Will Self: ‘I’m seen as a still-walking dead white man’

The novelist on his new collection of journalism, why he regrets criticising Sally Rooney and how he’s never shaken off the influence of JG Ballard“I’ll see your eidolon next Tuesday,” writes Will Self, 61, when I email to arrange a video call to discuss his new collection of journalism, Why Read: Selected Writings 2001-2021, which is centred on the concern (as he later told me, or my on-screen spirit-image) that “people are dumbing down their entire response to their own culture by their unfettered use of social media”. Self’s 26 previous books include Umbrella, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2012, and its sequels Shark and Phone, the latter a single 624-page paragraph which the Telegraph called an “epic anti-tweet”. Speaking from his home in south London, he said he liked the description “because the book was a deliberate attempt to call people’s attention to what was being lost by the digital. I don’t think the Umbrella trilogy is that hard to read at all; it’s only hard to read in contrast to a tweet. By Donald Trump!”How did you pick the pieces in Why Read?Until fairly recently, certainly since 2001, I probably wrote an average of 150,000 words of journalism every year, so there’s a vast amount to choose from. My New York editor said that in the age of the web, collections like this need a theme or else readers feel they’re just getting a grab bag they could’ve sourced themselves. So the emphasis fell on the impact on reading and writing of what I choose to call... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-11-26 18:00:32 UTC ]
News tagged with: #south london #deliberate attempt #readers feel #grab bag #observer order #delivery charges #books include

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Will Self: ‘I’m seen as a still-walking dead white man’'

L J Ross launches Read, Write, Walk North East

Author L J Ross is to launch an arts initiative, offering community grants, promoting literacy and encouraging tourism in The North East. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-04 19:31:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #promoting literacy #north east

Review: You won't find a romance darker than Susie Yang's 'White Ivy'

Yan's debut novel overturns the tropes of the romance novel in this story about an immigrant's doomed pursuit of marriage and the American dream. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-02 15:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #susie yang #white ivy #american dream #debut novel

Trade in transition waits on White House

At the end of a tumultuous year for the American book trade, with shake-ups at a number of big houses and organisations, comes a pivotal race to the White House. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-29 19:53:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #white house #tumultuous year #big houses

Tudor's The Chalk Man to be six-part drama

BBC Studios Production, in association with Nice Media Studios and Windowseat, has secured the rights to develop The Chalk Man by C J Tudor. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-28 10:55:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Jeff Daniels Tells Michigan What Trump's Really Like: ‘Not Much Of A Man At All’

The Michigan native teams up with bestselling author Don Winslow in new pro-Biden video. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2020-10-28 08:46:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bestselling author

Black & White to publish Burns poetry selection

Black & White Publishing has acquired Burns for Every Day of the Year from Robert Burns expert Dr Pauline Mackay. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-23 10:57:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black white

White Rabbit acquires joint memoir from Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi

Lee Brackstone, publisher at White Rabbit, has acquired world all-language rights for Medical Grade Music directly from authors Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-22 10:33:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lee brackstone #white rabbit #memoir

Who was Max Jacob? A poet, friend of Picasso and, a new biography shows, a man who defied easy labels

Rosanna Warren’s enlightening book is rich with anecdote and cameos by early 20th-century intellectuals Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-21 16:02:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #biography shows #rosanna warren

Black & White land fifth from Wright

Black & White Publishing has acquired A Traitor to His Blood, the fifth instalment of M P Wright's J T Ellington series. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-09 06:56:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

US man avoids jail in Thailand over bad resort review

Wesley Barnes had posted several reviews allegedly accusing the resort of "modern day slavery" Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2020-10-09 06:23:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Michael Joseph buys Tyler's Walk from the Wild Edge

Michael Joseph has bought a memoir from Jake Tyler, the mental health advocate, adventurer, runner, walker and depression sufferer who made headlines when he embarked on a 3,000-mile journey around the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-08 12:33:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #michael joseph #made headlines #memoir

Seven Dials seals deal with 'UK's fittest man'

Seven Dials has acquired Start Where Others Stop by Zack George, dubbed "the UK’s fittest man". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-29 00:34:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

White House 'pressured official to say John Bolton book was security risk'

Ex-National Security Council official claims she was pressured her to say manuscript contained sensitive information after her department had cleared itA former National Security Council official who while working there reviewed John Bolton’s memoir for classified information before publication,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-09-24 15:10:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #white house #classified information #memoir

Apparently, the White House turned the routine review process for Bolton’s book into a huge mess.

When John Bolton was preparing to publish The Room Where It Happened, his memoir of serving in the Trump White House, he and his legal team took the routine step of submitting it for review at the National Security Council. It was Ellen Knight’s job to oversee that process, as she had done... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-23 20:07:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john bolton #legal team #memoir

Deborah Tannen’s ‘Finding My Father’ pays tribute to a man whose many jobs became his life story

With so many contemporary memoirs devoted to the sins of the author’s mother, a focus on a loving dad seems a welcome change. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-23 05:01:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pays tribute #life story

Man in the Maze: A Conversation with Robert Silverberg

THE LONG AND VARIED career of science fiction author Robert Silverberg can almost be viewed as a microcosm of the genre’s development over the past seven decades. Starting out in the world of fandom, Silverberg edited a popular zine in the early 1950s, then turned to professional writing during... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-18 15:00:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #varied career #early 1950s #science fiction

The Whiting Foundation has announced its 2020 Literary Magazine Prize awardees.

Today, the Whiting Foundation announced the five print and digital winners for its third annual Literary Magazine Prizes. Since launching in 2018, the Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes seek to recognize, reward, and support publications that actively nurture writers who produce extraordinary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-16 12:00:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #whiting foundation #literary magazine

Trump is hardly the first serial liar in the White House. But his deceptions are different.

Review of ‘Lying in State: Why Presidents Lie -- and Why Trump Is Worse’ by Eric Alterman Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-16 06:05:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #serial liar #white house

Five Win 2020 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes

The 2020 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes were announced today and were given to 'Conjunctions,' 'Foglifter,' 'Kweli,' 'Nat. Brut,' and 'One Story.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #announced today #literary magazine