These days, it is normal for authors to go to writing workshops – or teach them. So why does the idea they produce derivative writers persist?What makes a writer? How do you become one? When I was younger, even asking those questions seemed to disqualify me: a writer isn’t something one becomes, I thought, a writer just is. Despite writing, rewriting and reading all through my 20s, I was no closer to completing, let alone publishing, a novel. I realised I would need help if I was going to succeed, and I applied to several creative writing MAs.This was, depending on who you ask, either a decision that condemned my writing to being forever derivative and tired, or, an important step on the path towards the publication of my first book. The debate about the value of a degree in creative writing has been done, one might think, to death – good writing depends on an innate facility that cannot be taught, versus good writing depends on devoted time, support, and elements of craft that can be studied – yet it continues to rage. This week, a much-lauded debut novel was criticised in a review by an author for its “MA creative writing-speak” and “oh so tediously writing workshop description”. For some, “writing workshop” is shorthand for bad. But why?'One must have in mind between 68 and 73% of the ending' before starting a story, my teacher once advised Related: Buy a cat, stay up late, don't drink: top 10 writers’ tips on writing Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"The first time we have sex, we are both fully clothed, at our desks during working hours, bathed in blue computer light.” So begins Luster, the extraordinary début novel from American author Raven Leilani, which has caused a sensation in the US and deserves to do the same here. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-01 23:03:04 UTC ]
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Bernardine Evaristo is curating a new series of lost or hard-to-find books, now rediscovered, by black writers who wrote about black Britain and the diaspora across the last century. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-28 09:32:56 UTC ]
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Creative Scotland has partnered with the Society of Authors to distribute £600,000 in financial grants, in bursaries of up £2,000 each, among authors and other creative practitioners in the literary field based in Scotland who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-28 00:16:54 UTC ]
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Writers Rachel Howzell Hall, Attica Locke and Ivy Pochoda talked with Times reporter James Queally for a 2020 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books event. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-10-24 16:06:42 UTC ]
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An interview with a book critic who's read more than 150 titles about the Trump era. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2020-10-22 22:15:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Photo by Beowulf Sheehan / Courtesy of www.tayarijones.com Tayari Jones is a New York Times best-selling author from Atlanta, Georgia. Her most recent novel, An American Marriage, won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Jones has been... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-22 14:14:35 UTC ]
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Ben North, the poet and former creative director at HarperCollins, has passed away aged 49 following treatment for brain tumours. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-18 15:56:36 UTC ]
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In this bold adaptation of the Jack London novel, a young writer suffers, fights and pays as he stands alone against the world. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-15 11:00:08 UTC ]
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Comedian and writer Ruby Wax and spoken word performer George the Poet have been announced as headliners for the inaugural live event from Creative England and the Creative Industries Federation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-14 07:46:20 UTC ]
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“The Silence” feels like Apocalypse Lite for people who don’t want to get their hands dirty. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-12 10:08:43 UTC ]
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Book export organization Brazilian Publishers has a full lineup of online events during the Frankfurter Buchmesse week, as well as a catalogue of titles with rights available. (Sponsored) The post ‘Brazilian Publishers’ Brings Creativity and Content to Frankfurt appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-10-12 02:30:18 UTC ]
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When I made the extremely practical decision to abandon my career in publishing to become a writer, I didn’t know I wanted to write children’s books. I thought I wanted to write for adults. Accordingly, my first published work was an illustrated book about fortune-telling; my second was about... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-06 08:49:59 UTC ]
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When Sonja Livingston began to write about her life with an itinerant mother and six siblings in the raw corners of western New York, she wrote, she says, in snatches. “I wrote of living in apartments and tents and motel rooms. Of places where corn and cabbage grew in great swaths. Of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-02 08:48:29 UTC ]
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From indie to mainstream, Caribbean authors are finding readers—and landing publishing deals—in the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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There are very few celebrities whose meals interest me. (Yes, I do hate Instagram, thank you.) But here’s one: Stanley Tucci, who announced today that he’s working on a memoir called Taste: My Life Through Food. Publisher Gallery Books described it as “intimate and charming reflection of Tucci’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-17 18:45:33 UTC ]
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YouTube star Daniel Howell is releasing a guide to mental health, You Will Get Through This Night, with HarperCollins imprint HQ. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-13 20:48:44 UTC ]
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Jacob P Avila has won this year's Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Unpublished Manuscript, for his contemporary thriller Cave Diver. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-09 12:39:04 UTC ]
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Richard Osman, whose first novel The Thursday Murder Club this week becomes the fastest selling adult crime debut since records began, has signed a deal with Viking for two more books in the series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-07 19:31:57 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster will publish the pontiff's vision of a better future post-pandemic December 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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IDW Publishing has named Nachie Marsham its new publisher, while Veronica Brooks, formerly senior director to the v-p of creative affairs, has been promoted to v-p of creative affairs. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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