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"


SPCK bags 'gripping' Tim Farron memoir on politics and faith

SPCK has signed ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron’s “gripping” autobiography, detailing how he balanced being a Christian and a Liberal during his political career. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-01 12:23:42 UTC ]
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Zephyr buys Kat Dunn’s YA debut

Fiona Kennedy, publisher at Head of Zeus’ Zephyr imprint, has acquired a historical adventure YA by debut author Kat Dunn. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-30 19:51:30 UTC ]
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From Schizophrenia to Megalomania, Three New Books on Mental Illness

A short list of books includes a personal memoir about a family’s struggle with schizophrenia, a history of psychiatry and an exploration of how tyrants think. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 22:41:56 UTC ]
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A Son’s Memoir of His Father’s Radical Beliefs, Pursuit by the F.B.I. and Ardent Love for America

“A Good American Family,” by David Maraniss, examines the paranoia and brutality of the McCarthy era through the lens of his father’s experience. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 15:12:51 UTC ]
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Poems on the Underground - the Natural World

A new set of five poems goes live on London tubes on July 1st for four weeks. Some deal specifically with the urgent issue of climate change. Others reflect more generally on how human beings take solace and meaning from their living world of earth, sea and sky.The poems:Still Life with Sea... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-06-26 17:36:35 UTC ]
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Tracing the Internal Queer Revolution

Riots and parades have made LGBTQ people visible. But a new anthology of writings from before, during, and after Stonewall shows the inward changes as more essential. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2019-06-26 14:29:00 UTC ]
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Ebury snaps up real story of The Librarian of Auschwitz

Ebury will publish the memoir of Holocaust survivor and concentration camp librarian Dita Kraus, who inspired the novel The Librarian of Auschwitz (Ebury). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-26 06:34:21 UTC ]
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Of Tibetans’ Disenchantment, Reclamation, and New Literacy Space: In Conversation with Tenzin Dickie, by Shelly Bhoil

Interviews Shelly Bhoil Tenzin Dickie is a Tibetan writer and translator and editor of The Treasury of Lives, a biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan region. Her edited anthology, Old Demons, New Deities: 21 Short Stories from... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-06-25 14:25:59 UTC ]
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Book Culture's future at risk, warns New York indie owner

The owner of New York's Book Culture bookshops says the business's four stores are in danger of closing unless they receive help from the city.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-25 02:20:48 UTC ]
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Lambeth indie bookshop closure highlights fragility of UK high street, says BA

Independent bookshop Travelling Through has shut down following five years of trade, as Booksellers Association m.d. Meryl Halls says the closure has highlighted how "fragile our high streets are".  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-25 00:29:42 UTC ]
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Looking back on the life of advertising legend Philip Geier

Philip H. Geier, Jr., the long-time chairman and CEO of the advertising giant known as The Interpublic Group of Companies, died on Wednesday, June 19, at the age of 84. Over the course of his nearly six-decade-long career, Geier made a name for himself in the worlds of both advertising and... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-24 19:42:28 UTC ]
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Launching a Book? Do It At a Bar.

An author recommends thinking outside the bookshop when throwing a book launch party. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-06-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Bobby Hundreds’ memoir is a snapshot of L.A.’s streetwear culture of the 2000s

The title of Bobby Hundreds’ book — “This Is Not a T-Shirt” — is straight-up transparent: It’s not a T-shirt. It’s less obvious at the outset — but not for long — that it’s also not a traditional memoir, brand history or “how-we-turned-a couple-hundred bucks-into-global-streetwear-label”... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-20 15:40:00 UTC ]
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Review:: Bobby Hundreds' memoir is a snapshot of L.A.'s streetwear culture of the 2000s

The title of Bobby Hundreds' book — "This Is Not a T-Shirt" — is straight-up transparent: It's not a T-shirt. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-20 15:30:01 UTC ]
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Faber & Faber: by Toby Faber review – the untold story of a publishing giant

They turned down Ulysses and Animal Farm, but still shaped 20th‑century literatureAll publishing houses have archives, but for anyone interested in 20th-century literature the archive of Faber & Faber is a fabled treasure house. This is the firm that was, as Toby Faber puts it, “midwife at... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-06-20 11:00:08 UTC ]
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Church refuses to hold launch for anti-Brexit anthology

An indie publisher has been forced to find a new venue to launch its anti-Brexit poetry anthology Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction after the church where it was due to be held refused to host the event, citing issues with political balance.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-20 07:09:36 UTC ]
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Hachette Children’s signs MG series by debut author L D Lapinski

Hachette Children’s Group (HCG) has acquired a magical middle-grade fantasy series by debut author L D Lapinski. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-19 18:47:30 UTC ]
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A letter to booksellers during Independent Bookshop Week

During Independent Bookshop Week, author Clare Mackintosh pens a letter in praise of bookshops and booksellers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-19 07:08:54 UTC ]
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A Moby-Dick–Inspired Memoir of Menopause

On a quest to make sense of what was happening to her body, the author Darcey Steinke sought guidance from female killer whales. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2019-06-18 14:40:31 UTC ]
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Trade celebrates Independent Bookshop Week

Independent Bookshop Week is in full swing with events up and down the country as Booksellers Association research reveals 82% of indie booksellers had a different career prior to owning or working in their bookshop.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-17 02:50:48 UTC ]
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