On Translation Browsing a Copenhagen airport bookstore, a translator picks up a book. The journey between that impulse and his eventual translation of the memoir into English was both emotional and serendipitous. In the summer of 2016 I was passing through Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen with my wife, on our way home after a visit with family. We stopped to browse the bookstore, and I noticed a reprint of a book by Danish author Tove Ditlevsen called Gift, which had first been published in 1971. I hadn’t read much of her work, but I knew she was a big name, so I bought it, even though the cover was strange, a psychedelic skull on a gray background. It did not take more than a couple of sittings to devour this memoir of Tove Ditlevsen’s life from the ages of about twenty-three to thirty-five. It chronicles her rise as a best-selling author, while she also had four failed marriages, two back-alley abortions, and a five-year near-fatal addiction to the opioid Demerol. I distinctly remember laying the book down after the final page and thinking to myself, I think this is a masterpiece. This was an intuitive judgment, not a conclusion I had come to after analyzing the text. But looking back now, I think what caused me to deem this work a masterpiece is the combination of Ditlevsen’s writing style, which is concise, honest, and ironic, combined with the content of her story, which through her many troubling experiences pulls back the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-06 13:12:22 UTC ]
Putnam lands Jill Santopolo’s long anticipated sequel to The Light We Lost, Gallery signs a memoir by late fashion designer Kate Spade’s best friend, and more Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Chloe Walsh’s ‘Taming 7,’ a new entry in her BookTok-popular Boys of Tommen YA series, debuts at #3 on our children’s fiction list. Plus novelists Salman Rushdie and Caleb Carr publish memoirs, and a memoir in Spanish by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a stateside hit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The former N.F.L. player has been living with A.L.S. for more than a decade. Sharing “the most lacerating and vulnerable times” in “A Life Impossible” was worth the physical and emotional toll, he says. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-04-25 09:00:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Australian actor’s book Rebel Rising will have allegations of incident on set of Grimsby that left her ‘feeling bullied, humiliated, and compromised’ struck outThe UK edition of Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s memoir will be published with redacted passages relating to her experience on set with... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-04-24 12:50:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A mix of history, memoir and biography, this book reflects on how time, perspective and stories left unwritten can shape our view of the past. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-04-24 10:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The editor and essayist Joseph Epstein looks back on his life and career in two new books. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-04-22 09:03:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When is enough enough? Ryan Chapman on wants, needs, money, and time. | Lit Hub Memoir “Resets are necessary throughout a writing life.” Julia Alvarez on falling in love with writing again. | Lit Hub Craft What does Lord Byron have in common with Che Guevara? “A revolutionary who loves poetry... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-19 10:30:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The 10 best books of April offer adventurous readers everything from a futuristic novel to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s history-laced memoir about the 1960s. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2024-04-18 11:34:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“It always says the same thing: the vast majority of writers don’t earn enough from writing to make a decent living.” David Hill reflects on writing as labor. | Lit Hub Memoir Ethel Rohan on writing about grief: “For most of my life, I’ve suffered in shame and silence while the men who hurt me […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-18 10:30:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A memoir of survival by Salman Rushdie, a Japanese thriller/mystery, a tale of four sisters in Ireland, and more round out today's list of new releases. Which ones are you adding to your list? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-04-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Clair Wills’s memoir is a timely warning that sexual morality can be enforced only with violence. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2024-04-12 14:46:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Russian opposition politician, who died in prison in February, completed an autobiography which will come out later this yearA memoir by the late Russian politician Alexei Navalny is due to be published this autumn, publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced.The Russian opposition... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-04-11 16:01:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
'You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again' ranks No. 31 on our list of the best Hollywood books of all time because it's the ultimate Icarus story, unflinchingly detailing its author's descent. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-04-08 10:00:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Anna Shechtman’s The Riddles of the Sphinx is, so I am told, a memoir of recovery from anorexia and a group biography of the women who developed crossword puzzles. But this is a book that transcends its essential categories: it’s not just a memoir because it allows the reader to move between the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-04 08:54:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
New novels from Emily Henry, Jo Piazza and Rachel Khong; a history of five ballerinas at the Dance Theater of Harlem; Salman Rushdie’s memoir and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-03-28 20:59:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this
It turns out that sitting down to write and stepping up to the starting block aren’t so different. Jade Song on what swimming has taught her about craft. | Lit Hub Memoir The Great Bambino wasn’t the only slugger with an unforgettable nickname. Kevin Baker introduces us to Boom-Boom,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-28 10:30:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In my ayahuasca eco-memoir Mothership, I enjoy playing hopscotch along an often-overlooked spectrum, with autobiographical memoir at one end and “objective” narrative nonfiction at the other. How personal and self-revealing do I want to be in my environmental reporting? How much do I want to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-27 08:54:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“My job as a parent isn’t over until your book gets published,” my father said, years ago. I don’t remember the circumstances of this statement—where we were, what we were doing. I want to say it had something to do with his body, maybe the deterioration of his lungs to COPD, his breathing so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-27 08:54:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
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 ]
More news stories like this
“The routine was not all that remarkable for her, but from the outside looking in, it felt momentous.” Mia Manzulli considers proximity, distance, and living next to Joyce Carol Oates. | Lit Hub Memoir “Octopuses had been known to demonstrate rudimentary intelligence, but Mather recognized this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-23 10:30:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this