How to embrace your inner poet in 2020
harpersbazaar.com – Tuesday January 7, 2020
In 2017, Isabella Macpherson and Gala Gordon launched a platform for rising actors, directors and writers from all backgrounds, but particularly women. Since then, Platform Presents has grown in size and influence, evolving from a singular poetry evening to full play readings involving big star names.
Poetry is still a focus and passion for the company and on 9 February, Macpherson and Gordon will stage its 2020 Poetry Gala where high-profile actors and actresses will read the world's best-loved poems, as directed by Gemma Arterton. The line-up includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifans, Holliday Grainger and Juliet Stevenson to name but a few.
New Literary Agent Listing: Jamie Carr
firstwriter.com – Tuesday January 7, 2020
Represents novelists, short story writers, journalists, activists, and food and culture writers. Most interested in adult literary and upmarket commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction, she is drawn to writing that is voice-driven, highly transporting, from unique perspectives and marginalized voices, and that seeks to disrupt or reframe what appears to be known.
'Fight Club' author Chuck Palahniuk takes readers to writing school in new book 'Consider This'
eu.usatoday.com – Monday January 6, 2020
It's no secret that going to school for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing is expensive. But with the release of his new book, "Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different," Chuck Palahniuk is offering an alternative.
"It costs a fortune to get a MFA degree in creative writing, and there are people who don't have that money and don't have that time and don't live anywhere close to a school that has a program like that," the author explains to USA TODAY.
Now, the novelist who has published more than two dozen books, including "Fight Club" (1996), is looking to share the most important moments and lessons that helped mould him in his new book, which hits shelves Jan. 7.
Author Elizabeth TenHouten: “To be a great author don’t be afraid of what others will think”
thriveglobal.com – Monday January 6, 2020
As part of my interview series on the five things you need to know to become a great author, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth TenHouten. Elizabeth is an international bestselling beauty author and poet. She has authored two beauty books with Random House and is currently working on her first poetry book, titled: The Softest Sting.
'Authenticity is the key' - budding crime writers on getting the science right
bbc.co.uk – Sunday January 5, 2020
Whether it is Ian Rankin's world-weary Inspector Rebus or the windswept murder mysteries of BBC Scotland's Shetland, home-grown crime fiction is big business.
But with fans more clued-up than ever, is getting the forensic science right in novels and television series important?
Dundee University seems to think so.
The university launched its MLitt in Crime Writing and Forensic Investigation in 2017, the first course of its kind in the UK.
With Scottish crime writers more popular than ever and the continued success of literary festivals like Stirling's Bloody Scotland and Aberdeen's Granite Noir, many fans are not just content to know "whodunnit", but how it was done, too.
Comedy Writing Intensive for Women
tinyurl.com – Saturday January 4, 2020
Scholarship applications are now being accepted for the Comedy Writing Intensive for Women at the Southampton Inn, NY March 19 - 22, 2020. Scholarships are merit based and are applied towards registration fees. Celebrate yourself during Women's History Month! This intensive is for writers of plays, fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Mango Publishing Acquires Yellow Pear Press
publishersweekly.com – Friday January 3, 2020
Mango Publishing, a Miami-based independent house focused on a diverse list of voices and topics, has acquired Yellow Pear Press, which also includes Bonhomie Press, a fiction and memoir imprint.
Founded in 2015 in San Francisco, Yellow Pear Press specializes in lifestyle and regional titles as well as notecards and journals. The YPP list works well with that of Mango Publishing, which publishes across an eclectic range of topics including LGBTQ issues, feminism, health and self-help, fiction, and children’s and young adult books.
Debut fiction by women shook up the Indian literary scene in 2019
livemint.com – Monday December 30, 2019
- First-time women writers dominated the literary fiction landscape in India this year
- They won prizes, appeared on shortlists, and published thematically daring books challenging patriarchal assumptions and political realities
It may seem superfluous to fuss about literary fiction and its fate in the fractious political climate Indians are living in, but the genre has, since its inception, held a mirror to social change, capturing truths that slip through the cracks of hardwired non-fiction. This year, in particular, has witnessed the triumph of women debut novelists. A series of powerful books by them have disrupted the familiar landscape of English-language publishing in India, usually filled with established names and stars. Thematically daring, crafted with precision and forging distinctive linguistic registers, these books help us experience our political and social realities more keenly. They also capture the collective desires and despairs that complicate our engagement with the India we are living in at the moment.
New Literary Agent Listing: Katherine Wessbecher
firstwriter.com – Monday December 30, 2019
Katherine is looking for children’s books (picture books through YA), upmarket adult fiction, and narrative nonfiction for all ages.
How Many Characters?
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Monday December 30, 2019
I never really thought about how many characters might be best in a novel because my characters have always had real and necessary roles, and that’s what I’ve stuck by. But recently I had a student whose novel is off to the races with 10 different third-person point of view characters and about an equal number of secondary characters. The student was struggling with whether that was optimal or whether she needed to ditch the whole project. Hey, wait, never toss a project until you’ve pondered the various implications.
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