The Irish novelist and playwright on the positives of ageing, his struggles with depression and a golden age of Irish writingSebastian Barry, 68, is the author of 11 novels and 15 plays. Five of his books have been long- or shortlisted for the Booker prize, and his novels have won numerous awards, including the Costa book of the year (twice) and the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction. He was laureate for Irish fiction from 2018 to 2021. His latest novel, Old God’s Time, is about a retired policeman, Tom Kettle, and his struggles with the legacy of institutional child abuse in Ireland. It has been described as “a tour de force of transcendent power and complexity”. Barry was born in Dublin and lives in a converted rectory in the mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland.Was it good to be back in Ireland with Old God’s Time? Did it feel like coming home?I was in dread of coming home. I had spent two books [Days Without End and A Thousand Moons] in America, quite joyously… a kind of vast holiday. So, yes, it was coming home, but I was a bit… It’s not that I’ve been avoiding the whole strange cosmos of what we have done to children in this country, but I was certainly unable to write this book… until I did. When you get past 60, you do feel a sort of licence finally to write fearlessly about something that essentially is full of fear.Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry is published in paperback by Faber (£9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-02-10 18:00:48 UTC ]
Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton has compared the state of publishing to the bus teetering half-way off a cliff edge at the end of the film "The Italian Job", on the opening day of the 30th International Publishers Congress in Bangkok (today, 24th March). But HarperCollins c.e.o. Brian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, Sarah Waters and Jessie Burton have made the 15-strong longlist for the 2015 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The longlist has been released for the first time following a 40% increase in entries this year. Amis is longlisted for his dark love story set in a Nazi... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Robert Harris will chair the judging panel for the 2014 Costa Book of the Year. He will be joined by writers Maggie O’Farrell, Bernadine Evaristo, Jonathan Stroud, Owen Sheers and Wendy Moore, actress Dame Diana Rigg, the BBC’s economics editor Robert Peston, and actress Samantha... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Man Booker-shortlisted Ali Smith, Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Eimear McBride, and Costa Book of the Year winner Nathan Filer are among the authors vying at the Specsavers National Book Awards this year. Presented in association with high street campaign Books Are My Bag, the awards... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins is donating more than 500 copies of Nathan Filer's Costa Book of the Year-winning novel The Shock of the Fall to NHS library services across the south west. The publisher is donating copies to the NHS library network through the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has signed a book exploring the golden age of crime writing by author Martin... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David and Lesley Jacobs Solmonson, co-authors of 'The 12 Bottle Bar,' explain why home bartenders don't need to stock $60 bottles of obscure, unpronounceable liqueurs to make drinks worthy of the golden age of cocktails. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Europa Editions UK has acquired its first title by a British writer, a historical fiction novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Around the turn of the 20th century—a golden age for libraries in America—the Snead Bookshelf Company of Louisville, Ky., developed a new system for large-stack library shelving. Snead’s multifloor stack systems can still be seen in many important libraries built in that era, for instance at... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2014-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mabel Normand, who came to fame at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, was one of the top comedy stars of the silent era. Besides appearing in several shorts with Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, Normand also wrote, produced and directed these slapstick comedies. She's the subject of "Mabel and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The doom and gloom of the past few years appears to be over, with more publishing houses throwing open their doors to new writersBrigid Delaney Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Debut novelist Nathan Filer wins the Costa Book of the Year with The Shock of the Fall, his debut novel about loss, guilt and mental illness. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nathan Filer, winner of the Costa Book of the Year with his debut novel The Shock of the Fall, says he was "shocked and delighted" as the announcement was made. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Five top UK authors, including Kate Atkinson and Lucy Hughes-Hallet, are in competition for the Costa Book of the Year. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Eat, Pray, Love' author Elizabeth Gilbert plunges into historical fiction with a creative passion in the novel 'The Signature of All Things.'With a charming, flawed heroine straight out of Jane Austen, a Dickensian rags-to-riches story and thwarted romances that hark back to the Brontës,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A pair of best-selling works by staff writers for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear" and George Packer's "The Unwinding," were among 10 books chosen for the nonfiction long-list of the National Book Awards.Besides Mr. Wright's investigation of Scientology and Packer's bleak account... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The finalists for the 2013 German Book Prize range from historical fiction to explorations of contemporary love and a brutal future for planet Earth. Find out the winner on October 7 in Frankfurt. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seth Godin traces the ups and downs of the independent bookstore since WWII, while proclaiming that today is "a golden age for books," crediting Amazon. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel wins the prestigious literary prize the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Bring Up the Bodies. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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