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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‘Sex Cult Nun’ is as shocking as its title. But Faith Jones’s memoir is also a vital survivor’s story.

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Alice Sebold’s Memoir About Her Rape Is Even More Brutal to Read Now

The uncanniness of rereading Lucky now that the man Alice Sebold identified as her rapist has been exonerated. Continue reading at Slate

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Sir Paul McCartney’s memoir aims to affirm his status as a writer

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A documentary about Anthony Broadwater’s exoneration, called Unlucky, is in the works.

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Forever and another day

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10 of the Best Novels and Short Stories about Dogs

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Black bookshop owners urge others to embrace the opportunity for change

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Publisher Pulls Alice Sebold's Memoir As 1981 Rape Conviction Is Overturned

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Alice Sebold’s LUCKY Pulled Following Anthony Broadwater Exoneration

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Alice Sebold’s publisher pulls memoir after overturned rape conviction

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Mel Brooks Keeps It Very Light in ‘All About Me!’

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Panel Mania: Tiny Dancer by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel

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The London Library releases second Emerging Writers anthology

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Alice Sebold Apologizes to Man Wrongly Convicted of Raping Her

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