Why are biographies so popular? Because humans are enthralled by the lives of others | Caroline Knox

We seek inspiration, consolation – and the unvarnished truth. And we know that all the best stories are trueCaroline Knox is director of the Boswell book festivalMy love affair with biography began aged nine, when my subscription book club sent me a compendium of “true life” adventure stories. It is a passion I have carried into adulthood: before moving to the great biographer and diarist James Boswell’s home county of Ayrshire and founding a festival in his name, I had enjoyed commissioning biography, memoir and travel writing – all genres at which Boswell excelled – as a senior editor at the renowned publisher John Murray. It was then still housed in the family’s London mansion in Albemarle Street, where one of the great lost memoirs in literature, Lord Byron’s, had been burnt in the drawing-room grate.Visiting Boswell’s burial place for the first time, in the churchyard in Auchinleck, a former mining village in Ayrshire, I was shocked to discover that Boswell’s literary legacy had also seemingly been laid to rest. His exquisite neoclassical mausoleum stood derelict, with not even a sign to mark his last resting place. I immediately determined to launch a book festival of biography.Caroline Knox is director of the Boswell Book festival. The Boswell book festival will take place at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, from 12 to 14 May 2023, with a children’s festival taking place at the same time Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-09 08:00:15 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Why are biographies so popular? Because humans are enthralled by the lives of others | Caroline Knox"


Newsletter: Book club begins 2020 with Ocean Vuong's 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'

The L.A. Times Book Club's 2020 selections include "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" and "American Dirt." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-12-21 16:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Four audiobooks to keep you listening into the new year

The best audiobooks of December 2019 include the latest John le Carré spy novel and a stirring memoir by a Philippine immigrant. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-20 20:54:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Four audiobooks to keep you listening into the new year

The best audiobooks of December 2019 include the latest John le Carré spy novel and a stirring memoir by a Philippine immigrant. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-20 20:54:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Four audiobooks to keep you listening into the new year

The best audiobooks of December 2019 include the latest John le Carré spy novel and a stirring memoir by a Philippine immigrant. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-20 20:54:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Edward Snowden’s profits from memoir must go to US government, judge rules

Court says state is entitled to any profits from Permanent Record because its publication breached non-disclosure agreementsEdward Snowden is not entitled to the profits from his memoir Permanent Record, and any money made must go to the US government, a judge has ruled.Permanent Record, in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-12-20 13:20:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels talks ‘The Rise of Skywalker,’ his new memoir and four decades of Star Wars

The only actor to appear in every film of the Skywalker saga reflects on his experience in the book “I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


20 Of The Best Book Club Books For 2020

Let's start off 2020 right with the best book club books! Some were published in 2019, while others are upcoming releases to get on your library holds list. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-20 11:35:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Memoir That Serves as a Playbook for Your 20s

Audacious Brit Dolly Alderton explores a raucous decade of living and loving in her debut, 'Everything I Know About Love.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Indigenous Writers Deserve More Credit for Being Hilarious

Tiffany Midge is the author of several books including the recent memoir Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, a collection of prose that blends humor with social commentary and meditations on love and loss. Her poetry collection The Woman Who Married a Bear won Kenyon Review’s Earthworks Prize... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Read Harder: A Memoir By Someone From a Religious Tradition Not Your Own

From stories about commitment to faith to those about leaving the faith, learn more about the traditions in these religious memoirs for Read Harder 2020. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-19 11:33:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


You Won’t Find Mark Morris at the Multiplex

“I’m not that interested in movies,” says the dancer and choreographer, whose new memoir is “Out Loud.” “I like poetry.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Judge Rules Edward Snowden Must Surrender Earnings From Memoir to U.S. Government

Snowden's recently published memoir violated the terms of his employment contract. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-12-18 11:37:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ali Wong’s Memoir Isn’t Just About Asian Americans—It’s Written To and For Us

When I read the reviews of Ali Wong’s memoir Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice For Living Your Best Life, I was at first thrilled—the responses were glowing—and then perplexed. I fundamentally agreed with what they said: that the book is a more intimate and poignant (yet... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Doin’ It In The Nook: Reading With Kelly Corrigan and Matt Nathanson

Doin' It In The Nook with Kelly Corrigan and Matt Nathanson. If you're not part of this book club yet, you will want to be ASAP. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-12-16 11:37:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Puffin lands Jacqueline Woodson's New York Times bestseller

Puffin will publish Brown Girl Dreaming, the multi-award winning memoir told in verse by author Jacqueline Woodson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 18:04:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this


#Merky Books snaps up youth activist Jeremiah Emmanuel's memoir

#Merky Books will publish the memoir of youth activist Jeremiah Emmanuel, “a guide to overcoming the obstacles young people should not have to face”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 13:08:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Elisabeth Sifton, Editor and Tamer of Literary Lions, Dies at 80

She was also a publisher and an author whose memoir affirmed that her father, the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, had popularized the Serenity Prayer. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 22:52:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Revisiting André Aciman’s Eccentric Family

This week, Josh Duboff reviews André Aciman’s “Find Me,” the sequel to his 2007 novel “Call Me by Your Name.” In 1995, Barry Unsworth wrote for the Book Review about “Out of Egypt,” Aciman’s memoir chronicling the family that shaped his life. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-12-13 10:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


W&N pre-empts 'breathtaking' memoir from Shadrick

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has pre-empted a “breathtaking” memoir from Tanya Shadrick about waking from a coma. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 23:53:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lilly Dancyger Wants You to Embrace Your Bad First Draft

In our series “Can Writing Be Taught?” we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger, editor at Narratively and author of the forthcoming memoir Negative Space. Lilly’s next... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this