He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary form’The awful news of Martin Amis’s death prompts a rush of memories. I first met him in 1969, in Paris, when we both found ourselves staying in the same apartment on the Île Saint-Louis for a few days. I was 17, Martin was 20. I only realised who this Martin guy was four years later when his first novel, The Rachel Papers, appeared. In a strange but real sense, he was the first writer I had ever met. And thus began an acquaintance as an avid reader and later as a friend.The remarkable thing about that first novel was the utter confidence and distinctiveness of the narrative voice. Martin found his style at the very beginning of his career as a writer and it never changed. That voice he had defined and charged everything else he wrote – fiction, essays, journalism, memoirs. Very few writers can be instantly identified by a sentence or two of their prose – Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Vladimir Nabokov – and Martin precociously joined that elite group and stayed there. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]
As the lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 begin to be relaxed across the UK, we’re bringing you the final instalment of our Literature on Lockdown series.Following the worldwide demonstrations, protests and public events in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-06-16 16:00:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, will be published by Faber & Faber on 2nd March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 08:35:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Nineteen books from 15 countries and 13 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, including the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 01:27:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Two sequels which show how the Victorian novelist's stories can be adapted to reflect post-colonial narratives. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-06-08 16:19:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Desmond Elliott Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first novel is written in English and published in the UK. Since 2007, it has supported and heralded new writers; the honor comes with a £10,000 prize. It’s heartening to see, especially right now, that this year the Desmond Elliott... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 17:58:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Although it was the nineteenth century when the novel arguably came into its own, with novelists like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters writing novels that are still widely read and studied today, the eighteenth century was the age in which the novel emerged as a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-23 14:00:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Stephanie Danler’s memoir Stray invites us to look closely at our own life: our family dynamics, our loss, our trauma, and the moments of happiness that still exist within that fragile frame. With deep introspection and stunning prose, Danler tells us about the years she spent after writing her... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-19 11:00:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Claire Adam has scooped the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award for her “outstanding” novel Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-17 13:26:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Whether delving into chunky historical narratives or listening to short story podcasts, we’ve all been approaching reading differently during lockdown. Our reading habits can take us back in time, allow us to examine our present, or give us hope for the future. In time for the May bank holiday... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-05-07 13:58:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
My first novel bombed spectacularly. This was about 20 years ago. Everything went wrong. First my editor quit after which my publishing house kinda-sorta forgot I existed. Orphaned was the word they used. Since nobody gave a damn, I at least got to choose my own book cover. The photograph I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-27 08:49:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Many lives are radically different right now. But birthdays, anniversaries, and public holidays come and go as before. The pink supermoon would have appeared whether we’d watched it from our windows or outdoors among a crowd of strangers. This week, Earth Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and World... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-04-24 14:34:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Recently, I threw out the first 60 pages of the novel I am currently working on. I had been determined to challenge myself by writing in the third person—I had spent the last ten years working on my first novel in the first person and I thought I was ready for something new and difficult. […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-21 08:48:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
T Kira Mahealani Madden is the author of the memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. She is still an amateur magician. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of Harmless Like You—the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her short work has appeared in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 08:48:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The first novel to be published by Stormzy’s new imprint #Merky Books, That Reminds Me by poet and podcaster Derek Owusu, has been longlisted for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debuts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-06 14:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Julia Alvarez's "Afterlife" is her first novel for adults in 15 years. She talks about loss, fragmentation and "American Dirt." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-02 22:24:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Then the Fish Swallowed Him,” the first novel in English by the Iranian-born Amir Ahmadi Arian, makes for unnerving reading. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-03-24 09:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The sought-after first novel by former blogger Clare Pooley exposes the need for connection in the age of social media Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-20 07:25:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“The Mountains Sing,” the first novel in English by the Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai, imagines her country’s traumatic 20th century through the stories of three generations of women. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-03-17 09:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Mankell’s 1972 book, “The Rock Blaster,” now available in English, explores the struggles of a working-class man. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-05 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this