Tag Archives: authors

How to Spot Whodunnit: Academics Crack Agatha Christie’s Code | The Guardian #AgathaChristie #books

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Rather than watching brain-numbing reality television this summer, I am determined to watch all 13 series of Agatha Christie’s Poroit TV series starring David Suchet. Just finished Series 6 and will be picking up Series 7 & 8 from my local library today. I correctly guess the culprit only half the time. It’s been awesome. Yes, I am a bit of a mystery genre geek.   

For almost 100 years, Agatha Christie has beguiled readers with her much-loved mysteries. But now a panel of experts claims to have worked out how to answer the perennial question: whodunnit?

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of the world’s best-selling novelist, academics have created a formula that they claim will enable the reader to identify the killer before the likes of Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple have managed the feat.

The research, commissioned by the TV channel Drama, analysed 27 of the prolific writer’s books – 83 were published during her lifetime – including classics such as Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. The experts concluded that where the novel was set, the main mode of transport used and how the victim dies were among the key clues. READ MORE: How to spot whodunnit: academics crack Agatha Christie’s code | Books | The Guardian.

[Interactive] Map of American Literature’s Most Epic #RoadTrips | Atlas Obscura #literature #maps #books

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The Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature's Most Epic Road Trips | Atlas Obscura

The above map is the result of a painstaking and admittedly quixotic effort to catalog the country as it has been described in the American road-tripping literature. It includes every place-name reference in 12 books about cross-country travel, from Mark Twain’s Roughing It (1872) to Cheryl Strayed’s Wild (2012), and maps the authors’ routes on top of one another. You can track an individual writer’s descriptions of the landscape as they traveled across it, or you can zoom in to see how different authors have written about the same place at different times. READ MORE: The Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips | Atlas Obscura.

14 #Aboriginal #Women #Writers to Read this Summer | Room Magazine #diversity #books #reading

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I was both honoured and delighted when Room asked me to compile a list of Aboriginal women authors as part of the 2015 celebration of National Aboriginal Day. While this list is by no means a comprehensive list of all the great Aboriginal women writers in Canada, it includes 14 writers whose work I have either come to know and respect or that are on my “to read” list. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to know many of these writers on a personal level.

We are a relatively small but growing community. I have found gatherings such as the National Indigenous Writers Conference and the Ânskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival to be important as they have offered opportunities to meet and learn from Aboriginal women writers. The authors listed here are all accomplished women that have had, or will have, a major impact on Canadian literature in general and Aboriginal literature in particular. READ MORE: 14 Aboriginal Women Writers to Read this Summer | Room Magazine.

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These Female #Writers Want To Stop “Chick Lit” Being Used To Describe Work By #Women | BuzzFeed #books #diversity #genderequality

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Bestselling novelist Marian Keyes recently called the term “chick lit” derogatory, and now other female writers are expressing how much they dislike the term. READ MORE: These Female Writers Want To Stop “Chick Lit” Being Used To Describe Work By Women | BuzzFeed

How to Self-Publish Your Book on a Budget | Mediashift | PBS #books #selfpublishing #selfpub

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There are 14 different steps discussed in this post on How to Self-Publish Your Book on a Budget | Mediashift | PBS.

HuffPo: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Young #Women and Likability + Roxane Gay: ‘We Demand Perfection Of #Feminists. We Do Not Need To Do That.’ #feminism

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Thinks It’s Bullsh*t That Young Women Have To Be ‘Likable’ | Huffington Post
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is here to remind young women that whoever likes you or doesn’t like you should have no effect on your self worth. On May 19, the Nigerian author was honored at the 2015 Girls Write Now Awards, where she gave a riveting speech directed at young women — reminding them that their stories and their voices matter. “I think it’s important to tell your story truthfully and I think that’s a difficult thing to do — to be truly truthful,” Adichie told the crowd in New York City.

She said that it’s hard for women to be truthful when telling their stories because we’re conditioned to be concerned about offending people. Adichie told the young women in the crowd to forget about being liked. “If you start off thinking about being likable you’re not going to tell your story honestly because you’re going to be so concerned with not offending and that’s going to ruin your story. Forget about likability,” she said.

Roxane Gay: ‘We Demand Perfection Of Feminists. We Do Not Need To Do That.’ | Huffington Post
Roxane Gay has become known as a ‘bad feminist.’ The label comes from her August 2014 book’s title, a collection of essays which challenged how we define and interact with feminism. In it, Gay discusses why she doesn’t live up to the label, all the ways she’s a contradiction and how feminism, in many ways, is broken.

She took the stage Thursday at TED Women in Monterey, Calif. to break down how identifying as a “bad feminist” — originally an inside joke she had with herself — became a thing. In her 11-minute talk, she was funny, self-deprecating and painfully honest. That raw honesty awarded her a standing ovation.

However, it was her moving story of how feminism saved her that brought the auditorium to a hush.

Note: The video of Roxane Gay’s TEDWomen 2015 speech is not yet available.

Genre Books by Women Authors | Flavorwire #books #women

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Eclectic list with some great recommendations!

Potboilers, fantasy lands, murders, noir triumphs, supernatural creatures, and the twisted, thrilling, and dark imaginations that devise them are hardly a male-only literary province. Since Mary Shelley imagined Frankenstein on a night in Switzerland, women have been creating genre fiction alongside men, playing with vampires, dragons, detectives, unreliable narrators, and denizens of outer space. So pack some of these classic genre novels by women in your canvas tote and enjoy reading them this summer at the beach, the pool, or just snuggled up to your air conditioning unit. READ MORE: Genre Books by Women Authors | Flavorwire.

32 Essential Asian-American Writers You Need To Be Reading | BuzzFeed Books #books #reading #diversity

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READ: 32 Essential Asian-American Writers You Need To Be Reading | BuzzFeed Books

I recommend Vincent Lam as an Asian-Canadian writer you need to be reading!

Hey, Book World: Sexism is Way Bigger Than the Hugos | WIRED @WIRED @VIDA_lit #sexism #women #writers

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Interesting comment on sexism in the literary world specific to representation of women in the literary arts.

I am a novelist. I also have a Master’s degree from MIT. So numbers appeal to me, especially numbers that provide clear data on thorny issues, like, oh, sexism and racism in literature. READ MORE: Hey, Book World: Sexism is Way Bigger Than the Hugos | WIRED.

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Shakespeare’s Sonnets, All 154, Reimagined Through a New York Lens | NYTimes.com #Shakespeare

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The endeavor, called the Sonnet Project, grew from the work of the New York Shakespeare Exchange, a local theater group. The group, which started the project in 2013, just completed its 100th film: Sonnet 27, starring Carrie Preston, an Emmy award-winning actress, and filmed on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, It will premiere April 8 on the Sonnet Project website and app. (Sonnet 108 will appear on April 22.) MORE: Shakespeare’s Sonnets, All 154, Reimagined Through a New York Lens | NYTimes.com