Patience, Perspective, and the Power of Story: An Interview with Toni Ann Johnson, by Scott LaMascus Interviews [email protected] Mon, 10/16/2023 - 13:46 Storyteller Toni Ann Johnson uses her skills as an actor, playwright, and fiction writer to tell powerful stories of race, reconciliation, and the effects of lingering racism. She is award-winning on stage and screen, most recently with her story collection Light Skin Gone to Waste (University of Georgia Press, 2022), selected for the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. When I spoke to Johnson in Los Angeles and later by email, we explored the role stories can play in our understanding of truths, including matters many would rather forget. Scott LaMascus: If you were joining the late Flannery O’Connor on her porch in Milledgeville, Georgia, what do you hope she would praise about your stories that were honored with the award named for her? Toni Ann Johnson: I wouldn’t expect Ms. O’Connor to praise my stories. Her racism would likely have prevented her from appreciating their subject matter. In her letters, she wrote: About the Negroes, the kind I don’t like is the philosophizing prophesying pontificating kind, the James Baldwin kind. Very ignorant but never silent. Baldwin can tell us what it feels like to be a Negro in Harlem but he tries to tell us everything else too. O’Connor was put off by James Baldwin’s writing because it dared to stray beyond the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-16 18:46:19 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 09:21 American crime writer Karin Slaughter has written a digital-only short story exclusive to Amazon, with all the proceeds going to benefit libraries. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 10:20 Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired a collection of stories by Nathan Englander, one of the New Yorker's "20 Writers for the 21st Century", whose previous works have been published by Faber. Editorial director Arzu... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:22 Aurum is publishing a memoir by the late actress Elisabeth Sladen, best known for her tole as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who. Aurum editor Sam Harrison had approached Sladen directly, buying world rights to the book directly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oh boy, do I have a contest for you long-winded Facebookers and personal bloggers. It's called, "Your Life: The Reader's Digest Version." The venerable magazine is willing to shell out $25,000 if you can keep The Story of You to a crisp and compelling 150 words (words, not charactersthis isn't... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If the Bible is the dairy section of religion publishing, then Bible stories for children are milk cartons sized for kid consumption. Childrens religion publishing sells a lot of those cartons, but it also offers a wide variety of books on topics beyond the Bible, such as good manners,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 09:20 The Society of Authors, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and actors' union Equity have jointly sent letters to both BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten and director general Mark Thompson, asking them to stop the BBC Radio 4... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 28/07/2011 - 08:37 BBC Radio 4 seems to have performed a partial u-turn on its decision to cut the number of short stories it airs from three to one per week, with a compromise of two weekly broadcasts. Listeners, authors and celebrities such as... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:20 The Society of Authors' petition against the cuts to BBC Radio 4's short story programming has now amassed over 5,000 signatures. SoA general secretary Nicola Solomon and assistant general secretary Jo McCrum will present... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 15:43 The Society of Authors has said it would be a "great shame" if the BBC goes ahead with its planned cuts to short story coverage on BBC Radio 4 and pleaded with the broadcaster to reconsider. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 10:29 A new collection of stories from the late Nobel Prize-winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; a début by a former Macmillan, Penguin and Hachette marketer; and Richard Fords new novel were among the rights deals signed this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The launch of a $140 dedicated eBooks reader puts Google's store more directly in opposition to the Nook and Amazon's Kindle. The iRiver Story goes on sale July 17 at Target. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 20:00 Academic Frank Dikötter has won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011 for his meticulous account of a brutal manmade calamity, Maos Great Famine (Bloomsbury). The announcement was made by chair of the judges, Ben Macintyre, at an awards... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 24/06/2011 - 11:46 Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has demonstrated an affinity with political outsiders, fantasy worlds and religious prophets as he revealed his choice of favourite books for a new magazine. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 09:03 Andrea Levy's Man Booker-shortlisted The Long Song (Headline Review) has been lauded by judges of the Walter Scott Prize for its "imaginative depth", as the author won the £25,000 award. The prize was bestowed on the author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 17/06/2011 - 07:59 The Seven Stories centre for children's books in Newcastle is to benefit from a £750,000 endowment donated by the Enid Blyton Trust for Children, following a decision to close the Enid Blyton Trust and donate its funds to one... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 08:50 Titles on Chairman Mao, the Cavaliers of the English Civil War and Italian artist Caravaggio have been shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011. The six-strong list a reflection of a remarkable publishing year features Mao's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 09:50 Arrow's release today of Tony Blair's political memoir A Journey with a new introduction has sparked widespread media coverage. Extracts from the new introduction are posted on the book's website, tonyblairjourney.co.uk,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 08:25 Sam Harrison at Aurum has bought a biography of Cold War spy George Blake by journalist Roger Hermiston. Harrison acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for a "significant" five figure sum from Andrew Gordon at David Higham... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 10:46 Publishers selling direct to readers, printers folding and more agents becoming publishers are some of the implications of digital, claims former Borders chairman Luke Johnson. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 08:35 Vintage assistant editor Kay Peddle has been awarded the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize 2011 for her Brain Shots audiobooks project for Bodley Head. She received the prize, which recognises the professional achievements of women in publishing yesterday evening... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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