I can tell you where it all started because I remember the moment exactly. It was late and I'd just finished the novel I'd been reading. A few more pages would send me off to sleep, so I went in search of a short story. Read more
I can still remember the strange thrill I experienced on first reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carré's third novel, published in 1963, and the one that made his name and brought him lasting international success. Read more
CAROLINE CALLOWAY'S CAREER so far has been indicative of many publishing trends. With help from her parents, she paid to develop her craft as a writer, studying at NYU and then art history at Cambridge. She started building her online presence by purchasing an initial bank of Instagram followers. Read more
Stephen King has written some of the most beloved horror novels in the history of popular fiction, and many have been turned into equally acclaimed and successful films. Movies like "Carrie," "Stand by Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption" have more than earned esteemed spots within the cinematic canon. Others - "Maximum Overdrive," "Thinner," "The Dark Tower" - have not. Read more
How many times have you walked into a bookstore with a particular title in mind, and walked out with three others you hadn't planned to buy? As readers, we're drawn to a snappy title, a cool cover, a shout line that intrigues and excites. We decide, on a whim, to revisit an old favorite, or to try a new author, recommended by the bookseller's handwritten review card. Read more
The author of the cult classic novel The Dice Man, in which a bored psychiatrist travels to some very dark places when he lets "the dice decide" his options, has died at the age of 87.
George Powers Cockcroft, who published The Dice Man in 1971 under the pseudonym Luke Rhinehart, died on 6 November, his publishers confirmed to the Guardian.
William Boyd was 16 in 1968, the year his new novel, Trio, is set. It was a moment of change and social revolution, but Boyd's impetus to write the novel-which centers on a shoot in Brighton, England, for a fictional film titled Ladder to the Moon-was driven by his teenage recollections of an era that was much less political.
2020 hasn't been the greatest year but, if you're a fan of crime fiction, it does come with an important anniversary. In October 1920, the world had the first opportunity to read a murder mystery by a new writer called Agatha Christie. Read more
‘The thing I like about novels is that they are a more forgiving form. You can make missteps. It's harder to write a really good short story - I'm more aware of the flaws in my short stories.
Michael Morpurgo has denied a Sunday Times report that he "refused" to include The Merchant of Venice in a forthcoming Shakespeare anthology for children due to antisemitism. Read more
Pitching a manuscript isn't for cowards, the thin skinned, or those with no endurance. Believing your project is worthy, truly believing in it, is required, as is the patience of a saint.
Poets & Writers wrapped up its 50th anniversary in 2020 by announcing a $250,000 contribution from Barnes & Noble founder-and longtime P&W supporter-Len Riggio. The donation from Riggio and his wife, Louise, will be used for new initiatives to extend the organization's support of Black and marginalized writers.
George Saunders once said, ‘when you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you'...but what is the best way to start? Read more
George Orwell died at University College Hospital, London, on 21 January 1950 at the early age of 46. This means that unlike such long-lived contemporaries as Graham Greene (died 1991) or Anthony Powell (died 2000), the vast majority of his compendious output (21 volumes to date) is newly out of copyright as of 1 January. Read more
It might be a picture of gloom and doom for most business sectors in 2020 though surprisingly, the publishing sector has come out unscathed from the vagaries of the pandemic. Sales have largely been positive across all segments of the book industry, which includes printed books, eBooks, and audiobooks.
Open internationally.
Entry fee £28, £25 to subscribers to The North
Prize:
Publication by Smith|Doorstop Books; a share of £2,000 cash; a launch reading; publication in the North magazine; book vouchers from Inpress Books
The 2021 International Book & Pamphlet Competition is now open for entries
Judged by Daljit Nagra & Pascale Petit
DEADLINE: last post on Monday 1st March 2021, or midnight on Monday 1st March 2021 for online entrants.
ENTRY FEE: £28, or £25 for North subscribers, Friends of the Poetry Business and members of the Poetry Society. Read more
'People have many cruel expectations from writers. People expect novelists to live on a hill with three kids and a spouse, people expect children's story writers to never have sex, and people expect all great poets to be dead. And these are all very difficult expectations to fulfill, I think.'
‘When I'm putting together a novel, I leave all the doors and windows open so the characters can come in and just as easily leave. I don't take notes. Once I start writing things down, I feel like I'm nailing the story in place. When I rely on my faulty memory, the pieces are free to move. Read more
‘No one reads your book as closely as a translator does, which is something you learn very quickly. I'm in such awe of them. They also read beneath it and around it. They make me consider things I thought I knew the meaning of because I use those words in everyday dialect and that's how the characters express themselves.
In my latest romance novel, How to Catch a Queen, my heroine finally achieves her lifelong dream of becoming a queen following an arranged marriage-only to find herself in a country where the voices of women aren't respected, and queens are powerless. Read more
'I have to know where I'm going'
‘When I'm putting together a novel, I leave all the doors and windows open so the characters can come in and just as easily leave. I don't take notes. Once I start writing things down, I feel like I'm nailing the story in place. When I rely on my faulty memory, the pieces are free to move. Read more