‘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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Eleanor Shearer on Writing a Post-Slavery West Indian Novel Celebrating Motherhood and Resilience

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew talks to River Sing Me Home author Eleanor Shearer about her hotly... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-01 09:53:21 UTC ]
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New Jesmyn Ward Novel LET US DESCEND Coming in October

Jesmyn Ward's next novel, LET US DESCEND, will be published on October 3, 2023. It's her first novel since SING, UNBURIED, SING. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-01-28 01:23:42 UTC ]
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Attention: a new Jesmyn Ward novel is coming this fall.

Lovers of gorgeous prose and ghost-soaked literary fiction rejoice: two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward’s next novel officially has a release date. Let Us Descend, Ward’s first novel in five years (since 2017’s Sing, Unburied Sing) will be published by Scribner on October 3. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-27 15:09:45 UTC ]
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When everything breaks down, what does it take to survive?

On an isolated island in Maine, a woman is pushed to the brink to save her family, in Meghan Gilliss’ debut novel “Lungfish.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-01-19 22:19:20 UTC ]
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The last satirical novel from a tech-world alum? It's got a bug

Josh Riedel's debut novel 'Please Report Your Bug Here' tries to be both a sendup of circa-2010 Silicon Valley and a futuristic sci-fi cautionary tale. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-18 14:30:20 UTC ]
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Manhattan on the rocks: A novel's dual homage to '90s New York and a legendary author

In his debut novel 'Vintage Contemporaries,' Dan Kois tracks two friends with big dreams in '90s New York and pays homage to late author Laurie Colwin. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-13 14:00:22 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of January 2, 2023

Restless Books buys Immigrant Fiction Prize winner Praveen Herat’s debut, Penguin Press nabs a debut novel about generational trauma, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Exclusive Cover Reveal: Here’s the cover for Elysha Chang’s A Quitter’s Paradise

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Elysha Chang’s A Quitter’s Paradise, the first book on Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint at Zando, forthcoming in June 2023. This debut novel examines the grief of a young woman desperate to detach from the reality of her mother’s death and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-08 14:30:46 UTC ]
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Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch is coming to the screen.

The Fall of Tess Gunty (I speak of Autumn, not ruination) continues apace with news that the Indiana author’s much-ballyhooed debut novel The Rabbit Hutch—the story of a group of residents of a low-income housing community in a fictional Indiana town over the course of one sweltering summer—has... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-29 16:36:13 UTC ]
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“You Can’t Hurt Like Me”: A First Look at ‘Bark On’

An exclusive excerpt and cover reveal for 'Bark On,' the debut novel by Mason Boyles. The post “You Can’t Hurt Like Me”: A First Look at ‘Bark On’ appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2022-11-25 11:00:49 UTC ]
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The best fiction of 2022: death and life in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger

The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy’s first novel since The Road in 2006, shows him at the peak of his powers even as he nears his ninetieth year. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2022-11-24 13:19:55 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of November 21, 2022

The editor-in-chief of Electric Literature sells a debut novel to Random House, Europa takes on a novel by the director of the Turin Book Fair, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Louise Kennedy’s Debut Novel Taps Into Her Childhood Amid the Troubles

The book, “Trespasses,” captures the texture of life in Northern Ireland — details, objects and images that carry “incredible emotional weight.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-10-31 16:21:50 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of October 31, 2022

William Morrow bets on a debut novel from Victoria Benton Frank, Harlan Coben re-ups at Grand Central, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Cover reveal: Stephen Buoro’s The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Stephen Buoro’s debut novel The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, which will be published by Bloomsbury in April 2023. Here’s how the publisher describes the novel: Andrew Aziza is a fifteen-year-old boy living in Kontagora in Northern... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-19 13:30:34 UTC ]
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Peter Robinson obituary

Author of the Inspector Alan Banks series and welcome presence at crime fiction festivals around the worldPeter Robinson was the creator of the immensely popular Inspector Alan Banks crime series, set in Yorkshire – the books sold almost 9m copies in 19 languages and spawned a successful... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-10-14 16:44:04 UTC ]
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Book Excerpt: ‘The Passenger,’ Cormac McCarthy’s First Novel in 16 Years

A passage from Cormac McCarthy’s first novel since his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2006 book “The Road.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-10-14 12:10:42 UTC ]
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Tom Hanks announces ‘wildly ambitious’ first novel

The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece spans 80 years and is said to be ‘thoughtful, poignant and hugely entertaining’Oscar winner Tom Hanks’s debut novel has been announced, and is due out next year. The book, Hanks’s second foray into fiction – he published a short story collection... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-09-27 14:01:40 UTC ]
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Review: The follow-up to Namwali Serpell's debut novel is less grand — and better for it

Critics raved over 'The Old Drift,' Namwali Serpell's epic debut novel. Our critic prefers her more difficult, intimate follow-up, 'The Furrows.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-09-27 13:00:37 UTC ]
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Recommended reading: Hilary Mantel’s review of Kate Atkinson’s debut novel.

By the time I read Hilary Mantel’s 1996 review of Kate Atkinson’s debut novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum in the London Review of Books, the novel had been a favorite of mine for over a decade. My mother gave me the book when I was in high school—both of us entirely unaware of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-23 14:57:31 UTC ]
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