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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Chae Strathie and Nicola O’Byrne have won this year’s Bookbug Picture Book Prize, run by Scottish Book Trust and voted for by children. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London-based Iranian e-publisher Azadeh Parsapour and missing Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai have been shortlisted for the 2018 Prix Voltaire, which rewards "exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish and in enabling others to exercise their right to freedom of expression". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury is further proof that Murdoch never lets personal feelings get in the way of good businessThere are many reasons to want to go back to early 2016 – not least the fact that Rupert Murdoch was still tweeting his views of the world rather than leaving it to the minions... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury Press has acquired a "shocking" true story of modern-day slavery in the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The appointment of this boorish polemicist to the Office for Students will only confirm how toxic the current Tory brand is to younger votersToby Young has never been shy of self-promotion. He admits to possessing a “gargantuan” ego, writes frequently about himself and was famously the author of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has acquired Deborah Hewitt’s The Nightjar, a book for adult readers infused with magical adventure and Finnish mythology. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Man Booker winner, the diary of a junior doctor and the secret lives of cows ... Which books made their publishers proud – and which ones made them envious? Editor-in-chief, Bloomsbury Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital media company BuzzFeed said it is laying off 8% of its U.S. employees, or 100 workers, as it changes its business model in a bid to boost revenue. It's also cutting an unspecified number of jobs in Britain. The company has 1,700 employees worldwide. A spokeswoman for New York-based... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egmont and the Mr Men and Little Miss brand owner, Sanrio, have introduced an “ingenious” new character to the universe, Little Miss Inventor. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The November 17 event, hosted by Paula Abdul and presented by Roberto Cavalli, honored Emily V. Gordon and Cara Dellaverson as "Women of Achievement," and raised funds to find a cure for the auto-immune disease lupus. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Octopus imprint Mitchell Beazley has acquired the first cookbook from Greek restaurant MAZI which will "present a collection of authentic Greek recipes with a modern twist". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Quarto Group issued its second profit update of 2017, stating this morning that despite improved sales in the second half of the year, the publisher’s pre-tax profits will be “significantly lower than board expectations.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After years of dormancy and amid renewed interest from readers, America Media is reinvigorating its Catholic Book Club with help from social media and an online discussion group. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the two and a half years since its launch, UCL Press has made considerable strides. Benedicte Page reports. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jane Juska, whose chronicle of searching for sex as a woman in her 60s became a best-selling memoir and later a stage show, has died. She was 84. Juska died Tuesday at a Chico care facility after a long illness, her son, Andy Juska, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday. She was a retired... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Screenwriter and 'Crazy Ex-girlfriend' executive producer Brosh Mckenna has adapted Charlotte Bronte's classic novel 'Jane Eyre,' into 'Jane,' an updated graphic novel coming in which Jane is now a young art student who lives in contemporary Brooklyn and works part-time as a nanny for the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Exclusive: Ryan Ferrier and Ian McGinty announce their upcoming "Rocko's Modern Life" comic book series. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seven Dials is publishing The Hairy Bikers’ Mediterranean Adventure on 2nd November. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Under a Pole Star (Quercus) by Costa-winning author Stef Penney has been awarded the £10,000 2017 Wilbur and Niso Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Only a third of books translated into English last year were by female writers. As Women in Translation month wraps up, we investigate why – and if things are changing• In their own words: 10 female translators on the work that inspires themWhen Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin’s first book,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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