The Presence of the Past in Good Night, Irene: A Conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea, by Renee H. Shea Interviews [email protected] Fri, 05/26/2023 - 13:30 The author’s mother, Phyllis Irene McLaughlinAward-winning writer Luis Alberto Urrea describes Good Night, Irene (Little, Brown, 2023) as “the book I have spent most of my life preparing to write.” This novel is inspired by his mother, Phyllis Irene McLaughlin, and by Jill Pitts Knappenberger for their work in World War II as part of the American Red Cross Clubmobile Service. Known affectionately as the Donut Dollies, these women were in the midst of combat as they drove their trucks from one site of battle to another. Urrea was aware that his mother had been one of the 250 Clubmobile women, but not until after she died did he learn that her war buddy Jill was still living and the keeper of an extensive archive. Years of conversations with Jill, research into the Clubmobile corps, and travel to key places of the European theater led to Good Night, Irene’s fictional tribute to Urrea’s mother and her friend Jill as well as other overlooked but heroic women who served in World War II. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for The Devil’s Highway, Urrea (b. 1955) is the author of numerous other works of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction, including the national bestsellers The Hummingbird’s Daughter and The House of Broken Angels (see WLT, Nov. 2022, 6). A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow,... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2023-05-26 18:30:53 UTC ]
"We want to be recognised as one of the leading children’s book publishers in the industry: we want not only to be recognised, we want to be respected.” Sanjee de Silva (pictured), the new publisher at Sweet Cherry, recently named Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards, has big... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 22:25:53 UTC ]
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The list of Pulitzer Prize-winning books is dominated by white men, so we're highlighting winning nonfiction by women and people of color. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-05-17 10:37:00 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Ghetto Heroes Square in Kraków / Photo by annaspies / Flickr Piotr Florczyk’s From the Annals of Kraków (Lynx House Press, 2020) narrates the searing realization of an almost unnoticed absence, a regret urging us to learn about... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-28 20:24:52 UTC ]
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By now, many (if not most) of us have seen the cellphone video of the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota Police officer Derek Chauvin multiple times. The video—captured by a Black teenager named Darnella Frazier while she was walking to the store with her young cousin—has featured prominently... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-04-22 12:44:36 UTC ]
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I set up The Middle Way Mentoring Project, a two year professional development scheme, to support early-career writers take the next step in their writing career. Through my work managing a small press I met plenty of ‘nearly there’ writers who weren’t able to take the next step. These writers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-20 21:18:59 UTC ]
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Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, one of the officers involved in the fatal shooting, has a book deal with a small press, but its distributor, Simon & Schuster, in an unusual move, said it won’t ship it. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-04-16 22:14:05 UTC ]
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On publication in January, Iranian-Jamaican Brooklynite Mateo Askaripour’s Black Buck became an instant New York Times bestseller. Described as “a crackling, satirical début novel”, and informed by the author’s own experiences in the tech world, the book has been compared to The Great Gatsby... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-09 04:51:31 UTC ]
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You may have noticed that here at Literary Hub, we’re pretty big fans of Octavia Butler—and especially of Kindred, arguably her most famous novel. So we were very excited by the recent news that that 42-year-old book is finally getting an adaptation: FX has recently ordered a pilot, which was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-19 14:00:40 UTC ]
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Eight retailers and nine small presses now are in the running for the British Book Awards' top winners' list, coming in May. The post Nibbies 2021: Bookstore, Small Press Regional and Country Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-17 11:28:19 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald reexamines his father’s legacy in this fascinating blend of family memoir and moral reckoning. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-13 14:00:00 UTC ]
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I started querying agents for my memoir, Negative Space, in 2012, after two years of writing and revising. I got a few rounds of passes, including several friendly rejections in which agents said they just didn’t “know how to sell” my book. I heard this refrain enough times that I started... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-03-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Late in 1942 a Buddhist monk living in Los Angeles carefully inscribed his name in a recently published book by the poet Wallace Stevens. The Buddhist monk had moved to Los Angeles from Japan a year earlier. The book was Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction, published by the Cummington Press, a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-04 09:49:49 UTC ]
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Ten Evenings with Karen Russell Monday, February 22, All-day As part of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series, bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Karen Russell will discuss her newest collection, Orange World. Buy a virtual pass to watch anytime online for one week at $15 per... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-22 09:48:10 UTC ]
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All told, more than 90 small presses and independent bookshops are in the running now for the British Book Awards' annual honors. The post British Book Awards: Bookstore, Small Press Shortlists appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-02-21 16:10:23 UTC ]
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Find powerful and compelling essays on race, politics, culture, and more in this list of recent small press essay collections. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-17 11:38:00 UTC ]
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In “Under a White Sky,” the Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Kolbert meets people who are trying to reverse the course of man-made environmental disaster. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-10 10:00:00 UTC ]
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A Pulitzer Prize winner and a National Book Award finalist have new books headed our way. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-02 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Small Press Distribution has hired a workplace investigation and mediation firm following allegations of wage and discrimination issues by current and former employees. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
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His exhaustive coverage of the Vietnam War also led to the book “A Bright Shining Lie,” which won a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-07 23:20:39 UTC ]
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Publisher Martine Paulais wants her new French publishing house, L'Ourse brune, to produce 'beautiful books' of short stories. The post France: A New Small Press in Normandy Champions Short Stories appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-01-07 15:21:11 UTC ]
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