Julian Assange's ghost writer breaks silence on failed autobiography

WikiLeaks founder a mercurial character who could not bear his own secrets, according to writer Andrew O'HaganThe ghostwriter who collaborated with Julian Assange on his abortive 2011 autobiography has broken his silence to describe his months working with the WikiLeaks founder, which culminated in the acrimonious collapse of one of the highest profile and most lucrative book deals of recent times.Three years after he was first introduced to the Australian, Andrew O'Hagan has now spoken out about how he worked with Assange on the book, which he said the publishers Canongate had sold in more than 40 countries for a total of US$2.5m before the deal dramatically imploded. In a lengthy, nuanced essay for the London Review of Books, a version of which he delivered in a lecture in London on Friday, O'Hagan describes working with a mercurial character who was, by turns, passionate, funny, lazy, courageous, vain, paranoid, moral and manipulative.The book deal ultimately collapsed, O'Hagan writes, because "the man who put himself in charge of disclosing the world's secrets simply couldn't bear his own. The story of his life mortified him and sent him scurrying for excuses. He didn't want to do the book. He hadn't from the beginning."Assange, he writes, was persuaded to agree to the autobiography by his lawyers who said the huge sums on offer would cover his mounting legal costs. He had initially been enthusiastic about the project, telling his ghostwriter that he "hoped to have... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Julian Assange's ghost writer breaks silence on failed autobiography"


11 Westerns That Break All the Rules

Claudia Cravens, author of 'Lucky Red' (Dial), brings together 11 subversive western novels that break the gun-toting, spittoon-clanking mold. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Keep winding up in a toxic workplace? Here’s how to break the cycle

You may have subconsciously built up a tolerance for bad bosses and toxic colleagues, this executive coach says. It’s time for healthy change. Have you ever left a toxic workplace only to have the “bad luck” of finding yourself in the same situation shortly thereafter? Do you constantly make... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2023-05-08 03:45:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #self-help book #bad luck #toxic workplace


LGBTQ Writers Find Their Voice at Lambda Literary Retreat

As Lambda’s Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices returns to an in-person format this summer, previous retreat participants look back on the experiences as a crucial moment in their development as queer authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #queer authors #crucial moment #in-person format


Top Mystery Writers Honored at the 77th Edgar Awards

Stirring speeches by Michael Connelly and Crime Writers of Color cofounder Kellye Garrett were a highlight of this year's Edgar Awards, where 'Notes on an Execution' by Danya Kukafka was named best novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #danya kukafka #crime writers #michael connelly


Live from New York: Curtis Sittenfeld on Dating Up, Writing Funny, and How SNL and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Are Alike

Bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Romantic Comedy, which begins behind the scenes at a television show similar to Saturday Night Live, where a female comedy writer is gobsmacked that her schlubby straight male... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-20 08:53:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #bestselling author #romantic comedy #whitney terrell #iowa writers #curtis sittenfeld


UK publishing industry reports record-breaking year in 2022

There were 669m physical books sold in the UK last year, according to new figures from the Publishers AssociationThe UK publishing industry had a “record-breaking year” in 2022, with a total income of £6.9bn.A Year in Publishing, a look at the state of the book market by trade body the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-17 11:26:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #publishing industry #books sold #book market #publishers association #trade body #record-breaking year


Rachel Pollack, trans activist and comic book writer, dies aged 77

Pollack, who created the first mainstream transgender superhero, Kate Godwin, had been fighting Hodgkin’s lymphomaRachel Pollack, award-winning author, leading authority on tarot and the occult, trans activist and comic-book writer who created the first mainstream transgender superhero, has died... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-08 10:45:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #comic book #science fiction #clarke award #short stories #speculative fiction #rachel pollack


Braving a blizzard to meet the most promising (and most offline) young writer in the West

In a writer-as-brand era, Taylor Koekkoek's obscurity is almost as refreshing as the hilarious, stealthily profound stories in his debut, 'Thrillville, USA.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-22 13:00:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #young writer


I believed readers only wanted trauma stories from writers of colour. Then I became an author | Zoya Patel

For so long, it seemed that readers were only interested in the experiences of people like me if we were traumatised, not triumphant – and I internalised this as an indisputable factGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI can’t pinpoint exactly when I started imagining myself in the stories... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-18 19:00:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #hachette #pop culture #cultural diversity #young age #weekend culture


John Steinbeck’s House May Become a Writers Retreat

John Steinbeck’s Sag Harbor home on Long Island may soon secure its place in literary history, thanks to an impassioned coalition of readers, writers, and booksellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #literary history #long island #john steinbeck


Tom Benn Wins England’s Young Writer of the Year Award

The £10,000 Young Writer of the Year award from the UK's Sunday Times goes to Tom Benn for his fourth novel, 'Oxblood.' The post Tom Benn Wins England’s Young Writer of the Year Award appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-15 17:35:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #young writer #young writer of the year award #sunday times


Is Pearson ready for March break? Go behind the scenes at Canada's busiest airport

With air travel rebounding as pandemic restrictions ease, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is busier than ever — but it’s been a rocky restart with flight delays and cancellations, long lines and lost luggage. CBC News gets an inside look... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-03-10 09:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #pearson #cbc news #flight delays #busiest airport #march break


How sci-fi writer Annalee Newitz turned to real-life scientists to build a (better) future

Novelist and science journalist Annalee Newitz brings 'The Terraformers' to the L.A. Times Book Club March 28. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-09 22:20:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #times book


The Best Short Stories by Latin American Writers

If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #short stories #virginia woolf #james joyce #katherine mansfield #literary landscape


Pearson Airport to limit flights during peak hours ahead of March Break, summer travel season

Toronto's Pearson Airport will be placing a "hard limit" on the number of flights arriving or departing during peak times ahead of March Break and the upcoming summer travel season. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-02-28 16:22:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #pearson #march break #pearson airport


‘Things are definitely opening up’: the rise of older female writers

Unpublished authors in their 60s, 70s and 80s are now at a premium in the book world – with radical, edgy women in high demandThe literary world is often accused of an obsession with youth, from multiple awards targeted at authors under 40 to publishers who hunt for new voices exclusively among... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-02-25 07:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book world #literary world #unpublished writers #young writers #unpublished authors


'Special thanks': how comic book writers and artists are forgotten during the superhero film boom

If the directors of superhero movies are considered auteurs, why aren’t the writers and artists who created the comics they’re based on? Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2023-02-20 19:01:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #comic book #superhero movies


Hitting the Books: Meet the man who helped Microsoft break into the entertainment business

Some of us are destined to lead successful lives thanks to the circumstances of our birth. Some of us, like attorney Bruce Jackson, are destined to lead such lives in spite them. Raised in New York's Amsterdam housing projects and subjected to the daily brutalities of growing up a black man in... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-02-19 15:30:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #digital media #bill clinton #civil rights #black culture #thousand miles #television shows


Remembering an American Writer: Anthony Walton on James Alan McPherson’s Essays and Legacy

James Alan McPherson is famous as the first Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction; a new book aims to bring fresh attention to his masterful nonfiction. The volume’s editor, poet and writer Anthony Walton, joins V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss On Becoming an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-16 09:55:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #pulitzer prize #whitney terrell #book aims #black writer #american writer