Why All Americans Should Read “Celestial Bodies”

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi won the Man Booker International Prize this year for its beautifully rendered portrayal of a family’s tangled history in the village of al-Awafi in Oman. The novel was the first book translated from Arabic to win the prize, and more surprisingly, it was the first novel by an Omani woman […] The post Why All Americans Should Read “Celestial Bodies” appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-26 11:59:00 UTC ]

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What We're Reading - Lockdown Bank Holiday Edition

Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
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The Surreal Stories of “Lake Like a Mirror” Show How Power Distorts Reality

Ho Sok Fong is without a doubt one of the most lauded Malaysian short story writers working in Chinese. Since winning her first literary prize in 2002, she has authored two story collections, namely Maze Carpet and Lake Like a Mirror, both published in Taiwan. Lake Like a Mirror is now available... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-04-28 11:00:09 UTC ]
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Two Novels, Two Global Catastrophes, Two Decades Apart

My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago. Everything went wrong. First my editor quit after which my publishing house kinda-sorta forgot I existed. Orphaned was the word they used. Since nobody gave a damn, I at least got to choose my own book cover. The photograph I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 08:49:54 UTC ]
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Make a Family Comic With The Believer

Family! Secrets! Revealed! Watch Mira Jacob be interviewed by her son, then stick around and make a comic. * Mira Jacob is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Good Talk and The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing. Her recent work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Vogue,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-26 21:15:34 UTC ]
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Literature on Lockdown 3: #CultureConnectsUs

Many lives are radically different right now. But birthdays, anniversaries, and public holidays come and go as before. The pink supermoon would have appeared whether we’d watched it from our windows or outdoors among a crowd of strangers. This week, Earth Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and World... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-04-24 14:34:13 UTC ]
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Support Indie Bookstores Without Leaving Your Home

For the past six years, Independent Bookstore Day—billed as a “one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country”—has taken place on the last Saturday of April. (That’s tomorrow!) It’s usually a fun, light-hearted, occasionally raucous spring day where book lovers go... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-04-24 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Ten Memoirs to Keep You Company in Isolation: A Reading List

Recently, I threw out the first 60 pages of the novel I am currently working on. I had been determined to challenge myself by writing in the third person—I had spent the last ten years working on my first novel in the first person and I thought I was ready for something new and difficult. […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-21 08:48:34 UTC ]
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We Owe More to Our Young Writers: On the Relevance of the Workshop

In post 11/8 America, the citizenry became more aware, more active, more willing to submit themselves to self-examination. Yet while the world of journals both print (Freeman’s), and online (Guernica, Lit Hub, Electric Literature), have increased their commitment to the exploration of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 08:49:50 UTC ]
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Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and T Kira Madden on Craft, Candles, and Character

T Kira Mahealani Madden is the author of the memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. She is still an amateur magician. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of Harmless Like You—the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her short work has appeared in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 08:48:38 UTC ]
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First #Merky Books novel makes Desmond Elliott Prize longlist

The first novel to be published by Stormzy’s new imprint #Merky Books, That Reminds Me by poet and podcaster Derek Owusu, has been longlisted for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debuts. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-06 14:35:00 UTC ]
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Julia Alvarez discusses her radically different novel, 'Afterlife' (and defends 'American Dirt')

Julia Alvarez's "Afterlife" is her first novel for adults in 15 years. She talks about loss, fragmentation and "American Dirt." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-02 22:24:09 UTC ]
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6 Debut Fantasy Novels Starring Black Women

I often talk about how I created A Phoenix First Must Burn, my anthology of fantasy stories by black women authors, for my younger self, a girl who loved fantasy and science fiction and so desperately wanted to see herself in those worlds. It’s a strange experience to create the thing you wanted... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-03-25 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Is Dying in America So Expensive?

In Megan Giddings’s debut novel Lakewood, desperation leads to a loss of self in a capitalist medical system bent on taking advantage of Black people and their bodies. After the death of her grandmother, Lena, a college student struggling with overwhelming medical debt and taking care of her... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-03-24 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Set in a Notorious Prison, a Novel Probes Iran’s Torturers and Their Victims

“Then the Fish Swallowed Him,” the first novel in English by the Iranian-born Amir Ahmadi Arian, makes for unnerving reading. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-24 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Clare Pooley | 'It is a book about the importance of community in a world where we are more connected than ever but more lonely than ever'

The sought-after first novel by former blogger Clare Pooley exposes the need for connection in the age of social media Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-20 07:25:26 UTC ]
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A Stirring Family Saga Tells a Taboo History of Vietnam

“The Mountains Sing,” the first novel in English by the Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai, imagines her country’s traumatic 20th century through the stories of three generations of women. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-03-17 09:00:13 UTC ]
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Electric Literature Is Seeking Spring/Summer Interns for 2020

Electric Literature internships introduce undergraduate and graduate students, emerging writers, and aspiring publishing professionals to digital publishing and the New York literary scene. Because we are a small, not-for-profit publisher, we provide unique opportunities for professional... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-03-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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8 Contemporary Novels by Japanese Women Writers

My novel The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a story of how a young woman’s unexplained suicide shapes and transforms the lives of those she left behind. It’s a literary mystery with elements of magical realism set in Japan, not unlike my debut novel Rainbirds. Because of these, I am often... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-03-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Five years after Henning Mankell’s death, his gritty first novel makes a welcome appearance

Mankell’s 1972 book, “The Rock Blaster,” now available in English, explores the struggles of a working-class man. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-05 17:00:00 UTC ]
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7 Novels About Being Trapped on an Island

Reading a good book can feel like traveling to a remote island. A particular kind of journey where having crossed a stretch of water, and surrounded by sea, you are cut off from the rest of the world. For a writer, an island lends itself to creating atmosphere—claustrophobic, mystical, exposed.... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-02-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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