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"


A love letter to European literature

Aged 15 I got a Christmas job at my local bookshop in Battersea so I could save to go interrailing. My parents’ bookshelves were brimming with mostly Black writers: Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Chester Himes, Terry McMillan, and I was surrounded by ‘consciousness’... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-30 21:25:59 UTC ]
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10 Free Holiday Romance Short Stories You Can Read Online

These free holiday romance short stories are ready for you! Choose the magic of kisses under the mistletoe and read them right away. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-24 11:34:00 UTC ]
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Pushing the bounds of form in ‘The Glorious American Essay’

Phillip Lopate's choices for this fine anthology may stretch the parameters of an essay, but he's made distinctive and evocative selections. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-23 21:36:26 UTC ]
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Pushing the bounds of form in ‘The Glorious American Essay’

Phillip Lopate's choices for this fine anthology may stretch the parameters of an essay, but he's made distinctive and evocative selections. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-23 21:36:26 UTC ]
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Pushing the bounds of form in ‘The Glorious American Essay’

Phillip Lopate's choices for this fine anthology may stretch the parameters of an essay, but he's made distinctive and evocative selections. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-23 21:36:26 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: December 23, 2020

Want to feel hungry? Read Bryan Washington on his year in takeout orders. | The New Yorker “In the end, Chang’s trauma, and the trauma he inflicted on other people, becomes part of his public persona, while we simply carry ours.” Hannah Selinger on what—and who—David Chang’s memoir leaves out. |... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-23 11:30:13 UTC ]
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Audiobooks to Get You Through the Most Distracted of Times

New fiction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barack Obama’s accent game, a Wilco frontman’s memoir and romance by Vonnegut. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-12-22 23:58:19 UTC ]
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Richard Osman becomes first debut author to land Christmas No 1

The Thursday Murder Club sees off titles by Barack Obama and David Walliams in chaotic week for Britain’s book tradeRichard Osman’s cosy mystery about a group of elderly sleuths, The Thursday Murder Club, has become the first debut novel ever to become the Christmas No 1, selling a remarkable... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-22 15:00:18 UTC ]
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Greystone Books to publish hostage memoir from Édith Blais

Greystone Books will publish Édith Blais’ memoir of being kidnapped and held hostage for 450 days in Burkina Faso at the hands of a militant group.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-22 06:56:14 UTC ]
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Avon scoops Redd's The Arctic Curry Club

Avon has scooped The Arctic Curry Club by debut author and travel writer Dani Redd. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-22 05:19:17 UTC ]
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Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land.

Continuing on the Barack Obama’s Favorite Media end-of-year march, the former President has released a 20-song playlist to accompany his memoir A Promised Land, composed of songs that recall memories of his time on the campaign trail and in the White House. There’s some Beyonce, some John... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-21 17:24:57 UTC ]
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Read Harder: A Food Memoir By an Author of Color

In this Read Harder Challenge post, we're recommending books for the task asking you to read a a food memoir by an author of color. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-21 11:31:00 UTC ]
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Read Harder: An SFF Anthology Edited by a Person of Color

In this Read Harder Challenge post, we're recommending books for the task asking you to read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-18 11:31:00 UTC ]
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Dialogue acquires Roche's 'nuanced and illuminating' memoir

Dialogue Books has acquired A Working-Class Family Ages Badly: A Memoir of Love and Life Between Two Pandemics by Juno Roche. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 17:09:37 UTC ]
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A never-before-seen Shirley Jackson story has just been published.

This week is a whirlwind for Shirley Jackson fans! On Monday we learned we’re getting a Jackson tribute anthology in 2021, and now, an unseen Shirley Jackson story has been published in The Strand Magazine. Jackson’s son, Laurence Hyman, found the story—“Adventure on a Bad Night”—among Jackson’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-17 16:17:13 UTC ]
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Want to Talk About Racism? Sit Next to Frederick Joseph

This debut author has learned not to read the comments about his new book, “The Black Friend.” Some are supportive; others contain death threats. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-12-17 10:00:02 UTC ]
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‘They’ve stolen our history’: Why one designer has been fighting for inclusion for 50 years

Acclaimed designer and thought leader Cheryl D. Miller shares her decades-long quest for design justice. Cheryl D. Miller is an acclaimed New York communications designer, artist, and theologian. She is the author of the memoir Black Coral: A Daughter’s Apology to Her Asian Island Mother and... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-12-17 08:00:08 UTC ]
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The best journalism of 2020: Covering the pandemic

A year has passed since the novel coronavirus first emerged. Even with mass inoculation efforts underway, it continues to rage on, with little sign of abating.  Throughout this year, we’ve relied on journalism to make sense of it all—especially as the virus’s spread frequently outpaced our... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-12-15 13:02:41 UTC ]
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Denver Indie Bookstore Launches BookBar Press with Debut Release

Independent Denver bookstore BookBar has launched its new publishing division, BookBar Press, with the publication of an anthology of micro-plays written by area playwrights. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Obama memoir ‘A Promised Land’ delivers earnest self-reflection

The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
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