What we're reading August 2019

Lowborn by Kerry HudsonKerry Hudson is best known for her award-winning fiction. Her first book, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish First Book Award and earned her a place on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Her latest book, Lowborn, is a non-fiction account of poverty in the UK today, told from a personal perspective. She recounts a journey across the UK, visiting the seven places she lived as a child. She describes memories of time in care as a looked after child, then with her young and struggling mother, and the all-encompassing poverty which pervaded her childhood, which is still sadly ever visible in the places she visits. Hudson is a masterful storyteller, and this is a brave and honest book that has much to say about the times and society we live in.Sinead Russel, Director LiteratureHend and the Soldiers by Badriah alBeshr, translated from the Arabic by Sanna Dhahir.This beautiful and troubling novel by Saudi novelist and journalist Badriah al Beshr charts a young woman’s childhood and early adulthood, from village life, social ascent during the economic boom, early marriage and divorce. While al Beshr rejects the tag of ‘feminist’ novelist, the picaresque story she weaves lucidly depicts the way gender roles are enforced with martial rigidity by the titular ‘soldiers’ - husband, brothers, extended family, neighbours, and local gossips, who stand guard at the gates of Hend’s world, armed with notions of... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2019-08-30 08:51:45 UTC ]

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Reclaim Her Name: why we should free Australia's female novelists from their male pseudonyms

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Alan Dershowitz claims a fictional lawyer defamed him. The implications for novelists are very real.

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Where are the hotshot British male novelists? BAME authors may know

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Singapore Names 2020 Book Award Finalists, Adds Digital Categories

Recognizing digital publishing and reading in Singapore, the Book Publishers Association's awards this add ebooks, audiobooks, and digital marketing. The post Singapore Names 2020 Book Award Finalists, Adds Digital Categories appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

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Zadie Smith’s New Book Was Written During Lockdown. It’s Optimistic.

The author’s latest collection shows how few novelists seem to genuinely love human beings the way she does. Continue reading at Slate

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Charles Dickens: how two novelists gave Great Expectations a second life in the Pacific

Two sequels which show how the Victorian novelist's stories can be adapted to reflect post-colonial narratives. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-06-08 16:19:12 UTC ]
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Literature on Lockdown 8: #BlackLivesMatter

The sadness, exhaustion, anger and frustration that have been expressed by Black people across social media this week have, of course, been felt for centuries.But, by living so much through our screens right now, observing video footage, scrolling through reposted statements and infographics,... Continue reading at British Council global

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10 Eighteenth-Century Novels Everyone Should Read

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What will post-pandemic fiction look like? The novels that followed 9/11 offer some clues.

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BEYOND THE BARD: Exploring the Teaching of Contemporary British Literature in Global Higher Education

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YA Authors Move Online

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Mantel, O'Farrell and Atwood announced for Hay Festival Digital

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British Book Award chats kick off with Rónán Hession

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In Italy, Coronavirus Books Rush to Publication

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Diversifying the Translation Field: A Conversation with John Keene, by Veronica Esposito

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The Italian Quarantine, by Baret Magarian

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