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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Her essay collection was removed from contention in the category of best lesbian memoir after she went on Twitter to defend a forthcoming Sandra Newman novel from charges that it was transphobic. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-03-22 01:34:52 UTC ]
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It’s been ten years since the release of Wild, Cheryl Strayed’s bracingly honest memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail as a young adult after her mother’s death with no experience or training—and to ccelebrate the anniversary, Strayed has released a cut scene from Wild, free to read... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-21 19:22:02 UTC ]
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In “The Emergency,” Thomas Fisher writes about his work at a Chicago hospital and the inequities of American health care. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-03-21 18:46:34 UTC ]
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Garrett Hongo tells a coming-of-age story wrapped in his love of writing and music, and recounts his lifelong quest for the perfect audio equipment. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-18 12:00:15 UTC ]
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Sasha LaPointe escaped a difficult childhood on a reservation by diving into Seattle punk. Her memoir, "Red Paint," finds solace in her Native roots. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-03-17 13:00:46 UTC ]
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Why did Penguin decide to reissue a memoir and a novel by Harry Crews, a dead white Southern writer? His influence — and his truths — run deep. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-03-15 13:00:07 UTC ]
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Share a little bit about historical eras you wish you were part of and get your next historical fiction read. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-03-15 10:38:00 UTC ]
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Erika Krouse’s Tell Me Everything, about a landmark sexual assault lawsuit, is a remarkable story told by a thrillingly unreliable narrator. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-03-14 09:40:00 UTC ]
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Daniel Genis, author of the new memoir 'Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison,' recommends 11 essential books about life behind bars. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-03-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Her memoir describes her long career in diplomacy and her unwitting entanglement in Donald Trump's schemes. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-11 18:24:57 UTC ]
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Qian Julie Wang’s debut memoir Beautiful Country is a compelling and intimate portrait of an undocumented childhood. Much like Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, we are carried into the heart and mind of a child: this time, a young, undocumented girl in... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-03-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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In the memoir North to Paradise, Ousman Umar tells the story of his migration from rural Ghana to urban Europe, a five-year journey that took him across 11 countries. These years are so eventful and rife with suffering that just one could be a book unto itself: Ousman is exploited in Accra;... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-10 09:50:30 UTC ]
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T.E. Lawrence’s memoir of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire -- the basis for “Lawrence of Arabia” — offers a sweeping look at war and its consequences. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-09 13:00:57 UTC ]
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At the Chicago Review of Books, Meghan O’Rourke discusses The Invisible Kingdom, a mix of memoir and research that investigates chronic illness through multiple lenses. “My work as a poet helped shape this book,” she explains. “I didn’t want it to be merely a work of reportage; I wanted to... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-03-07 21:30:33 UTC ]
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Meghan O’Rourke’s The Invisible Kingdom takes you inside the world of being chronically ill. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-03-03 22:44:06 UTC ]
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‘The Paris Bookseller’ by Kerri Maher and ‘The Diamond Eye’ by Kate Quinn are among several great new works of historical fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-02 15:27:34 UTC ]
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The novelist Kathryn Davis’s personal and time-shuffling new book, “Aurelia, Aurélia,” is about the death of her husband. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-03-02 10:00:08 UTC ]
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The novelist Kathryn Davis' memoir, 'Aurelia, Aurélia," is a Virginia Woolf-inspired whoosh of experiences in the aftermath of her husband's death. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-03-01 18:31:42 UTC ]
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Playwright and actor Harvey Fierstein reveals how a chubby gay kid from Brooklyn became a Broadway powerhouse and LBGTQ crusader. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-03-01 14:00:34 UTC ]
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In her new book, Amy Bloom writes about loving her husband and helping him to end his life after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-03-01 10:59:23 UTC ]
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