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 ]
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The 2019 Man Booker Prize for Fiction judges have been announced, with book trade heavyweights Peter Florence and Liz Calder on the panel. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Texas Observer published an interesting piece Tuesday about a 74-year-old Dallas-area Republican activist named Ray Myers, who was a 2016 Republican National Convention delegate for Ted Cruz and a co-author of the 2018 Texas Republican Party’s official platform. Myers recently posted a... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2018-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crime writer Neil White will be moving from Bonnier Books UK to Hera Books, the newly formed digital publisher, in the New Year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The comic book creator's daughter says a new character, Dirt Man, was in the works before his death. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2018-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There will never be ’nuff said about this legendary creator. The man born Stanley Lieber published his first comic book under the pseudonym Stan Lee in 1941–Captain America Comics #3–and he never looked back. He went on to create some of the most memorable, beloved, pivotal characters in all of... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2018-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three US historians are in the running for the $75,000 Cundill History Prize, the largest prize for a work of non-fiction in English, run by Canada's McGill University. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Liverpool indie Dead Ink has received £66,880 from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants in support of its Publishing Step-Change project. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of the Man Booker Prize titles dropped at the longlist stage have signfiicantly outsold its shortlist, according to Nielsen Bookscan, with Belinda Bauer's Snap (Bantam) shifting almost three times the total of the entire shortlist's sales. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anna Burns has become the first Northern Irish writer to win the Man Booker Prize with her novel Milkman (Faber & Faber), a book about the sexual harassment of a young woman, commended by the judges for its “distinctive voice” and for being at once “particular and brilliantly universal”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 17th woman to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Anna Burns has won for 'Milkman,' set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Her publisher, Faber & Faber, becomes the second biggest winner of Man Booker titles. The post Northern Ireland’s Anna Burns Wins 2018 Man Booker Prize for... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Dead Ink will publish Lee Rourke’s third novel, Glitch, about a dramatic drop in cabin pressure on a man’s flight home from America. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Milkman,' which is published by Graywolf Press in the U.S., makes Burns the first Northern Irish writer to win the prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We spoke to American author Jesse Ball about the inspirations behind Gordon Burn Prize-winning novel Census (Granta Books). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2018 is the year people wanted to read about politics. Barnes & Noble reported a 57% surge in sales of political books compared with last year. The sales spike was driven by books that have been selling like wildfire all year long, from Michael Wolff’s "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Galbraith’s third Cormoran Strike title Lethal White has bagged the ebook number one straight out of the gate. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Galbraith has held the Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week running, with Lethal White (Sphere) selling 15,244 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (October 16) is preceded by a series of events with shortlisted authors, and London Book Fair has opened its search for its official 2019 literacy charity. The post Industry Notes: Man Booker’s Shortlisted Authors, London Book Fair’s Literacy Charity appeared... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BBC4 is to broadcast a 60-minute documentary looking back at the highs and lows of 50 years of the Booker Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Cooper, author of 'Behold a Pale Horse,' did not plan to make his life into a harrowing saga of American despair, but that’s how it turned out. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Ranging across space and time,' according to jury chair Kwame Anthony Appiah, the 2018 Man Booker Prize shortlist includes three authors from the UK, one from Canada, two from the United States. The post The Man Booker Prize for Fiction Names Its 2018 Shortlist appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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