Drawing on her panoramic reading and her experiences of the authorly life cycle, Atwood surveys her trade with a mix of seriousness and gentle fun“You may find the subject a little peculiar,” warns Margaret Atwood, before she discusses the writer’s relationship with mortality. “It is a little peculiar. Writing itself is a little peculiar.” Atwood’s survey of her profession makes this seem like an understatement: after all, she argues, writers have been placed in close company with the devil and the dead; they have secret identities and hidden doubles; they are death-defying magicians, self-erasing nobodies, even – if you want to get “murky and pretentious” – shamanistic travellers. This book prefers to stay on the side of clarity and self-deprecation, combining evidence drawn from her panoramic reading – one chapter deals with The Tempest, The Wizard of Oz and Klaus Mann’s Mephisto – with her own experiences of the life cycle of an author. She tempers the seriousness of her questions – What is a writer? For whom do writers write? – by poking gentle fun at her trade, describing the machine-like publishing industry as “cog eat cog”, and quietly mocking endless discussion panels. Yet Atwood sees her kind reflected everywhere – from Gilgamesh to The Beast With Five Fingers – and works hard on their behalf: advocate, analyst and always, writer.•To order On Writers and Writing for £7.99 (RRP £9.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chen Guangcheng, whose nighttime escape and conflict with the Chinese government led to a diplomatic crisis for the United States last spring, is writing a memoir to be published next year. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The foundation behind a proposed museum honoring American authors has published a plan for the building. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The television star mines childhood fascination in writing 'The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.' When Chris Colfer was just 20, he'd already been named one of GQ magazine's men of the year, having sung and acted his way into the hearts of America as Kurt, the high-pitched, openly gay brunet... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is poised to announce an independent cross-trade... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nobel Prize-winning author's brother says the effects of dementia mean Márquez may be unable to write. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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First there was US-based Amazon's Kindle eReader, then Canada-based Kobo turned the eBook race into a two-horse affair with its range of eReaders. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The front page of the New York Times Book Review has always been—and continues to be—a much coveted spot for authors and publishers alike. But just how much does a Book Review cover affect a book’s sales in today’s publishing climate—does the revered paper publication still move units in the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Doncaster resident has been granted permission to bring an application for judicial review... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford talks about his new novel "Canada," his memories of the late Raymond Carver, and how art makes life. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dana Johnson's first novel explores the space between reinvention and ruin through the eyes of the child of African Americans who migrated from the South to L.A.Elsewhere, California Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin recently provided a one-two punch of blog posts detailing a pair of significant digital pivots for the brand. Both have caused a stir among the media crowd for their frank assessment of TR's progress in the digital space. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jason Pontin has a daunting task at hand. The editor in chief and publisher of MIT’s Technology Review is the man charged with recalibrating the 112-year-old thought-leading publication, a duty he described to Adweek as an "on some level unwelcome, but intellectually interesting task, which is... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British journalist Richard Lloyd Parry skillfully goes beyond the headlines in the 2000 disappearance of fellow Brit Lucie Blackman in Tokyo. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.People Who Eat Darkness Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man' is the first novel from Nick Dybek, son Stuart Dybek, and centers on a threat to a fishing community's way of life.The title of Nick Dybek's debut novel, "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man," hints at transitions to come, and the phrase "was still"... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat' is a not-very-filling biography of the late Craig Claiborne, a food editor, restaurant critic and cookbook author who helped shape the modern American food world.The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel returns to the vicious world of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell's maneuverings.Bring Up the Bodies Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A lawyer and a caretaker with similar backgrounds follow different paths in contemporary Jerusalem with the same motivation: to leave their small-town Arab lives behind and be accepted for the new personas they have created.Early in the novel, "Second Person Singular," a main character known... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'Engines of Change,' Paul Ingrassia looks at history through 15 iconic cars, including the Ford Model T, Chevrolet Corvette, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Prius.It would be impossible to count the number of automotive makes and models that have come and gone since the car was first invented — or... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author wants American Jews to force changes in Israeli policy to protect the democratic legacy of Labor Zionism. He also explains why that's unlikely to happen.Nearly all the considerable attention generated by Peter Beinart's "The Crisis of Zionism" has focused on its final 81/2 pages.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez examine the nature of their relationship and the ways it's shaped their lives in their loving, candid new memoir.Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son Emilio was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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