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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With a first novel that chronicles a love affair between two young men, 23-year-old Ani Kayode Somtochukwu asserts a commitment to “queer resistance.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-05 16:02:45 UTC ]
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Call comes amid moves to combat disinformation from Russia, while Twitter is warned to comply with new digital content lawsSocial media companies including Google and Facebook have been urged by the EU to “immediately” start labelling content and images generated by artificial intelligence as... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-05 13:06:04 UTC ]
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The American author talks about growing up queer in a family of ‘wolves’, poverty and class in the US, and the 19th-century writers who inspired his latest novelBrandon Taylor writes quickly. “I can type almost as fast as I can think,” he says. The first draft of his debut novel, the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-03 10:00:28 UTC ]
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Author tells Hay literary festival he needs to ‘get past’ the knife attack he suffered before writing anything elseSalman Rushdie is writing a book about being stabbed on stage in New York last year, an attack which left him without sight in one eye, the author told the Hay literary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-01 20:20:47 UTC ]
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For 17 books, Luis Alberto Urrea has highlighted the joys and sorrows of life along the U.S.-Mexican border, a territory which moves with its peoples, no matter the walls we build on the land and in our hearts. Through his memoir Nobody’s Son, novels like The House of Broken Angels, his essay... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-05-31 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Luis Alberto Urrea joins the L.A. Times Book club July 19 to discuss his new novel, "Good Night, Irene." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-24 14:00:39 UTC ]
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We were enamored with the Kindle Scribe when we reviewed it, but we weren't blind to its shortcomings, including its limited editing capabilities. Now, Amazon has rolled out an update for the device, which solves some of the issues we had with it and makes it a much better option for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-23 05:17:53 UTC ]
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Haymarket Books is establishing a writing fellowship program that emphasizes mentorship and professional development to support the work of incarcerated individuals and others impacted by the criminal legal system. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, best known for a scathing, dazzling trilogy of novels on money-saturated '80s London and the memoir "Experience," died Friday at 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-20 20:05:38 UTC ]
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The celebrated author of Money and London Fields, whose works defined the 80s and 90s literary scene, died of oesophageal cancer on Friday at his home in FloridaMartin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 18:53:35 UTC ]
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Publisher says cover of House of Earth and Blood was prepared by in-house designers unaware the stock image chosen was not human-madePublisher Bloomsbury has said it was unaware an image it used on the cover of a book by fantasy author Sarah J Maas was generated by artificial intelligence.The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-19 14:30:22 UTC ]
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In 'Life B: Overcoming Double Depression,' book critic Bethanne Patrick writes of a life stifled by family commitments and undiagnosed mental illness — until now. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-16 13:00:23 UTC ]
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Some in the book industry have already begun exploring automation of its pitches to readers. We took this functionality for a test drive“Blurb writing is a mini art form,” Iris Murdoch once wrote in a letter to former Penguin blurb writer Elizabeth Buchan. And like many other art forms,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Mother’s Day was never a real holiday to my mother—more about marketing than raising me. No white carnations or special dinners for her. But that my memoir about her, Irma: The Education of a Mother’s Son, was published just before this Mother’s Day would make her smile. Likewise, that I have... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-12 13:21:24 UTC ]
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Kevin Powers was among the best in a wave of novelists on Iraq and Afghanistan. His new thriller, "A Line in the Sand," signals their slow fade from relevance. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-12 13:00:10 UTC ]
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In her debut novel A History of Burning, Janika Oza gives us the story of a family, one migration journey at a time. Beginning with indentured labor that leads the first member of the family, Pirbhai, from his home in India to East Africa, we follow four generations across several continents and... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-05-12 11:00:00 UTC ]
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MacArthur Fellow and National Book Award–winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates talked about the war on books, the imbalance of power, and learning as liberation at the PEN America World Voices Festival on May 11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What do Amanda Gorman, Truman Capote, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates have in common? Each won a Scholastic Art & Writing Award as a teen. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards began in 1923 and continue to support young writers thanks to The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 12:47:48 UTC ]
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Share the Joy of Giving—and Receiving—Books as Gifts, by The Editors of WLT News and Events [email protected] Mon, 05/01/2023 - 15:39 Isobelle Ouzman, Peace for Ukraine (2022; detail), miniature plain paper journal, ink, color pencils, art knife,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-05-01 20:39:57 UTC ]
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