Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday weekend, the Literature team shares what they’ve been reading lately. You People by Nikita LalwaniNikita Lalwani's You People follows Nia, a 19-year-old British-Indian girl, and Shan, a Tamil refugee, who work at a London pizzeria and are both in thrall – in different ways – to the restaurant's enigmatic manager Tuli. Initially, Nia and Shan don't have much in common, and their differing views of Tuli reflect this. Nia wants to escape her troubled family, while Shan longs to bring his wife and child to the UK; Nia, having been sent down from Oxford, wants to escape the bonds of the establishment, while Shan longs for Britain's elite to grant him indefinite leave to remain. To Nia, Tuli is mercurial and charming, glimpsed offering deals and generous loans; from Shan's perspective, he's to be courted and obeyed, able to use his influence and wealth to bring Shan's family to safety.Things change when Nia voluntarily enters a world that Shan can’t escape, and You People uses a gripping, thriller-like structure to reflect this. But even as the jaws of the trap close around them, and the protagonists rely on quick thinking and deduction to survive, the novel creates a larger tension from... Continue reading at 'British Council global'
[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
It can be too easy to write villains— people stunted and incapable of love or compassion—when we write about opponents of our politics, especially in short stories, which have so much less space to detail nuance. Sometimes writing about villains and pointing the finger is necessary in a world... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Essay Sylvia Petter recalls Austrian writer Friederike Mayröcker, who passed away June 4, not long after the book-themed TV series ÜBER featured her in its first episode. Friederike Mayröcker passed away on June 4, 2021, in Vienna, aged ninety-six. She... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-12 18:58:06 UTC ]
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"The notion of 'a book' is just a convenient fiction which we books go along with because it serves the needs of the bean counters in publishing, not to mention the ego of the writers. But the reality is far more complex.” So explains “the Book”, one of the narrators of Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 19:27:08 UTC ]
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From Test Signal: Northern Anthology of New Writers. The post Licked Clean appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2021-07-08 16:18:10 UTC ]
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A debut and a long-honored veteran of short stories take the 2021 top honors provided by the Washington-based PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The post Two PEN/Faulkner Foundation Award Winners: Deesha Philyaw and Charles Baxter appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-07-02 18:54:49 UTC ]
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Lit Lists Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate a single book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a brief statement explaining their choice. We published... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-28 13:32:05 UTC ]
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The writer’s signature style of ending—a final, thrilling note—has the touch of magic that distinguishes the form at its best. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-06-28 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Red Arrow Studios has co-development rights with Playground for all 75 novels and 28 short stories about the French detective Jules Maigret. The post Maigret Rides Again: Playground Entertainment Options Georges Simenon’s Books appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-06-25 18:59:14 UTC ]
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At the Rumpus, Xuan Juliana Wang discusses the art of the short story in a round table that includes Kimberly King Parsons, Dantiel W. Moniz, Mary South, and Ashley Wurzbacher. The panel shares their thoughts on crafting a collection, along with what draws them to short stories in the first... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 20:30:14 UTC ]
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The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, Soyinka is coming out with his first novel in almost 50 years, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. The post Fifty Years Later, a New Novel Emerges appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 09:59:45 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Our society is increasingly global, and the era of Covid-19 is no different. We may forget our localities and the importance of community in consuming the news and internet media. One city, the domain of Mother Theresa, a holy city, is... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-09 11:23:36 UTC ]
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‘The Circular Ruins’, first published in 1940, is one of the most richly symbolic short stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. One of his most powerful and suggestive explorations of the nature of reality and dreams, ‘The Circular Ruins’ can variously be interpreted as a story... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-06-05 14:00:43 UTC ]
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'Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,' historical fiction about Kepler's mother, is Galchen's first novel since 2008's 'Atmospheric Disturbances.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-06-03 14:00:33 UTC ]
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‘The Dead’ is the most critically acclaimed and widely studied story in James Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories written by James Joyce and published in 1914. As we’ve remarked before, Dubliners is now regarded as one of the landmark texts of modernist literature, but initially... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-05-29 14:00:07 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer in the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches (2018) / IMDB Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy has taken a new life through the Sundance dramatic series, A Discovery of Witches. The novels... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-27 13:42:23 UTC ]
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Fundraiser running until 21 May also includes chances to consult with star agent Jonny Geller and have a character named after you in a Sarah Pinborough novelA literary auction raising money to help vaccinate the world against coronavirus has made more than £23,000 so far, as book lovers bid to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-05-18 12:13:19 UTC ]
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Here’s a list of 9 great horror anthology books full of monsters and mayhem to satisfy your mid-year frights, including The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Volume One edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-04-30 10:34:00 UTC ]
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"Second Place," Rachel Cusk's first novel after the radical, brilliant "Outline" trilogy, follows a forceful woman who's had enough of difficult men. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-28 14:00:33 UTC ]
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“Billy Wilder on Assignment” is the first anthology to collect Wilder’s newspaper work in a single volume, and it’s a revelation. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve McQueen’s ground-breaking anthology series dominates, with The Crown, Normal People and I Will Destroy You also in the runningSteve McQueen’s ground-breaking five-part series Small Axe has dominated the Bafta TV nominations with 15 nods, in a year when diverse talent was recognised across... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-04-28 08:14:13 UTC ]
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