years in the fashion industry, most famously serving as... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-08-03 12:15:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Where are the hotshot British male novelists? BAME authors may know

Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Abir Mukherjee, Courttia Newland, Guy Gunaratne, Paul Mendez and Okechukwu Nzelu on why British writers of colour are left out of the conversationAfter this week’s Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked “Where are the new male hotshot novelists?” I was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


MJ reveals October novel from Dawn French

Michael Joseph is publishing the first novel from Dawn French in five years, called Because of You, this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-29 17:04:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Newly launched Renard acquires Iain Hood debut

Renard Press has made its first acquisition, landing Iain Hood's debut novel This Good Book. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-28 22:40:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Is This the End of Writing in Cafés?

Full disclosure: I may not be the right person to answer the question posed in this headline. After all, I wrote my first novel almost entirely from bed. In fact, I am writing this essay from bed now. Like Edith Wharton, Colette, and Proust, I am more creative when reclined, and when... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-28 10:44:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Talking “Breasts and Eggs” with Japan’s Rising Literary Star, Mieko Kawakami

Mieko Kawakami, whose poignant and pointed debut novel Breasts and Eggs is this season’s LARB’s Book Club selection, joins Medaya Ocher and Boris Dralyuk to discuss her career as a musician, poet, blogger, and author, the challenges facing women around the world, the state of Japanese... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-07-24 17:23:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Gannon releases podcast series to mark debut novel

Emma Gannon is releasing a four-part series of podcasts to mark the publication of her debut novel Olive (HarperCollins). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-23 16:12:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this