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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Hachette Children’s Group has scooped a YA lesbian love story set in the afterlife by Tanya Byrne in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-01 11:13:30 UTC ]
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Kids don’t feel burdened by carrying physical books; they feel girded with the tools of their own entertainment. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The publishing industry was up in arms over the summer when Google officially closed the loophole in its Chrome browser that allows website owners to detect whether a visitor has enabled Incognito mode to view their site. The complaint? It effectively undermined publishers’ efforts to prevent... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2019-10-31 16:47:22 UTC ]
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Indie publisher Vertebrate is sending out free copies of Lily Dyu’s Fantastic Female Adventurers to schools. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-30 13:16:08 UTC ]
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Two authors from the recent Future Tense Fiction anthology discuss how they approach their craft. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-10-25 11:30:07 UTC ]
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Publisher Walker Books has snapped up The House at the Edge of Magic, a middle-grade comic fantasy adventure by picture book author Amy Sparkes in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-18 00:50:05 UTC ]
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Little, Brown imprint Robinson has signed a memoir from "Supercop" Alistair Livingstone and Mick Dawson’s account of two veterans, one traumatised and one blind, in a pair of deals. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-14 03:01:08 UTC ]
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It opened against the backdrop of gun assaults across the nation. It’s been criticized for gore and a sympathetic portrait of its homicidal protagonist. And it received an R rating for violence. All of which could add up to why Warner Bros. has been promoting “Joker” as more of an arthouse... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-07 17:33:36 UTC ]
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Quercus has bagged a “riveting” modern gothic debut set in an elite all-girls boarding school by Phoebe Wynne in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-01 21:11:58 UTC ]
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Lit Lists T. Patrick Ortez Fantasy is often overlooked when it comes to literature in translation, but from Gilgamesh to the Edda to The Epic of Darkness, fantasy lies at the heart of human storytelling. The genre has changed a lot since then, but fantasy... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-01 14:00:27 UTC ]
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Firefly Press has snapped up a middle-grade fantasy novel by debut author Loris Owen. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-29 18:25:11 UTC ]
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The last installment of the late author’s popular Alphabet series would have been due out soon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Jane Love, who worked as a religion buyer for Barnes & Noble from 2007-2018, passed away at age 63 on September 2. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our daily newsletter. You can also get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device. Day One of... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-09-24 10:00:00 UTC ]
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The 2019 Templar Illustration Prize has been awarded to Paula White for her story Bread, Buns and Biscuits. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-19 09:52:03 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our daily newsletter. You can also get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device. Tinder’s... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-09-18 10:00:00 UTC ]
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The Northern Lights Writers' Conference returns for a sixth year with Man Booker-longlisted author Jane Rogers to deliver this year's keynote address. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-16 05:22:57 UTC ]
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The bestselling author says that we need more trust. But the monstrous crimes in his case studies don't help his argument. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-09-13 02:33:57 UTC ]
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The bestselling author says that we need more trust. But the monstrous crimes in his case studies don't help his argument. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-09-13 02:33:57 UTC ]
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The bestselling author says that we need more trust. But the monstrous crimes in his case studies don't help his argument. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-09-13 02:33:57 UTC ]
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