Retellings of novels like Huckleberry Finn and David Copperfield help to keep the canon aliveIt might have lost out at the Booker, but James, a reworking of Huckleberry Finn by Percival Everett, was the unofficial book of 2024, topping best-of-the-year lists and winning the prestigious US Book Award for fiction. Everett retells Mark Twain’s 1884 picaresque novel about a 13-year-old boy’s escapades on the Mississippi from the perspective of runaway slave Jim. Shocking, gripping and surprisingly comic, it’s a bravura performance that celebrates and subverts the original.Its success follows that of last year’s Women’s prize-winning Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, a dazzling 550-page updating of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield transported to the author’s home region of Appalachia during the 1990s opioid epidemic. As the supreme chronicler of social injustice, Dickens provided Kingsolver with “a masterclass” in how to use narrative to make readers care about a latter-day underclass.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-12-30 18:25:43 UTC ]
An international writing organisation appeared to greenlight the use of AI, prompting anger, the resignation of four board members and an entire creative community to ask: ‘What?!’Please spare a thought for artificial intelligence (AI). It may not have feelings yet but, if it did, it would feel... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-11 10:00:07 UTC ]
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Lit Hub is excited to feature another entry from Poets.org’s “enjambments,” a monthly interview series with new and established poets. This month, they spoke to Dunya Mikhail. Dunya Mikhail is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Tablets: Secrets of the Clay (New Directions, 2024).... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-09 08:55:06 UTC ]
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“Wild Text Raging”: A Conversation with Threa Almontaser, by Renee H. Shea Interviews [email protected] Tue, 09/03/2024 - 14:05 Photo courtesy of the author / ThreaWrites.comThe Wild Fox of Yemen, by Threa Almontaser, received the Academy of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-09-03 19:05:24 UTC ]
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The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which “honors writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace,” has today announced its 2024 book award finalists. The winners in each category will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and the runners-up will be awarded $5,000. The 2024... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-15 12:00:52 UTC ]
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Romantasy titles lead the list of 13 books that must be removed from public schools. Plus: a book award given from behind bars, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-08-05 15:05:00 UTC ]
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The inaugural Inside Prize has named its first recipient—the author Imani Perry. The new book award is “a collaborative project of Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation, Center for Justice Innovation and Dallas bookstore owner Lori Feathers.” And in a novel move, all the prize judges are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-02 17:05:17 UTC ]
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No Sally Rooney, one clear favourite and a novel set in space - this is a longlist of unexpected discoveries and big ideas• Three British novelists make Booker 2024 longlist among ‘cohort of global voices’It is 10 years since the Booker prize expanded its remit to include American novelists. The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-07-30 13:04:15 UTC ]
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AudioFile recommends 10 excellent new audiobooks for spring, including masterful new works from Hanif Abdurraqib, Percival Everett, and more. Whether you’re looking for a memoir told in the author’s own voice or a fascinating novel performed by professional narrators, you’ll find something... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2024-05-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
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For The Book Review Podcast’s May book club, we’ll talk about “James,” Percival Everett’s radical reimagining of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-05-10 15:51:16 UTC ]
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The winning authors will share a cash award of $20,000, and the winning publishers will share a grant for $30,000 to support “the immediate open access publication of at least two new books.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Following mass withdrawals of books from consideration, PEN America has canceled its 2024 Literary Awards ceremony, previously slated for April 29. Two cash prizes will still be conferred, and the $75,000 purse accompanying the PEN/Stein Book Award will be donated to the Palestine Children’s... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Nine of the 10 longlisted authors for this year's PEN/Jean Stein Book Award have withdrawn their books for consideration for the prize, effectively rendering it unawardable, as the controversy surrounding the freedom of expression organization continues to expand in scope. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Percival Everett’s ‘James,’ a retelling of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ from Jim’s perspective, lands at #3 on our hardcover fiction list. Plus Dog Main graphic novelist Dav Pilkey pays it forward, and ‘Ghost Town Living’ author Brent Underwood stakes his claim. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Liturgy and Anxiety of Ordinary Lives: In Conversation with Rigoberto González, by Darlington Chibueze Anuonye Interviews [email protected] Tue, 03/26/2024 - 08:23 Rigoberto González / Photo by Mahsa HojjatiRecently, I scheduled a zoom call... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-03-26 13:23:19 UTC ]
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Books to read in March include "James" by Percival Everett, "Wandering Stars" by Tommy Orange and "Age of Revolutions" by Fareed Zakaria. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-03-01 11:02:40 UTC ]
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Novelist Jacinda Townsend and writer James Bernard Short join co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about the movie American Fiction, which is based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Townsend and Short discuss how the film addresses race in the publishing industry via... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-08 09:08:33 UTC ]
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The eighth cycle of the UK's Parliamentary Book Awards names the program's three winners in a reception at the Houses of Parliament. The post UK: The New Parliamentary Book Award Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-02-07 17:24:31 UTC ]
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The online publishing service has been criticised for the way it has allowed extremist propaganda to flourish on the siteIt’s funny how naive smart people can be sometimes. Take the founders of Substack, a US-based online platform that enables writers to send digital newsletters directly to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-06 16:00:14 UTC ]
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Over the next six months, inmates in prisons around the country will be able to debate and vote on the winner of a new book award — the Inside Literary Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-04 10:01:30 UTC ]
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In 'Queer History A to Z: 100 Years of LGBTQ+ Activism' (Kids Can Press, May 2024), Robin Stevenson explores the people, events, and circumstances that helped shape the rich history of LGBTQ+ activism in North America. Stevenson, a Stonewall Book Award recipient, spoke to PW about making queer... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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