Culture Street mural for Grenfell Tower, with poem by Ben Okri, North Kensington, London, image courtesy of IranWire and #PaintTheChange. London-based writer Malu Halasa canvasses the Middle Eastern and North African culture scene in London, where even in lockdown, there’s still much to experience. London makes travelers think of high tea and empire. For those of us who live here and have a passion for and write about the Middle East, London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. It was not always like this. In the 1990s, relatively few Middle East–related events took place in London. Yet in the past twenty years that I’ve lived here, London has been transformed. The change started taking place in the 2000s. In part, political events, 9/11, and, ten years later, the 2011 Arab Spring or Awakening, as well as the wars in between and after 2011, prompted writers, journalists, and activists to forgo the usual conversation about winners and losers of regional conflicts. Instead, we began to look to creative expression from these countries and in the diaspora for a different kind of understanding and engagement. It was an approach that continued the conversations many of us were having with the people and voices that came onto the streets and in the squares... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-19 19:22:28 UTC ]
As you may have noticed, Barack Obama has a book out today. It’s a memoir, titled A Promised Land, that runs to more than seven-hundred pages and is still only a first volume—covering the period from Obama’s childhood to the raid, in 2011, that killed Osama bin Laden. Originally, Obama planned... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-11-17 13:29:32 UTC ]
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My first novel was released within six months of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance’s memoir of Appalachian roots and a youth spent in a Rust Belt community with a dearth of jobs and resources. Vance’s book came out just before the 2016 election; mine was released just after. Donald Trump’s victory had... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-17 12:01:45 UTC ]
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In the coming days, the team will cover two major awards and reveal two year-end lists. There’s also a certain presidential memoir coming out. Two editors discuss an industry that hasn’t slowed down. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-17 10:00:11 UTC ]
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Catherine Coleman Flowers’s memoir chronicles her advocacy for improved sanitation systems in rural America and her own education as an activist. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-17 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero is launching a social media campaign calling for artists to support bookshops with a drawing of their favourite store. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 06:10:11 UTC ]
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Independent booksellers reported solid first-day sales of former President Barak Obama's 'A Promised Land.' There was a downside, however, as many store owners reported some cartons of the memoir arrived damaged. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has bought a memoir by Dr Waheed Arian, billed as "the powerful story of a boy who dreamed about helping others, a tale of courage, ambition and unwavering resilience against all odds". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 03:40:20 UTC ]
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"A Promised Land," out Tuesday in a worldwide release, eloquently and ruefully documents the first two and a half years of Obama's presidency. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-16 21:30:00 UTC ]
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“The temptation to hide the word because the reality of rape is so horrific only made it more critical that it stood front and center in my book.” Memoirist Michelle Bowdler on saying the unsayable. | Lit Hub Memoir “Like poetry, flash often relies on the tiny detail, the single image, or some... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-16 11:30:28 UTC ]
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I wanted to write a beautiful book, a book about hope, love, optimism and resilience. I wanted to show readers the life I had built, slowly and with intention. The fact that everything had been only aspirational for too many years, and hard-won in the end, only deepened my need to share. As joy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-16 09:48:18 UTC ]
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Oprah Winfrey's interview with Barack Obama premieres on Apple TV+ on Tuesday morning, just as copies of the hotly anticipated former president's memoir lands on bookstore shelves around the world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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With Barack Obama's memoir out from Viking on Tuesday (17th November), PRH's UK media campaign will kick off this weekend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-13 00:35:10 UTC ]
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She tried her hand at fiction, to no avail. So she wrote a memoir about a circle of strangers instead. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-12 10:00:04 UTC ]
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While books about the outgoing US president have been bestsellers for the last four years, Trump might be a step too far for some publishersFact-checkers are quaking in their boots amid reports that Donald Trump could be being “courted for a new tome on his time in the White House”. The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 14:24:45 UTC ]
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Yesterday, as senior Republican officials continued to indulge President-unelect Trump’s election fantasies, his claims of widespread voter fraud continued to be baseless, and reporters continued to point that out. Republicans in various states have made mountains out of procedural molehills and... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-11-11 13:19:27 UTC ]
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You know what they say: November is the new December! When’s the best time to support your local bookstore and get holiday gifts? Well, there’s no time like the present. (Get it?) (I’m sorry.) (But seriously, support your favorite indie and check out these new books!) * Jonathan Lethem, The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-10 19:44:02 UTC ]
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The painter known to many as Lucian Freud's one-time muse writes of her own muse, her mother, and provers herself a masterful writer as well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-10 18:28:13 UTC ]
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Kamala Harris-related books have seen a sharp increase in popularity post-Biden/Harris presidential win. On Sunday, a whopping four books on Amazon’s Top 10 bestsellers list were either about or penned by the vice president-elect. The books in question: Harris’s memoir The Truths We Hold: An... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-10 17:37:24 UTC ]
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As COVID cases surge to record numbers and Republicans flirt with a paper coup the future of the nation’s bookstores remains perilous. Yes, we all have a lot to worry about—but if you care about that unwieldy, amorphous thing called literary culture, please spare a moment (or a dollar) to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-10 16:14:32 UTC ]
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In “This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing,” Jacqueline Winspear recalls her upbringing in the British countryside. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-10 14:00:00 UTC ]
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