The big idea: should we abolish literary genres?

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purely to get published; A Place of Greater Safety emerged only when she contributed to a Guardian piece about writers’ unpublished first novels.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 ]

Other news stories related to: "The big idea: should we abolish literary genres?"


Stay inside with the 10 best books of April

Staying indoors will feel like an adventure with this roundup of titles ranging from romance to historical fiction to memoir. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:30:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Stay inside with the 10 best books of April

Staying indoors will feel like an adventure with this roundup of titles ranging from romance to historical fiction to memoir. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:30:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Stay inside with the 10 best books of April

Staying indoors will feel like an adventure with this roundup of titles ranging from romance to historical fiction to memoir. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:30:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


From house of horrors to family home

Erica Bauermeister’s latest book is a thoughtful, entertaining memoir of the time she and her family spent renovating the mother of all fixer-uppers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


From house of horrors to family home

Erica Bauermeister’s latest book is a thoughtful, entertaining memoir of the time she and her family spent renovating the mother of all fixer-uppers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


From house of horrors to family home

Erica Bauermeister’s latest book is a thoughtful, entertaining memoir of the time she and her family spent renovating the mother of all fixer-uppers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 22:35:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What if the problem of racism has no solution?

Frank Wilderson weaves together memoir and theory to make the case for Afropessimism. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Poet Laureate and Her Mother

Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and former poet laureate Natasha Trethewey’s memoir tells a tragic and inspiring story that shaped her life and work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Personal Space: Samantha Irby is Fine Not Leaving the House

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Botton speaks with Samantha Irby about her recently released essay collection, Wow, No Thank You. Irby discusses what it was like to move to a small town in the country after a lifetime of city living, how people wearing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 20:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Alicia Keys Can Now Add ‘Best-Selling Author’ to Her Résumé

The singer’s latest hit is “Underdog.” Her memoir proves she is anything but one. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-16 09:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Alex Trebek Memoir Is Coming in July

The book, “The Answer Is …,” arose from the “Jeopardy!” host’s desire to give fans more insight into his life after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-15 16:08:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Jeopardy' Host Alex Trebek Releasing Memoir One Day Before 80th Birthday

The book will reportedly feature what the publisher calls “illuminating personal anecdotes.” Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-04-14 20:21:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Alex Trebek set to publish a memoir while fighting pancreatic cancer

On Tuesday, Simon & Schuster announced it will publish Alex Trebek's memoir, "The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life," on July 21. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-14 19:35:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Abdelouahab Aissaoui Wins 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction

From this year's shortlist–which included authors from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria–an Algerian work of historical fiction claims the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The post Abdelouahab Aissaoui Wins 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-14 12:33:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


From Hollywood ‘Pretty Girl’ to Empowered Novelist

Susanna Moore’s memoir “Miss Aluminum” is a provocative look at the early circumstances that shaped her writing career. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-14 09:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Freeway Dreams

“I KNEW I WAS QUEER the moment my consciousness had evolved enough to formulate thoughts,” Lydia R. Otero writes in the introduction to the memoir In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown & Queer. In this compelling examination, Otero draws upon decades of experience as a historian... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-04-13 17:00:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Personal Space: Hadley Freeman on Finding Out the Tall Family Tales Were All True

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Botton talks to Hadley Freeman about her fourth book, House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family, a memoir and family Holocaust history published by Simon & Schuster. Botton and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-09 17:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Religion Book Deals: April 8, 2020

A former beauty queen lands at Convergent, country music singer Sara Evans brings a memoir to Howard Books; and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘Walden’ may be the most famous act of social distancing. It’s also a lesson on the importance of community.

Henry David Thoreau’s most famous book is more than a guide to nature. It’s a memoir of grieving. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Literature on Lockdown: #CultureConnectsUs

For many, staying indoors is an unsettling experience. It’s been heartening to see the imaginative leaps being taken by many organisations and artists to help us through – sitting-room gigs, free theatre streams, virtual tours of museums and archives and galleries – but given the limitless... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-04-06 11:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this