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 ]

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England’s Young Writer of the Year Award Names Its Shortlist

This four-title shortlist for the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award is to yield a winner by mid-March. The post England’s Young Writer of the Year Award Names Its Shortlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-02-13 16:16:05 UTC ]
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Announcing The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award shortlist

The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award is given annually to the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author of 35 or under. Here at the British Council, we're proud to work with the Prize to support the selected writers early in their... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2023-02-13 14:40:41 UTC ]
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When my memoir came out, I got a brutal shock. Vulnerable writers need protection | Terri White

Nothing prepared me for revisiting the most painful times of my life – then being criticised for it. We need industry-wide guidelines to helpI called her Terri The World Gets. She was the outward-facing me, the woman I’d spent decades curating. And Terri The World Gets was about to be rocketed... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
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Union Election at Books-A-Million Outlet in Virginia Fails

A majority of the 15 employees at the Books-A-Million store in Leesburg, Va., voted not to join the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union during an official election. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-24 05:00:00 UTC ]
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When everything breaks down, what does it take to survive?

On an isolated island in Maine, a woman is pushed to the brink to save her family, in Meghan Gilliss’ debut novel “Lungfish.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-01-19 22:19:20 UTC ]
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Twitter is reportedly struggling to break even as advertisers continue to flee

Twitter’s ad business is reeling, with its daily revenue reportedly falling by 40 percent from a year ago. According to The Information, over 500 of the company’s top advertisers have paused spending on the platform since Elon Musk’s October takeover. Despite that, Twitter is still attracting... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-01-18 18:54:25 UTC ]
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Jonathan Raban, travel writer and novelist, dies aged 80

The British author, who lived in the US, blended memoir and travelogue in books that were often inspired by the seaJonathan Raban, the British travel writer, critic and novelist known for his candid accounts of travelling the world in books such as Passage to Juneau and Coasting, has died aged... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-18 08:53:25 UTC ]
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Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ Memoir Breaks Sales Records

The steady drumbeat of revelations that preceded the book’s release helped push early orders and initial sales, making “Spare,” on its first day, one of the best-selling hardcover books in recent memory. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-01-11 22:07:48 UTC ]
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‘Let the fun begin!’ Why did romance writer Susan Meachen fake her own death? | Arwa Mahdawi

Two years after her apparent suicide, the novelist has announced she is still very much alive. Is this what it takes to sell books nowadays?‘All publicity is good publicity,” Susan Meachen thought to herself as she prepared to stage her suicide. In September 2020, Meachen, the self-published... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-11 07:00:12 UTC ]
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Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare is UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book

The memoir, which includes claims Prince William attacked him, records figures of 400,000 on its first day Prince Harry’s autobiography has become the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book ever, recording figures of 400,000 on its first day on sale.The controversial memoir Spare has made... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-10 19:17:17 UTC ]
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Book review: “The Prisoner and the Writer,” by Heather Camlot and Sophie Casson

On the 125th anniversary of “J’Accuse,” a picture book for older kids places the lives of Alfred Dreyfus and Émile Zola side by side. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-01-06 07:36:52 UTC ]
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10 Science Fiction Books by Black Women Writers

This past summer, an auntie of mine dusted off an old cardboard box of books from a cluttered storage unit, and handed me a slim blue and gold paperback with soft, slightly frayed corners and a creased spine by Octavia E. Butler. I had never read science fiction that featured a Black girl being... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-12-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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“I Am Here to Mourn a Writer Who Has Become Part of My Personal Canon.” On the Short Stories of Naira Kuzmich

Naira Kuzmich died in 2017, at age 29 from lung cancer, but her posthumous short story collection, In Everything I See Your Hand, was only recently brought to fruition by University of New Orleans Press (June 2022). The included stories were widely published in literary journals and one was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-22 09:53:38 UTC ]
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Wild Worlds: SFF Books By Unexpected Writers

Poets, literary fiction authors, and other unexpected writers are taking their shot at sci-fi and fantasy. Here are some of the best, including Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-12-20 11:35:00 UTC ]
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#ReadingAfrica: Five Writers and Publishers Discuss the Continent’s Boundless Literary Landscape

Africa is a continent of 54 countries and some 1.4 billion people, speaking—and sometimes writing and publishing—in hundreds of languages. The book business on the continent is diverse and eclectic. We convened a group of several top practitioners to get a sample of the triumphs and challenges... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-08 09:57:24 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Senator calls for an end to ‘failed Big Tech self-regulation’

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts is calling on Congress to pass new legislation to rein in tech companies after Twitter boss Elon Musk ignored an information request. “Elon Musk could respond to my tweets but failed to respond to my letter by yesterday’s deadline and answer basic questions... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-11-28 12:15:18 UTC ]
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Koos Prinsloo: the cult Afrikaans writer has been translated to English – here's a review

Challenging myths about heterosexual white South African men, Prinsloo published four books of short stories in 12 years. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2022-11-28 05:37:53 UTC ]
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An Indigenous Writer Discovers New and Old Ways to Connect With the Land and With Each Other

Joshua Whitehead can’t be held by genre. Following on the success of his Lambda Literary Award winning novel Jonny Appleseed and poetry collection full-metal indigiqueer, Making Love with the Land is Whitehead’s first full-length work of creative nonfiction. But to describe this book as merely... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-11-23 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster Deal Collapses, Breaking Pattern in Publishing

The deal to acquire Simon & Schuster would have made the buyer, Penguin Random House, even larger, and reduced the number of big publishers in the U.S. to four. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-11-21 22:50:04 UTC ]
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Are these America’s “most talented but underappreciated” writers?

On Friday, Longwood University announced the finalists for the 2022 John Dos Passos Prize, which is the oldest literary award given by a Virginia college or university, and which honors “one of America’s most talented but underappreciated writers. . . whose work offers incisive, original... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-21 14:30:02 UTC ]
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