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"


Michelle Obama's Becoming out in paperback and young readers edition in March

Michelle Obama's bestselling memoir Becoming will be published in paperback on 2ndMarch, alongside an edition for younger readers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-03 06:18:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


PRH to Issue Two New Editions of 'Becoming'

Michelle Obama’s 'Becoming' will be released in a young reader’s edition and in trade paperback on March 2; originally published in 2018, the former First Lady’s memoir became a #1 international bestseller, with sales topping more than 15 million copies worldwide. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Can a Comic Book Contain the Drama and Heat of Activism?

In his Graphic Content column, Ed Park looks at “The Black Panther Party,” a new history of the group, and “Come Home, Indio,” a memoir about growing up part Native American. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-02 17:30:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Aurum swoops on Bourne-Taylor’s 'heartfelt' nature memoir

Aurum, an imprint of The Quarto Group, has acquired Hannah Bourne-Taylor’s debut nature memoir, Fledgling.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-01 23:39:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: February 1, 2021

“Is it the fault of the mother that her child will suffer? Or is empire, white supremacy, the denial of ongoing genocide, and the prison industrial system to blame?” Randa Jarrar on Palestinian mothers, the Virgin Mary, and the Mothers of the Movement. | Lit Hub Memoir The internet has been... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-01 11:30:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Breece D’J Pancake’s Gravity and Triviality in Grief

At the Southern Review of Books, Justin Evans reflects on Breece D’J Pancake‘s celebrated collection of short stories from 1984, published five years after his death. “The stories of Breece D’J Pancake, by their own merit, are remarkably tied to the rural home of their author,” Evans writes.... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-01-29 21:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Books Briefing: 5 Short Stories to Read This Weekend

Exploring the diversity of The Atlantic’s original fiction: Your weekly guide to the best in books Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2021-01-29 15:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Pam Mandel on Discovering the True-to-Life YA Story She Was Meant to Tell: Her Own

On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Pam Mandel, whose book, The Same River Twice: A Memoir of Dirtbag Backpackers, Bomb Shelters, and Bad Travel, is out from Skyhorse Publishing. The book charts Mandel’s travels abroad as a young woman trying to figure out... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-29 09:48:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Other Condition: Robert Musil on Theater

THEATER SYMPTOMS: Plays and Writings on Drama is the mother lode for Robert Musil aficionados, a vital piece of the author’s canon. Containing the major play The Utopians, other dramatic material and fragments, and Musil’s theater criticism, much of it translated into English for the first time,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-28 18:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


S&S signs Soon Wiley's debut novel

Simon and Schuster UK is to publish debut author Soon Wiley's "wonderfully layered" novel When We Fell Apart.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 17:40:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Knights Of, BookTrust and CLPE partner on Black British middle-grade anthology

Knights Of has partnered with children’s reading charity BookTrust and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) to publish Happy Here, an anthology for middle grade readers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-27 21:20:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In ‘Just as I Am,’ actress Cicely Tyson reflects on 96 years of a life well lived

While undoubtedly personal, Tyson’s memoir offers an accounting of how far we’ve come — and how far we still must go. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-27 15:38:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


22 Books That Helped Me Write the Story of My Transition

As a trans person, I spent most of my life with my head in a book imagining other lives, other bodies, and other histories. In some ways, my memoir is an amalgamation of all the books that kept me curious, kept me thinking it was worth it to keep going. Sometimes it was to dream […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-26 09:48:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


“Kink” Confronts the Challenge of Turning Sex Into Literature

In this ambitious anthology, short stories sit at various intersections of smolder and technical accomplishment. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2021-01-23 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kink Lit: A Conversation with R. O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell

Subscribe on Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | In a special LARB Book Club edition of the Radio Hour, Eric Newman and Boris Dralyuk sit down with R. O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell, co-editors of Kink, a new anthology that aims to push the boundaries of traditional literary representations of love,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-22 20:43:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: A family travel memoir makes a timely pitch for personal risk

Charles Wheelan's "We Came, We Saw, We Left" charts the Wheelan family's frantic global "gap year" — infections, iffy street food, tantrums and all. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-01-22 18:26:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Swashbuckling Escapism of Sid Meier’s Pirates!

The legendary developer’s new memoir brought back poignant memories of one of his most famous games—and of the hours I played with my dad. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2021-01-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Aster acquires insomnia memoir by journalist Miranda Levy

Aster, part of Octopus Publishing Group, has acquired The Insomnia Diaries: How I Learned to Sleep Again by journalist Miranda Levy. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-20 14:19:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Millions Top Ten: December 2020

In the final month of 2020, we retired two books to our Hall of Fame: one from a debut author and the other from a two-time veteran. The post The Millions Top Ten: December 2020 appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2021-01-20 11:00:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Comma Press anthology explores US foreign policy through fiction

Comma Press will publish The American Way: Stories of Invasion in May 2021, the first title in its History-into-Fiction series to step outside of British history.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-19 23:34:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this