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"


Novelist Tayari Jones braves COVID-19 and voter suppression in Georgia

In a new kind of quarantine diary, the author of the Oprah's Book Club bestseller "An American Marriage" dons a mask and waits nearly four hours to vote. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-06-16 15:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Maria Ressa’s conviction, and the Philippines’ dire information climate

“Evation.” Yesterday, authorities in the Philippines used that typo to convict Maria Ressa, the crusading journalist who founded the independent news site Rappler, and her former colleague Reynaldo Santos of “cyber-libel” charges. The typo appeared in a May 2012 article in which Santos linked... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-06-16 12:23:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Superman Returns, to Beat Up the Klan

A new Superman comic, written by Gene Luen Yang, and a medical memoir about a rare and debilitating disease are both featured in the latest Graphic Content column. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-16 09:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Is Ball Four the Greatest Baseball Memoir Ever Written?

Fifty years ago this month Jim Bouton set the baseball world on fire.  His kindling was Ball Four, a book that torched everything the game’s standard bearers held sacred. There had been sports diaries before, which, structurally-speaking, was what Ball Four was, but there had never been a sports... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-15 08:48:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


This Week's Bestsellers: June 15, 2020

Brit Bennett lands at #6 in hardcover fiction with ‘The Vanishing Half.’ Plus Megha Majumdar’s debut novel, ‘A Burning,’ Is #18 in hardcover fiction, and 2018’s ‘I’m Still Here’ by Austin Channing Brown is one of two Reese’s Book Club picks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Manilla signs memoir exploring womanhood and choice in Trump's America

Bonnier Books UK has acquired Christa Parravani’s "harrowing and beautifully written" memoir Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of Choice, Children, and Womanhood for its new literary imprint Manilla Press. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 17:12:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Personal Space: Sejal Shah on Growing Up Indian in Non-Indian Places

On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Sejal Shah, author of the memoir-in-essays This is One Way to Dance, published by the University of Georgia Press. Shah’s essays, many of which are about race, place, and belonging, were written over a span of 20 years,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-10 19:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Literature on Lockdown 8: #BlackLivesMatter

The sadness, exhaustion, anger and frustration that have been expressed by Black people across social media this week have, of course, been felt for centuries.But, by living so much through our screens right now, observing video footage, scrolling through reposted statements and infographics,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-06-05 16:46:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of June 8, 2020

Among the notable deals last week were the sale of a memoir from a PBS NewsHour correspondent, a novel about a woman who gives birth to an owl, and international bestseller Michel Faber’s latest novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


This Week's Bestsellers: June 8, 2020

‘How to Be an Antiracist’ and other books addressing systemic racism return to our bestseller lists. Plus musician Mikel Jollett debuts with the memoir ‘Hollywood Park,’ and science journalist James Nestor discusses the importance of ‘Breath.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Late-Night Revelations in “The Shapeless Unease,” a Memoir of Insomnia

Katy Waldman reviews “The Shapeless Unease,” by Samantha Harvey, a memoir about the author’s yearlong battle with chronic insomnia. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2020-06-04 18:55:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Little A acquires Greene's 'Jew(ish)' memoir

Little A, an imprint of Amazon Publishing, will publish Matt Greene's memoir, Jew(ish): A Plea.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-04 01:10:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How I’m Using Byzans to Connect With Other Book Lovers This Quarantine

Learn about Byzans, an online book club app that connects fellow readers, and participate in a book club without leaving your home. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-06-03 10:34:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Wayétu Moore Escapes a Civil War in Liberia. In America, She Encounters a New Kind of Danger.

“The Dragons, the Giant, the Women” is a migration memoir of separations, relocations and reunions. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-02 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Personal Space: Matt Ortile on Grindr, Sex, and Decolonization

On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Matt Ortile, author of the memoir The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I’ve Made About Race, Resistance and Romance, published by Bold Type Books. Ortile writes about owning his identity as a gay,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-01 20:04:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Transworld acquires motherhood memoir from Margaret Reynolds

Transworld has bought UK and Commonwealth rights for memoir The Bright Field by Margaret Reynolds, professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 08:56:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this


W&N to publish Moore's Hollywood memoir

W&N has acquired Miss Aluminium, a memoir by Susanna Moore describing her experiences in Hollywood in the 1970s and her own "hard-won arrival at selfhood". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-31 19:23:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


I Didn’t Have a Plan: The Millions Interviews Nick Flynn

My approach to memoir writing demands a different schedule. It may be more organized. I take notes, I write in condensed bursts. I do that with poetry also, but the process is more alchemic. It’s uncontainable. It’s fluid, I can drift in another realm. The post I Didn’t Have a Plan: The Millions... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-05-29 10:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of June 1, 2020

Among the big acquisitions last week were a history of four women who transformed the CIA and a sequel to 'The Henna Artist', which was Reese’s Book Club pick for May. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


NYT Mag Wins Big at Virtual National Magazine Awards

The New York Times Magazine was the top winner at this year's National Magazine Awards (commonly referred to as the "Ellies"), which were held as a virtual ceremony Thursday evening after the annual gala, originally set for Brooklyn in mid-March, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-05-29 01:15:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this