The BBC’s Fergal Keane: ‘The breakdowns get harder to recover from each time’

The former BBC war reporter, now special correspondent, on the terror of PTSD, his tips for living with it day to day, and the people and poets he admiresDuring a career spanning more than 30 years, BBC special correspondent Fergal Keane has covered brutal conflicts in South Africa, Rwanda and Bosnia. It’s taken a lasting toll on his mental health, and in 2020 he stepped back from frontline reporting, revealing that he’s suffering from acute PTSD. In his memoir The Madness, newly published in paperback, he goes into greater detail, powerfully describing multiple breakdowns, alcoholism, and the inherited trauma that shaped his Irish childhood, as well as the resilience he’s found in himself. He will be talking at the Edinburgh International book festival on 17 August.What part of The Madness was hardest to write?Most difficult was what it was like to be in a psychiatric hospital. People talk about going mad and it conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images, but it’s terrifying, it’s this implosion. I’ve never been so afraid in my life. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-06 08:30:06 UTC ]

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Lit Hub Daily: April 21, 2020

“To me, nonfiction is an act of translation, and the task for the writer is to bring dead letters to life.” Jessica Pearce Rotondi on writing the family saga of her missing uncle. | Lit Hub Memoir Joshua Sperling on the decade John Berger became an art world revolutionary. | Lit Hub Criticism ON... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-21 10:30:09 UTC ]
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Five eye-catching graphic novels that define the genre

Some of the most exciting fiction and memoir is being done in the form of graphic novels. Here are some of the very best. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-04-20 11:08:17 UTC ]
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Sopan Deb on Approaching His Own Memoir as a Journalist

Sopan Deb, a culture reporter for The New York Times, has interviewed the cast of Arrested Development, reviewed theater on Broadway, and currently reports on professional basketball. Before joining the Times, he covered Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for CBS News. He is also—I love this—a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-20 08:48:57 UTC ]
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From house of horrors to family home

Erica Bauermeister’s latest book is a thoughtful, entertaining memoir of the time she and her family spent renovating the mother of all fixer-uppers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
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From house of horrors to family home

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
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From house of horrors to family home

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
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What if the problem of racism has no solution?

Frank Wilderson weaves together memoir and theory to make the case for Afropessimism. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Poet Laureate and Her Mother

Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and former poet laureate Natasha Trethewey’s memoir tells a tragic and inspiring story that shaped her life and work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Crossing Rolls Out Its 2020 Free World Book Day Translations

From Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, China, Germany, Israel, Spain, Brazil, and Argentina, this year's free books from Amazon Crossing arrive amid frontier-defying contagion. The post Amazon Crossing Rolls Out Its 2020 Free World Book Day Translations appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-17 03:09:44 UTC ]
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Personal Space: Samantha Irby is Fine Not Leaving the House

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Botton speaks with Samantha Irby about her recently released essay collection, Wow, No Thank You. Irby discusses what it was like to move to a small town in the country after a lifetime of city living, how people wearing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 20:00:01 UTC ]
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Alicia Keys Can Now Add ‘Best-Selling Author’ to Her Résumé

The singer’s latest hit is “Underdog.” Her memoir proves she is anything but one. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-16 09:00:04 UTC ]
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Alex Trebek Memoir Is Coming in July

The book, “The Answer Is …,” arose from the “Jeopardy!” host’s desire to give fans more insight into his life after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-15 16:08:39 UTC ]
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'Jeopardy' Host Alex Trebek Releasing Memoir One Day Before 80th Birthday

The book will reportedly feature what the publisher calls “illuminating personal anecdotes.” Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-04-14 20:21:27 UTC ]
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Alex Trebek set to publish a memoir while fighting pancreatic cancer

On Tuesday, Simon & Schuster announced it will publish Alex Trebek's memoir, "The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life," on July 21. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-14 19:35:53 UTC ]
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From Hollywood ‘Pretty Girl’ to Empowered Novelist

Susanna Moore’s memoir “Miss Aluminum” is a provocative look at the early circumstances that shaped her writing career. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-14 09:00:20 UTC ]
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Freeway Dreams

“I KNEW I WAS QUEER the moment my consciousness had evolved enough to formulate thoughts,” Lydia R. Otero writes in the introduction to the memoir In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown & Queer. In this compelling examination, Otero draws upon decades of experience as a historian... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-04-13 17:00:43 UTC ]
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Personal Space: Hadley Freeman on Finding Out the Tall Family Tales Were All True

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Botton talks to Hadley Freeman about her fourth book, House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family, a memoir and family Holocaust history published by Simon & Schuster. Botton and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-09 17:00:34 UTC ]
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Religion Book Deals: April 8, 2020

A former beauty queen lands at Convergent, country music singer Sara Evans brings a memoir to Howard Books; and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Walden’ may be the most famous act of social distancing. It’s also a lesson on the importance of community.

Henry David Thoreau’s most famous book is more than a guide to nature. It’s a memoir of grieving. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Literature on Lockdown: #CultureConnectsUs

For many, staying indoors is an unsettling experience. It’s been heartening to see the imaginative leaps being taken by many organisations and artists to help us through – sitting-room gigs, free theatre streams, virtual tours of museums and archives and galleries – but given the limitless... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-04-06 11:36:00 UTC ]
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