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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Author Christine Kalafus shares her thoughts on writing with immediacy in memoir, including the three-step blueprint she used for hers. The post Writing With Immediacy in Memoir appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2025-06-01 19:00:00 UTC ]
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'Daisy Jones and the Six' author Taylor Jenkins Reid's new novel and Molly Jong-Fast's memoir about her famous mother are among the notable books hitting shelves this month. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2025-06-01 10:00:00 UTC ]
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In the memoir “How to Lose Your Mother,” Molly Jong-Fast recalls a tumultuous upbringing as the only child of the feminist writer Erica Jong. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-05-31 12:18:33 UTC ]
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As a small press launches dedicated to new male fiction, authors including Anne Enright and Nikesh Shukla ask if men are really being pushed out of publishingJude Cook, author and publisher of Conduit BooksIn Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the languid Lord Henry announces: “There is... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-31 08:00:39 UTC ]
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A giant of African literature whose best works existed between the political and the personal, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was warm, funny and friendly – and liked to bet on my pool gamesAmong the African writers who emerged in the middle of the 20th century, the most political undoubtedly was Ngũgĩ wa... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-30 16:36:34 UTC ]
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Paris Lees has turned her hit memoir of growing up as a working-class trans kid into a vivid, joyful drama. Its team talks teenage sex work, nostalgia for Tony Blair, and why TV drama is so posh it’s like Jane AustenWhen the BBC was casting its adaptation of Paris Lees’s autobiography, What It... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-30 12:00:14 UTC ]
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Zooming in on the rocker’s interior life, the Apple TV+ film “Bono: Stories of Surrender” documents the musical stage presentation of the singer’s 2022 book. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2025-05-30 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Charlie Mackesy sells a sequel to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse to Penguin Life, Cory Booker brings a memoir of his historic 25-hour speech on the Senate floor to St. Martin’s, and more in this week’s book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-05-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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When I was seventeen, my friend—the kind of person who always finds hidden gems in used bookstores—leant me Every Secret Thing, Patricia Hearst’s memoir about being kidnapped and forcibly radicalized by an urban guerrilla group. Hearst spent nearly all of 1974 on the run with the Symbionese... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-29 07:28:27 UTC ]
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Fiction by Taylor Jenkins Reid and V.E. Schwab; a memoir of a year without sex; new thrillers from James Patterson and S.A. Cosby; and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-05-28 09:00:44 UTC ]
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In this interview, author Martha Hall Kelly discusses how a reading recommendation planted the creative seed for her new book of historical fiction, The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club. The post Martha Hall Kelly: On Personal History Inspiring Historical Fiction appeared first on Writer's... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2025-05-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Sally McQuillen shares the costs and rewards of writing and publishing a memoir of loving and losing a child. The post Why I Wrote and Published My Memoir appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2025-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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My habit is quaint, I know, and there are downsides – but for those who value literature, the focus will shift to this: how do we prove we didn’t use AI?When I was very young, three or four, before I learned to write, I’d search out empty pages in my father’s thin, hardbound ledgers and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-23 03:29:59 UTC ]
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The history of a banned 1920s book comes to light. Plus, what these two WWII historical fiction novels have to tell us about today. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-05-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
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This is the magical historical fiction reimagining that saved me from being a complete GATSBY hater, written by one of my favorite authors. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-05-20 12:30:00 UTC ]
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This week's featured new releases include a new graphic novel from Alison Bechdel, a memoir on grief, an exploration of American patriarchy, a medieval fever dream, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-05-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey. Originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, this is a weekly... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-19 08:10:54 UTC ]
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Beyond disclosures about his sexuality and marriage, the media mogul’s memoir mostly serves up goodies for fans of Hollywood name-dropping and infighting. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-05-16 09:00:51 UTC ]
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In her latest book, part memoir and part biography, Returning to My Father’s Kitchen, Monica Macansantos writes fifteen richly textured essays about her father’s legacy both in her writings and in the kitchen where she finds his continued presence as she recreates his recipes that he’s developed... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2025-05-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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