Categorising fiction may help to sell books, but it says little about how writers write or readers readIn her Reith lecture of 2017, recently published for the first time in a posthumous collection of nonfiction, A Memoir of My Former Self, Hilary Mantel recalled the beginnings of her career as a novelist. It was the 1970s. “In those days historical fiction wasn’t respectable or respected,” she recalled. “It meant historical romance. If you read a brilliant novel like I, Claudius, you didn’t taint it with the genre label, you just thought of it as literature. So, I was shy about naming what I was doing. All the same, I began. I wanted to find a novel I liked, about the French Revolution. I couldn’t, so I started making one.”She made A Place of Greater Safety, an exceptional ensemble portrayal of the revolutionaries Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins, but although the novel was completed in 1979, it wasn’t published until 1992 – widely rejected, as she later explained, because although she thought the French Revolution was the most interesting thing in the world, the reading public didn’t agree, or publishers had concluded they didn’t. She decided to write a contemporary novel – Every Day Is Mother’s Day – purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-27 12:30:00 UTC ]
From compelling historical fiction to high-speed thrillers, dive into this week's new YA releases. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-15 13:30:00 UTC ]
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What roles do place and memory play in the construction of a narrative? In this conversation, memoirist Shze-Hui Tjoa and novelist Farah Ali talk about how these forces affect the storytelling in their respective books: The Story Game (Tin House, 2024), an interrogation of memory, childhood, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-13 09:56:58 UTC ]
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A Memoir About Having Undocumented Parents, One Woman Against the Hordes of Hell, a Chillingly Beautiful Mystery, and More of Today's Best Book Deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-11 12:30:00 UTC ]
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Gloria L. Huang on understanding herself and her family through The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins. | Lit Hub Memoir “Miles tells him he’s the man on the marquee, but the cop assaults him with his stick nonetheless.” Irvin Weathersby Jr. examines the effortless racism of America’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-08 11:30:31 UTC ]
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"These books feature a lot of real historical figures—something I always love in my historical fiction." What kind of historical fiction do you love? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Jewish Life in Harbin, China: A Conversation with Jean Hoffmann Lewanda by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Tue, 01/07/2025 - 07:08 Shalama and Paul, Shanghai, 1950. Photo courtesy of Jean Hoffmann LewandaI met the author Jean... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2025-01-07 13:08:24 UTC ]
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Reagan Arthur picks up a memoir of solo travel, a pair of French sister-authors sell the story of their famous grandmother to Europa Editions, and more in this week’s book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-01-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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He wasn’t just prolific, publishing 32 books. His output also showed an unusual range that included memoirs and forays into historical fiction and even poetry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-12-30 10:58:27 UTC ]
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One library district is trying a new way of partnering with Colorado's business community in an effort to find innovative solutions. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2024-12-24 18:43:34 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel stressed she was concerned with depicting the outer world faithfully but her chief concern was her character’s interior drama. This adaptation shows how much she strayed from that Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-12-20 12:48:36 UTC ]
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The year’s best books include the novel “James” by Percival Everett and a memoir by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2024-12-18 16:59:22 UTC ]
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Dr. Guy Leschziner explores the science behind the more unsavory aspects of our personalities. | Lit Hub Science Sara B. Franklin on reading children’s lit in troubled times | Lit Hub Memoir What do we really need from our literary heroes? | Lit Hub Memoir “Every food tells a story, and like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-11 11:30:59 UTC ]
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Many celebrities’ books are actually written by others, the UK writers’ union says, and it’s time they were acknowledgedThe Society of Authors (SoA) is calling on celebrities and the publishing industry to properly acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, particularly those aimed at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-12-10 16:42:22 UTC ]
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Gypsy-Rose Blanchard spent years in prison for helping to kill her mother. Now she's about to become a parent herself — and is out with a memoir about her childhood Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-12-10 11:00:49 UTC ]
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Here are this week's bestsellers from the five biggest lists, including part one of Cher's memoir and THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan joins AudioFile’s Michele Cobb to tell listeners about narrating Kristin Hannah’s memorable historical fiction audiobook, The Women, one of our picks for Best Fiction of 2024. It’s an emotional story about Vietnam War combat nurses, and Julia details how she... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-05 09:05:46 UTC ]
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The last time I wrote a novel set in what I considered to be the present was 2009-2010. The iPhone had appeared in 2007, but it had nothing to do with my characters, who were poor or old or both and lived on the scrappy outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since then, my books have […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-04 09:56:57 UTC ]
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Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, seems to inch closer and closer to running for mayor.He clearly hoped Mayor Eric Adams, indicted on corruption charges in September, would resign, triggering a special election. Cuomo, for now, seems less enthusiastic about taking on Adams directly.... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-12-03 18:43:26 UTC ]
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Pack your ereader with today's bounty of excellent deals from historical fiction to nonfiction, dystopian reads to romance, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-02 14:00:00 UTC ]
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