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 ]
There’s something about literary sisters. Siblings offer a unique, complex, and compelling relationship for novelists to explore, so it’s no surprise that so many novels have sisters at their heart. From Jane Austen’s loveable Bennett sisters in Pride and Prejudice, and Louisa May Alcott’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-13 08:49:04 UTC ]
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The 2020 Tokyo Games will be defined by many things—the anachronism of its title, the risk of superspreading, the welcome absence of Matt Lauer—but, hopefully, these Olympics will also be remembered for bringing mental health to the forefront of popular discourse. Simone Biles’ “twisties.”... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-08-10 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Interviews Emilio Fraia’s Sevastopol, out this summer from New Directions, is the sort of book that beguiles and dazzles in equal measure. Consisting of three disparate stories—of a mountain climber attempting to scale Mt. Everest, a mysterious loner... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-08-09 20:31:30 UTC ]
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If you are on Twitter, you couldn’t have missed it. Kate Clanchy’s memoir, that won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, is rife with racialised descriptions of her students. Words such as chocolate and almond used to describe skin colour, tired tropes of hair or size of bosoms used to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-09 07:24:37 UTC ]
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Seeking out the best new Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers, this year’s finalists range across continents to show ‘the best of what stories can do’The fallout from civil war invades the London home of a high-flying Sri Lankan couple. An elderly Jamaican woman faces up bravely to the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-29 11:00:30 UTC ]
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In her latest Graphic Content column, Hillary Chute looks at new books from Kristen Radtke and Lizzy Stewart, as well as a first graphic novel from Anne Carson. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-29 09:00:05 UTC ]
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How Richard Lange went from literary short stories to crime fiction and his new gothic horror tale, 'Rovers,' about a '70s vampire biker gang. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-26 13:00:38 UTC ]
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Short stories, to me, are sparked by desire. I don’t mean they’re all love stories, though they certainly can be. I mean they are collisions or conflagrations, small or spectacular traffic accidents in which the desires of one person bump up against the impossible—whether in the form of some... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle ponders the links between famous writers and advertising slogans Fay Weldon, author of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983), is one of several famous novelists who started out in the field of advertising. In this connection... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-07-23 14:00:03 UTC ]
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It can be too easy to write villains— people stunted and incapable of love or compassion—when we write about opponents of our politics, especially in short stories, which have so much less space to detail nuance. Sometimes writing about villains and pointing the finger is necessary in a world... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut and a long-honored veteran of short stories take the 2021 top honors provided by the Washington-based PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The post Two PEN/Faulkner Foundation Award Winners: Deesha Philyaw and Charles Baxter appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-07-02 18:54:49 UTC ]
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Lit Lists Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate a single book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a brief statement explaining their choice. We published... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-28 13:32:05 UTC ]
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The writer’s signature style of ending—a final, thrilling note—has the touch of magic that distinguishes the form at its best. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-06-28 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Red Arrow Studios has co-development rights with Playground for all 75 novels and 28 short stories about the French detective Jules Maigret. The post Maigret Rides Again: Playground Entertainment Options Georges Simenon’s Books appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-06-25 18:59:14 UTC ]
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At the Rumpus, Xuan Juliana Wang discusses the art of the short story in a round table that includes Kimberly King Parsons, Dantiel W. Moniz, Mary South, and Ashley Wurzbacher. The panel shares their thoughts on crafting a collection, along with what draws them to short stories in the first... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 20:30:14 UTC ]
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Historical fiction was once considered a fusty backwater. Now the genre is having a renaissance, attracting first-rank novelists and racking up major prizes. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-06-13 09:00:02 UTC ]
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‘The Circular Ruins’, first published in 1940, is one of the most richly symbolic short stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. One of his most powerful and suggestive explorations of the nature of reality and dreams, ‘The Circular Ruins’ can variously be interpreted as a story... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-06-05 14:00:43 UTC ]
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‘The Dead’ is the most critically acclaimed and widely studied story in James Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories written by James Joyce and published in 1914. As we’ve remarked before, Dubliners is now regarded as one of the landmark texts of modernist literature, but initially... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-05-29 14:00:07 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury and Granta have three titles each shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, and Political Fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 23:46:28 UTC ]
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Romance novelists make their picks for the season, and they run the gamut from sexy to sweet to a little bit murderous. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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