My hero: Maya Angelou by her publisher Lennie Goodings

The late author's UK editor remembers a funny, gracious, kind, demanding, delightful and wise human being and writer of one of the world's great autobiographiesMaya Angelou was one of the world's most important writers and activists. She lived and chronicled an extraordinary life: rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned author, poet, playwright, civil rights' activist working with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and memoirist. She wrote and performed a poem, "On the Pulse of Morning", for President Clinton on his inauguration; she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and was honoured by more than 70 universities throughout the world.I last saw her at the beginning of this month in her home in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and though she obviously wasn't entirely well, she was very much her larger-than-life self: funny, gracious, kind, demanding, delightful and wise. Our conversation ranged over Michelle and Barack Obama, for whom she held huge respect; her "daughter" Oprah; her son and grandchildren, and my family. She talked about James Baldwin and Malcolm X, and we ate pancakes and then, later, wonderful spare ribs. We laughed and we drank. At the time I thought how blessed I am, and now I know I was. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Amazon Charts: A Promised Land puts down roots at the top

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Penguin) has once again charted top of both the Amazon Most-Sold and Most-Read: Non-Fiction charts, as it claimed a third week as the UK Official Top 50 number one through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 21:17:24 UTC ]
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Obama's A Promised Land scores a third week at the top

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one for a third week running.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 06:33:52 UTC ]
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Booksellers See Subdued In-Store Holiday Sales, Online Eruption

Booksellers reported a significant drop in customer traffic and a commensurate drop in sales, but online orders were way up, forcing bookstores to adapt. Barack Obama's memoir and Jeff Kinney's latest were the most popular titles over the Thanksgiving weekend at stores surveyed by 'PW.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A Promised Land digs in, with PRH reporting 100,000 second week sales

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has secured a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-01 09:38:10 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: A Promised Land breaks ground

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Penguin) has risen into the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Non-Fiction top spot, after debuting a week ago, ahead of its publication.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 22:23:24 UTC ]
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Obama memoir hits charts top spot, PRH says 147,000 sold

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has soared straight into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot in its first week on sale.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 12:37:14 UTC ]
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Obama’s Memoir Is a Chance to Finally See Our Sanest President

Critical responses to Barack Obama’s memoir suggest less what’s in the book than what we’ve always wanted from him. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-11-20 20:45:30 UTC ]
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Obama Memoir Sells 887,000 Copies on Day One

Barack Obama's first presidential memoir, 'A Promised Land,' sold more than 887,000 units in all formats and editions in the U.S. and Canada on its first day on sale, its publisher said. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Barack Obama's memoir is a masterful lament over the fragility of hope

"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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PRH's Obama UK media campaign kicks off this weekend

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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Barack Obama and Duchess of Cornwall join Booker Prize ceremony

Barack Obama, the Duchess of Cornwall and Kazuo Ishiguro will be among the star speakers at this year's Booker Prize ceremony. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-12 16:38:03 UTC ]
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10 books to read in November

This month’s book sales will undoubtedly get a boost from Barack Obama’s memoir, among other promising titles. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-01 13:00:00 UTC ]
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16 New Books to Watch For in November

Barack Obama’s memoir is landing. So is a biography of Adrienne Rich and buzzy fiction from Jo Nesbo, Nicole Krauss and Susie Yang. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-10-29 09:00:34 UTC ]
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What Barack Obama's memoir reveals about his long battle for healthcare reform

In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir published by the New Yorker, former President Barack Obama recalls the long battle for healthcare reform. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-10-26 19:52:09 UTC ]
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Writing with a Humble Pen: A Conversation with Tayari Jones, by Avery Holmes

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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Booker Prize announcement delayed to avoid Obama clash

The announcement of this year's Booker Prize winner is being postponed for two days until 19th November to avoid clashing with the publication date of Barack Obama's memoirs. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-29 16:18:43 UTC ]
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Whistleblowers and the cacophonous sounds of America

A year ago today, the Washington Post reported details about a whistleblower complaint filed from someone in the US intelligence community, vague word of which had been swirling below the news cycle for days: Trump had made a “troubling” promise to a foreign leader. The Post’s story accelerated... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-09-18 12:26:23 UTC ]
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First Volume of Barack Obama’s Presidential Memoir to Come This November

Former President Barack Obama's memoir A PROMISED LAND will be published on November 17, 2020. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-09-17 16:53:16 UTC ]
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Barack Obama's new memoir will arrive right after the presidential election

President Obama announced Thursday that his forthcoming memoir, 'A Promised Land,' will take readers inside his White House. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-09-17 15:24:24 UTC ]
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The first volume of Barack Obama’s memoir is getting a 3 million copy printing this November.

We’ve known for a while that Barack Obama would be coming out with a new memoir. Today his publisher confirmed that the book, A Promised Land, will be released soon after the November elections. The former president isn’t a stranger to the pen. His first memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-17 14:22:21 UTC ]
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