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 ]

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UK's first Black specialist bookshop New Beacon to close

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Margate Bookshop raises £3k in books for schools drive

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Lily King Weaves Glimmers of Hope into Her Short Story Collection

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For Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, memoir as resistance

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Goldsmiths winner Harrison moves to Serpent's Tail from Gollancz after 40 years

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Richard Antoine White once had little more than his tuba. Now, he’s a musical pioneer.

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The Author Behind ‘Maid’ Has a Room — and a Voice — of Her Own

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Memoir by the late journalist Sarah Hughes to be published in March 2022

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What Happens When I Don’t Understand My Own Novel?

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