The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| American author of ‘dark’ tales Saunders wins Folio Prize Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:42 PM PDT Saunders, 55, who started out as a geophysicist and worked in the oil fields of Sumatra before turning to writing, was selected from a shortlist of eight authors for the new prize. Its sponsors say it is intended to recognise "the best English-language fiction from around the world" that has been published in Britain, regardless of form, genre or the author's nationality. "George Saunders's stories are both artful and profound," English novelist and poet Lavinia Greenlaw, the chair of the judges, said in a statement announcing the winner of the prize founded by the Folio Society, a publisher of deluxe classic books. "Darkly playful, they take us to the edge of some of the most difficult questions of our time and force us to consider what lies behind and beyond them. His subject is the human self under ordinary and extraordinary pressure. "...We have no doubt that these stories will prove only more essential in years to come." The Texas-born Saunders, who was a recipient of the $500,000 (RM1.6 million) MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called "the genius grant", in 2006, is a professor of creative writing at Syracuse University in New York. He has written several collections of short fiction, including "Tenth of December" – published by Bloomsbury – a New York Times bestseller, as well as popular children's books. "No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised, those Americans who struggle to pay the bills, make the rent, hold onto a job they might detest – folks who find their dreams slipping from their grasp as they frantically tread water, trying to keep from drowning," Michiko Kakutani wrote in a review of "Tenth of December" in The New York Times in January, 2013. The other 2014 shortlisted titles were: "Red Doc>" by Anne Carson (Random House/Jonathan Cape) "Schroder" by Amity Gaige (Faber & Faber) "Last Friends" by Jane Gardam (Little, Brown) "Benediction" by Kent Haruf (Picador) "The Flame Throwers" by Rachel Kushner (Random House/Harvill Secker) "A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing" by Eimear McBride (Galley Beggar Press) "A Naked Singularity" by Sergio De La Pava (Maclehose Editions) – Reuters, March 11, 2014. |
| David Nicholls novel ‘Us’ annonuced for September Posted: 10 Mar 2014 05:53 PM PDT "One Day" went on to sell over 5 million copies, with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess starring in the 2011 movie adaptation. Set for publication on September 30 in hardback format, "Us" deals with Douglas Petersen, husband in a failing marriage and troubled by his relationship with his son. With his wife, Connie, planning to leave him after their son leaves home, there's one last vacation to get through, a family holiday touring Europe's major cities. That's the platform for David to face up to the man he's become, make good with his son, and rediscover his wife as the woman he first fell in love with, two decades prior. The publicity tour for "One Day" afforded Nicholls the chance to visit "all the extraordinary places that I'd have loved to have seen as a back-packing teenager but never got the chance," he said. Publisher Hodder & Staughton's announcement revealed several key themes for "Us": living together, parenthood, the relationship between reason and emotion, art and science, parents and children, middle-age and youth. "'Us' is a road-trip, with all the pleasures and disasters of a long, difficult journey," Nicholls elaborated. "It's a love story of course, and I hope there's the same mixture of comedy and drama that I've strived for in the other books. But it's also about family – the bond of marriage and the demands of parenthood." – AFP/Relaxnews, March 11, 2014. |
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