The largest annual writers convention re-emerged last week. Here’s AWP by the numbers
latimes.com – Saturday April 2, 2022
They came, they saw, they picked up 6,000 AWP tote bags.
The annual conference of the Assn. of Writers & Writing Programs took place in person in Philadelphia last week. For thousands of writers accustomed to coming together annually to talk shop and stay up late drinking, it was a long-delayed reunion.
After the demise of the long-lived BookExpo, this MFA-centric gathering represents a writer’s biggest opportunity to network, browse journals, attend panels on literary trends and assemble for bookish gossip.
How to start writing a novel – authors share how they did it
metro.co.uk – Thursday March 31, 2022
We’ve all got a novel in us. Or so the saying goes.
But for most people, even if you have the burning embers of an idea inside you – it can be hard to know where to start.
How do you find the time, the confidence, or the structure needed to actually put pen to paper, or fingers to keys, and actually start the process of writing your first novel.
Well – it can be done. Just look at all the books on your bookshelf or in your local bookshop. All of those authors were once beginners, and they all had to start somewhere.
New Publisher Listing: DSP Publications
firstwriter.com – Wednesday March 30, 2022
We are a boutique imprint producing quality fiction that pushes the envelope to present immersive, unique, and unforgettable reading experiences. We choose stories that beg to be told, tales that depart from mainstream concepts to create fantastic and compelling journeys of the mind.
Narrative Sleight-of-Hand: The Trick of Writing Multiple POVs
tor.com – Tuesday March 29, 2022
One of the traps I fall into most easily as a writer is the illusion that I know what I’m doing. I have a few novels under my belt, and have seen some success with them. Readers have occasionally marvelled at my artistry, or even proclaimed me wise. I, for one, am all too ready to believe the hype about myself.
That is, until I start writing a book that is too hard for me. Which is every book I write, somehow. I end up with two choices—abandon the hard book and write something easier, or abandon the notion that I have any idea what I’m doing.
I highly recommend the latter. It’s humbling, but frees me to look around and find help in unexpected places.
Mind body spirit publisher Toran Press to launch at LBF
thebookseller.com – Monday March 28, 2022
A boutique body, mind and spirit press is launching at London Book Fair, focusing on "beautiful, thought-provoking" books for children and adults.
Toran Press was conceived by Vineet Sharma, who is also m.d. at Parragon Publishing India, and Nicola Deschamps, former brands and licensing publisher at Parragon Books and owner of Target Editorial.
The press will focus on publishing books orientated towards the mind, body and spirit market promoting positivity and wellness in children and adults. Its name has been derived from the Sanskrit word to describe a colourful and meaningful decoration that was traditionally used to adorn front doors on celebration days.
New Literary Agent Listing: Jennifer Chevais
firstwriter.com – Monday March 28, 2022
Currently building her list of authors specialising in fantasy, science fiction, and horror, but she also has a soft spot for thrillers, upmarket fiction, memoir, graphic novels, and many more.
The Tricky Task of Writing a Villain
theatlantic.com – Sunday March 27, 2022
In literature, and in real life, many times the villain makes the story. But writing a nuanced account of these characters, whether in fiction or in nonfiction, can be tricky. In her book Putin’s People, Catherine Belton uncovers important details from Putin’s past and tells what we might consider his origin story. One evening in December 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a group of protesters started making its way to the KGB station in Dresden. Putin called for reinforcements, but none came. This was his turning point, Anne Applebaum writes, the moment that “marked the end of [the Soviet] empire and the beginning of an era of humiliation.” She describes his disdain for democracy as his answer to that “trauma,” but she’s clear that his success has “proved a terrible tragedy for the rest of the world.”
Get your creative writing juices flowing
kemptonexpress.co.za – Sunday March 27, 2022
Writers 2000 is an interest group for writers at all levels and has been running its annual writing competition for many years.
The 2022 competition has been launched and interested writers are encouraged to put their thinking caps on and come up with original ideas.
The theme for the competition is A Twist of Fate and this must be the inspiration for these categories:
• Fiction
• Flash fiction
• Non-fiction
London Book Fair 2022: agents' hotlists
thebookseller.com – Sunday March 27, 2022
Thrillers continue to prove popular among this year’s gamut of upcoming titles, alongside themes of climate change, grief, resilience and hope.
Pulitzer winner Anne Tyler on writing from black viewpoint: ‘I should be allowed to do it’
nypost.com – Tuesday March 22, 2022
One of America’s most acclaimed authors is wading into the culture wars, saying she believes she should be able to create characters from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Anne Tyler, 80, spoke out on the issue in an interview with the Sunday Times, stating, “I’m astonished by the appropriation issue. It would be very foolish for me to write, let’s say, a novel from the viewpoint of a black man, but I think I should be allowed to do it.”
Tyler — who won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel “Breathing Lessons” — also hit out at cancel culture.
“If an incredibly talented person has written novels in the 1930s or ’40s and all of a sudden it is discovered that there was something he said or did — even something as bad as sexual harassment — he should be condemned for it but I don’t see why you should withdraw his novels from publication,” she told the British publication.
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