‘She was like an auntie to me’: Lynne Reid Banks remembered by Michael Morpurgo

The astonishing breadth of her writing was a great inspiration – as was she, in her passionate advocacy for children’s books• Lynne Reid Banks, author of The Indian in the Cupboard, dies aged 94It is quite rare to find a writer like Lynne Reid Banks, who tries so many different subjects, and so many different ways of writing. The author of The L-Shaped Room and The Indian in the Cupboard, who died on Thursday aged 94, was a writer I admired and liked a lot – and someone who helped me find a pathway for myself.I have a huge admiration for the breadth of her writing. Her first novel was for adults, The L-Shaped Room. It was a great hit, and was adapted into a film. Where do you go after that? And the answer was, she didn’t follow the commerce, she didn’t go to Hollywood or spend time just writing film scripts. She went on writing what she cared about. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-08 10:18:15 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "‘She was like an auntie to me’: Lynne Reid Banks remembered by Michael Morpurgo"


The Path Not Taken

Stephanie Danler’s memoir Stray invites us to look closely at our own life: our family dynamics, our loss, our trauma, and the moments of happiness that still exist within that fragile frame. With deep introspection and stunning prose, Danler tells us about the years she spent after writing her... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-19 11:00:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Adam wins Authors' Club Best First Novel Award

Claire Adam has scooped the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award for her “outstanding” novel Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-17 13:26:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition

Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Two Novels, Two Global Catastrophes, Two Decades Apart

My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago. Everything went wrong. First my editor quit after which my publishing house kinda-sorta forgot I existed. Orphaned was the word they used. Since nobody gave a damn, I at least got to choose my own book cover. The photograph I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 08:49:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Literature on Lockdown 3: #CultureConnectsUs

Many lives are radically different right now. But birthdays, anniversaries, and public holidays come and go as before. The pink supermoon would have appeared whether we’d watched it from our windows or outdoors among a crowd of strangers. This week, Earth Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and World... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-04-24 14:34:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ten Memoirs to Keep You Company in Isolation: A Reading List

Recently, I threw out the first 60 pages of the novel I am currently working on. I had been determined to challenge myself by writing in the third person—I had spent the last ten years working on my first novel in the first person and I thought I was ready for something new and difficult. […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-21 08:48:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and T Kira Madden on Craft, Candles, and Character

T Kira Mahealani Madden is the author of the memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. She is still an amateur magician. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of Harmless Like You—the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her short work has appeared in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 08:48:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this


First #Merky Books novel makes Desmond Elliott Prize longlist

The first novel to be published by Stormzy’s new imprint #Merky Books, That Reminds Me by poet and podcaster Derek Owusu, has been longlisted for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debuts. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-06 14:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Julia Alvarez discusses her radically different novel, 'Afterlife' (and defends 'American Dirt')

Julia Alvarez's "Afterlife" is her first novel for adults in 15 years. She talks about loss, fragmentation and "American Dirt." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-02 22:24:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Set in a Notorious Prison, a Novel Probes Iran’s Torturers and Their Victims

“Then the Fish Swallowed Him,” the first novel in English by the Iranian-born Amir Ahmadi Arian, makes for unnerving reading. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-24 09:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Clare Pooley | 'It is a book about the importance of community in a world where we are more connected than ever but more lonely than ever'

The sought-after first novel by former blogger Clare Pooley exposes the need for connection in the age of social media Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-20 07:25:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Stirring Family Saga Tells a Taboo History of Vietnam

“The Mountains Sing,” the first novel in English by the Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai, imagines her country’s traumatic 20th century through the stories of three generations of women. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-17 09:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Five years after Henning Mankell’s death, his gritty first novel makes a welcome appearance

Mankell’s 1972 book, “The Rock Blaster,” now available in English, explores the struggles of a working-class man. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-05 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Julia Alvarez and the Female Book of Job

The National Medal of Arts recipient reflects on the immigration crisis in Afterlife, her first novel for adults in almost 15 years. The post Julia Alvarez and the Female Book of Job appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-02-20 11:00:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Beyond Jokha al-Harthi: Women Writers from the Gulf

When Jokha al-Harthi and Marilyn Booth won the Man Booker International Prize last year, for Booth’s translation of Sayyidat al-Qamr (Celestial Bodies), many hurried to note that al-Harthi was the “first Omani woman writer” to have a book in English translation.While true, this may give the... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-02-19 10:26:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


10 new books to get you through the week.

Every week, the TBR pile grows a little bit more. It’s getting precarious. It’s taking up your whole nightstand. It’s threatening to crush you in your sleep. Well, what are you waiting for? Get cracking. What are you reading this week?   FICTION Brandon Taylor, Real Life (Riverhead) Brandon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-18 16:20:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Author Gish Jen explains why she created a family of 'Resisters'

'The Resisters,' Gish Jen's first novel in nine years, imagines a class-based dystopian United States. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-06 15:00:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Alasdair Gray, Scotch Author of Daring Prose, Dies at 85

He didn’t publish his first novel (which he illustrated himself) until he was 46. But his impact, as both a writer and an artist, has lasted. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-01-11 01:15:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kiley Reid’s Sharp First Novel About Race, Careers, and Parenthood

Such a Fun Age is Franzenesque in its interest in how we live now—but in a quieter register. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-01-07 12:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Collins and Coe triumph at Costa Book Awards 2019

Sara Collins has won the Costa First Novel Award for her gothic romance, The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Viking), in a stellar year for début authors after three out of the five award categories were won by first-time writers.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-06 21:35:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this