A giant of African literature whose best works existed between the political and the personal, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was warm, funny and friendly – and liked to bet on my pool gamesAmong the African writers who emerged in the middle of the 20th century, the most political undoubtedly was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Born in Kenya while it was still under British rule he was anti-colonialist, a communist, anti-dictatorial, and an almost militant proponent for African languages being used for African literature.His best works exist at the interface between the political and the personal. His first book of essays, Homecoming, is at once engaging and polemical. His early novels Weep Not, Child and A Grain of Wheat look at the impact of colonialism and the Mau Mau rebellion on individual lives. He was strangely at his best with the personal and the intimate, but his reputation grew more from his political stances – first against the British government, then against the dictatorship in Kenya in the 70s. He was jailed not for a thundering political text but for a play in Kikuyu called I Will Marry When I Want. In prison he wrote his memoir on toilet paper. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-30 16:36:34 UTC ]
Erin Morgenstern’s “The Starless Sea” and Jill Biden’s memoir are among the top picks. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The American journalist witnessed the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. Her nuanced approach offers clues about reporting a polarised society. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-08-25 15:02:35 UTC ]
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My memoir is not unique. But only in the sense that my story unfolds with New York City as the backdrop, where so many other stories have unfolded and will continue to unfold long after I’m gone. That’s the beauty of this multilayered city: it unravels you, and no one’s unraveling is alike. Yes,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-25 11:00:12 UTC ]
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Windmill has signed Sally Huband's non-fiction debut, the story of a woman who combs Shetland beaches to find her place, in a 24-hour pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-21 02:26:55 UTC ]
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Check out the cover for NEGATIVE SPACES, a new memoir from Lilly Dancyger, editor of BURN IT DOWN: WOMEN WRITING ABOUT ANGER. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-08-18 10:37:00 UTC ]
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“Borges and Me,” a memoir by Jay Parini, recounts a young poet’s travels with Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine master. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-18 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Sceptre has pre-empted Hollywood Park by musician and writer Mikel Jollett, frontman of indie band The Airborne Toxic Event. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 14:59:29 UTC ]
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Michael Cohen's memoir about U.S. President Donald Trump will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing, which confirmed the news on Thursday. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2020-08-14 12:29:48 UTC ]
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Yesterday, a pair of TV interviews crystallized just how the Trump administration is threatening the integrity of the election. On CNBC, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, cast “voting rights” as part of a “liberal-left wish list,” adding, “That’s not our game.” On Fox Business, Trump... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-14 12:26:12 UTC ]
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“I don’t know what it means!” Andy Warhol bleats, in John Giorno’s Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment (out now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Warhol’s ditzy refrain is a mantra for the perpetually bemused, at once tragicomic and tongue-in-cheek. He says... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-14 08:48:26 UTC ]
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Among the week’s big deals are the acquisition of a #MeToo memoir by a French publishing exec, Sharon Stone’s memoir, and Andy Weir’s new novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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As Crown Publishing predicted, readers eagerly anticipated Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Autobiography and memoir are best selling categories because virtually everyone enjoys learning about the private life of public figures. In this case, many were curious about the woman who seemed to rise above... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-12 11:00:00 UTC ]
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OWN IT! is to partner with Grime music label Boy Better Know to co-publish the memoir of Ifeomagwu “Ify” Adenuga, the mother of the label's founders. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-11 10:24:04 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired Liv's Alone by Liv Thorne, an "honest and hopeful memoir that captures the joy and the challenge that is parenting alone by choice". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-09 12:38:16 UTC ]
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Another day, another announcement of a memoir from a former Trump collaborator. This time, it’s Fiona Hill, an ex-advisor who testified in Trump’s impeachment inquiry, whose “views about the future of a polarized America” will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2021. I have nothing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-06 19:59:16 UTC ]
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Sara Faith Alterman's "Let's Never Talk About This Again" is a memoir about strange family dynamics, love, grief and the benefits of finally opening up. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-08-05 18:00:51 UTC ]
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It would be easy to summarize Being Lolita as a memoir about a toxic, exploitative relationship between a high school English teacher and his student, and it is about that—but it’s about that in the way Walden is about a pond. Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2020-08-04 16:08:33 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Morgan Jerkins, author of Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, published by Harper. In this fascinating historical memoir, Jerkins explores her identity and heritage by tracing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-03 19:36:31 UTC ]
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In September 2016, Salena Zito, who was then covering voters in The Heartland, wrote of the then-candidate Donald Trump, in a column for The Atlantic: “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” The phrase quickly slipped into... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-03 12:05:46 UTC ]
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A former U.S. poet laureate’s new memoir reflects on the power of storytelling to reconcile past traumas—and offers lessons for surviving the cataclysms of the present. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2020-08-01 12:00:00 UTC ]
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