What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright

Interviews Victoria Chang’s new collection, Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters. It prompts us to ask, with her, What composes a life and what makes of life art? What makes of memory history, and whose history, and how do we survive loss? We might expect the author of five books of poetry and two children’s books to incorporate the lyric in her first book of nonfiction, but Chang goes further. If her memories arrive at times as poetry, she denies them the protection of a poem. For instance, at the end of a letter that begins, “Do you remember those Fridays in gym class . . . ,” she realizes that memory may be “the exit wound of joy.” Such insights pierce us before we can register surprise. Elsewhere, she covers her mother’s mouth with three Mandarin characters in the photo on her certificate of naturalization, inserting her reservation into the official record along with her daughter’s grief. I reached out to Chang, moved by this book’s innovative form. “It was always my goal as a writer to be able to make whatever I want,” she told me via Zoom video hosted by the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University, which she directs. The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN Voelcker Award, a Sustainable Arts Foundation... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-05 19:50:39 UTC ]
News tagged with: #human emotions #toxic masculinity #daily basis #curly hair #times book #memoir

Other Publishing stories related to: 'What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright'


Sceptre lands Qureshi’s debut short story collection after four-way battle

Sceptre has won a four-way auction to publish Huma Qureshi’s prize-winning debut short story collection, Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love, next November. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 06:10:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


A Wave Blue World Debuts New Model for Publishing Comics

A Wave Blue World is an independent comics and graphic novel publisher with an unusual model. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent comics #graphic novel


Denver Indie Bookstore Launches BookBar Press with Debut Release

Independent Denver bookstore BookBar has launched its new publishing division, BookBar Press, with the publication of an anthology of micro-plays written by area playwrights. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing division #bookbar press #anthology #bookstore


Hodder Studio pre-empts two from debut author Amanda Block

Hodder Studio has pre-empted two books from Amanda Block, including her debut The Lost Storyteller, which will be published in July 2021 in hardback, e-book and audiobook. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-10 15:06:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hodder studio #e-book #hodder #debut author


Sceptre acquires tragicomic debut Tiepolo Blue at auction

Sceptre has acquired Tiepolo Blue, a satire set in the art world of 1990s London, at auction. The book, charting the fall from grace of an esteemed Cambridge professor, is the debut of James Cahill, a critic and academic at King’s College London. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-10 03:09:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #art world


Year-End Changes: PRH Canada Separates Knopf and Random House

CEO Kristin Cochrane retains Anne Collins while moving Martha Kanya-Forstner to lead Knopf Canada and bringing in Sue Kuruvilla for RH Canada. The post Year-End Changes: PRH Canada Separates Knopf and Random House appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-09 21:22:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #random house


HQ lands Kuzniar's adult debut reimagining The Nutcracker

HQ has landed the debut adult novel from M A Kuzniar, Midnight in Everwood, as part of a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-09 11:19:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #debut adult


Cape wins Crooks' 'phenomenal' debut novel in 10-way auction

Jonathan Cape has won a 10-publisher auction for Fire Rush, the “phenomenal” debut novel by Jacqueline Crooks. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-09 10:11:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jacqueline crooks #jonathan cape #debut novel


Fourth Estate wins four-way auction for Brown Girls debut

Fourth Estate has triumphed in a four-way publisher auction for Daphne Palasi Andreades’ “evocative and original” debut novel Brown Girls in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 17:18:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publisher auction #fourth estate


Bill Gates says to read these 5 books for ‘a change of pace’ this holiday season

The billionaire philanthropist offers some recommendations to get you through the final stretches of quarantine. While Bill Gates’s 2020 summer reading list concentrated on the pandemic and its economic repercussions, the Microsoft founder opted for a “change of pace” in considering his... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-12-08 11:00:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


William Collins pre-empts 'radical' Dalrymple debut on Indian independence

William Collins has snapped up a “radical” new assessment of Indian independence from debut author Sam Dalrymple in a pre-emptive co-publication deal with HarperCollins India. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-06 19:12:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #william collins #harpercollins india #harpercollins #debut author


WATCH: Novelist C Pam Zhang in Conversation with John Freeman

Click below to watch the first virtual meeting of the Alta California Book Club, which Books Editor of Alta Journal David Ulin describes as: an opportunity for us to rethink the book club as a kind of ongoing process involving events, involving posts and interviews and discussions on the Alta... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-02 09:48:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post watch #pam zhang #john freeman #literary hub #book club #books editor


Life Isn’t a Narrative: A Conversation with JoAnn Wypijewski

JoAnn Wypijewski is a writer, editor, and journalist based in New York. From 1982 to 2000, she was an editor at The Nation magazine and co-editor, with Kevin Alexander Gray and Jeffrey St. Clair, of Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence (2014). She has written for CounterPunch,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-26 18:00:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #life isn #anthology


Raven acquires two in 'major' debut deal

Alison Hennessey, publishing director of Bloomsbury Publishing's Raven Books, has sealed a two-book deal after a "passionately fought" auction for The Leviathan and The Puzzle Wood by debut author Helen-Rose (Rosie) Andrews. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-26 12:42:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bloomsbury publishing #raven books #debut author #bloomsbury #publishing director


Viking pre-empts debut from former bookseller Ben Hinshaw

The debut novel from former Daunt Books bookseller Ben Hinshaw will be published by Viking in spring 2022.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-25 14:18:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #debut novel #bookseller


Audible bows to pressure and changes returns policy

Audible has announced changes to its returns policy, following an open letter signed by over 10,000 authors and industry representatives demanding that it do so.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 18:12:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #returns policy


'We've always had to battle complacency': Authors Ijeoma Oluo and Emmanuel Acho in conversation

Antiracist author Ijeoma Oluo, whose latest book is 'Mediocre,' joins Emmanuel Acho, author of 'Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man,' for a frank talk. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-24 15:16:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #uncomfortable conversations #black man


Authors Guild demands changes to Audible's returns policy

US writers' body The Authors Guild has sent an open letter to Audible, demanding the company make changes to its policy on returns. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 08:16:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #returns policy #open letter #authors guild


Barnes, Clarke and host of debuts make Costa shortlists

Susanna Clarke, Julian Barnes and Meg Rossoff are joined by 10 debut authors in the shortlists for this year's Costa Book Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 05:20:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #susanna clarke #julian barnes #costa book


Hodder Studio acquires 'utterly compelling' Marshall debut

Hodder Studio has acquired two titles from Heather Marshall at auction, including her debut Looking for Jane.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-23 05:52:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #utterly compelling #hodder studio #hodder