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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Bullshit Saviors: Helen Benedict and Nadia Hashimi on Depictions of the American Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-23 08:49:21 UTC ]
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Nadifa Mohamed is sole British writer to make Booker prize shortlist

The author of The Fortune Men will now compete with five other novelists from South Africa, Sri Lanka and the US for the 2021 awardAlex Clark explores how the Booker shortlist tunes in to the worries of our ageJust one British author has made the shortlist for this year’s Booker prize: Nadifa... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-09-14 15:25:06 UTC ]
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The Enduring Appeal of Fictional Sisters: A Reading List

There’s something about literary sisters. Siblings offer a unique, complex, and compelling relationship for novelists to explore, so it’s no surprise that so many novels have sisters at their heart. From Jane Austen’s loveable Bennett sisters in Pride and Prejudice, and Louisa May Alcott’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-13 08:49:04 UTC ]
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Keeping a Critical Eye on Brazil: A Conversation with Emilio Fraia, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Emilio Fraia’s Sevastopol, out this summer from New Directions, is the sort of book that beguiles and dazzles in equal measure. Consisting of three disparate stories—of a mountain climber attempting to scale Mt. Everest, a mysterious loner... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-08-09 20:31:30 UTC ]
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Newberry Library Announces a $25,000 Chicago-Specific Book Award

The new award, with its inaugural presentation set for next summer, is open to submissions both in fiction and nonfiction. The post Newberry Library Announces a $25,000 Chicago-Specific Book Award appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-08-03 17:04:37 UTC ]
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Graphic Novelists Who Show Us What Loneliness Means

In her latest Graphic Content column, Hillary Chute looks at new books from Kristen Radtke and Lizzy Stewart, as well as a first graphic novel from Anne Carson. Continue reading at The New York Times

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Who Wrote the Advertising Slogan ‘Go to Work on an Egg’?

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle ponders the links between famous writers and advertising slogans Fay Weldon, author of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983), is one of several famous novelists who started out in the field of advertising. In this connection... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

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For Literary Novelists the Past Is Pressing

Historical fiction was once considered a fusty backwater. Now the genre is having a renaissance, attracting first-rank novelists and racking up major prizes. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-06-13 09:00:02 UTC ]
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Romance novels to read this summer

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[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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How women conquered the world of fiction

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[ The Guardian | 2021-05-16 06:00:48 UTC ]
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Review: Two iconic novelists, Adichie and Lahiri, step off their pedestals

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-30 14:00:38 UTC ]
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Opening the Doorways of Recognition for Native People: A Conversation with Joy Harjo, by Crystal AC Salas

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[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-21 15:11:24 UTC ]
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Christian Publishers Tap into Grittier Side of Fiction

Novelists no longer shy away from tough issues readers are facing such as mental illness, racial inequity, sexual harassment and abuse, trafficking, and domestic violence. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne – the ‘modern Jane Austen’?

This excellent cradle-to-grave biography of a much loved novelist who goes in and out of fashion captures her alarming habits and tormented love affairsIn 1971 the author Barbara Pym was at her day job at the International African Institute when she noticed “Mr C” laboriously attacking his... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-08 06:30:07 UTC ]
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James McBride has won the inaugural Gotham Book Prize for literature that celebrates NYC.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-06 13:00:34 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: March 24, 2021

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-24 09:30:49 UTC ]
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How Contemporary Novelists Are Confronting Climate Collapse in Fiction

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-24 08:53:41 UTC ]
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British Book Award Issues Its 2021 ‘Book of the Year’ Shortlists

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-21 19:47:44 UTC ]
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Kazuo Ishiguro on the Joys of Repetition

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[ The Millions | 2021-02-26 21:30:38 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: February 26, 2021

“Like so many women novelists of previous centuries, Yezierska’s canonical status is a phenomenon of the recent past.” Catherine Rottenberg on the overdue revival of Anzia Yezierska. | Lit Hub Fashion isn’t frivolous: Francesca Granata recommends books central to our understanding of femininity,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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