Peter Barnes’ monologue about a royal footman was commissioned for radio but never broadcast until now. Director Philip Franks and others unravel its mysteryThe most celebrated set of dramatic monologues for broadcasting and theatre are Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, first performed in the 1980s. But, at around the same time, a lesser-known dramatist created another trove of solos. Peter Barnes had 14 soliloquies on BBC Radio 3 under the umbrella titles Barnes’ People and More Barnes’ People. They attracted remarkable actors, including Laurence Olivier (in his final role), Judi Dench, Alec Guinness, Alan Rickman, Janet Suzman and Jeremy Irons.Barnes wrote, though, a 15th monologue, which the BBC, in mysterious circumstances, withdrew from production in 1990. A True Born Englishman, in which a Buckingham Palace lackey recalls his career, will now have its world premiere online, performed by Adrian Scarborough, on 18 February, alongside new versions of three monologues that did go out on radio. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-02-12 13:00:44 UTC ]
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Sarah Hall has become the first author to win the BBC National Short Story Award twice in its 15-year history. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-06 01:38:09 UTC ]
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CrimeCon is partnering with Bonnier Books UK to launch its first true crime weekend in London next summer, featuring Lynda La Plante, Christopher Berry-Dee, Wensley Clarkson and Carl Chinn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-29 03:56:00 UTC ]
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The fact that these insightful, helpful and encouraging books are meeting such resistance is a distressing sign. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' topped the ALA's list of the most banned and challenged books between 2010-2019. The list was released to coincide with the start of Banned Books Week, which runs through October 3. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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IN HONOR of Banned Books Week, LARB’s editors have compiled a brief anthology of essays on works of literature that were — and, in some cases, still are — officially unavailable to large groups of readers around the world, as well as interviews with authors who have faced censorship. In this... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-27 12:30:06 UTC ]
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The end of this month marks the 39th annual Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read, to express and exchange ideas. Perhaps it goes without saying that absent such liberties, there would be no Los Angeles Review of Books. But while books of all stripes keep us occupied here at... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-27 12:30:03 UTC ]
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Sphere has acquired a book in which the author tells the story of her own investigation into the long-unsolved murder of her stepsister. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-17 23:03:19 UTC ]
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This November Chatto & Windus will publish a collection of lockdown stories and experiences from BBC Radio 4’s "PM", with a foreword from the programme's presenter Evan Davis. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-17 13:23:06 UTC ]
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As she publishes a moving memoir, the Corrie, Dinnerladies and West End star talks about her three-decade battle with typecasting – and almost dying of Covid-19 Shobna Gulati is speaking about this past horrendous year in surprisingly serene tones. Her mother died last autumn, and a few months... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-09-16 05:00:14 UTC ]
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Sarah Hall has been shortlisted for the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award for the fourth time, after winning the prize in 2013. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-11 10:46:38 UTC ]
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The last six months, since the start of lockdown, has been full of revelations - for us as a society and for all of us as individuals. Both the fragility and preciousness of our social infrastructure has rarely been more starkly highlighted, and we’ve all undergone personal experiences that have... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-10 20:42:44 UTC ]
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Akhtar has crafted a phenomenal coalescence of memoir, fiction, history and cultural analysis. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-31 10:55:09 UTC ]
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BBC Books has picked up Behind the Sequins, a book by dance star and “Strictly” head judge Shirley Ballas detailing her “dramatic and determined” life. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-27 09:09:12 UTC ]
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A 12-person committee previously met twice a month to approve or blacklist all books published in the country, for offences including immorality or insulting IslamAfter banning almost 5,000 books in the last seven years, Kuwait’s government has relaxed its book censorship laws in a move that has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-25 13:26:49 UTC ]
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Few science fiction writers have their vision of the future tested immediately upon publication. But that’s what happened to Ilze Hugo, whose novel about a mysterious epidemic, The Down Days, debuted in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. “To be published right in the middle of all this is the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-07 08:48:58 UTC ]
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As Covid-19 continues to spread, many fall events have moved online, and publishers don’t see a meaningful return of employees anytime soon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-31 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Ugandan novelist prepares to break out with her sophomore effort, 'A Girl Is a Body of Water.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Mary Ellen Peacock Meredith may not have been famous, but Diane Johnson’s 1972 biography of the tragic figure is well worth your time. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-22 16:38:39 UTC ]
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Author and activist Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons looks to set a new agenda in his first book, 'Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The International Publishers Association has expressed concern following reports in the Guardian, Global Times and the Wall Street Journal that certain books have have been removed from public libraries and bookshops. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-19 23:19:42 UTC ]
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