Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system

It wasn’t just luck that steered the Guardian columnist to Oxford and into a media career ... She reflects on the subtle mechanics of class (and an early encounter with a naked future PM)Children know. They breathe it in early, for there’s no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners, below-stairs people and the family upstairs. Children are the go-betweens, one foot in each world, and yet they know very well from the earliest age where they belong, where their destiny lies or, to put it crudely, who pays whom. Tiny hands are steeped young in the essence of class and caste. In nursery school, in reception they see the Harry Potter sorting hat at work. They know. And all through school those fine gradations grow clearer, more precise, more consciously knowing, more shaming, more frightening. Good liberal parents teach their children to check their privilege – useful modern phrase – but it swells up like a bubo on the nose. There’s no hiding it.I can summon up the childhood shame at class embarrassments. Aged seven like me, Maureen, with her hair pinned sideways in a pink slide, lived in a pebble-dashed council house by the water tower. They were at the other end of Lindsey, more hamlet than village, half a mile down the road from my father’s pink thatched cottage set in the flat prairie lands of Suffolk, where I spent half my time, the other half in London, shuttling between divorced parents. I envied Maureen for what looked to me like a cheerful large family... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 12:00:56 UTC ]
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America Starts Here: On “When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry”

2020 WORKED HARD to be one of the worst years in recent memory, but for readers of Native American literature, this era is proving to be among the most exciting in the history of Indigenous writing, especially for poetry. To wit: Joy Harjo has just begun her second term as poet laureate of the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-09 18:00:17 UTC ]
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Prince Charles pens foreword for Southgate's life lessons

Century has scored a foreword from HRH The Prince of Wales, president of youth charity The Prince’s Trust, for England football manager Gareth Southgate’s upcoming book Anything Is Possible. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-09 14:53:52 UTC ]
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FutureBook: Not-yet-famous five vie for Start-Up of the Year award

FutureBook celebrates start-ups that are making a unique impact on the book publishing industry. Over the past few years, the judges have rewarded both high-growth start-ups and smaller players transforming the business of books. Previous winners include Reedsy, Kadaxis, Unrd, The Pound Project... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-06 02:47:19 UTC ]
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A rock photographer who captured John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Gene Simmons looks back on a charmed life

Bob Gruen’s “Right Place, Right Time” is a low-key chronicle of a man going with the flow. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-04 14:40:16 UTC ]
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Who's afraid of the big (good) Second Life Book Club?

Hi. I’m Bernhard Drax - award-winning media maker and former radio journalist - and I am a bookseller’s dream. On average I devour 120 books per year, mostly literary and genre novels. I have time to do this because I don’t watch TV and my Facebook account has been deactivated years ago.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 19:32:32 UTC ]
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Penguin Life wins three-way auction for Lancaster's Bridge

Penguin Life has won a three-way auction for the debut non-fiction book from coach, therapist and founder of personal development programme The Bridge Retreat, Donna Lancaster.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 06:48:20 UTC ]
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Second print run for British bookshops travelogue

Fairlight Books is ordering a second print run of its c.e.o. Louise Boland's travelogue, Bookshop Tours of Britain.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 02:57:21 UTC ]
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If you’re thinking of a drastic lifestyle change, ‘Off Grid Life’ will feed your fantasy (or kill it)

Foster Huntington’s follow-up to “Van Life” is a both a celebration and a cautionary tale. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-30 13:00:00 UTC ]
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HC pre-empts Ogabi's 'definitive' guide for women starting a business

HarperCollins has pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights for Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business from career and entrepreneurship company founder Elizabeth Ogabi.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-28 19:17:12 UTC ]
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Carby's 'exceptional' history of British Empire scoops £25,000 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize

Hazel V Carby has won the British Academy’s £25,000 non-fiction book prize, the 8th Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, for her book Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands (Verso). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-27 17:56:20 UTC ]
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Bryan Washington’s ‘Memorial’ is a tender look at modern family life

Washington’s debut novel, following his acclaimed story collection ‘Lot,’ captures the complexities of love, race and what connects us Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Michael Joseph pre-empts Corbett's celebration of 'life-saving' songbirds

Penguin Michael Joseph has pre-empted a book from author, editor and journalist Charlie Corbett, exploring mental health through the lens of 12 songbirds. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-26 15:34:25 UTC ]
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Tom Maschler, Bold British Publisher and Booker Prize Founder, Dies at 87

He fostered the careers of more than a dozen Nobel laureates, including Gabriel García Márquez, Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-10-23 16:26:04 UTC ]
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The editor of Michelle Obama’s Becoming is starting a new publishing company.

It’s always good news when people want to invest in books, so we’re happy to hear that Molly Stern, the former SVP & Publisher of Penguin Random House’s Crown imprint, is starting a new publishing company in partnership with the independent studio SISTER. (Stern was Michelle Obama’s editor,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-22 12:01:51 UTC ]
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Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ Editor Starts Her Own Publishing Firm

Molly Stern, the former publisher of Crown, is starting Zando, an independent publishing company with an unusual marketing strategy. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-10-22 09:00:18 UTC ]
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On Beauty Standards (and Privilege) in Memoir and Fiction

To close out October’s theme of beauty privilege, Kendra and Sumaiyya discuss Say Hello by Carly Findlay and If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha. From the episode:  Sumaiyya: My discussion pick is If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, which is set in Seoul, South Korea. This looks at four young women... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-21 08:47:55 UTC ]
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Why Djuna Barnes Withdrew Into Total Seclusion the Last 40 Years of Her Life

Welcome to part two of the first episode of our new original podcast, Lit Century: 100 Years, 100 Books. Combining literary analysis with an in-depth look at historical context, hosts Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols choose one book for each year of the 20th century, and—along with special... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-20 08:51:44 UTC ]
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Monoray to publish Pat Nevin’s 'life-affirming' football memoir

Jake Lingwood, publisher of Monoray (part of the Octopus Publishing Group), has acquired Pat Nevin's memoir, The Accidental Footballer.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-20 03:29:46 UTC ]
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Heywood Hill launches free books for life competition

London bookshop Heywood Hill has launched a competition to provide one book-lover with a free book every month for life.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-19 13:58:51 UTC ]
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Lesbian Manga and Yuri Manga: What’s the Difference and Where Should You Start?

What's the difference between lesbian manga and yuri? Here are 14 F/F manga titles and series a new reader should start with. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-10-19 10:36:00 UTC ]
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