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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Pan Mac is to publish new non-fiction and two novels from former MI5 officer Tom Marcus, after acquiring world rights from Luigi Bonomi at LBA Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Halperin, left, and John Heilemann on a panel about their series on Showtime, “The Circus,” in January 2016. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CILIP will launch an independent review of its Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals following the controversy that was sparked by its 2017 Carnegie Medal longlist, which did not include a single black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) writer. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fabled children's book author Dr. Seuss once said that his experience working at Standard Oil 'taught me conciseness and how to marry pictures with words.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It was the weekend for upsets in high school basketball, and Westchester did its part on Saturday night, knocking off No. 2-seeded Fairfax, 66-59, in the City Section Open Division semifinals at Roybal High. It came a day after the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon and Chino Hills,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“Flâneuse” Lauren Elkin Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 336 pp., $27 Lauren Elkin’s “Flâneuse,” part cultural history, part personal memoir, fervently celebrates women who have asserted their freedom and sharpened their identities by taking to urban streets — whether on solitary, exploratory rambles... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year's politically-charged AWP conference concluded Saturday evening with a candlelight vigil outside the White House and strong sales reported from the book fair floor. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The chain of booksellers has announced its first profit in years – thanks in part to a bold decision to run each branch like a local bookshop Late on Thursday afternoon, would-be wizards across the UK dropped what they were doing to join the professors of Hogwarts for Harry Potter night. At 6pm... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Edinburgh-based independent Black & White Publishing is naming its new YA imprint ‘Ink Road’. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Man Booker Prize is unaffected by Tesco’s merger with The Booker Group, its organisers have clarified. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic set to publish a YA novel set in a deadly circus, where the children of immigrants are forced to perform in a travelling circus. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A zebra that once belonged to a collection of wild animals at Hearst Ranch was found dead and skinned on a San Simeon beach Saturday after heavy rains carried it down a creek and into the sea, authorities say. The carcass, which had much of its hide removed, was discovered just before 12:30 p.m.,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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President Obama in the Oval Office during an interview with Michiko Kakutani on Friday. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than 100 staff of the La Martinière group walked out for an hour in protest over working conditions in the children and young adults book division, according to the French trade publication Livres Hebdo. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Major bookselling initiatives, along with book fairs and campaigns to promote reading, are underway in Vietnam's developing book publishing market. The post Market Overview: Vietnam’s Walk on ‘Book Street’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sarah Manning, formerly an agent at United Talent Agency, is joining the Bent Agency. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Sarah Hall is to judge the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction alongside travel writer Colin Thubron, literary critic Lila Azam Zanganeh, and artist Tom Phillips. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Annual short story competition the White Review Short Story Prize will be running simultaneously in the UK & Ireland and in the US & Canada for the first time next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vanity Fair’s new subscriptions increased 100 fold after the president-elect tweeted without evidence that the magazine is failing. The post Fact Check: Vanity Fair’s Numbers Are Not “Way Down, Big Trouble, Dead!” appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2016-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stine is achieving a "lifelong dream" by writing the comics, a five-issue series that debuts in February and will feature plenty of interdimensional weirdness. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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