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 ]

Other news stories related to: "What we're reading August 2019"


The 2024 Booker Prize Longlist

The 13-strong longlist for this year's 2024 Booker Prize has been announced. Among those listed are three debut novelists and several marquee names, including Percival Everett, Rachel Kushner, and Richard Powers. Six Americans made this year's list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-07-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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3 Debut Novelists Reveal How Their First Books Came Together

While reading a debut novel, oftentimes, there exists a momentary thrill of forgetting about craft. Instead, it can feel as if these writers grew up alongside their stories—in parallel lines and lives, naturally accumulating sentences with every inch they grew. There is a tender, literary... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-07-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeffrey Eugenides and Yiyun Li on Colm Tóibín

The National Arts Club recently awarded Colm Tóibín the Medal of Honor for Achievement in Literature.   Read remarks by novelists Jeffrey Eugenides and Yiyun Li, who spoke about Tóibín’s influence and friendship. Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-07-17 08:55:27 UTC ]
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Writing is lonely work but connecting with other novelists on zoom keeps me motivated | Jodi Wilson

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[ The Guardian | 2024-05-30 00:56:10 UTC ]
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Hay Festival 2024

The events will showcase writers and speakers from countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa to UK audiences, and feature up-and-coming UK writers selected as part of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 2023 list.This specially selected event series brings together our work with the... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2024-05-24 10:51:02 UTC ]
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Meet the novelists who are re-analyzing HBO’s Girls.

For the past two years, the novelist Alice Elliott Dark has been sending out missives on the writing and reading life via her popular weekly Substack, “Alice on Sunday.” But this March, Dark applied her platform to a curious task: recapping and analyzing old episodes of HBO’s Girls.  The project... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-13 18:56:54 UTC ]
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ACLS Announces 2024 Open Access Book Award Winners

The winning authors will share a cash award of $20,000, and the winning publishers will share a grant for $30,000 to support “the immediate open access publication of at least two new books.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week’s Bestsellers: April 29, 2024

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 ]
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PEN America Cancels 2024 Literary Awards Ceremony

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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These are the “most influential” writers of the year.

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Amid Mounting Criticism, PEN America Literary Awards In Limbo

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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George Carlin's estate settles lawsuit against podcasters' AI comedy special

There will be no follow-up to that AI-generated George Carlin comedy special released by the podcast Dudesy. In January, Carlin's estate filed a lawsuit against the podcast and its creators Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, accusing them of violating the performer's right to publicity and infringing... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-04-03 07:52:24 UTC ]
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The Liturgy and Anxiety of Ordinary Lives: In Conversation with Rigoberto González, by Darlington Chibueze Anuonye

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

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3 New Debut Novels by Black Women Authors

Three Black women novelists make their debut with tales of inheritance, friendship, and alternate futures. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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UK: The New Parliamentary Book Award Winners

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-02-07 17:24:31 UTC ]
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Palestinian-American writer Randa Jarrar was dragged out of a PEN event.

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Two novelists have cut ties with PEN over its Mayim Bialik event and Gaza silence.

Two prominent novelists have broken with PEN America over the organization’s decision to platform controversial actor and outspoken ceasefire opponent Mayim Bialik, as well as its relative silence on the unfolding genocide in Gaza (which so far has claimed the lives of at least 120 writers,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-31 20:56:06 UTC ]
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‘There is joy, and there is rage’: the new generation of novelists writing about motherhood

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[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:00:01 UTC ]
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Meet the 10 best new novelists for 2024

Our annual pick of the most exciting debut fiction has previously tipped Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy, Tom Crewe and Douglas Stuart. Here the class of 2024 tell us their storiesEach year since 2014, the Observer New Review’s writers and editors have read scores of forthcoming debut novels... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 07:00:20 UTC ]
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Keanu and co: how celebrities became bestselling novelists

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