Our annual pick of the most exciting debut fiction has previously tipped Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy, Tom Crewe and Douglas Stuart. Here the class of 2024 tell us their storiesEach year since 2014, the Observer New Review’s writers and editors have read scores of forthcoming debut novels from authors based in the UK and Ireland in order to spotlight the best; here’s our pick of 2024. As ever, our only guide was the quality of the books in front of us. This year’s list includes industry-tipped titles snapped up by big-spending publishers, but also a canny acquisition from a small independent press. There’s a third book from someone already widely celebrated as a writer of short stories, and even a debut from an actual Observer journalist. These are simply the books we rated most – and we think you’ll love them too.In previous years, we led you to Douglas Stuart’s Booker-winning Shuggie Bain, Gail Honeyman’s global bestseller Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Sheena Patel’s cult indie hit I’m a Fan. Last year’s picks continue to hoover up honours. Tom Crewe’s The New Life won the Orwell prize for fiction, while Michael Magee (Close to Home) won the Rooney prize, awarded to an outstanding Irish writer under 40. Both writers are on the shortlist for this month’s Nero debut fiction prize, along with Stephen Buoro, another of our 2023 picks.I’d take the washing up shifts no one else wanted so I could be at the back, jotting things downThere’s violence, but it’s about... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 07:00:20 UTC ]
If you’re a literary genius, you’ve got it easy—right? Wrong. Even Jane Austen, indisputably one of the greatest novelists in the English language, spent years struggling to be published and became so dispirited that there were moments when she almost walked away. The story begins with an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-18 09:54:04 UTC ]
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Emily Temple rounds up the 60 greatest academic satires, campus novels, and boarding school bildungsromans of the last 100 years. | Lit Hub Reading Lists Lynn Caponera considers the wild and wonderful legacy of Maurice Sendak’s creations (and his rigorous work routine). | Lit Hub Art &... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-05 10:30:11 UTC ]
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It’s possible to love a video game. To be devoted to it, to value what it does for you, and how it makes you feel. To want the best for it. Not in the same way you love a person — or at least, I hope not. But take a look at any major fan convention for video games, movies, TV, or almost... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-11-01 15:51:22 UTC ]
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It’s possible to love a video game. To be devoted to it, to value what it does for you and how it makes you feel, and to want the best for it. Not in the same way you love a person — or at least, I hope not. But take a look at any major fan convention for video games, movies, TV, or almost... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-10-28 10:45:00 UTC ]
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Combat veteran Bill Glose’s short stories in “All the Ruined Men” crack open the challenges faced by Gulf War soldiers and their families. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-10-19 15:00:11 UTC ]
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‘The Man I Killed’ is a story from The Things They Carried, a 1990 collection of linked short stories by the American writer Tim O’Brien. The collection focuses on a platoon of American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. As the title of this short story suggests, ‘The Man I […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-10-17 14:00:42 UTC ]
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There's no better time to read horror short stories than October. With Halloween fast approaching, dive into these 20 spooky tales. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-10-17 10:31:00 UTC ]
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The Leeds-born novelist whose work included poetry and short stories as well as his bestselling thrillers will be remembered as a master of plot and characterThe crime writer Peter Robinson has died aged 72, his publisher has announced.The Yorkshire-born author died suddenly on the 4 October... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-07 11:56:17 UTC ]
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Sotheby’s describes 17th-century Cervantes editions as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for collectorsOne day in the early 1930s, a young Bolivian diplomat named Jorge Ortiz Linares walked into the illustrious Maggs Bros bookshop in London to ask if they might have a particularly fine edition... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-06 13:44:15 UTC ]
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‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is one of the best-known short stories by Flannery O’Connor (1925-64), who produced a string of powerful stories during her short life. First published in the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find in 1955, the story is about an American family […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-09-26 14:00:41 UTC ]
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‘She saw and felt things us ordinary mortals missed,’ her agent says of Booker prize-winning author who died on Thursday• Hilary Mantel remembered: ‘She was the queen of literature’• ‘The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write’: Hilary Mantel in her own wordsThe Booker... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-23 11:29:23 UTC ]
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Friendship is such a universal and central theme to all of our lives, that picking just a small number of the best short stories about such a broad theme is always going to be a challenge. However, the following stories are by some of the finest masters of the short […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-09-21 14:00:43 UTC ]
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Held in person for the first time since 2019, the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) 2022 conference brought over 300 authors, agents, publishers, and aspiring novelists together in St. Louis, Mo. from September 8-11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by A.M. Homes, author of The Unfolding. Find more Keen On... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-06 08:56:16 UTC ]
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What are the best short stories which are set in school, or which focus on school and one’s schooldays? There are plenty of stories which are ‘set in schools’ in the sense of being set reading for schoolchildren, but it’s harder to find some canonical and classic short stories which […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-08-29 14:00:36 UTC ]
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While other future novelists were discussing iambic pentameter and leitmotifs, Gina Chen immersed herself in computer science. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-08-25 09:00:11 UTC ]
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A Black Muslim leader is bringing his life story and work to Broadleaf; novelists Tosca Lee and Marcus Brotherton are joining forces on a WWII story coming from Revell, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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On Episode 10 of Ursa Short Fiction, Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton welcome writer Michael A. Gonzales for part two of our deep dive into the life and work of Diane Oliver, who published six short stories before her death at age 22. (Part one of our series is here.) Diane Oliver was just a […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-17 08:51:56 UTC ]
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These days, we’re hanging by a thin thread, and that thread is Tuesdays: the day new books grace us with their presence. * Jane Campbell, Cat Brushing (Grove Press) “The 13 exquisitely drawn short stories in the collection are woven with wit and bold enlightenment. Each meticulously crafted gem... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-16 13:00:57 UTC ]
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Fiction often deals with domestic matters, including family, and some of the finest short stories treat the important, though sometimes fraught, relationship between parents and their children. What makes a good parent? What if two parents disagree over what’s best for their children, or for the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-08-08 14:00:43 UTC ]
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