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"


3 new audiobooks to kick off your fall playlist

Titles for many tastes: a posthumous memoir by Michael K. Williams, a new recording of an 18th-century romance and a sweeping African novel Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-09-10 11:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What Makes a Good Book Club Question?

What makes for a good book club question? Here are some tips to consider before your next book club meeting. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-09-09 10:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Community Rises to Support Alice Wong’s Memoir

Examining disability activist and writer Alice Wong’s work, it becomes clear that almost all of her life and career is oriented toward community—a community that has thrown itself wholeheartedly behind her new memoir, 'Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of September 12, 2022

Angela Merkel’s memoir goes to St Martin’s, Berkley buys a debut novel by a former American Ballet Theatre ballerina, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The judge in two Virginia book-banning cases has dismissed the lawsuits.

The judge in two obscenity cases in Virginia that targeted two books—Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas—has dismissed the cases, saying that the books are not obscene under the law and the law that pertains to the litigation is itself flawed.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-31 13:48:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Podcast Network Lemonada and Penguin Random House Team up for a Book Club

Women-operated and founded podcast network Lemonada Media is launching a book club in partnership with publishing company Penguin Random House. Starting September, the Lemonada Book Club will select recent or upcoming fiction and nonfiction book releases under PRH--aligned with topics related to... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2022-08-31 12:13:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: August 31, 2022

“If it weren’t for Beyoncé, another girl like us with an untraceable name, we wouldn’t have had much in common.” Remica Bingham-Risher on stepmotherhood, lineage, and the weight of names. | Lit Hub Memoir Ben Mathis-Lilley on the inevitability of college football (and why it’s all Thomas... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-31 10:30:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: August 26, 2022

“What better than a little donkey upon which to project my wonderings?” Martha Cooley reflects on emigrating to Venice in her mid-sixties… and befriending a little asinella. | Lit Hub Memoir Olivia Rutigliano ranks the 50 best fictional dragons, to mark the return of House Targaryen. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jared Kushner’s memoir is only inadvertently revealing

Promising an inside view of the White House, the book actually exposes Kushner's mind-set and values. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-26 10:00:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Belvoir's Tell Me I'm Here looks at the impact of mental illness on the whole family. It is a wrenching and beautiful work

Based on Anne Deveson’s 1991 memoir about her son’s experience with schizophrenia, this play can be achingly sad. But it also offers hope. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2022-08-26 01:01:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Michelle Tea’s memoir exposes the pain — and comedy — of infertility

"Knocking Myself Up," Michelle Tea’s "memoir of (in)fertility," will resonate across generations. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-25 12:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


IPA: The SDG Book Club Issues a New Reading List

The 16th UN Sustainable Development Goal is the focus of a new children's reading list released by the SDG Book Club. The post IPA: The SDG Book Club Issues a New Reading List appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-24 22:10:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Chateaubriand on Writing Memoir between Two Societies

“It was an ‘I‘ of early days long gone who lived in these places, and that ‘I’ has already succumbed, for our days die before us.” Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2022-08-22 15:42:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jared Kushner memoir chronicles frustrations of negotiating trade deal with Canada

A memoir by Jared Kushner chronicles U.S. frustrations in negotiating a trade deal with Canada. It offers a peek into historic talks and insists there was method to the madness of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. But it sidesteps more disturbing... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2022-08-20 08:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Don’t Judge I’m Glad My Mom Died by Its Title

The actor Jennette McCurdy’s memoir is a confessional feat that asks what, if anything, adult children owe an abusive parent. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2022-08-19 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


This Week's Bestsellers: August 22, 2022

Former child star Jennette McCurdy has the #5 book in the country with the memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died.' Plus director Michael Mann writes a sequel to 1995's 'Heat,' and the Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman" drops. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of August 22, 2022

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sells an autobiography to Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books takes a memoir by ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Former Nickelodeon Star’s Memoir Has Become the Summer’s Big Hit Book. It’s Very Clear Why.

I’m Glad My Mom Died details the abuse the iCarly actor suffered as a child star. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2022-08-18 20:31:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Watch the trailer for Tegan and Sara’s High School and fuel your inner indie teenage angst.

TEGAN AND SARA TRAILER DROP, TEGAN AND SARA TRAILER DROP—this is not a drill! If you clicked on this, you’re probably well aware that the beloved sister indie pop duo published a memoir in 2019 called High School. Amazon Freevee (boo) is adapting it into a TV show (yay) starring Railey and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-18 16:25:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Why is it so hard to talk about marriage?

Elizabeth Crane's new memoir is an excavation of a 15-year union that proves just how hard it is to talk about marriage, even when it's your own. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-18 13:00:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this