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"


Online bookshop launches for Mail readers

E-commerce firm Monwell has launched the Mail Bookshop with Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-19 17:01:04 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury Children's scoops Clare Weze's 'brilliant' debut

Bloomsbury Children's Books is to publish middle-grade adventure Alfie Miller, Lightning Catcher by debut author Clare Weze.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-19 13:19:12 UTC ]
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It’s Time for Disabled Writers to Tell Their Own Stories

Alice Wong’s work as an activist, podcaster, writer, qualitative researcher, and editor is on full display in her new anthology Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. Her new anthology is an extension of the projects she’s become known when it comes to always... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-19 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Cover Reveal: NEGATIVE SPACE by Lilly Dancyger

Check out the cover for NEGATIVE SPACES, a new memoir from Lilly Dancyger, editor of BURN IT DOWN: WOMEN WRITING ABOUT ANGER. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-08-18 10:37:00 UTC ]
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A Road Trip With One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Writers

“Borges and Me,” a memoir by Jay Parini, recounts a young poet’s travels with Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine master. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-08-18 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Makenna Goodman: Motherhood and Isolation

The debut author of the The Shame discusses book hoarding, life in Vermont, and the weight of the past. Continue reading at Guernica

[ Guernica | 2020-08-17 13:24:30 UTC ]
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Sceptre pre-empts musician Mikel Jollett's memoir

Sceptre has pre-empted Hollywood Park by musician and writer Mikel Jollett, frontman of indie band The Airborne Toxic Event. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 14:59:29 UTC ]
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Over half of Tate's London bookshop staff at risk of redundancy

More than half of Tate's London bookshop staff are facing redundancy, with several roles in its books team and publishing operation also at risk, The Bookseller has learned. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-16 14:07:35 UTC ]
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Sunday Reading: Summer Fiction

From The New Yorker’s archive: short stories by Zadie Smith, Jennifer Egan, and Stephen King. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2020-08-16 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Sharmaine Lovegrove: ‘You must spend a year in a bookshop before you get a job in publishing’

Seeing unexpected pairings of readers and books quickly dispels the idea of who reads what• Time to reset: more brilliant ideas to remake the worldI have a party trick. If you name three books you like and two you hate, I can write you a reading list of 10 books you will love.I’ve gained this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-08-15 10:00:40 UTC ]
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Trump won't leave office peacefully, his former lawyer Cohen claims in upcoming book

Michael Cohen's memoir about U.S. President Donald Trump will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing, which confirmed the news on Thursday. Continue reading at CBC

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Trump’s war on mail-in voting and the postal service

Yesterday, a pair of TV interviews crystallized just how the Trump administration is threatening the integrity of the election. On CNBC, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, cast “voting rights” as part of a “liberal-left wish list,” adding, “That’s not our game.” On Fox Business, Trump... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-14 12:26:12 UTC ]
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Jean Giorno: Fighting the Battle of Gay Liberation in a Homophobic World

“I don’t know what it means!” Andy Warhol bleats, in John Giorno’s Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment (out now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Warhol’s ditzy refrain is a mantra for the perpetually bemused, at once tragicomic and tongue-in-cheek. He says... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-14 08:48:26 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of August 17, 2020

Among the week’s big deals are the acquisition of a #MeToo memoir by a French publishing exec, Sharon Stone’s memoir, and Andy Weir’s new novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Daily: August 13, 2020

The most iconic short stories in the English language, as determined by that “weird and wiggly” hive-mind, the American cultural consciousness. | Lit Hub Jill Filipovic on how Boomers—“the generation with the least stable marriages in American history”—changed family life forever. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-13 10:30:25 UTC ]
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43 of the Most Iconic Short Stories in the English Language

Last year, I put together this list of the most iconic poems in the English language; it’s high time to do the same for short stories. But before we go any further, you may be asking: What does “iconic” mean in this context? Can a short story really be iconic in the way of a […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-13 08:50:36 UTC ]
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Hodder Faith and St Andrew's Bookshop launch The Big Church Read

Hodder Faith, in partnership with mini-chain St Andrew’s Bookshop, will launch a national church book club this autumn, to be known as The Big Church Read. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-12 13:00:50 UTC ]
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The Delicate Balancing Act of Black Women’s Memoir

As Crown Publishing predicted, readers eagerly anticipated Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Autobiography and memoir are best selling categories because virtually everyone enjoys learning about the private life of public figures. In this case, many were curious about the woman who seemed to rise above... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-12 11:00:00 UTC ]
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ABA Relationship with Bookshop Draws Booksellers’ Scrutiny

Bookshop has helped many independents weather the pandemic, but some booksellers say the ABA is not being transparent about its financial relationship with the online retailer and worry that Bookshop poses new competition. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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OWN IT! partners with Grime record label on Adenuga memoir

OWN IT! is to partner with Grime music label Boy Better Know to co-publish the memoir of Ifeomagwu “Ify” Adenuga, the mother of the label's founders.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-11 10:24:04 UTC ]
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