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 ]
Literary agent alerts (this one with Gail Fortune of The Talbot Fortune Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list. The post Agent Alert: Gail Fortune of The Talbot Fortune Agency by Robert Lee Brewer... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-23 15:00:43 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday has been named as this year’s winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award—a lifetime achievement award celebrating literature’s power to foster peace, social justice and global understanding. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-22 16:21:37 UTC ]
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Literary agent alerts (this one with Bibi Lewis of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list. The post Agent Alert: Bibi Lewis of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency by Robert... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-16 10:48:03 UTC ]
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Imagine that you are a character from a classic tale pitching your memoir to a literary agent. You know that it will become the next bestseller. Write your query letter, story synopsis, or elevator pitch to the agent. The post It’s My Story and I’ll Pitch if I Want To by Cassandra Lipp appeared... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-16 09:00:28 UTC ]
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Literary agent alerts (this one with Rita Rosenkranz of the Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list. The post Agent Alert: Rita Rosenkranz of the Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-09 08:00:53 UTC ]
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Literary agent alerts (this one with Peter Rubie of FinePrint Literary Management) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list. The post Agent Alert: Peter Rubie of FinePrint Literary Management by Robert Lee Brewer... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-02 08:00:29 UTC ]
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Literary agent Irene Skolnick died June 27, 2019, after a long illness. She was 80 years old. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Aitken Alexander has announced the death of literary agent Brian Stone, who had been suffering from dementia for many years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-20 10:25:32 UTC ]
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Hannah Weatherill, currently a scout at Mira Trenchard Literary Scouting, will join Northbank Talent Management next month as literary agent. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eugenie Furniss is leaving the agency she founded to join management and production company 42 as a literary agent. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hayley Steed has been promoted to literary agent less than three years after joining the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency as an assistant. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Julia Silk will join Kingsford Campbell this month from MBA where she has been a literary agent since 2016. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indonesia is the country of focus at the London Book Fair this year and recently at Frankfurt - to what extent do you think Indonesian literature is finally having it's moment in the spotlight? I cannot say for certain what these one-off ‘spotlights’ on Indonesian literature would mean for... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-02-08 10:06:53 UTC ]
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Bent Agency is expanding by hiring Zoë Plant, formerly a senior scout at Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting, as a literary agent. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Julia Cheiffetz joined Atria Books last year to head a then-unnamed imprint. Since that time she has acquired a slate of new titles for the line, called Signal Press, that will address the current public debate around feminism, politics and social justice. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Australian author Kate Morton has won a $500,000 lawsuit against her former literary agent Selwa Anthony. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Selwa Anthony had sued the bestselling writer, claiming she was entitled to 15% commission on all royalties Internationally bestselling Australian author Kate Morton has fended off a lawsuit by her former literary agent, who instead has to pay the writer more than $500,000.Selwa Anthony sued... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rachel Mann is joining Jo Unwin and Ella Berthoud as a literary agent at JULA, where she will build a list focusing primarily on children’s fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Peters Fraser and Dunlop (PFD) has promoted two assistants, Tessa David and Vicky Cornforth, to the role of literary agent and associate agent in the broadcast department respectively. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Emma Paterson, literary agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White and a Bookseller Rising Star in 2018, is joining Aitken Alexander as an agent in October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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