Parakeet Brings out the Delightfully Weird, Unexpectedly Wise Side of Marie-Helene Bertino, by Taylor Hickney

Cultural Cross Sections Taylor Hickney In this profile, one of Marie-Helene Bertino’s students at the New School provides a personal glimpse of the author, whose new novel, Parakeet, was published June 2. On the evening of the National Book Awards, Marie-Helene Bertino strolled into our workshop ready for the after party adorned in a gold, sequined ball gown and black hoodie. There was already an electric air in the program that night, because we, her students—mostly aspiring and emerging writers—were impressed to know the faculty invited or involved in what we perceived as a night for authors who’ve Made It. Her hair had been curled—it was typically pin-straight—and accented with a rose behind her ear. She laughed and blushed at the compliments and laid her small, gold watch on the table next to her notes as she does in every class she teaches. She commands the space in a room: even with five minutes left before the start, our chitchat dies down, our attention drawn to her because she gives it back to us. Even with five minutes left before the start, our chitchat dies down, our attention drawn to her because she gives it back to us. On June 2, her second novel, Parakeet, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hit the shelves. In the book, a soon-to-be-wed woman known only as “the bride” is confronted by her late grandmother, who takes the form of a bird. Her grandmother tells her to seek out her estranged brother, a reclusive... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-04 19:40:55 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Parakeet Brings out the Delightfully Weird, Unexpectedly Wise Side of Marie-Helene Bertino, by Taylor Hickney"


Virago bags Sharma Taylor's 'deeply moving' debut

Virago has acquired the debut novel by Sharma Taylor, What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You, at auction as part of a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 03:02:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Sceptre takes two from 'stunning' Craig

Sceptre has landed a "stunning" short story collection and debut novel by Serpent's Tail assistant editor Leon Craig. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-28 15:58:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Astra Publishing House is launching an international literary magazine.

Astra Publishing House has announced they are launching a new literary magazine, Astra Quarterly, which will start publishing online this fall and in print by the end of 2021. Astra Quarterly will have a strong international focus; it will have an international network of editors, and be... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-26 16:54:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lauren Oyler’s Narrator Is Unreliable, but So Are All of Us Online

Lauren Oyler’s debut novel brings the reader down a rabbit hole of endless, mindless scrolling, online identities, and conspiracy theories. Fake Accounts follows the journey of a young woman after she discovers that her boyfriend is running an Instagram account spouting dangerous conspiracies... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


His Debut Novel Won the Pulitzer. Now It Has an Action-Packed Sequel.

In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


An Argentinian Underworld Haunted by the Ghosts of the Disappeared

In Daniel Loedel’s haunting debut novel Hades, Argentina, Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires—“a city made for forgetting as much for nostalgia”—ten years after fleeing the military dictatorship whose regime disappeared upwards of 30,000 thousand political opponents, including Isabel Aroztegui,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


International markets showed mixed response to pandemic in 2020

While the pandemic sent shockwaves across the world’s publishing industry in 2020, some international markets reported strong performances with the US posting record-breaking sales while Australia also saw a major boost. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 01:03:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Nico Walker has seen the film adaptation of his book, and he’s not impressed.

The movie adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry—the best-selling debut novel about an Iraq veteran turned heroin addict turned bank robber—will be released in theaters in two days, directed by the Russo Brothers (who you might know from Avengers) and starring Tom Holland (who you might know from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-24 18:21:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Writing for likes

Wattpad has increasingly become a very popular platform among young writers. Allowing anyone to share their works and providing a route for aspiring authors to be discovered by the publishing industry, it has become a compelling route for those to looking to develop professionally as a writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-24 03:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp

Google's News Corp deal may pacify Australian lawmakers, but publishing industry members worry about repercussions for smaller publishers. The post ‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2021-02-18 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp

Google's News Corp deal may pacify Australian lawmakers, but publishing industry members worry about repercussions for smaller publishers. The post ‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2021-02-18 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A mother searches for the child she gave up as a teen in ‘The Kindest Lie’

Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A mother searches for the child she gave up as a teen in ‘The Kindest Lie’

Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Picador nets Baxter's New Animal

Picador has netted New Animal, a “sharp and witty” debut novel by poet and sculptor Ella Baxter. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:43:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Muslim Voices in Publishing

The idea for Muslim Voices in Publishing was born out of a feeling of loneliness – something that we have all experienced in multitudes over the many months of isolation and social distancing. The past year has been a stark reminder that, in anything we set out to do, there is often a need for a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:11:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Alan Johnson's debut novel pre-empted by Wildfire

Wildfire has pre-empted former Home Secretary and memoirist Alan Johnson’s debut novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-10 23:51:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Time to detox

One issue that causes the most stress for many employees, including those in the publishing industry, is the dread of simply arriving at work. Far too many people know they will face a negative atmosphere the moment they walk (or rather Zoom) into their workspace. The job we are employed to do... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 15:02:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Stories That Bind Us Together: On E. Lily Yu’s “On Fragile Waves”

DURING ONE KEY MOMENT, E. Lily Yu’s disquieting debut novel On Fragile Waves offers a kind of authorial self-critique regarding the representation of diasporic migrants. A character Yu calls “the writer” has traveled to Australia to interview asylum seekers in the Afghan migrant community there... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-06 16:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Monthly Digest: February 2021

Today, as we have done in years past, LARB honors Black History Month by highlighting a series of reviews, essays, interviews, and exchanges of letters we published in January. Below you will find a poignant essay on the Compton Christmas Parade; a penetrating interview with Kiley Reid, author... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-01 13:30:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Debut Novel Examines the Alluring Trap of Our Online Personas

“Fake Accounts,” Lauren Oyler’s debut novel, considers how social media has reconfigured our behavior, relationships and how we think of ourselves. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-01 10:00:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this