In the age of Corbyn, is the time right for another Road to Wigan Pier?

It’s no surprise that the Left Book Club is being relaunched now, with the imprimatur of the Labour leader and Ken Livingstone. It began in the anxious 1930s, a decade that has all too many parallels with the current oneAiming to “set the agenda for a new age of political debate”, the Left Book Club was re-launched this week at a meeting at the Conway Hall in London. The Left Book Club last published a book in 1948. Jeremy Corbyn had yet to be born. Nevertheless the Labour leader has generously endorsed the revival as “a terrific and timely idea” that will give “intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate”. He added that he had a large collection of Left Book Club titles, some bought new by his parents and others that he acquired second hand. I speculate that the memory of these books in their plain red or orange covers – their flash upon his inward eye – must have provided Corbyn with a rare pleasurable moment in the past few weeks: the thought of them on his shelves having same kind of heart-filling effect that the daffodils had on Wordsworth.My own collection isn’t so large. In fact, it runs to just one book, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and I didn’t inherit it. I bought it 20 or 30 years ago because I liked the idea of having such a fine book in its cheap and original form – seeing the words and photographs as its first readers must have seen them. Published in 1937, the year after... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Nicholls joins Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2020 judging panel

Bestselling author and screenwriter David Nicholls has joined the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2020 judging panel.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-23 22:37:04 UTC ]
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The L.A. Times announces its 2019 Book Prize finalists and a new award for science fiction.

It’s an exciting year for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes! This will be its 40th year of celebrating the literary community. The Times announced their 2019 Book Prize finalists today; the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 17th. Additionally, bestselling crime... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 17:41:26 UTC ]
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Ronan Farrow, Emily Bazelon and Colson Whitehead among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists

The 2019 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes honor crime novelist Walter Mosley for lifetime achievement. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-19 14:00:25 UTC ]
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Mission Rocío: From Quito to Paris and Guadalajara, Saving the Earth One Poem at a Time, by Alice-Catherine Carls

Cultural Cross Sections Alice-Catherine Carls Pachamama / Pichincha / Photo by Scipio Rocío Durán-Barba / Photo by Stephen Carls Rocío Durán-Barba is one of the most important voices of Latin American literature today. The author of more than fifty... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-02-13 15:00:14 UTC ]
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The Graveyard Talks Back: Arundhati Roy on Fiction in the Time of Fake News

Below is the text of the 2020 Clark Lecture in English Literature instituted by Trinity College, Cambridge. * Thank you for inviting me to deliver this, the Clark Lecture, now in its 152nd year. When I received the invitation, I scrolled down the list of previous speakers, the many “Sirs” and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-12 09:49:50 UTC ]
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Tom Lutz fights for L.A. publishing, this time as a novelist

Los Angeles Review of Books editor Tom Lutz talks about "Born Slippy," his first novel, and why the city should have a more vibrant book publishing industry Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-09 15:00:03 UTC ]
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Claude McKay abandoned ‘Romance in Marseille’ because it was too daring. He was just ahead of his time.

The novel seems less shocking than strikingly woke, given that its themes include disability, sexual preference, radical politics and the subtleties of racial identity. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-05 17:04:31 UTC ]
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Claude McKay abandoned ‘Romance in Marseille’ because it was too daring. He was just ahead of his time.

The novel seems less shocking than strikingly woke, given that its themes include disability, sexual preference, radical politics and the subtleties of racial identity. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-05 17:04:31 UTC ]
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'Queen of Suspense' Mary Higgins Clark dies aged 92

Each of the American author’s 56 novels was a bestseller and her fiction was extolled by writers from Scott Turow to David Foster WallaceMary Higgins Clark, the “Queen of Suspense” who topped charts with each of her 56 novels, has died at the age of 92.Simon & Schuster president Carolyn... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-02-03 11:54:59 UTC ]
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In ‘A Long Petal of the Sea,’ Isabel Allende delivers another sentimental epic set in troubled times

In her relentlessly linear narrative of more than 60 years of Spanish and Chilean history, Allende takes great pains to describe the real, lived effects of two dictatorships. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-23 13:50:56 UTC ]
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A new Missouri bill proposes jailing librarians who provide children “age-inappropriate” books.

A proposed law in Missouri would fine, and possibly jail, librarians who provide books to children that a parental board deemed inappropriate, a policy so extreme that it has attracted national attention. House Bill 2044, or “the Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act,” introduced by... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-16 16:35:23 UTC ]
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In difficult times, a surprise bestseller about kindness is bringing people together

Charlie Mackesy’s “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” began as a beloved Instagram account. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-15 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Sir Roger Scruton dies, aged 75

Philosopher and author Sir Roger Scruton has died at the age of 75 following a battle with cancer. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-13 01:40:53 UTC ]
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WI15: Writing in A Time of Crisis

How fiction and nonfiction writers have been affected by political turmoil in the U.S. and abroad. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Legend Times launches non-fiction publisher Hero

The Legend Times group has launched a new publisher called Hero, specialising in "inspirational and thought-provoking" non-fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 20:47:54 UTC ]
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Such a Fun Age Satirizes the White Pursuit of Wokeness

Kiley Reid’s debut novel is a funny, fast-paced, empathetic examination of privilege in America. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2020-01-08 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Charles Sprawson dies, aged 78

Charles Sprawson, author of celebrated swimming memoir Haunts of the Black Masseur (Vintage), has died. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 07:22:55 UTC ]
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Aging Media Expands Into Mental Health Industry With Sixth Vertical

Aging Media Network, the Chicago-based B2B media company specializing in the business of senior care, is kicking off 2020 with the launch of an additional online publication, Behavioral Health Business (BHB), serving the mental health and substance abuse treatment industry, the company... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-01-07 19:09:22 UTC ]
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