The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne – the ‘modern Jane Austen’?

This excellent cradle-to-grave biography of a much loved novelist who goes in and out of fashion captures her alarming habits and tormented love affairsIn 1971 the author Barbara Pym was at her day job at the International African Institute when she noticed “Mr C” laboriously attacking his lunchtime sandwich with a knife and fork. Pym made a mental note of the detail before asking herself ruefully, “Oh why can’t I write about things like that any more – why is this kind of thing no longer acceptable?” Ten years earlier, Jonathan Cape had dumped her after her sixth book on the grounds that her brand of anthropological observation of English social manners was old lady-ish, dull and didn’t sell. As an extra humiliation, no other publishing house had been interested in picking up Miss Pym: books built on “the daily round of trivial things” could hardly compete with Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal or, if you were feeling fancy, Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Jonathan Cape had even published John Lennon (Pym liked the Beatles, but still). Clearly there was no place in contemporary literature for Mr C and his oddly formal way with a sandwich.There is nothing unusual about major minor novelists having a disappointing and disproportionate decline, followed by a posthumous flowering in reputation and sales. What’s unusual about Pym is that her phoenix moment came while she was still alive. In 1977 the Times Literary Supplement asked well-known... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-08 06:30:07 UTC ]

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Rewriting the historical epic: African women writers go big

Petina Gappah’s “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” is the latest example of a new generation of African novelists reinventing historical fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-10-03 17:21:00 UTC ]
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When Will Ben Lerner Admit He’s a Novelist?

In 2012, a colleague and I decided to curate an interview series for the website where we then worked; we boldly and cleverly titled said series The Future of American Fiction. Yes, imagine it in (internet) lights. Per the title, we asked a handful of young and formally or thematically... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-30 08:48:58 UTC ]
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Psst: Novelists – Steal These Screenwriting Secrets! Part 3 Query Letters

In part 3 of "steal these screenwriting secrets," we delve into marketing and query letters. In other words, these are screenwriting secrets to steal after you write and specifically related to crafting killer query letters. The post Psst: Novelists – Steal These Screenwriting Secrets! Part 3... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-09-30 01:46:56 UTC ]
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DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Its Longlist

The 2019 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature's 15-title longlist includes seven debut novelists and was chosed from 90 submissions this year. The post DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Its Longlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-09-27 11:30:31 UTC ]
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New Anne Enright novel on fame and sexual power set for 2020

Man Booker-winning author Anne Enright’s next novel, Actress, about sexual power and celebrity, will be published by Jonathan Cape in February 2020. Jonathan Cape publisher Robin Robertson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Peter Straus of Rogers, Coleridge & White... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-27 08:38:57 UTC ]
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Cape pre-empts Megan Nolan's 'exhilarating' debut about toxic relationships

Irish writer Megan Nolan's debut novel has just sold to Jonathan Cape in a pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-26 16:21:35 UTC ]
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You’re on Your Way: An Interview with Jamie Mason

IF YOU ASK a group of crime novelists to list the most exciting stylists working today, Jamie Mason’s name is bound to come up. In many thrillers, the language is workmanlike — plain, even. The suspense is the point; the sentences are the delivery system. In Jamie’s books, however, the words... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-09-22 19:00:08 UTC ]
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Laila Lalami, Colson Whitehead among National Book Award fiction nominees

10 novelists make the National Book Awards fiction longlist: Laila Lalami, Colson Whitehead, Ocean Vuong, Julia Phillips and more. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-09-20 18:20:50 UTC ]
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Here are the 10 best lines from Vulture’s profile of “book-fluencer” Zibby Owens.

First, can we all agree that it should be “lit-fluencer”? Moving on: 1. “Gertrude Stein had time to read books. But do moms?” 2. “Owens’s dinner will be in a decidedly lower key: a gingham tablecloth, uniformed servers passing out pigs in blankets, Zibby’s kids popping in occasionally to whisper... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-17 19:31:52 UTC ]
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“Between the Facts”: A Conversation with Monique Truong, by Renee H. Shea

Interviews Renee H. Shea Monique Truong / Photo © Haruka Sakaguchi Monique Truong, who came to the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, began exploring untold and ignored histories in her first novel, The Book of Salt (2003), told through... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape's Dan Franklin to retire

Dan Franklin, associate publisher at Jonathan Cape, is due to retire after 26 years at the Vintage imprint. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-16 09:22:10 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape signs debut short story collection from Leviston

Jonathan Cape has scooped UK and Commonwealth rights to Frances Leviston’s story collection The Voice in My Ear. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-09 21:28:41 UTC ]
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What we're reading August 2019

Lowborn by Kerry HudsonKerry Hudson is best known for her award-winning fiction. Her first book, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish First Book Award and earned her a place on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Her latest book, Lowborn,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-08-30 08:51:45 UTC ]
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Tales of The Handmaid’s Tale

How The Handmaid’s Tale keeps going, with Margaret Atwood, Ann Dowd, and novelists Louise Erdrich and Megan Hunter. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-08-29 21:00:04 UTC ]
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The Matrix 4 is happening, and Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell wrote the script.

Welcome back to the 90s. (And, I guess, the early 2000s.) As Variety reports, there is officially a fourth Matrix film in the works, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back in the saddle as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski will direct; she also wrote the script with novelists Aleksandar Hemon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 20:44:00 UTC ]
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The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History

The internet search histories of novelists can be quite disturbing. Writer Kathleen Valenti shares the methodology behind web searches for her newest medical mystery. The post The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History by Kathleen Valenti appeared... Continue reading at Writer's Digest

[ Writer's Digest | 2019-08-20 14:00:45 UTC ]
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Ben Rawlence latest goes to Cape

Jonathan Cape will publish a book by author Ben Rawlence about what trees can "tell us about the future of our planet”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-20 08:10:32 UTC ]
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Experiments in Postcapitalism: On Dempow Torishima’s “Sisyphean”

SCIENCE FICTION HAS BEEN mapping the topography of a yawning postcapitalism since the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s, a laborious undertaking still ongoing in the 21st century. Before cyberpunk, Deleuze and Guattari pointed the way in their books on capitalism and schizophrenia; after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-03 12:30:19 UTC ]
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When Novelists Become Method Actors

During one of my first open mics in New York City, the comic running the mic tapped me on the elbow after my set and said, “Hey, you’re funny!” She sounded surprised. I was, too. Being funny wasn’t my main goal. I was there to spy on comics, trying to experience the highs and lows […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-31 08:49:06 UTC ]
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12 Novels about Historical Women to Inspire a Better Future

The Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a genre, historical fiction allows us to shuttle back in time to stand in the shoes, clogs, chopines, and go-go boots of people—real and imagined—to consider the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-15 11:00:13 UTC ]
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