Spellbound: why ‘witch lit’ is the hottest new genre on our bookshelves

Vampires and ghosts have long haunted popular fiction, but now a string of new releases is focusing on marginalised women with hidden powersSomeone, or something, shadowy has put a strong spell on popular literature aimed at women, once cheekily labelled “chick lit”. This perky genre, packaged in bright covers, jauntily titled and so long a mainstay of the publishing industry, has been slowly transforming into something darker and rich with sorcery, with 2023 set to be a new high point in a growing “witch lit” trend.“Witches are definitely a big thing, which is exciting and fun,” said Phoebe Morgan, a publisher at Hodder Fiction, “but it also has something to do with a sense that women’s rights are in danger of being stripped away again, with things like the overturning of Roe v Wade in America. These books are often concerned with pregnancy, abortion and abuse, as well as magic.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-08 12:00:47 UTC ]
News tagged with: #publishing industry #high point #big thing #hodder

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Scholastic scoops graphic novel of Dahl's The Witches

Scholastic has scooped a graphic novel edition of Roald Dahl classic The Witches with illustrations by Pénélope Bagieu. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-08 13:07:28 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: March 2 – 6, 2020

How J. Edgar Hoover used the power of libraries for (gasp!) evil. | Lit Hub History “Mechanical travel blunts our sense of the world.” On the reverie and detachment of the American road trip. | Lit Hub Travel On the magic sentences of Lauren Groff, creating action without verbs. | Lit... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-07 12:30:11 UTC ]
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‘The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom’ beautifully demonstrates the evolution of a genre

The book is a sumptuous scrapbook of photographs, magazine covers, artwork and hundreds of articles. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-04 17:19:27 UTC ]
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Writers Li, Lok, de Waal Win Big at PEN Lit Awards

On March 2 at the PEN Literary Awards ceremony, more than $330,000 in prize money and fellowships were awarded to a host of winning writers of all kinds. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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April Lit Fest at the University of Oklahoma

News and Events WLT Bestselling Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid will visit the University of Oklahoma April 6 through 8 for the 2020 Puterbaugh Lit Fest hosted by World Literature Today magazine. Events start on April 6 with a conversation about... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-03-02 22:05:09 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 27, 2020

“I try to hide how unreal those two deaths are to me. No, not unreal. It’s just I can’t make them matter.” Elizabeth Tallent on death, silence and the intimacies of sadness. | Lit Hub Memoir Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer lays out a plan for the future of democracy. | Lit Hub Politics “It’s […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-27 11:30:28 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 26, 2020

“I have worlds of things to tell you, and my pen is not swift enough to answer my purpose at all.” A glimpse inside the best summer of Emily Dickinson’s life. | Lit Hub Emily Temple watched 2oth-century bookstore classic You’ve Got Mail for the first time ever, and has VERY strong feelings about... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-26 11:30:27 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 25, 2020

“How many women had read The Price of Salt and recognized themselves in Therese and Carol, believing themselves the only ones?” Antonia Angress discovers a secret literary love in the margins of the Patricia Highsmith classic. | Lit Hub Making sense of a bullshit society: A reading list by... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 11:30:26 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 18, 2020

The romanticized Belle Epoque in Paris was an age of political crisis: Julian Barnes on a (different) age of fake news and “gangster imperialism.” | Lit Hub History “Your friends say The novelist, Brandon Taylor, and you want to die of shame.” When the short story writer (reluctantly) goes long.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-18 11:30:46 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 10, 2020

Vivian Gornick and the revolution that won’t end: John Freeman profiles the author of Unfinished Business. | Lit Hub “What are we to do with the art of profoundly compromised men?” Zan Romanoff on Adrienne Miller’s memoir of life with literary men, including David Foster Wallace.  | Lit Hub “It... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-10 09:49:30 UTC ]
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'Nobody in Tesco buys spy books by women': how female authors took on the genre

Publishing’s long established boys’ club in espionage fiction is having its cover blown by a new school led by Stella Rimington, Manda Scott and Charlotte PhilbyWhen Stella Rimington, the former director general of MI5 and spy author, wrote a new foreword last year to The Spy’s Bedside Book,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-01-07 09:00:54 UTC ]
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Online book festival to launch new genre events for 2020

Online book festival My Virtual Literary Festival (MyVLF) will launch a series of new festivals based on different genres later this year.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-03 11:05:41 UTC ]
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Big Lit Meets the Mexican Americans: A Study in White Supremacy

1. Introduction: Everybody Loves Diversity WHAT SELF-RESPECTING white progressive isn’t all in on diversity? Why, no one! Everyone’s for diversity. This includes all the main pillars of the American literary establishment, what I’ll call Big Lit — the Big Five publishers, The New York Times Book... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-01-02 18:00:51 UTC ]
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The 20 Best Books of a Decade That Unmade Genre Fiction

Two related events shaped the last 10 years in science fiction and fantasy—the most transformative we've seen in the history of the genres. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2019-12-29 14:00:00 UTC ]
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ICYMI: Waterstones has the hottest gift-wrapping tip of the season.

‘Tis the season of realizing the limits of your spacial awareness! “Measure twice, cut once”? In this economy? Luckily, UK bookseller Waterstones has opened our eyes to a new way of rectifying our (easily preventable) gift-wrapping fuck-ups. Behold: This is a public service announcement 🎄 📚... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-16 16:31:30 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: December 13, 2019

What would the Anthropocene look like on other planets? Christopher Schaberg on searching for ourselves beyond Earth. | Lit Hub We have a new favorite cookbook and it’s the 1970s classic Cooking for Orgies and Other Large Parties. | Lit Hub The rise of the downfall of the dirtbag heiress:... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-13 11:30:50 UTC ]
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Electric Lit’s 15 Best Short Story Collections of 2019

Is your attention span ravaged by living in our hellscape of a modern era? Good news: 2019 brought us plenty of brilliant short fiction. We polled current and former Electric Lit staff and contributors about their favorite collections of the year, and their picks include debuts, National Book... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: December 2, 2019

What was the first book you fell in love with? The Center for Fiction’s 2019 First Novel Prize authors weigh in. | Lit Hub “Disagree with my argument, beliefs, and my politics, but hands off my syntax!” Lore Segal’s love letter to editors. | Lit Hub “Among Larry’s many strengths as a writer,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-02 11:30:22 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: November 25 – 27, 2019

Of Bohumil Hrabal’s six great loves, guess how many were cats? (Hint: almost all of them.) | Lit Hub Memoir The car culture that’s helping destroy the planet was by no means inevitable: on the relentless campaign to force Americans to accept the automobile. | Lit Hub History Here are the 78 best... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-30 12:30:39 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: November 25, 2019

Here are the 78 best book covers of the year, according to the best designers in the industry. | Lit Hub “Why would you have children in this uncertain world?” How two new books grapple with the ethics of parenthood. | Lit Hub Five great small press audiobooks to gift anyone on your list... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-25 11:30:31 UTC ]
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