“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 ]
News tagged with: #in-person events #hotel rooms #ryszard kapuściński

Other Publishing stories related to: '“I Write about People Whose Lives Are on Fire”: A Conversation with Sandra Cisneros, by Emily Doyle'


Living in a Booktopia: Nash reveals how his retail start-up grew to defy Amazon

Booktopia co-founder and c.e.o. Tony Nash, who will be interviewed as part of this year’s FutureBook Conference, discusses how he spotted a gap in the online retail marketplace, and helped Australian publishers resist Amazon. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-08 10:37:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #defy amazon #futurebook conference


S&S 'spellbound' by Smith's Cold People

Simon & Schuster UK has landed Tom Rob Smith’s "utterly gripping" novel Cold People in a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-06 04:14:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cold people


Experimenting with hydrogen bombs, the U.S. blew lives apart

The tests were devastating for residents of the Marshall Islands, Walter Pincus writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-11-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Paul Newman’s memoir—which he started writing in the 80s—will finally be released next fall.

If you’re like me and have a deep appreciation and love of classic Hollywood, then you’ll be delighted to hear that Knopf plans to publish Paul Newman’s memoir in the fall of 2022. The actor, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, began working on his memoir in the 1980s; according to the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-11-03 14:46:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #paul newman #started writing #deep appreciation #began working #memoir


‘We Are Not Like Them’ continues an important conversation. We shouldn’t look away.

Christine Pride and Jo Piazza’s novel explores the fallout after the shooting of an unarmed Black teen. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-11-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Writing while caring

Many people who read this month’s column will be carers. If you are not one now, you may be later and some of us will always be in this role. What does this mean? A carer (I use the NHS definition) is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-01 15:01:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #family member


“Anybody’s life could be a wonderful piece of art.” Read Maxine Hong Kingston’s best writing advice.

On this day in 1940, Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, CA. Kingston, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, took the literary world by storm with her seminal work The Woman Warrior (1976), which blends autobiography and mythology. The Woman Warrior, the winner of the 1976 National Book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-27 16:42:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writing advice #chinese immigrants #seminal work #woman warrior #national book award #literary world


Review: Katie Couric is done pleasing people, as her new memoir proves

The TV news star's memoir, 'Going There,' is fearlessly, wildly entertaining, often emotional and sure to upend the idea that she wants your love. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-10-26 13:00:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir proves #katie couric #memoir


Zephaniah writes 'powerfully moving' Windrush picture book for Scholastic

Benjamin Zephaniah is writing a “powerfully moving” picture book about the voyage of "HMT Empire Windrush" to be published by Scholastic UK in April 2022.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-23 10:30:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #benjamin zephaniah #picture book


Jerry Pinkney, children’s book illustrator who celebrated African American people and culture, dies at 81

Mr. Pinkney brought new life to old fairy tales — and to children’s literature as a whole — with his radiant illustrations in more than 100 picture books. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-22 13:28:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jerry pinkney #book illustrator #children’s book


Julia Elliott and DaMaris B. Hill on Writing Rural America

Novelist Julia Elliott and poet and writer DaMaris B. Hill join hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to consider the writing and face of rural America—particularly as it might look 30 years from now. First, Elliott talks about growing up as an outsider in her own South Carolina... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-21 08:50:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #debut novel


Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021: ‘What Do We Want To Do With Our Lives?’

At the opening press conference for the 73rd Frankfurt Book Fair, organizers said that this special edition of the world's largest publishing trade show is a testament to the industry. The post Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021: ‘What Do We Want To Do With Our Lives?’ appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-10-19 14:26:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #special edition #frankfurter buchmesse


A woman won a million-euro writing prize . . . then turned out to be three men.

This week, the winner of the Planeta Prize, a Spanish 1-million-euro literary award, was announced: Carmen Mola, a famously private crime thriller writer. All that was known about Mola, often referred to as Spain’s “Elena Ferrante,” is that she was a university professor in her mid-40s living in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-18 18:30:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #carmen mola #elena ferrante #university professor #planeta


Are Jewish ghosts more valued than Jewish lives?

Even as past victims are honored, hatred for Jews has become “normal,” Dara Horn writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Why Does Thoreau Live On? A Few Famous Writers Offer Answers.

In “Now Comes Good Sailing,” an anthology gathered by Andrew Blauner, famous writers including Pico Iyer, Lauren Groff and Amor Towles meditate on Thoreau’s influence. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-14 09:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lauren groff #anthology


John le Carré left behind a novel, ‘Silverview.’ Does it live up to the spy master’s reputation?

The best-selling writer’s new book, published 10 months after his death at age 89, delivers a thought-provoking story — and a warning. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Rachel Held Evans’ Wholehearted Faith Lives On in New Book

The bestselling progressive Christian writer died in 2019 but “a vision doesn’t die with one person,” says her husband who is orchestrating the publishing of Evan’s remaining manuscripts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


National Centre for Writing and British Council to award £50k for international projects

The National Centre for Writing (NCW) and British Council has announced they will award more than £50,000 to collaborative projects from UK and international literature organisations and practitioners.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-12 00:28:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writing ncw #national centre #british council


How Much Can You Make Writing Romance?

Romance is the biggest selling book genre, but how does that translate to those who write it? How much can you make writing romance? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-10-08 10:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #selling book


“Everything alive aches for more”: A Conversation with Kari Gunter-Seymour, Poet Laureate of Ohio, by Renee Shea

Interviews   Photo by Kari Gunter-Seymour / www.karigunterseymourpoet.com Kari Gunter-Seymour (b. 1955) is having a moment—soon to become two years of moments since she was appointed in June 2020 to a two-year term as the Poet Laureate of Ohio.... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-10-07 13:41:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mental health #opioid epidemic #prison systems #editorial note #zoom calls #anthology