James McBride takes liberties as he visits the story of white abolitionist John Brown through the eyes of a young slave in 'The Good Lord Bird.'John Brown, the white abolitionist who sought to free black slaves with the barrel of a gun, is a recurring character in American literature. He's one of the ghosts that haunt Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead," and he's the messianic, brooding prophet at the heart of Russell Banks' epic "Cloudsplitter." In the post-Civil War memoir of his contemporary, Frederick Douglass, Brown is a brave, principled man, with a plan to start a slave uprising that's plainly suicidal. Continue reading at 'Los Angeles Times'
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
Toni Morrison, giant of American literature and the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, has passed away. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-06 14:08:13 UTC ]
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Interviews Matthew Davis Ugandan novelist and short-story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-06 13:42:31 UTC ]
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All photos courtesy of Hannah Colen. Held in Washington D.C., the Second-Annual Asian American Literature Festival took place this year at multiple locations including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Freer|Sackler Galleries, and kicked off at Franklin Park down the street from the Eaton... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-05 16:16:47 UTC ]
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As an American-born literature scholar and writer who became a permanent resident of Canada last year, I’ve spent a lot of time recently wondering how to differentiate between American literature and Canadian literature. Growing up in the 1980s, I saw these two nations as not just contiguous but... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-10 11:00:48 UTC ]
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The MIT Press will sponsor the American Literature and Culture program at the 2019 Oxford Literary Festival, marking the first time a university press sponsor has partnered with the festival in this way. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailer insists Authors Guild report that criticised the online giant for contributing to tumbling writers’ incomes used flawed figures, but Guild stands by findingsAmazon has called the conclusions of a recent report into US author earnings flawed, after the Authors Guild suggested that the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Guild survey finds writers’ incomes have fallen dramatically in five years – with literary novelists worst-hitA major survey of American authors has uncovered a crash in author earnings described as “a crisis of epic proportions” – particularly for full-time literary writers, who are “on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stan Lee's impact on popular culture spurred a billion dollar superhero industry, but the comic supremo's contribution to American literature during a period of intense social change was just as rich. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2018-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new study finds a 'dramatic' increase in swear words in American literature over the last 60 years. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's not just your @#%& imagination: American books have gotten a lot more profane over the last six decades, according to a study led by a San Diego State University psychology professor. A team of scholars reports that there's been a “dramatic” increase in curse words in American... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What Twain eventually learned, after an interminable time on the trail, is that turkeys have a genius for feigning injury. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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People love road trips. Some like 'em more than others. And some like them perhaps a little bit too much. This interactive map from Richard Kreitner and Steven Melendez crams the locations mentioned in twelve road-tripping books including Mark Twain... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Portrayal of liberal lawyer’s dark side praised for its realism by civil rights campaignerOne of the great figures of American literature has suffered dramatic reputational damage this weekend. The unexpected early release of shocking plot details from the new novel by Harper Lee, a sequel to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Established in memory of Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow, the $25,000 award is presented biannually to a living American author whose "scale of achievement in fiction, over a sustained career, places him or her in the highest rank of American literature." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent David Godwin predicts that small publishers in India will soon be forced aside by monolithic publishing houses run overseas. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The unnamed protagonist in Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' gets into trouble while hiking in the frozen Yukon with his dog. Widely considered to be London’s best short story, 'To Build a Fire' captures the cold with painful accuracy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"City of Night" was not the first overtly gay-themed book but it may be the most unapologetic, a searing screed of life on the edge.I spent part of Wednesday afternoon at UCLA, on a panel to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Rechy’s novel “City of Night,” newly reissued to commemorate the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Scott Turow's 'Identical' is a compulsively readable crime story about brothers, feuding families and a long-ago murder.Over the course of nine novels, Scott Turow's Kindle County has become one the best-known settings in American literature. While fictional locations are not uncommon... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James McBride takes liberties as he visits the story of white abolitionist John Brown through the eyes of a young slave in 'The Good Lord Bird.'John Brown, the white abolitionist who sought to free black slaves with the barrel of a gun, is a recurring character in American literature. He's one... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Times Book Critic David L. Ulin reflects on DOMA and writer John Rechy.John Rechy should be proud. It was his 1963 novel "City of Night" ¿ the story of a gay street hustler that took place, in part, in downtown¿s Pershing Square ¿ that helped carve out a place for gay writing in American literature. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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