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 ]
News tagged with:
#young adult
#ruby bridges
#social justice
#easy ways
#literary agent
Safiya Sinclair writes in her memoir How to Say Babylon, “The perfect daughter was nothing but a vessel for the man’s seed, unblemished clay waiting for Jah’s fingerprint.” The memoir, Sinclair’s first, is about her journey to shaping a future that isn’t limited by the idea of the perfect... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#safiya sinclair
#electric literature
#memoir
“Collision of Power,” Martin Baron’s memoir of his tenure as the paper’s executive editor, is a gripping chronicle of politics and journalism in a period of instability for both. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-09-30 09:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#memoir
The Paris bookstore Chantelivre, owned by publisher L’École des Loisirs, has opened a 'House of Stories' where kids engage with narratives. The post Children’s Books Edition: L’École des Loisirs’ New ‘House of Stories’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-09-29 12:25:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#post children
#books edition
#bookstore
“I acted Macbeth for exactly 365 days,” says the actor, whose new memoir is “Making It So.” “The role got into me so deeply it dominated my life at the time and caused me to drink too much alcohol after the performance was over. No other role I have played has affected me so profoundly.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-09-28 09:00:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#patrick stewart
#memoir
It occurred at, of all places, a local tapas bar. I was sitting with a group of other Brooklyn moms when someone mentioned that my debut novel was going to be published soon. Everyone congratulated me and asked what the book was about, so I gave them a brief rundown: a group of teenage girls […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-28 08:55:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sexual assault
#debut novel
The UEA creative writing lecturer won for Comorbidities, which judging chair Reeta Chakrabarti called a ‘sparkling gem’ that tackles serious issues with a ‘light and wry touch’• Read the story belowNaomi Wood has won the 2023 BBC national short story award for Comorbidities, a story about a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-09-26 19:00:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#judging chair
#bestselling author
“I would like not to be a hermit,” the former White House aide says upon the publication of a memoir about her journey down a political rabbit hole. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-09-23 12:54:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir
The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association concluded its Fall Tradeshow in Portland, Ore., with an author breakfast and bookseller education programming. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fall tradeshow
#author breakfast
#bookseller
#booksellers association
A 12-page excerpt of the new graphic adaptation of historian C.L.R. James’s 1934 play about the Haitian Revolution by Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#toussaint louverture
#12-page excerpt
#graphic adaptation
The actor is now a children’s book author with his longtime friend Greta Caruso. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2023-09-07 18:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#dan santat
#book author
#children’s book
A great spaceship can make a science fiction story soar. See if you can guess which stories these famous spaceships belong to. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-09-05 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#science fiction
The much-acclaimed Irish author of Small Things Like These on her quietly devastating new story and why George Saunders wouldn’t read it aloud for a podcastClaire Keegan’s five books to date run to just 700 pages and some 140,000 words. “I love to see prose being written economically,” she tells... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-09-02 17:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#decade ago
#creative writing
#things happen
#devastating effect
#stay quiet
#irish author
Aurora Mattia’s debut novel The Fifth Wound is a fantastical journey through the formulation of one trans woman’s truth. Mattia’s own recapitulation as protagonist Aurora aka @silicone_angel bridges the gap between ancient Greece, Covid-era Brooklyn, and the rolling fields of Iowa searching to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#trans woman
#ancient greece
#electric literature
#debut novel
Ex-MP claims her account will lay bare ‘a corruption of democracy deep at the heart of the Conservative party and in Downing Street’Nadine Dorries’ book on the downfall of Boris Johnson will be delayed until November because of “the required legal process”, the publisher has said.The former... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-31 21:12:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#nadine dorries
#boris johnson
#legal issues
#lay bare
#conservative party
#downing street
#culture secretary
#harpercollins
At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsHefty performance for a 14-inch deviceCrisp oled displayTop-notch keyboard and mouse padSturdy, durable chassisConsCan get hot to play onSome fiddling with settingsOur VerdictIf you’re looking for serious power in a tiny package, the Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-08-31 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#libraries
“I have music and rhythm to help me get my point across,” says the singer and songwriter, whose new memoir is “Talking to My Angels.” “But real poets do it all just with the language and the lines. That’s a gift.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-08-31 09:02:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir
A lecturer in English literature gets her students to examine children’s books through the lens of race, class and sexuality. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2023-08-29 12:24:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#favorite children
#english literature
Illustration by Krishna Bala Shenoi. Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, authors, and politicians. It’s a podcast where people sound like people. New episodes air every Sunday, distributed by Pushkin Industries. * This week, we flash back to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-29 08:32:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#people sound
#anne lamott
#talk easy
#sam fragoso
#weekly series
#intimate conversations
#episodes air
#pushkin industries
#best-selling author
The Principal Foundation and the Center for Fiction are teaming up with French independent publisher Short Édition on a short story contest meant to entice readers to consider the almighty dollar through “the universal art form of storytelling.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#entice readers
#independent publisher
#short stories
At halftime of this year’s Super Bowl, the marquee game of the NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs trailed the Philadelphia Eagles 24-14 in Glendale, Arizona. What transpired next was the latest remarkable comeback in the career of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of the most compelling... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 09:55:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#nfl season
#patrick mahomes
#super bowl