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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Colin Dayan's brief but explosive memoir of her relationship to her mother should find a place among the more indelible life histories of the last several years. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-05 16:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In musician and magician Rob Zabrecky's new memoir, "Strange Cures," the Los Angeles of the 1980s and early '90s is an alien landscape of raucous underground nightclubs, seedy Hollywood crack dens and low-rent Silver Lake duplexes; and the Valley is a place where errant teens roam free, sans... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-30 18:01:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry will tell the story of her career as a musician and actress in a new memoir set for release this fall. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-30 16:44:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Pop sensations the Jonas Brothers will tell the story of their lives in the music world in a new memoir. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-29 17:59:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A “dazzling” six-book shortlist has been announced for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For nearly 20 years, Namwali Serpell has been writing “The Old Drift.” If you don’t find that fact alone to be staggering, consider this: The 576-page book blends English with a multitude of Bantu languages spoken in Zambia. Incorporating elements of historical fiction, sci-fi, magical realism,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As a recipient of the Arts Connects Us Grant I travelled to Ghana and Sierra Leone to meet with writers and publishing professionals working in the field of books for young readers to foster creative and collaborative exchanges between those contacts and publishing professionals and readers in... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-03-19 11:10:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has unveiled its longlist, as the chair of the judges warns choosing a shortlist “from these corkers is going to be a tough task”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
They don’t own Whole Foods, but they do sell books! As Groucho Marx once said, outside of a dog, books are man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2018-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In Germany, Turning Point, the finale of Carmen Korn’s Century Trilogy, a historical series about four women in the 20th century, topped the fiction bestseller list in September, and prolific mystery novelist Charlotte Link was in second with The Search, about a missing teen. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In her first work of historical fiction, bestselling author Patti Callahan explores the life and love of Joy Davidman, the wife of C.S. Lewis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury has snapped up an "exquisite" novel and a short story collection about flawed masculinity from Benjamin Myers six weeks after he scooped the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his book published by Bluemoose Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Benjamin Myers has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction with The Gallows Pole, published by small Yorkshire-based independent press Bluemoose Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Jennifer Egan, Benjamin Myers and Paul Lynch are among the authors shortlisted for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The late writer Helen Dunmore, US novelist Jennifer Egan and 29-year-old writer Natasha Pulley are all vying for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, with entries up 40% from last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An East London bookshop's decision to put a sign in its window highlighting it is "proud" to sell books by authors from so-called "sh*thole" countries, in reference to a remark allegedly made by US president Donald Trump, has been met with a "phenomenal" response from the trade and customers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
How the 95-year-old magazine grew its circulation 10 percent despite reducing print frequency. The post The Big Idea Behind Harvard Business Review’s Record Growth appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2017-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Irish writer Sebastian Barry has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for a second time for his American epic Days Without End (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Dame Hilary Mantel is to give a series of lectures around the UK which will be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this