“I Write about People Whose Lives Are on Fire”: A Conversation with Sandra Cisneros, by Emily Doyle

Interviews   Sandra Cisneros’s success as a poet, short-story writer, novelist, and essayist is tied to her determination to write about others with awareness and love. Her work is populated by powerful people—powerful in their pain, joy, and hunger for home. This fall, Cisneros’s poetry collection Woman Without Shame will be published in English by Knopf and in Spanish by Vintage Español. We spoke ahead of UC Riverside’s forty-fifth annual Writers Week, at which Cisneros received the Lifetime Achievement Award. As we settled into our conversation by making not-so-small talk, Cisneros commented: “We have a very profound connection with landscapes, and when we’re born into the wrong landscape, we feel it.” When I told her that’s what makes me nervous about the idea of leaving Earth for another planet, her response captured the service-minded spirit with which she’s lived and written: “Yes, absolutely. I feel like traveling south has been a return for me to an ancient DNA that wanted to come back. The people that ventured far away and couldn’t come back—I came back for them.” Cisneros’s writing offers an opportunity to return to ourselves and the places from which we came. Emily Doyle: The concept of home seems to inform much of your work. In your memoir, A House of My Own, you say you knew “little about how women writers lived” and “even less about working-class writers.” What has living like a writer meant to you, and has your... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2022-04-01 16:29:13 UTC ]
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Bono to release memoir about ‘the people, places and possibilities’ of his life

Surrender, which will ‘draw in detail’ what he had previously only sketched in songs, will contain 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song, and include 40 original drawings by the singerThe first memoir by Bono will be released this year, publisher Penguin Random House has announced.While the U2... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-05-10 15:24:58 UTC ]
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Ali Smith’s ‘Companion Piece’ is a novel for people who love language

Ali Smith's first novel since her seasonal quartet takes place in our pandemic-inflected world. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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We Are in a Golden Age of Historical Fiction for People of Color

“The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” I’ve always found these words by E.L. Doctorow a compelling argument for the unique power of fiction to enliven the past. Yet when thinking about the lives of people of color in America, you can’t count on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-29 08:49:53 UTC ]
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Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #5 Featuring Jai Chakrabarti

There's still time to register for the fifth installment in the AAPI Communities in Conversation series featuring Jai Chakrabarti, author of 'A Play for the End of the World,' in conversation with University of Iowa librarian Jenay Solomon. The Live stream is set for Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What is it Like to Be a Blind Writer Writing for Sighted Readers?

What is it like to be blind in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by sighted individuals? Jessica Powers, founder and publisher at Catalyst Press, spoke to George Mendoza and Kristen Witucki about crafting stories for sighted readers, finding community and release in fiction, and battling... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-28 08:58:13 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Book Festival: Janelle Monáe feels like she's living her 'second Earth life'

Janelle Monáe was joined by Times columnist Erika D. Smith to discuss her book 'The Memory Librarian' on Saturday at the L.A. Times Book Festival. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-04-24 17:01:01 UTC ]
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The people who teach us history aren’t always historians

Filmmakers, novelists and photographers, among others, also shape our collective memory, Richard Cohen writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-22 12:00:50 UTC ]
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New African Novels: A Conversation with Eloghosa Osunde and Okwiri Oduor, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Eloghosa Osunde and Okwiri Oduor. Photo of Oduor by Chelsea Bieker. It’s hard to argue with Booker Prize–winning author Damon Galgut’s assertion that 2021 was “a great year for African writing.” And as WLT’s “New African Voices” issue... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-04-21 13:41:40 UTC ]
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Black Lives Matter Spurs a Publishing Awakening

David Unger, director of the Publishing Certificate Program at the City College of New York, highlights how Black Lives Matter woke up the publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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From 1741, bizarre ideas about what made people Black

These essays from Enlightenment thinkers help show how pseudoscience about race developed, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Andrew S. Curran write. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
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AAPI Communities in Conversation #4: Sheldon Simeon, author of 'Cook Real Hawai’i'

If you missed the livestream, check out the recording of Sheldon Simeon, author of 'Cook Real Hawai’i' in conversation with Michelle Young of the Waimea Public Library. And register today for the next discussion, featuring Jai Chakrabarti, author of 'A Play for the End of the World.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #aapi communities #michelle young #register today


“I Trust Nothing But Music.” Valzhyna Mort on the Patient Listening of Writing Poetry

My first encounter with Valzhyna Mort’s work was Collected Body, her second book of poems released in America, which I picked off a shelf in a bookstore in Upstate New York. As its title suggests, the collection explores the body as a conflicted site of desire and repulsion, mythology and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-13 08:51:54 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel’s ‘Sea of Tranquility’ is a mind-bending novel

"Station Eleven" author Emily St. John Mandel explores time travel and the nature of reality. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-12 13:40:01 UTC ]
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People Who Shaped the Book Business

A glance at the movers and shakers over a century, and some who have starred in the past 25 years (reprinted from PW's 125th Anniversary issue in July 1997) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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'It's Okay To Be A Unicorn' Comes Under Fire In Ohio School District

Author Jason Tharp said a school principal told him last week that he could no longer read his book at a local school event. Continue reading at The Huffington Post

[ The Huffington Post | 2022-04-12 00:49:07 UTC ]
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Conservative lawmaker writes children’s book in praise of solidarity and collective action.

Does the following really sound like contemporary American conservatism to you?  Dawn of the Brave, which is aimed at children age 6 to 10, helps readers recognize that everyone has strengths and weakness, but teamwork allows people to come together for the greater good. I am… confused. Dawn of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-11 14:24:51 UTC ]
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Su Tong and His Stories on Women’s Lives

Phoenix Publishing and Media Group features Another Life for Women and Three Lamps in its newly launched Jiangsu Literature Translated series. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Delia Ephron writes rom-coms. Then her life turned into one.

The author behind such favorites as “You’ve Got Mail” shares her own made-for-Hollywood tale in “Left on Tenth” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-09 12:00:29 UTC ]
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The people and institutions that benefit from shame

Humiliation can be profitable — or it can spark needed change, Cathy O'Neil explains. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-08 12:00:10 UTC ]
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Register Today for AAPI Communities in Conversation #4 Featuring Top Chef Sheldon Simeon

Registration is still open for the fourth installment in the AAPI Communities in Conversation series, featuring Sheldon Simeon, author of 'Cook Real Hawai’i' in conversation with Michelle Young, from the Waimea Public Library. The live stream is set for Tuesday, April 5, at 1 p.m. ET. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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