Bill Cheng's Blog, page 125
February 28, 2013
thepenguinpress:
The end of the Orange Prize?
The big news...
The end of the Orange Prize?
The big news today is the announcement that mobile company Orange will pull its sponsorship of the august literary prize. If you’ve read any of the previous winners listed below, you know this is unfortunate news. Let’s hope the award founders can find a new sponsor soon.
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Home by Marilynne Robinson
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Property by Valerie Martin
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
A Crime in the Neighbourhood by Suzanne Berne
Larry’s Party by Carol Shields
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
“After this year’s award is presented on 30 May, Orange… will withdraw its support of the prize in order to focus on film industry sponsorship.”
Oh good…
February 27, 2013
myimaginarybrooklyn:
fuckyeahmanuscripts:
W.H. Auden’s syllabus...
W.H. Auden’s syllabus (yes, for a single semester) for a class called “Fate and the Individual in European Culture” at the University of Michigan. This is not a course to be trifled with.
February 26, 2013
Writing is hard
I’ve forgotten how difficult it is to write a short story.
Some marginalia on this draft:
play it straight
bad line
maybe start en media res?
re-format, move faster
flat joke
missed opportunity
enh.
tension missing
earn moment
awk
Also, on the reverse-side (or “verso”) of the last page: take your characters seriously!
Good advice overall. See you March 5th!
Kirkus, Starred Review
A wildly ambitious debut novel—vividly imagined, frequently poetic—conjuring the Southern Delta of the first half of the 20th century as a fever dream, steeped in the blues
"You write to find out what you believe."
- Adam Phillips, from last night’s live Writers at Work interview at Live from the NYPL. (via theparisreview)
February 25, 2013
The Ecco/Amistad Summer 2013 Fiction Sampler
I think this was put together primarily for people in the book publishing industry but anyone with a Kindle or a Kindle app can pick it up. FOR FREE.
Exciting new titles include:
Peripatetic Coffin by Ethan Rutherford
Together Tea by Marjan Kamali
The Son by Philipp Meyer
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
oh… and me.
Now that I know about these samplers, I should pick these up more often. (Also what the hell ice cream flavor is that?)
