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Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters.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 ]
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Other Publishing stories related to: 'What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright'


Advice to the New Guard: A Conversation with Translator Jessica Cohen by Veronica Esposito

Interviews Since 2003, Jessica Cohen has published over twenty books translated from Hebrew to English. Among other honors, she shared the 2017 Man Booker International Prize with author David Grossman for her translation of Grossman’s A Horse Walks... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-11-20 16:36:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #increase awareness #social justice #memoir #literary agent #man booker international prize


Cape wins debut by psychiatrist and comedian Benji Waterhouse

Jonathan Cape has triumphed in a nine-publisher auction for a “fly-on-the-padded-wall” debut from junior psychiatrist and comedy writer Benji Waterhouse. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-19 11:03:07 UTC ]
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Gollancz acquires Buehlman's fantasy debut

Gollancz, the SFF imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, will publish a "thrilling" fantasy debut by horror writer and scriptwriter Christopher Buehlman. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-19 06:47:05 UTC ]
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7 of the Year’s Best Debut Novelists on Their First Literary Loves

Every year, we ask The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Finalists to reminisce about the first book they fell in love with. This year, we asked Finalists to reflect not just on the first story that stole their heart, but the story that seeded curiosity and empathy for the plight of others... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-17 09:48:30 UTC ]
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'Much work to do': pay transparency and hiring processes must change now, FutureBook hears

Ensuring transparency around pay, demystifying the hiring process and giving illustrators the recognition they deserve are among the most fundamental changes the industry needs to make now, delegates at The Bookseller's FutureBook conference heard. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 02:31:32 UTC ]
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The Election and a Changing America: LARB Politics Editor Tom Zoellner on The National Road

Subscribe on Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | We’re joined by Tom Zoellner, award-winning author and the LA Review of Books Politics Editor. Tom and the co-hosts talk about the election, the tenor of the online political debate, and the future of patriotism. We also discuss Tom’s new book, The... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-13 17:43:52 UTC ]
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Chirp Audiobooks Review: Does Chirp Change the Audiobook Game?

What is Chirp? How does it differ from other services like Audible? And, is it worth getting? Learn more in our Chirp audiobooks review! Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-11-13 11:34:00 UTC ]
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Mark Wright fitness guide to Thorsons

Thorsons has snared “the ultimate guide” to getting in shape from TV star Mark Wright. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-13 04:45:20 UTC ]
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'Heartwarming' debut Mothering Sunday to Orion

Orion has snapped up Mothering Sunday from debut author Sara James, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-12 01:18:12 UTC ]
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Nature writer Melissa Harrison's children's debut to Chicken House

Chicken House will publish Melissa Harrison's debut children's novel, By Ash, Oak and Thorn, as well as a sequel, By Rowan and Yew.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-10 20:47:46 UTC ]
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HarperVoyager wins four-way auction for 'delicious' Dean debut

HarperVoyager has won a four-publisher auction for three titles, including horror fantasy The Book Eaters, from debut author Sunyi Dean. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-09 22:52:36 UTC ]
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Osman's debut novel announced as W H Smith Book of the Year

Richard Osman's debut crime novel The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) has been named W H Smith's Book of the Year for 2020.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 01:31:10 UTC ]
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The Dark History of Eastern California: A Conversation with Kendra Atleework

FEW WRITERS MANAGE to capture the essence of the California that exists beyond the images typically offered up by film and television — palm trees, beaches, gridlock, Hollywood, Kardashians; images the rest of the country seems so willing to accept about us “out here.” Kendra Atleework’s new... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-01 18:00:10 UTC ]
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If you’re thinking of a drastic lifestyle change, ‘Off Grid Life’ will feed your fantasy (or kill it)

Foster Huntington’s follow-up to “Van Life” is a both a celebration and a cautionary tale. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-30 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder Studio pre-empts 'captivating' debut from Buzzfeed editor Obaro

Hodder Studio has pre-empted a "captivating and joyous" debut novel from Buzzfeed editor and writer Tomi Obaro, set in Lagos and following the evolving fates of three best friends. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-30 07:36:18 UTC ]
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Doubleday pre-empts gold rush debut Yip

Doubleday has acquired literary debut Yip by Paddy Crewe in a "significant" pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-30 05:22:44 UTC ]
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Lessons from Black publishing pioneers must catalyse lasting change in the trade

In the midst of Black History Month, the legacy of a number of Black publishers are remembered—and those they paved the way for call for further progress. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-30 00:33:57 UTC ]
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On Choice, Children, and Womanhood: A Conversation with Christa Parravani

CHRISTA PARRAVANI’S SEMINAL Guernica essay published last year, “Life and Death in West Virginia,” was my introduction to this author and inspired me to seek out more of her work. I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview. The personal is political, and in Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-29 19:00:52 UTC ]
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Exhausting the Vein of Realism: A Conversation with Lynne Sharon Schwartz

I DON’T KNOW when I first became aware of Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s writing, but it was probably sometime between 1980, when Raymond Carver lauded her on the basis of her National Book Award–nominated first novel Rough Strife, and 1989, when Sven Birkerts raved about Schwartz’s PEN/Faulkner... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-29 15:00:49 UTC ]
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Dialogue pre-empts Paterson Joseph's 'dazzling' debut telling tale of Sancho

Dialogue Books has pre-empted actor Paterson Joseph's debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, an "illuminating and original" novel about the black writer and composer. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-29 09:06:03 UTC ]
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