“When I Write Fiction, I’m in My Body as a Different Person”

Two decades ago, Arundhati Roy released her first novel, The God of Small Things. The response was pretty much everything an author could hope for from a debut. (It was a huge best-seller and won the Booker Prize.) But in the past 20 years, Roy has followed a different path than one might have expected, composing essays and books about India, where she was born in 1961, and establishing herself as arguably the most outspoken commentator on Indian politics. She has written about the role of India’s military in Kashmir and tribal areas, and spoken out against the rise of the Hindu right wing, including the current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Over the years, Roy has been threatened and even accused of sedition; she has also been the subject of debate in liberal circles, with some accusing her of being simplistic in her anti-capitalist rhetoric and naïve in her support for India’s Maoist uprisings. (She has also been a consistent critic of American foreign policy; in 2015, she met with Edward Snowden in Moscow, along with John Cusack and Daniel Ellsberg.) Continue reading at 'Slate'

[ Slate | 2017-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Legends Remade: New Science Fiction and Fantasy

“The World Gives Way,” “The Chosen and the Beautiful” and “Sword Stone Table” borrow from familiar stories but offer surprising readings. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-07-30 16:00:03 UTC ]
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The NBF Plans Limited In-Person National Book Awards Ceremony

The National Book Foundation announced plans to return this year’s National Book Awards ceremony to an in-person ceremony, to be held at New York City's Cipriani Wall Street on November 17. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Octavia Butler’s 1979 bio is an object lesson in writing author bios.

Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Review of Books published a fairly wild essay by Miguel Esteban who, at the tender age of 14, commissioned a now-famous essay on race in science fiction from Octavia Butler. The whole piece is worth a read (the gall of teenage boys! the grace of Octavia!) but... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-26 13:40:52 UTC ]
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The details of WeWork’s unraveling are stranger than fiction

In “The Cult of We,” reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell document founder Adam Neumann’s excesses. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-22 16:16:49 UTC ]
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Prince Harry to Write a Memoir

Penguin Random House said the book, tentatively coming in 2022, would be “an intimate and heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-07-19 20:26:00 UTC ]
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Prince Harry agrees publishing deal to write his memoirs

Penguin Random House announces book is expected in late 2022 with proceeds going to charityThe Duke of Sussex has agreed a publishing deal to write his memoirs and said he would do so “not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become”.The global deal for his “literary memoir” was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-07-19 18:37:55 UTC ]
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Lauren Child | 'It felt like a time to write about what we wish for'

Lauren Child's latest story focuses on Christmas in a Clarice Bean story that is full of empathy and hope Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-17 02:08:43 UTC ]
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Colin Kaepernick is releasing a deeply personal children’s book.

Colin Kaepernick—the activist quarterback blackballed by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem at the start of games in protest of police brutality and racial inequality—is releasing a children’s book inspired by a pivotal moment in his childhood. I Color Myself Different, the first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-16 15:56:17 UTC ]
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Livid Trump Wanted Person Who Leaked Bunker Story Executed, New Book Claims

Trump was taken to the White House bunker during protests last year over the police killing of George Floyd. Continue reading at The Huffington Post

[ The Huffington Post | 2021-07-14 04:58:33 UTC ]
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Ruth Ozeki | 'As an artist I have relationships with fictional voices all the time'

"The notion of 'a book' is just a convenient fiction which we books go along with because it serves the needs of the bean counters in publishing, not to mention the ego of the writers. But the reality is far more complex.” So explains “the Book”, one of the narrators of Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 19:27:08 UTC ]
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In-Person, Online: Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Business of Books

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-07-09 18:10:26 UTC ]
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Body Language in Middle Grade Lit

Two novels and a graphic memoir tackle weighty issues, with grace and good humor. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-07-08 04:06:37 UTC ]
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Fiction Titles Dominated Last Week's Bestseller List

The top 15 bestsellers last week were all fiction, led by Quentin Tarantino’s 'Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,' which sold more than 48,000 copies in its first week on sale. Overall, unit sales increased 4% over the week ended July 4, 2020. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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New Kiswahili science fiction award charts a path for African languages

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[ The Conversation | 2021-07-07 15:04:17 UTC ]
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Write to roam: why armchair travelling is back in fashion

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[ The Guardian | 2021-07-04 07:30:15 UTC ]
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Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival apologises for absence of female writers of colour

The organisers of the 2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival have apologised for not including any female writers of colour in the programme . Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-02 16:32:23 UTC ]
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How medicine sought to control women’s bodies while ignoring their symptoms

A comprehensive history shows that the same faulty assumptions persisted for centuries. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
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YMU’s Harris on crossing the aisle to agenting and building non-fiction brands

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 10:03:00 UTC ]
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Fiction Sales Continue to Rise

Sales of adult fiction rose 28.1% last week and young adult fiction jumped 49.6%, driving a 6.4% increase in total unit sales of print books last week over the week ended June 27, 2020. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Joy Williams has won the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

Today, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that Joy Williams will receive the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors an American writer whose body of work is distinguished for both its mastery and originality of thought and imagination. Williams, a previous... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-06-30 17:19:46 UTC ]
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