From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a motherThey say nothing prepares you. Before having my baby, I approached the literature of motherhood as though I were about to sit an exam. If my studies tempered the shock of birth and early parenthood, then I didn’t notice. The sheer physical and emotive force of the experience left me profoundly shaken. Words felt insufficient. And yet I kept reading – everything I could get my hands on. I wanted answers. I wanted to feel recognised. I wanted this untranslatable experience to be translated into language. Most of all, I think, I wanted restitution for all the maternal stories that had been left untold by centuries of silencing and minimising, not just for myself, but for all of us.Books about motherhood come in waves: the recent spate only the latest in a long line of literary endeavours. In the 1950s there was Shirley Jackson’s Life Among the Savages. The 1960s wave saw Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone and Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, alongside Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique; the 1970s The Women’s Room by Marilyn French, Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born, and In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker. In the 1980s writing about motherhood became even more transgressive and imaginative, with Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. The early 2000s saw an... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:00:01 UTC ]
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Shakespeare's plays will become contemporary novels, as the transatlantic Hogarth Press, an imprint of Random House, has announced it is commissioning prominent writers to adapt the Elizabethan plays.Shakespeare’s plays will become contemporary novels, as the transatlantic Hogarth Press, an... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egyptian journalist and bestselling author Ibrahim Issa believes the Arab Spring has added religious oppression to the existing political hardships of the region. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Debut novelist Taiye Selasi, whose tale of a fractured family Ghana Must Go was published by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It is one of the eccentricities of American publishing that James Salter has not been widely embraced as a great writer. His books are as good as those of post-war novelists like John Updike, Philip Roth, Richard Ford, and critics have often said so, and yet he is nowhere near as beloved or... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How do you live with the knowledge that your baby is dying? A radiant new memoir chronicles the nine months after a mother's worst nightmare came true.Emily Rapp is not one to sugarcoat hard truths, including the brutal diagnosis she and her husband received in January 2011 when they took their... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo and Curtis Brown have teamed up to create free scholarships for the Curtis Brown Creative... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Literary Platform and Bath Spa University have partnered on a new bursary for partnering... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This is an excerpt from Mark O’Connell’s Epic Fail, an original ebook published by The Millions. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon has said he expects at least 15% of Penguin's profit... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There has lately been a rising backlash against the ubiquity of personal writing. Hamilton Nolan’s anti-confessional diatribe in Gawker claims that journalism students are now taught only to write about themselves, which I can say as a full-time faculty member at a journalism school is patently... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eoin Colfer has been named as the author of the first of Puffin's eleven Dr Who short stories... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British writer and two-time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel has been named novelist of the year at Britain’s Costa Book Awards for ‘Bring Up the Bodies’. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hot Key Books has launched a free interactive writing project, "Fleur Hitchcock's Story... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A couple of years ago, I embarked on a quixotic quest: I gave up the Internet. Surfing, emailing, YouTube-watching—it had taken over my life, eating into time I wanted to be spending with my family, my students, and my work. I documented my four-month Internet fast in a series of articles for... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thinking about how to give the next generation a step up, four young booksellers started the Emerging Leaders Project in 2006 with the support of the American Booksellers Association. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things, announced at the Sharjah International Book Fair that she is currently working on a new novel. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s been a year since Steve Jobs passed away, and yet it’s still easy to be reminded of his legacy in the publishing industry. It’s omnipresent in the equipment used to create content, especially the operating system th ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan is the latest publisher to start offering creative writing tutoring. It will begin... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reports say the pop superstar is close to signing a book deal with an imprint of HarperCollins. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple unveiled today the 7" iPad Mini and a new, 4th generation iPad. The Mini will start at $329 and is aimed at book readers. iBooks has also been updated. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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