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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Hayley Mills, star of 'Pollyanna' and 'The Parent Trap,' is now 75 and has written a memoir about her life as a child actor under Walt Disney's watchful eye. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-09-02 13:00:20 UTC ]
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This film about Misha Defonseca, author of a ‘memoir’ about escaping the Nazis and sheltering with wolves as a child, is propulsively watchable“Sometimes a story is so astonishing it’s unbelievable.” So said a Massachusetts radio presenter in the 90s, introducing Misha Defonseca, a local Jewish... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-09-02 06:00:18 UTC ]
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An author’s historical fiction novel connects the past with the present. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-31 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Shugri Said Salh’s memoir strives for an accurate – rather than sensationalized or simplified – account of growing up in, and then fleeing, Somalia. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-08-30 19:15:00 UTC ]
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“Exodus, Revisited” offers new insights about a woman’s break from her Hasidic community. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
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His acclaimed fiction and a memoir had a common theme: alcoholism. After becoming sober, he called his former besotted muse “Drunkspeare.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-28 11:13:30 UTC ]
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“By the time I was born, the city had been conquered thrice, by the British, the Japanese, and the military junta. Three enemies to symbolize the three torments of the mind.” Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint on war, reincarnation, and the changing names of Myanmar. | Lit Hub Memoir Jeffrey Webb revisits... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-27 10:30:19 UTC ]
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Levy's memoir trilogy concludes with "Real Estate," pondering happiness and a new kind of home. Unlike Rachel Cusk, she keeps herself in the picture. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-24 15:00:41 UTC ]
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In her memoir “Seeing Ghosts,” the author recounts her mother’s death and her immigrant family’s numerous migrations, separations and losses, evoking the way grief entails a particular, perpetual sorrow. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-24 09:00:06 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Ireland has scooped a "unique" memoir by the warden of Skellig Michael, a remote Irish island. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-22 23:51:22 UTC ]
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The American Ballet Theatre star has written a thoughtful collection of essays that gives readers insight into what it means to defy categorization. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Georgina Pazcoguin’s biting memoir is full of melodrama. It also has an important message. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bodley Head has acquired two titles from German filmmaker and storyteller Werner Herzog, including a memoir. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 19:49:03 UTC ]
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The German film director has announced two new books: a memoir and The Twilight World, about a remarkable second world war officerWerner Herzog is writing a book about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender after the end of the second world war.The esteemed German... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-18 12:56:08 UTC ]
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“Names for Light,” by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, is a memoir recounted through the stories of family members. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-18 12:41:21 UTC ]
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Mirror Books has acquired worldwide rights from The Can Group to Christine McGuinness' first book A Beautiful Nightmare. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 11:33:49 UTC ]
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As she releases her memoir "All In," tennis icon Billie Jean King discusses her career, her causes and "living truthfully." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-17 13:00:35 UTC ]
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Fiona Sampson’s biography reads like a thriller, a memoir and a provocative piece of literary fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
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“Don’t Forget Us Here,” by Mansoor Adayfi with Antonio Aiello, is the memoir of a Yemeni man who claims he was kidnapped in Afghanistan, sold to the C.I.A. and sent to the detention camp in a case of mistaken identity. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-17 09:00:05 UTC ]
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In 2008, I published my first book, Please Excuse My Daughter, a memoir about my mother and me and how I grew up, and it dipped a little into my mother’s family’s history, which was rich and interesting. Her mother’s uncle, Sam Golding, developed the neighborhood of Rego Park in Queens during... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-16 08:49:26 UTC ]
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