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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The protest movement sweeping the world since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has forced an international soul searching to understand the pervasive racial inequalities that haunt most sectors of our society. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-15 17:05:27 UTC ]
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The Black Writers' Guild has issued an open letter, signed by writers including Dorothy Koomson, Malorie Blackman, Candice Carty-Williams, David Olusoga and Bernardine Evaristo, telling British publishers it is "deeply concerned" they are "raising awareness of racial inequality without... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-14 19:50:25 UTC ]
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Bad Form, the quarterly literary review magazine, is launching a new prize for young black, Asian, Arab and other non-white fiction writers based in the UK, with support from across the publishing industry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-14 17:30:53 UTC ]
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In the inaugural episode of its new digital webcast series, SVWC NOW, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference presents bestselling author (My Own Country, Cutting for Stone), physician, and winner of a 2015 National Humanities Medal, Dr. Abraham Verghese in conversation with novelist and SVWC... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-10 17:00:11 UTC ]
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As the lost Palestinian motherland haunts one woman, so does an unavailable mother torment her daughter Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-08 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Many years ago, I heard a teacher of mine, the late John Gardener, once say that there are only two plots in all of literature: you go on a journey or a stranger comes to town. Or, as Stanley Elkin put it even more succinctly (in reference to science fiction), you go there or they […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-08 08:47:33 UTC ]
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A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
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“The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope,” by C.W. Grafton, first published in 1943, is an offbeat, old-school suspense story. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-05 14:00:00 UTC ]
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In this week’s issue, A.O. Scott writes about Wallace Stegner. In 1948, Stegner wrote for the Book Review about universities as a place for training writers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 09:00:03 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton will publish Unquiet, a novel by Norwegian writer Linn Ullmann, daughter of film director Ingmar Bergman and actress Liv Ullmann. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-05 01:22:58 UTC ]
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The regional winners of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been announced, with 20-year-old Reyah Martin taking the title for Europe and Canada. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-03 23:09:53 UTC ]
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Authors have always tried to turn their sorrow and confusion into enduring monuments of beauty among the ruins. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-03 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The Desmond Elliott Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first novel is written in English and published in the UK. Since 2007, it has supported and heralded new writers; the honor comes with a £10,000 prize. It’s heartening to see, especially right now, that this year the Desmond Elliott... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 17:58:53 UTC ]
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Patrik Svensson mixed natural history with memoir for his debut, which has become a surprise best seller and award winner in his native Sweden. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-22 09:00:23 UTC ]
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On May 21st at 7:30 pm. EST Community Bookstore is hosting a virtual conversation about Curzio Malaparte’s Diary of a Foreigner in Paris between writer Gary Indiana and NYRB Classics editor Edwin Frank. You can register for free and learn more here. * Curzio Malaparte is a phrasemaker before... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-20 08:48:48 UTC ]
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One juror for the 2020 Young Writer of the Year award says she hopes 'we won’t see a rash of virus or pandemic stories.' The post Amid ‘the ‘Low-Level Hum of Panic,’ the UK’s Young Writer Award Names Its Jury appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-05-18 12:37:26 UTC ]
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Sebastian Faulks, Kit de Waal and Tessa Hadley are among the judges for this year's Sunday Times and University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-18 10:25:47 UTC ]
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A group of crime writers have collaborated to produce a short story collection during the UK lockdown, with all proceeds to go to NHS Charities Together. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-16 04:47:00 UTC ]
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Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, will be the keynote speaker at the virtual Writers' Weekend, a four-day conference that will now be live streamed from 9th-12th July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-15 23:55:15 UTC ]
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Clean Prose, the London-based writers' co-working space, has announced it is to close as a result of "social distancing and the economic downturn" caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-11 07:15:50 UTC ]
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