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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Fewer and fewer people identify as religious in the traditional sense, but unconventional spiritual practices are on the rise, as evidenced by several new books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The winners of the 2020 Windham-Campbell Prizes have been announced. Each will receive $165,000 each to support their work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Indie micropublisher and not-for-profit 3 of Cups has announced a new initiative to help writers and artists who might have reduced incomes during the coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 18:37:25 UTC ]
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Martha Ackmann’s “These Fevered Days” considers the life events that made the poet who she was. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-18 18:06:09 UTC ]
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“Nobody Will Tell You This but Me,” a memoir by Bess Kalb, traces her family history from the Russian pogroms to the American dream. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-03-17 09:00:08 UTC ]
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Zaffre is publishing Caroline Day's debut novel, Hope Nicely’s Lessons for Life, next spring. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-15 23:32:06 UTC ]
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Jessica Kingsley Publishers has launched a non-fiction writing prize for trans and non-binary writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-12 09:48:12 UTC ]
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Toby Ferris traveled across Europe to see all of the Dutch Renaissance painter’s surviving work. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-11 18:07:05 UTC ]
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My novel The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a story of how a young woman’s unexplained suicide shapes and transforms the lives of those she left behind. It’s a literary mystery with elements of magical realism set in Japan, not unlike my debut novel Rainbirds. Because of these, I am often... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-03-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Booker-winning writer Bernardine Evaristo has marked International Women’s Day by curating a top 20 list of recently published Black British writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-08 03:11:09 UTC ]
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Can a young writer find creative fulfillment after all her friends have settled down, married up and sold out? Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-04 19:24:27 UTC ]
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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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California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has revealed updates to a proposed amendment that, if passed, would clarify which writers can be considered independent contractors and which must be treated as full-time employees under state statute AB 5, which took effect on January 1. Revealed on... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-02-28 19:22:11 UTC ]
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“The Stand” and “The Andromeda Strain” are just a few of the books that envision mass infection Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-28 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, Amanda Leduc saw plenty of disabled characters in fairy tales, but none she wanted to identify with. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The Untitled writers' salon is returning for its fourth event in April, featuring 10 more underrepresented authors sharing their work in front of an audience. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-26 03:31:49 UTC ]
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Literary nonprofit Latinx in Publishing has launched a new initiative, the Writers Mentorship Program, which is aimed at providing unpublished and/or unagented writers who identify as Latinx with professional mentorship opportunities. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Heather Morris, the author of bestselling title The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has been threatened with legal action in the US by the stepson of Cecilia Kovachova around whom her second novel is thought to be based. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 05:51:43 UTC ]
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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 ]
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His diverse body of work included novels, plays and a memoir about Ernest Hemingway. He was also a partner with his friend Paul Newman in business and charity. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-16 15:37:39 UTC ]
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