What We're Reading – October 2019

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoSince studying Lara as a student, I have been a fan of Bernardine Evaristo’s work, and am delighted to see her win the Booker Prize this year. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of twelve black characters with different backgrounds and experiences, most of whom identify as female, living in London. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them through my reading and seeing how their lives are linked or overlap in different ways. What I found particularly interesting about this book is how each character responds in their own way to the universal questions of self and identity, particularly the tensions between personal, public and political gender discourse and the effect it has on the relationships the characters have with others. This feels like a very important book, and a must-read if you’re interested in what’s happening in UK fiction today.Rachel Stevens, Director LiteratureCommon People - An Anthology of Working-class Writers (ed Kit de Waal). An exceptional collection of essays, poems, memoir and short stories celebrating working-class life, culture and literature. There are many highlights, but I especially recommend Lisa McInnery’s essay ‘Working Class: An Escape Manual’, which considers how working-class writers and artists are co-opted into other identities when they achieve success. Debut author Adam Sharp’s ‘Play’, a memoir of his relationship with a substance-addicted father, is poignant and deftly handled - he’s a writer to... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2019-10-30 09:49:28 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "What We're Reading – October 2019"


The Woman Who Brought Dostoevsky and Chekhov to English Readers

My first publication was a translation, not something I wrote myself. It was an essay in Greek about the poet C.P. Cavafy for a literary anthology of that kind of thing. Before taking up Modern Greek I had spent thousands of hours of my youth translating Homer for my studies—probably too many... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-12 09:50:58 UTC ]
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The Memoir of a Political Prisoner Who Never Stopped Imagining a Better World

Virtually none of us will ever know what Ahmet Altan has gone through, and continues to live through. After the 2016 Turkish coup d’etat attempt, the writer was arrested along with his brother on such claims as “sending subliminal messages to coup supporters.” In 2018, they were sentenced to... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-11 12:00:01 UTC ]
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HarperCollins scoops Harvill Secker editor Adams debut in two-book deal

HarperCollins has won a multi-publisher auction for The Reading List by debut author and Harvill Secker commissioning editor Sara Nisha Adams in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-10 16:51:18 UTC ]
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A Toronto Bookstore Amplifies Marginalized Voices

Another Story Bookshop is focused on social justice and diversity, continuing the mission its founder established over 30 years ago. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-11-09 10:00:11 UTC ]
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Here’s why you should preorder all your books from independent bookstores.

Who doesn’t love an independent bookshop? Think of the Shop Around the Corner in You’ve Got Mail! Think of the Travel Book Co. in Notting Hill! Embryo Concepts in Funny Face! Black Books from the British sitcom of the same name! Think of the real brick-and-mortar bookshop in your own community.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-08 19:34:19 UTC ]
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Tales of Medical Gaslighting: Chronic Pain, Sexism, and More

Caren Beilin’s new book, Blackfishing the IUD (Wolfman Books, 2019), is a memoir about reproductive health and the IUD, gendered medical gaslighting, and activism in the chronic illness community. Beilin considers the copper IUD’s role in triggering her sudden onset rheumatoid arthritis. She... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-08 09:47:44 UTC ]
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How a Tell-All Memoir Made It Into Print

“A Warning” is the latest and most unusual tell-all political memoir to emerge from President Trump’s administration. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-11-08 06:50:32 UTC ]
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This is Going to Hurt tops the year-to-date chart

Adam Kay’s junior doctor memoir racked up impressive sales over the course of the year and topped the chart, but a self-published title was hot on its heels in second spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-08 05:28:53 UTC ]
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The UK’s Tom Fickling, a ‘Sudden’ Publisher of Philip Pullman

Tom Fickling finds himself the publisher of one of the UK’s most successul authors and a partner of the world’s largest trade book publisher. The post The UK’s Tom Fickling, a ‘Sudden’ Publisher of Philip Pullman appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-11-07 06:30:54 UTC ]
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Myriad bags graphic novels from Williams and Slattery as it launches debut author contest

Myriad Editions has bagged a pair of "graphic medicine" books from Ian Williams and Zara Slattery, as the publisher launches its 2020 Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-07 01:44:47 UTC ]
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Aria takes two from debut author Olivia Lara

Head of Zeus imprint Aria Fiction has snared a "sweepingly romantic" debut by Olivia Lara in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-07 01:16:54 UTC ]
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Netflix's 'Heartstrings' trailer reimagines Dolly Parton songs as dramas

Netflix is turning eight Dolly Parton songs into an anthology series, Dolly Parton's Heartstrings. The first trailer arrived today, and it gives us a glimpse of the dramas based on iconic songs like "Two Doors Down," "JJ Sneed" -- and of course, "Jol... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2019-11-06 03:18:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Ireland buys Joe Schmidt’s memoir

Penguin Ireland will publish New Zealand rugby union coach Joe Schmidt’s memoir later this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-06 02:38:57 UTC ]
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Literary Earthquakes: Tori Amos is publishing a memoir

Tori Amos—synesthete musical prodigy, RAINN activist, and one of the most iconic singer-songwriters of the 1990s (easily the greatest musical decade)—is releasing a new, politically-themed memoir entitled Resistance: A Songwriter’s Story of Hope, Change, and Courage. The book, Amos’ first since... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-05 21:44:52 UTC ]
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Carmen Maria Machado Has Invented a New Genre: the Gothic Memoir

In the middle of Carmen Maria Machado’s new memoir In the Dream House, CARMEN, stylized in all caps like a play script, sits across from the woman with whom she’s been in an abusive relationship (THE WOMAN IN THE DREAM HOUSE). The scene is set (“the curtain rises”) and we’re shown, “the house... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-05 12:00:26 UTC ]
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Cancer’s Crisis Ordinary

“WHAT IS DIFFICULT is not impossible.” Anne Boyer both writes and proves this maxim in The Undying, her crystalline memoir of illness and the hard knowledge that illness provides. The Undying engages with art from Aelius Aristides to John Donne to Audre Lorde, within an account of the author’s... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-11-04 20:00:59 UTC ]
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Announcing the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award shortlist

From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
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Unbound launches Irish working class writers anthology

Unbound is launching an anthology of working class writers from across Ireland, featuring original pieces by Roddy Doyle and Lisa McInerney alongside lesser known authors and edited by Paul McVeigh. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-04 02:04:57 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of November 4, 2019

Val Kilmer’s memoir lands at a Big Five house, 'Dead Man Walking' goes graphic, the screenwriter of The Jerk sells a thriller, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Eve L. Ewing’s debut poetry collection is being adapted for TV.

I have no idea how one goes about adapting a poetry collection into a TV series, but it looks like I’ll find out soon—AMC Studios is creating an Afrofuturistic anthology series based on Eve L. Ewing’s debut collection Electric Arches. According to Shadow and Act, “The Electric Arches anthology... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-31 17:27:27 UTC ]
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