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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]
Ai Weiwei’s memoir “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows” pushes back against the Chinese government’s efforts to silence him and his poet father. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-12-20 22:31:48 UTC ]
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From Franzen to Kidneygate (with a prolonged pit stop in the land of Supply Chain Issues), we’ve finally reached the end of the Biggest Literary Stories of the Year. Against reading historical fiction to learn history: Juhea Kim considers how the onus of writing educational fiction falls... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-20 11:30:45 UTC ]
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Serpent's Tail has bagged a post-apocalyptic novel and a memoir from 2020 Goldsmiths Prize winner M John Harrison, who is leaving his long-term publisher Gollancz after 40 years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-19 23:45:16 UTC ]
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White went from the streets of Baltimore to the philharmonic. In his memoir "I'm Possible," he tells the story of how he transformed his life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-18 13:00:13 UTC ]
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Stephanie Land’s best-selling memoir inspired the popular Netflix series. She’s not done fighting for people navigating the red tape of poverty. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-16 10:00:03 UTC ]
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Nine Eight Books, the music imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired the “compelling and pertinent memoir” from 1960s soul legend P P Arnold. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-15 22:10:47 UTC ]
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The beloved Guardian writer finished Holding Tight, Letting Go before she died of cancer earlier this yearA memoir by the late journalist Sarah Hughes, who died from cancer earlier this year, will be published next March, tackling topics from planning your own funeral to the importance of trashy... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-13 14:25:04 UTC ]
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A student of mine was writing a memoir about being in an abusive marriage. She’d divorced her husband in middle age and returned to college, and her prose was stark and beautiful. After a few months, however, her classmates grew restless. “He was horrible,” they said. “A bullying jerk.” Still,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-13 09:51:42 UTC ]
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But the legendary comedian’s joyful memoir doesn’t pause for introspection, or analysis. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-10 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The year’s most transporting novels have taken us to the past and around the globe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-09 10:00:10 UTC ]
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Little A, the literary fiction and non-fiction imprint of Amazon Publishing, has acquired a "powerful" memoir by Paul Burston, founder of the Polari Prize, the UK’s first and largest LGBTQ+ book award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-09 09:18:56 UTC ]
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Elliot & Thompson has snapped up a memoir by writer Nancy Campbell, whose recent book Fifty Words for Snow (Elliot & Thompson) was Waterstones’ November Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-08 21:39:33 UTC ]
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Manilla Press has snapped up a "dazzling" memoir by actress Minnie Driver, whose credits include a breakout role in "Circle of Friends" and the 1997 film "Good Will Hunting". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-08 13:00:02 UTC ]
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Atria Books is publishing a memoir by former Washington Football Team’s quarterback Robert Griffin III; Baker signed a two-book deal with debut author and speaker on race Ally Henny; Center Street is spotlighting the faith lives of George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A journalist went to Scotland to investigate the world of oil riggers and slept with her first source. "Sea State" is her raw memoir of the aftermath Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-12-07 14:00:53 UTC ]
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Jones, who escaped the Children of God cult, found a different kind of faith, in books and later, the law — and herself. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-04 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The uncanniness of rereading Lucky now that the man Alice Sebold identified as her rapist has been exonerated. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2021-12-04 00:50:58 UTC ]
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The main character in “The Lyrics” is his best friend and fiercest rival, John Lennon Continue reading at The Economist
[ The Economist | 2021-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yesterday, a footnote to an op-ed in the LA Times revealed that Red Badge Films is now producing a documentary about Anthony Broadwater’s conviction and then exoneration of Alice Sebold’s rape, called Unlucky. Red Badge Films is helmed by Tim Mucciante, previously the executive producer for the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-03 17:48:54 UTC ]
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Twelve new yarns will whisk readers to the past, where life was every bit as complicated, dramatic and story-worthy as the present. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-03 14:00:06 UTC ]
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