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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Ella Risbridger muses on the pain-writing-money trifecta, Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, and memoir as fiction. | Lit Hub Criticism Lulu Miller in praise of “the uncrushable beetle.” | Lit Hub Nature How Kiki de Montparnasse, a muse with a mind of her own, “essentially invented the idea of making an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-06 10:30:41 UTC ]
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'iCarly' and 'Sam & Cat' star Jennette McCurdy says in her new memoir that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 not to talk about her experiences there. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-06 01:42:15 UTC ]
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Little, Brown buys a memoir from MacArthur fellow Nicole Fleetwood, Spiegel & Grau takes on a debut novel, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This week on The Maris Review, CJ Hauser joins Maris Kreizman to discuss her new memoir in essays, The Crane Wife, out now from Doubleday Books. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts. * On the beauty of the second person: I have a beloved teacher, the writer Mark... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-04 08:52:39 UTC ]
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'This Goes Out to the Underground: A Mother, Her Daughter, and How We All Rise Together,' the debut memoir from Pardis Mahdavi, was canceled by Hachette Book Group shortly before its planned July 26 release. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“It seemed like having a kid was the only adventure I hadn’t undertaken.” Michelle Tea on embracing (unconventional) motherhood. | Lit Hub Memoir Are contemporary novels that don’t acknowledge the pandemic just alt-history? Clare Pollard has thoughts. | Lit Hub Criticism “For every pet that’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-02 10:30:03 UTC ]
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As you all undoubtedly know, Britney Spears landed a $15 million book deal with Simon & Schuster earlier this year. Her untitled memoir is apparently already finished(!) and her team was vying for a January 2023 release date… until the paper shortage reared its ugly head, baby, one more... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 16:05:23 UTC ]
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Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner of National Novel Writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:12 UTC ]
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Lori Garver's new memoir details her struggles to get NASA colleagues to embrace SpaceX and Blue Origin. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2022-07-29 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Ghostwritten book, with interviews conducted mostly during ‘peak rage’, expected to be published by end of yearThe manuscript is, reportedly, written; the ink now dry. Publication is said to be on course to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market.Few crumbs, if any, of the contents of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-29 11:04:37 UTC ]
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“The US immigration system knows I am here. I shudder to think where my information is stored within the government apparatus and for what purpose.” Luz Aguirre on living as an undocumented American. | Lit Hub Memoir The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in August, from the Sandman... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-29 10:30:57 UTC ]
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From a memoir about African-Jewish cooking, Koshersoul, to one about grieving our pets, Good Grief, these new memoirs take a different approach to the genre. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-28 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Leah McLaren, author of Where You End and I Begin. Find... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-27 08:51:24 UTC ]
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While we do not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to Skyhorse, publisher of Sandy Hook deniers, anti-vaxxers, January 6th conspiracy theorists, and Woody Allen—their brand is extremely consistent. To wit: they will be publishing another book by disgraced biographer Blake Bailey (they... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-26 20:31:25 UTC ]
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'Yoga' charts true-crime master Emmanuel Carrère's journey from intensive meditation to mental breakdown — but leaves out the divorce that derailed him. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-26 13:00:18 UTC ]
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At first, I wanted to call it Forty Love. My memoir, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, & Literature, is a deeply personal account of the unexpected plot twists in my own life highlighted by the books I was reading at the time. In my current career as publishing CEO at Zibby Books and host […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-22 08:51:36 UTC ]
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The Light We Carry, to be published in November, compiles the former first lady’s best strategies for surviving in the face of a ‘rising tide of bigotry and intolerance’A new book by former first lady Michelle Obama will offer readers “fresh stories and insightful reflections on change,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-21 14:08:29 UTC ]
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A memoir by the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo Marx's widow, finally comes to light 20 years after her death. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-21 13:39:48 UTC ]
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Chris Belcher’s searing memoir about her work as a professional dominatrix isn’t exactly a comfortable read. Not because of the subject, but because Pretty Baby asks more of the reader than many memoirs. Like the best art does, this book invites introspection and interrogation of both our own... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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How language shapes emotion across cultures. | Lit Hub Science Baynard Woods reflects on how writing a book forced him to confront the many lies of whiteness. | Lit Hub Memoir How do you begin to write a novel about 6th-century Londinium, the “darkest corner of the Dark Ages”? | Lit Hub History... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 10:30:12 UTC ]
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