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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Australia's first major literary prize for women's writing, the Stella Prize, said to be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author JK Rowling has promised fans that her next published book will be for children. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When a man routinely hailed as one of America’s “greatest living writers” publishes a new novel, one hardly expects it to draw reviews posing questions along the lines of “Can he do it? Can he actually pull it off?” Because when you’re Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner, the act of writing a... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Throughout its 17-year history, Amazon has helped change the way that books are sold, the format in which they’re read and how they are published. Now it could change how they’re written. In addition to the Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon introduced a subscription book format... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo is to up the level of royalties self-published authors earn on its Writing Life platform by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Polarised views on low ebook prices have been raised this week, as Sony and Amazon continue to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chen Guangcheng, whose nighttime escape and conflict with the Chinese government led to a diplomatic crisis for the United States last spring, is writing a memoir to be published next year. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The television star mines childhood fascination in writing 'The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.' When Chris Colfer was just 20, he'd already been named one of GQ magazine's men of the year, having sung and acted his way into the hearts of America as Kurt, the high-pitched, openly gay brunet... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nobel Prize-winning author's brother says the effects of dementia mean Márquez may be unable to write. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo says his new work is a "tribute to the printed book" and will not be sold online. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House Childrens Publishing is to bring out a young adult novel written by Niall Leonard,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House Children's Publishing is to bring out a young adult novel written by Niall... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford talks about his new novel "Canada," his memories of the late Raymond Carver, and how art makes life. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Historical novelist Barry Unsworth, who won the Booker Prize in 1992 for his novel about the 18th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Curtis Brown has restructured its top management, with c.e.o. Jonathan Lloyd moving to the role... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta Magazine has opened submissions for the fourth edition of the Best of Young British... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NEW YORK — May 15, 2012 — At Adobe’s annual Digital Publishing Summit, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced a series of groundbreaking new features for Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) th ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A dozen books a year? Some writers are accelerating the pace in this brave new world of ebooks. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writer Tod Goldberg couldn't quite grasp the essence of Los Angeles as a young first-time visitor, but that had as much to do with the city as with him.I can still remember the first time I saw Los Angeles. It was December 1980, I was 9 years old, and the view came from the back seat of my older... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber has set up a new prize in memory of author Gordon Burn, alongside New Writing North and the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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