Book Reviews Sonia Nimr / Source: TAMER Institute for Community Education This whirlwind adventure begins with protagonist Qamar’s birth and follows her life along the titular wondrous journeys around the Mediterranean. Less novel than novella, Sonia Nimr’s Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands (Interlink Books, 2020), first published in Arabic in 2013, sees its heroine become a slave, a pirate, a bookseller, and more, but like Qamar, it never stays in one place for long. In fact, the book reads more like a compilation of short stories because, as readers, we never really get to settle into one story and its characters before we are whisked off to the next one. While Wondrous Journeys doesn’t deliver much in the way of character development, it will satisfy readers with an appetite for folktales and travel, particularly younger readers who are more interested in excitement than exposition. The descriptions of the various settings were rich, and I wish that we had spent longer in some places, such as Qamar’s time in the palace or her time with Rajna and Fatima, to better appreciate the many landscapes and secondary characters. The story lingers in some locales longer than others, and those were the times when I found myself most immersed in Qamar’s escapades. Wondrous Journeys will satisfy readers with an appetite for folktales and travel, particularly younger readers who are more interested in excitement than exposition. If... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-07 20:34:56 UTC ]
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“Alone Together,” edited by Jennifer Haupt, is a timely gift for the quarantined reader. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-20 12:09:09 UTC ]
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Ah, yes, the good old days: when novelists lent their faces and testimonials to advertisers hoping to sell tires, or a certain kind of beer, or fancy watches. It’s something you don’t see very much anymore, because we writers have become too principled to participate in advertising campaigns.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-19 17:14:06 UTC ]
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Alice Wong’s work as an activist, podcaster, writer, qualitative researcher, and editor is on full display in her new anthology Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. Her new anthology is an extension of the projects she’s become known when it comes to always... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-19 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Noirwich Crime Writing Festival has today confirmed Anita Terpstra and Paddy Richardson will be its Unesco City of Literature virtual writers in residence for 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-18 15:45:42 UTC ]
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“Borges and Me,” a memoir by Jay Parini, recounts a young poet’s travels with Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine master. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-18 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Submissions are now open for Spread the Word's 2021 London Writers Awards, which this year focus on developing authors of literary fiction, commercial fiction, YA/children’s fiction and narrative non-fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-18 03:44:16 UTC ]
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This is cool: The Ohioana Library Association has released a map and list tracing a new “literary trail” through the state, featuring historical landmarks, museums, unique libraries, and other hidden destinations. The list isn’t limited to the state capital of Columbus, either. The selections... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-12 19:09:38 UTC ]
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The artistic director for The Working Class Writers' Festival is issuing a call-out to publishers, agents and booksellers to get involved in next year's event. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-10 22:51:27 UTC ]
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The Society of Authors is launching a fundraising drive to help top up its Authors’ Contingency Fund, ensuring it can continue to offer hardship grants to authors as the effects of the health crisis continue to be felt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-09 17:04:03 UTC ]
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The Society of Authors (SoA) had awarded grants totalling £185,000 to writers including Derek Owusu and John Mapanje for their works in progress. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-06 14:46:48 UTC ]
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The 2020 Crime Writer's Association Dagger Awards shortlist has been announced, with Mick Herron's Joe Country (John Murray), Claire Askew's What You Pay For (Hodder & Stoughton) and Abir Mukherjee's Death in the East (Harvill Secker) in contention for the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-06 01:27:54 UTC ]
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Sara Faith Alterman's "Let's Never Talk About This Again" is a memoir about strange family dynamics, love, grief and the benefits of finally opening up. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-08-05 18:00:51 UTC ]
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Layla Saad, Dorothy Koomson, Kate Mosse, Laura Bates and Kerry Hudson are among 40 writers contributing to a "uniquely empowering" feminist charity book collection, spearheaded by the Feminist Book Society, in collaboration with not-for-profit publishers And Other Stories in the UK and The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-05 15:11:50 UTC ]
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Bookouture, in association with online magazine the Asian Writer and Dahlia Books, is putting out a call-out for commercial fiction submissions from unagented and unpublished writers from BAME backgrounds. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-30 05:39:09 UTC ]
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Grief, male sexuality and the plight of pets in Covid-stricken Wuhan are some of the subjects of the 12 winning entries in the Creative Future Writers’ Award, chosen by judges including author Kerry Hudson and poet Anthony Anaxagorou. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-27 13:08:30 UTC ]
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Granta is to publish The Lobster's Shell by Danish writer Caroline Albertine Minor, her first work to have an English-language translation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-23 21:27:50 UTC ]
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The Festival for Working Class Writers is being launched in Bristol next year, hoping to shine a spotlight on authors who organiser Natasha Carthew says are underrepresented at other events. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-20 17:38:05 UTC ]
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The editor-in-chief of Lifehacker and a union representing staffers at the site each blasted parent company G/O Media on Friday over the abrupt firing of the site's travel writer—the latest in a long string of public disputes between management and staff at the one-year-old digital media... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-07-20 16:06:59 UTC ]
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The editor-in-chief of Lifehacker and a union representing staffers at the site each blasted parent company G/O Media on Friday for firing the site's travel writer, Imani Bashir, without severance pay after finding that it was unable to continue employing her as a non-U.S. resident. In a... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-07-20 16:06:59 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton has landed a second novel by Lara Williams, the 2019 Not the Booker Prize-winning author of Supper Club (Hamish Hamilton). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-20 01:42:46 UTC ]
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