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"


Antrobus and debut author Youngson triumph at SoA awards

Raymond Antrobus and 70-year-old debut novelist Anne Youngson are among the winners of this year's £100,000 Society of Authors' Awards.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-17 02:12:28 UTC ]
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Zaffre bags 'timely' reality show novel from debut author Acton

Zaffre has bagged an "unbelievably timely" debut novel from Helly Acton, which has already been optioned for TV, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-14 12:23:54 UTC ]
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Life Lessons from Memoirs

Memoirs of faith by Rachel Denhollander, Tom Voss and Rebecca Anne Nguyen, Helen Prejean, and others teach and reassure readers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-06-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Serpent's Tail snaps up 'devastating' memoir from Fuller

Serpent’s Tail will publish a new memoir by British-Zimbabwean author Alexandra Fuller. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-13 15:11:33 UTC ]
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Every Tory MP sent This Is Going to Hurt as reminder of Jeremy Hunt's record

Adam Kay is sending his exposé of life as a junior doctor during the leadership candidate’s time as health secretary to highlight how he ‘left the NHS in tatters’Adam Kay is sending a copy of his bestselling memoir about life as a junior doctor, This Is Going to Hurt, to all 330 Conservative MPs... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-06-12 11:40:05 UTC ]
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Last minute Father’s Day gifts for 7 different kinds of book-loving dads

Books are a go-to gift for Father's Day, but if you rely on chain bookstore displays, you'll probably find a lot of the same things: cookbooks with recipes for grilling obscenely large hunks of meat, ghostwritten memoirs by pro athletes, and techno-thrillers featuring very long descriptions... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-11 17:30:00 UTC ]
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Former NBA star Dwyane Wade to publish a memoir this fall

Newly retired NBA star Dwyane Wade will tell the story of his life and celebrated basketball career in a new memoir. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-05 17:29:40 UTC ]
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Review: Colin Dayan's 'In the Belly of Her Ghost' exorcises memories of mother after she's gone

Colin Dayan's brief but explosive memoir of her relationship to her mother should find a place among the more indelible life histories of the last several years. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-05 16:00:01 UTC ]
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Rob Zabrecky's memoir 'Strange Cures' is an ode to a forgotten L.A.

In musician and magician Rob Zabrecky's new memoir, "Strange Cures," the Los Angeles of the 1980s and early '90s is an alien landscape of raucous underground nightclubs, seedy Hollywood crack dens and low-rent Silver Lake duplexes; and the Valley is a place where errant teens roam free, sans... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-30 18:01:20 UTC ]
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Debbie Harry of Blondie to release her first memoir

Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry will tell the story of her career as a musician and actress in a new memoir set for release this fall. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-30 16:44:35 UTC ]
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Jonas Brothers announce a memoir for fall release

Pop sensations the Jonas Brothers will tell the story of their lives in the music world in a new memoir. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-29 17:59:56 UTC ]
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'We choose Europe': Pullman and Gaiman condemn Brexit in open letter

Almost 90 UK authors including Robert Harris, Neil Gaiman, John le Carré and Philip Pullman, have condemned Brexit in an open letter urging people to vote in tomorrow's European Parliament elections.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-22 12:21:59 UTC ]
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Picador snaps up Alzayat short story collection

Picador has acquired a collection of short stories from "really exciting talent" Dima Alzayat. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zaffre clinches 'terrifying' debut thriller from physician Montgomery

Bonnier imprint Zaffre has clinched a “terrifying and compelling” thriller from debut author, physician and endurance expert Hugh Montgomery. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What We're Reading – April 2019

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]
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Art Connects Us: Sarah Odedina

As a recipient of the Arts Connects Us Grant I travelled to Ghana and Sierra Leone to meet with writers and publishing professionals working in the field of books for young readers to foster creative and collaborative exchanges between those contacts and publishing professionals and readers in... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-03-19 11:10:28 UTC ]
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Carnegie medal shortlist celebrates novels in free verse

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[ The Guardian | 2019-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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INDONESIA FOCUS: Q+A Nirwan Dewanto

You started writing early in your high school days, what were you writing about most back then?I think it is exaggerating to say I started writing at high school. I was already writing, but it was mainly journaling, which was not for public consumption. There was a poem (about a tree in the... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-03-15 11:15:36 UTC ]
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Potter lands Eisenberg short stories in first Europa buy

Europa Editions has snapped up the latest collection of short stories by American writer Deborah Eisenberg.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Podcasts and writing workshops scoop RSL Literature Matters Awards

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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