The first-person essays boom: top editors on why confessional writing matters

A Slate piece on first-person writing has prompted debate in the digital media community. We asked editors at BuzzFeed, Jezebel and other leading sites to weigh in on the importance of such pieces – and why there is a gender divideOn Monday, Laura Bennett’s Slate piece on the boom of first-person essay writing sparked a fierce online debate between editors and writers: how can one best work between the vulnerability of a writer and the traffic goal of an editor? What’s the line between publishing someone’s personal experience and exploitation?In response to Bennett’s piece, we asked senior editors at several publications known for publishing first-person stories about what they value in them, how they look after their writers, and why it is that so many confessional stories seem to be written by women, and not men.This route to publication and a book/movie deal simply is not open for non-white womenAnd now Pollitt’s up at bat. Her three previous essay collections gathered brilliant commentary on welfare, abortion, surrogate motherhood, Iraq, gay marriage and health care, mostly from the pages of The Nation. But with “Learning to Drive,” she gets personal, and shameless. She has decided to wave her dirty laundry (among which she found unidentified striped panties) and confesses to “Webstalking” her longtime, live-in, womanizing former boyfriend. (Take that, you rat!) It’s hard to tell if she’s coming into her own, trying to sell more books or has lost it entirely. Or... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #gay marriage #health care #dirty laundry #ve heard

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What I Write in My Journal is Just for Me (It is Not My Memoir)

I wrote in my journal this morning. I am not going to disclose its contents to you here, on this page, on Beyoncé’s internet. What I write in my journal, its unfiltered stream of consciousness, is just for me. A memoir is not a journal. * Also this morning: I wrote up to the very […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-28 08:57:23 UTC ]
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Regionals Update: MIBA Numbers Up, SIBA and NAIBA Move to In-Person Show

Several regionals are sharing good news with their memberships: while MIBA reports that its membership numbers are skyrocketing, SIBA announced that it will hold a joint show with NAIBA in-person in August, 2023. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Open letter to top publisher condemns $2m Amy Coney Barrett book deal

More than 250 literary figures rail against acquisition by Penguin Random House of book by conservative US supreme court justiceMore than 250 figures from the US literary world have signed an open letter protesting the acquisition by Penguin Random House of a book by the conservative supreme... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-10-27 06:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #open letter #literary world #penguin random house #top publisher


Mary Karr on Navigating Memory While Writing Memoir

The following is an excerpt from Joy Harjo’s The Art of Memoir and appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. * At unexpected points in life, everyone gets waylaid by the colossal force of recollection. One minute you’re a grown-ass woman, then a whiff of cumin conjures... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-21 08:53:59 UTC ]
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UK Execs: When Business is Booming and So Are the Costs

As the world book industry gathers in Frankfurt, UK executives share insights on today’s top publishing concerns—chief among them is cost. The post UK Execs: When Business is Booming and So Are the Costs appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-10-20 12:25:15 UTC ]
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The Millions Top Ten: September 2022

Nagamatsu, Bell, and Batuman continue once again top our bestseller list this month. The post The Millions Top Ten: September 2022 appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2022-10-14 09:54:43 UTC ]
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September Religion Bestsellers: Jonathan Cahn Tops; ‘The Stranger’ Stays

Jonathan Cahn ‘returns’ to PW’s Religion Nonfiction Bestsellers list with 'The Return of the Gods' which debuts at #1; Mitch Albom maintains his #1 perch in Religion Fiction with ‘The Stranger in the Lifeboat.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Lydia Millet writes about what frightens her most

Lydia Millet, author of 'A Children's Bible,' joins the L.A. Times Book Club to discuss her new novel, 'Dinosaurs.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-10-10 13:00:58 UTC ]
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Jada Pinkett Smith writing memoir about life, 'complicated marriage to Will Smith'

Jada Pinkett Smith's memoir will take readers on 'a rollercoaster ride from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of personal rediscovery.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-10-06 19:59:48 UTC ]
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Al Pacino is reportedly writing his first memoir.

As Tony Montana would probably say if he were a literary agent: In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the memoir. That’s right! Al Pacino is reportedly in talks to sell his first memoir […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-05 14:49:52 UTC ]
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‘Everyone’s got a book in them’: boom in memoir industry as ordinary people record their stories

Companies providing ghostwritten autobiographies for people wanting to share histories have seen surge in trade since CovidBrian Lewis grew up on a tough council estate after arriving in Britain as part of the Windrush generation. At the age of eight he developed an interest in chess and joined... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-09-24 14:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #life stories #people wanting #windrush generation #team made #sharp rise #memoir


SPX Returns to In-Person Comics Festival

SPX, aka the Small Press Expo, held September 17-18 at the Marriott Hotel in Bethesda Md., returned as an in-person event after two years as a virtual show during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrating Christian Fiction: ACFW 2022 Photo Essay

Held in person for the first time since 2019, the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) 2022 conference brought over 300 authors, agents, publishers, and aspiring novelists together in St. Louis, Mo. from September 8-11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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She Writes Press and SparkPress: Hybrids That Lead by Example

When these sister hybrid houses merge their knowledge and expertise, their authors—and the entire publishing industry—benefit. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Rabih Alameddine on Only Writing When You Have Something to Say

Rabih Alameddine’s The Wrong End of the Telescope is out now in paperback from Grove Atlantic, so we asked him about writer’s block, the best books to re-read, and procrastinating. * How do you tackle writer’s block? I don’t, nor do I wish to anymore. Not unless I have an external deadline,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-09 08:53:14 UTC ]
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All Things Are Possible: Mario Vargas Llosa on the Eternal Youth of Flaubert’s Writing

Translated by Charlotte Whittle At some point in the last century, I arrived in Paris and that very day bought a copy of Madame Bovary in a bookstore called Joie de Vivre in the Latin Quarter. I stayed up nearly all night reading it and by dawn I knew what kind of writer I wanted […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-29 08:52:14 UTC ]
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Here are the songs Bob Dylan is writing about in his forthcoming book on “modern song.”

As some of you may already know (and sure, some of you may not care) Bob Dylan is publishing a book this November about his “philosophy of modern song” called… The Philosophy of Modern Song. If you are among those who do care (like me) the table of contents of the Nobel laureate’s foray into […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 15:37:43 UTC ]
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Coding and Creative Writing Have More in Common Than You Think

While other future novelists were discussing iambic pentameter and leitmotifs, Gina Chen immersed herself in computer science. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-08-25 09:00:11 UTC ]
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YouTube’s Nerdwriter, Evan Puschak, takes his essays to the page

A pioneer of the “video essay” format, Evan Puschak's YouTube videos, in which he critiques fine art, film, literature and more, have over 223 million views. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-23 13:00:29 UTC ]
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Chateaubriand on Writing Memoir between Two Societies

“It was an ‘I‘ of early days long gone who lived in these places, and that ‘I’ has already succumbed, for our days die before us.” Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2022-08-22 15:42:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writing memoir #memoir