Novelist Kate Atkinson: ‘I do feel a need to prove myself’

As her latest Jackson Brodie thriller comes out, the award-winning author discusses cosy crime, sniffy critics, and how she investigated her own family’s secretsKate Atkinson has an idea for a fun side-hustle: at some point in the future, when she’s done with the second world war, and with her jaded private eye, Jackson Brodie, she’ll bring to life the creative projects that have hitherto existed only as facets of her characters’ lives. She’ll take the fortune teller Madame Astarti from her third novel, Emotionally Weird, and put her at the centre of her own series of mysteries; she’ll conjure up a script for Green Acres, the rural soap opera that features in her two short-story collections, 2002’s Not the End of the World and last year’s Normal Rules Don’t Apply; she’ll craft episodes of the TV police procedural Collier, in which Brodie’s one-time girlfriend Julia played a pathologist. And finally, she’ll flesh out the breathtakingly hammy murder mystery that a cast of clapped-out actors perform at Burton Makepeace, the stately home that is the setting for her new Jackson Brodie novel, Death at the Sign of the Rook.Writing these scenes – teeming with aristocrats, actors, Russian countesses, clergymen and a “fastidious little Swiss detective” – were Atkinson’s treat, she tells me, as she constructed the novel during lockdown. “I would have done so much more of that,” she explains, as we sit sipping coffee in a studiedly antiquated hotel near her home in Edinburgh. “But I... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-08-10 08:00:37 UTC ]

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A writer is holding Patrick deWitt’s website hostage—until he reads their manuscript.

The following post has been updated with a response from the website squatter. There are traditional ways to get a book published—pitches, queries, agents, enduring months and years of soul-crushing work and silence—and then there’s blackmail. A writer is currently squatting on Patrick deWitt’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-30 16:55:01 UTC ]
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Myers and SoA condemn pressure on authors to 'perform'

Award-winning author Benjamin Myers and the Society of Authors (SoA) have criticised the pressure on writers to become “personalities” rather than be judged on their work as literary events increase. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-09 07:55:03 UTC ]
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Viper snaps up Kate Simants' thriller

Serpent’s Tail's new crime imprint Viper will publish the second novel from former investigative undercover journalist and award-winning author Kate Simants. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-05 16:54:04 UTC ]
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Hutchinson snaps up Carys Bray's climate change novel

Hutchinson has signed the new novel from award-winning author Carys Bray about the impact of climate change on mental health. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-28 15:45:29 UTC ]
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Walker to publish Michael Rosen's family tale of the Second World War

Walker Books will publish Michael Rosen’s The Missing; The True Story of my Family in World War Two in January 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-26 17:56:29 UTC ]
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Lessons in worldbuilding from N. K. Jemisin (plus a preview of her next book).

At the WIRED25 Festival in San Francisco last weekend, author N.K. Jemisin gave attendees a real treat: a two-hour crash course in imagining and building future worlds. Jemisin is the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, etc. Award-winning author of the Broken Earth series and the Inheritance Trilogy. (Literary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-13 16:55:20 UTC ]
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Obituary: Ernest J. Gaines, Novelist of the Black South, Dies at 86

Ernest J. Gaines, award-winning author of the acclaimed novel 'The Autobiography of Jane Pittman,' and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient, died of a heart attack at his home in Oscar, La. He was 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins snaps up Gaynor's Second World War novel

HarperCollins has snapped up The Kingfisher Patrol, a new novel from Hazel Gaynor set in Japanese-occupied China during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-06 00:37:34 UTC ]
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HarperCollins signs World War Two novel

HarperCollins has snapped up a World War Two novel "full of friendship and hope" by Christopher de Vinck, that was inspired by the essayist's family.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-24 00:58:20 UTC ]
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3 Books to Read by Indigenous Writers

Tommy Orange, the award-winning author of “There, There,” recommends his favorite books by Native writers. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-10-14 22:12:55 UTC ]
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We’re in a Rough Place in History Right Now: The Millions Interviews Carmen Maria Machado

The award-winning author of ‘Her Body and Other Parties’ on writing fiction for today, the tyranny of genre, and reading outside of our comfort zones. The post We’re in a Rough Place in History Right Now: The Millions Interviews Carmen Maria Machado appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2019-10-08 16:00:06 UTC ]
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George Richardson obituary

My friend George Richardson, who has died aged 94, spent most of his working life at Oxford University, including as chief executive of Oxford University Press (OUP) from the mid-1970s to the late 80s.He was born in Cricklewood, north London, to Christina, a homemaker, and George, a businessman.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-09-26 16:53:02 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker picks up 'astonishing' McMenamin novel

Harvill Secker has picked up an "astonishing" novel from Ciarán McMenamin set in Ireland after the First World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-25 12:14:24 UTC ]
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Jacqueline Woodson Transformed Children’s Literature. Now She’s Writing for Herself.

The award-winning author on her mission to diversify publishing — and why she turned back to adult readers with her new novel, “Red at the Bone.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-09-19 09:00:02 UTC ]
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Three plucky sisters refuse to accept their place in the world in Amy Stewart’s new novel

As the world verges on World War I, the battle of the sexes rages in “Kopp Sisters on the March.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-09-16 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Five questions for... Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave talks to us about her reimagining of Dracula, The Deathless Girls.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 13:55:19 UTC ]
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W&N nets novel from 'astonishing' Woodson

W&N has netted a new novel by "astonishing" award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, which is already garnering huge praise in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 19:21:10 UTC ]
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Egmont signs three-book deal with Jim Smith

Egmont has signed a deal with award-winning author Jim Smith for his new series A Super Weird! Mystery.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-20 08:27:48 UTC ]
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Usborne scoops new Hannah Shaw series at auction

Usborne has acquired a new series by award-winning author and illustrator Hannah Shaw in a three-book deal at auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-19 19:10:24 UTC ]
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From our archives: A 1981 interview with Toni Morrison

The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-07 16:16:00 UTC ]
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