novelists

March 20, 2016

Sneak Preview: A Conversation with Ronica Dhar

This is awesome! Tomorrow on the History of Literature podcast we’ll be posting my conversation with Ronica Dhar, who selects Five Works to Lower Your Blood Pressure. In the meantime, you should all check out Ronica’s novel, Bijou Roy, a simply beautiful book. From Amazon.com: “Ronica Dhar captures the struggles of family and cultural identity Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, history of literature, novelists, Writing

bijou roy, history of literature, ronica dhar, sneak preview
March 3, 2016

HoL 32 The Best Debut Novels of All Time (A Conversation with the President of the Literature Supporters’ Club)

What makes a great first novel? Which do we prefer: the freshness of a new style (even if it contains mistakes), or the demonstration of competence (even if it breaks no new ground)? Does it matter if the book is the best (or only) novel by that author? Or do we prefer the debuts that initiated a long, distinguished Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, history of literature, novelists, Podcast, Writing

debut novels, literary conversation
February 24, 2016

HoL Episode 30 – More Conspiracy!

What do Edgar Allan Poe, J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare, Stephen King, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Justice Antonin Scalia have in common? Jacke Wilson connects the dots with another look at conspiracy literature, literary conspiracies, and the people who love them. (Part 2 of 2.) Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, history of literature, novelists, Podcast, Writing

Barack Obama, Edgar Allan Poe, Hillary Clinton, J.K. Rowling, Justice Antonin Scalia, Stephen King, William Shakespeare
December 2, 2015

Writers Laughing: A Jacke Wilson Gallery

Peace on earth, good will to all…and a photo gallery of great writers caught in the act of laughing. Happy holidays! Join us on the History of Literature podcast or at the Jacke Wilson blog for more literary delights. Get the History of Literature podcast: iTunes | Android | RSS | More Subscribe Options Try the latest History Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, history of literature, novelists, Writing

Alice Munro, anita desai, Flannery O’Connor, Gabriel García Márquez, garrett hongo, georges simenon, Henry Miller, j.r.r. tolkien, James Baldwin, Jean-Paul Sartre, john irving, joseph brodsky, kiran desai, kurt vonnegut, lorrie moore, margaret atwood, mary beard, norman mailer, pablo neruda, phillip roth, Ray Bradbury, Samuel Beckett, sandra cisneros, scott fitzgerald, seamus heaney, sherman alexie, Simone de Beauvoir, Stephen King, truman capote, w.e.b. dubois, Writers laughing, Zelda Fitzgerald, zora neale hurston
November 25, 2015

Restless Mind Show #7 – Literature and Loneliness

On the eve of a holiday, author and host of the History of Literature podcast Jacke Wilson considers the consolations that total immersion in literature can provide. Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:29 — 19.9MB) Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS | More Subscribe Options Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, history of literature, novelists, Podcast, restless mind show, Writing

dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Holidays, kerouac, Literature, loneliness, Writers
November 12, 2015

The Restless Mind Show 5 – Gar Discovers a Lost Recording of Walt Whitman!

Gar finds a lost recording of Walt Whitman reading his own poetry! Plus: Author Jacke Wilson gives an update on the Greatest First Lines contest. Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:27 — 20.5MB) Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS | More Subscribe Options Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, history of literature, novelists, Podcast, Publishing, restless mind show, Writing

comedy, contest update, Greatest First Lines, History, Literature, nanowrimo, Poetry, Walt Whitman
November 10, 2015

Well Now, This Changes Everything…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of Good Fortune must be in want to go. –Google Voice, attempting to transcribe the first line of what it believes to be “Pride and Prejudice: Fight in Action” [known to human beings as “Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen”] (And yes, this means I’m enjoying listening Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, novelists, Writing

Google Voice, Greatest First Lines, Jane Austen, Keira Knightley, nanowrimo, Pride and Prejudice, Transcription
November 3, 2015

Calling All NaNoWriMoers! Tell Us Your First Line and Win a Free Book!

Don’t cross the streams! Don’t cross the streams! Well, guess what? [waiting] I’m crossing the streams! What are these streams? First: the fabulous contest we’re running on the best opening sentences ever. You can still enter that one if you want. And second: our full-throated support for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. We renewed our Continue reading

Arts, Authors, books, Fiction, novelists, Podcast

contest, first line, nanowrimo