The book’s real strength is its ability to evocatively raise profound questions about humanity’s relationship with and responsibility to animals and the larger environment in the course of its often (darkly) comic action … A dire warning, sick joke, and perceptive critique of a species of very questionable intelligence: humanity. Read more
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Some of the world’s most celebrated authors have written manuscripts that won’t be published for a century – why? Richard Fisher visits the Future Library in Oslo to find out. Read more
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Longley has become one of the most successful poets Northern Ireland has ever produced. His trophy cabinet includes the Whitbread Poetry Award, the TS Eliot Prize and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Read more
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The ‘sprawling and ambitious’ debut centres on the author’s relationship with her mother, who died of cancer in 2010. Read more
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The books at issue here are not obscene by any stretch of the imagination. And the Virginia statute that has enabled these proceedings is unconstitutional. Under the statute, the court has the authority to temporarily block all sale and distribution of the books anywhere in Virginia upon a mere finding of “probable obscenity.” And, if the court ultimately determines that the books are indeed obscene, anyone who sells or even lends the books in Virginia could face criminal prosecution, regardless of whether they had prior knowledge of the obscenity proceedings. This would impact all independent bookstores and other distributors in the state of Virginia, even if they have no knowledge that a book has been so much as challenged. Read more
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The annual Prize for American Fiction honors an American literary writer whose body of work is “distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination.” Read more
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Selected by Alta Journal contributors, editors, and readers, these independent bookstores serve their communities—one devoted customer at a time. Read more
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From 1972 to 1975, photographer Susan Meiselas spent her summers photographing the world of women who performed in small-town carnivals as striptease artists. The resulting work would go on to form one of the world’s most enduring photo books: “Carnival Strippers.” Read more
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Thrust is many things: a speculative history of the United States, a recognition of forgotten classes, a fluid song about the power of love, a celebration of the power of language and storytelling. It is an intricate novel in its interconnections, plotlines twisting away and back together again, but readers’ attention will be well rewarded by profound, thought-provoking and deeply beautiful observations about humanity in an ever-changing world. Read more
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Earlier this month, Lisa Kessler, a paranormal romance author, logged into Kindle Direct Publishing to check her earnings from the previous month. On her publishing dashboard, she saw something she had never seen before in her 11 years as an author: a negative earnings balance. The reason for the negative balance? Kindle e-book returns. Read more
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