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Violet Velvet Mittens on Everything: The Fabulous Life of Diana Vreeland
by Deborah BlumenthalThis wonderful true story of iconic fashion editor Diana Vreeland teaches young readers that individuality is to be celebrated, and that even extraordinary dreams can come true.Violet Velvet Mittens with Everything captures the dramatic, spectacular world of famed fashion icon Diana Vreeland, whose legacy at Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art continues to influence the fashion world today. As a little girl in Paris, Vreeland loved to read and dance, and most of all dress up. Her love of originality persisted into her career in fashion, where her work was colorful, zany, and never, ever boring. Violet Velvet Mittens with Everything captures Vreeland's larger-than-life personality with an infectiously extravagant tone and style, while showing young readers that above dazzling and daring, being yourself makes the most lasting impact of all.
Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art * Words and Wisdom (American Music Masters Ser.)
by Nora Guthrie Robert SantelliThe timely, passionate, and humanely political work of America's greatest folk singer and songwriter is presented through his own words and art – curated by Woody's daughter – in this essential self-portrait, including never-before published lyrics and personal writing, and testimony from contemporary writers and musicians on his powerful relevance today.Woody Guthrie and his passionate social politics are as crucial today as they have ever been. A powerful voice for justice, and the author of more than 3,000 songs (including "This Land is Your Land"), he was also a poet, painter, illustrator, novelist, journal keeper, and profuse letter writer. Curated by his daughter Nora and award-winning music historian Robert Santelli, this fresh, intimate, and beautifully designed book thematically reveals Woody's story through his own personal writings, lyrics, and artwork, urgently bringing his voice to life.Featuring never-before-published lyrics to some of his greatest songs, personal diary entries, doodles, quips and jokes, and piercing insights on his politics and justice, this is an undeniable and important celebration of Woody's vibrant life's work. Created to be enjoyed by all – those interested in folk music or those interested in Woody's thoughts on Life in all its aspects, from Politics and Spirituality, to Love and Family – this book reflects Bob Dylan's thoughts on Woody Guthrie; "You can listen to his songs and learn how to live."ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SONGWRITERS IN AMERICAN MUSIC HISTORY: Woody Guthrie has had a profound impact on American musicians, writers, politicians (and the everyman who found solace and kinship in Guthrie's writings and political beliefs), who have been shaped by his music and activism – namely the great founding father of songwriting himself, Bob Dylan, for whom he was a mentor. Others who have named Guthrie as a major influence include Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, John Mellencamp, Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer, and Jerry Garcia, just to name a few.RARE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL: This is Woody's life told primarily in his own words, with never-before published handwritten lyrics, artwork, journals, and much more.WORDS OF WISDOM RELEVANT TODAY: Woody Guthrie's lyrics and writings carry pointed relevance to our world today – he wrote powerfully about economic inequality, immigration reform, fascism, war, corruption from capitalism gone wild, patriotism, and environmentalism – not to mention spirituality of all kinds, love, and family.EXCLUSIVE CONTRIBUTORS: Includes new writing about Woody and his music by Chuck D., Ani DiFranco, Douglas Brinkley, Jeff Daniels, Arlo Guthrie, and Rosanne Cash.Perfect for:• Music lovers• Musicians and artists• Political activists and historians• Fans of Americana
No Judgment: Essays
by Lauren Oyler"The essay collection everyone’s talking about."—New YorkA MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Elle, The Millions, LitHub, Nylon, BookPage, PureWow, and moreFrom the national bestselling novelist and essayist, a groundbreaking collection of brand-new pieces about the role of cultural criticism in our ever-changing world.In her writing for Harper’s, the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and elsewhere, Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature—whether celebratory or scarily harsh—have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today’s fraught environment? How do we understand ourselves, and each other, as space between the individual and the world seems to get smaller and smaller, and our opinions on books and movies seem to represent something essential about our souls? And to put it bluntly, why should you care what she—or anyone—thinks?In this, her first collection of essays, Oyler writes with about topics like the role of gossip in our exponentially communicative society, the rise and proliferation of autofiction, why we’re all so “vulnerable” these days, and her own anxiety. In her singular prose—sharp yet addictive, expansive yet personal—she encapsulates the world we live and think in with precision and care, delivering a work of cultural criticism as only she can.Bringing to mind the works of such iconic writers as Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, and Terry Castle, No Judgment is a testament to Lauren Oyler’s inimitable wit and her quest to understand how we shape the world through culture. It is a sparkling nonfiction debut from one of today’s most inventive thinkers.
The Forbidden Daughter: The True Story of a Holocaust Survivor
by Zipora Klein JakobThe unforgettable true story of a girl born in the Kovno Ghetto, and the dangerous risk her parents faced in defying the barbarous Nazi law prohibiting childbirth.Elida Friedman was not supposed to have been born. In the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania, Nazi law forbade Jewish women from giving birth. Yet despite the fear of death, Dr. Jonah Friedman and his wife Tzila, choose to bring a daughter into the world, a little girl they name Elida—meaning non-birth in Hebrew.To increase their child’s chance of survival, the Friedmans smuggle the baby out of the ghetto and into the arms of a non-Jewish farm family when Elida is only three months old. It is the beginning of a life marked by constant upheaval. When the Nazis raze the entire Kovno Ghetto, Jonah and Tzila are among those killed. Their only child is left orphaned and alone, dependent on the kindness of strangers.Despite her circumstances, Elida grows up, changing families, countries, continents, and even names, countless times. Surviving the war and the Holocaust that stole her parents, the young woman never gives up hope. In her lifelong pursuit to find love and belonging, she works to rebuild her identity and triumph over her terrible circumstances.A moving, powerful chronicle of overcoming impossible odds, The Forbidden Daughter is the true story of one unforgettable woman and her will to survive.
My Family and Other Rock Stars: ‘An insane amount of fun' Andrew Miller
by Tiffany Murray'Gloriously tender and funny . . . with My Family and Other Rock Stars, Murray has written a bohemian rhapsody of her very own' SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK'A love letter to a remarkable childhood' SARAH WINMAN'Full of pop gossip that'll leave you starry-eyed, and written with a warmth and precision you'll want to savour for as long as you can . . . I didn't want it to end' SÉAMAS O'REILLY 'Funny, vivid and touching . . . An utter treat' RACHEL JOYCE____________________________________________________________________________In a small corner of a field in Wales, Tiffany Murray is hiding with Boggle the dog, dreaming of her mum's moussaka, blackberry and apple crumble, and, if she's lucky, ice-cold lemonade. A sheep bleats. The smell of hay tickles her nose. The twang of a guitar and crack of a snare carry on the breeze.It's the late 1970s and Tiff lives with her mum, Joan, at Rockfield, the iconic recording studios. This place of legend, where some of the most famous rock albums of all time were recorded, is the background to a freewheeling, ever-changing whirlwind of a childhood. Tiff's days are spent running around the farm, making friends with local wildlife and helping out with the endless array of dishes her mum creates to keep the bands fed. She's looking for a dog, she's looking for a father; but the one constant throughout is her and Joan, building an unconventional family in the most unlikely of locations.My Family and Other Rock Stars is Tiff's remarkable, truly unique story of growing up in a rural idyll, of Cordon Bleu cookery and of a childhood where the chances of bumping into Freddie Mercury playing piano, or a group of Hell's Angels turning up to record for Lemmy, or even the hope of David Bowie appearing, were as normal as hopscotch and homework.My Family and Other Rock Stars was the Sunday Times book of the week 12.05.2024
The Quizmaster: From Life on the Streets to a Global Quizzing Sensation
by Jay Flynn** Available to pre-order now **THE HEART-WARMING, REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF THE QUIZMASTER JAY FLYNN, WHOSE VIRTUAL PUB QUIZ BECAME AN ONLINE SENSATION DURING COVID.Jay Flynn was down on his luck when the Covid pandemic struck. He had just lost the tenancy of the pub he ran in Lancashire - and with it the loyal community of locals who loved his quirky weekly quiz.As the world closed down, he sensed the quiz could now be a lifeline both for him and the locals - so he sent them invites to an online version. But he had forgotten to mark the event 'private', and on the night, a disbelieving Jay played quizmaster to half a million teams, from Kenya to Canada, New Zealand to the Ukraine. This was to be the start of a global online quiz sensation, earning more than £1 million for charity and Jay an MBE, as well as his own slot on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show.It was all the more incredible because, as a lost and troubled young man, Jay had spent two years homeless, sleeping on a bench on the Embankment in London, almost taking his own life. Rescued by a homeless charity, he'd learnt how a simple community can save lives. It proved a priceless lesson.Now, in his inspiring memoir, Jay shows how, sometimes, you can find the answers you're seeking in the most unexpected places.
My Family and Other Rock Stars: ‘An insane amount of fun' Andrew Miller
by Tiffany Murray'Gloriously tender and funny . . . with My Family and Other Rock Stars, Murray has written a bohemian rhapsody of her very own' SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK'A love letter to a remarkable childhood' SARAH WINMAN'Full of pop gossip that'll leave you starry-eyed, and written with a warmth and precision you'll want to savour for as long as you can . . . I didn't want it to end' SÉAMAS O'REILLY 'Funny, vivid and touching . . . An utter treat' RACHEL JOYCE____________________________________________________________________________In a small corner of a field in Wales, Tiffany Murray is hiding with Boggle the dog, dreaming of her mum's moussaka, blackberry and apple crumble, and, if she's lucky, ice-cold lemonade. A sheep bleats. The smell of hay tickles her nose. The twang of a guitar and crack of a snare carry on the breeze.It's the late 1970s and Tiff lives with her mum, Joan, at Rockfield, the iconic recording studios. This place of legend, where some of the most famous rock albums of all time were recorded, is the background to a freewheeling, ever-changing whirlwind of a childhood. Tiff's days are spent running around the farm, making friends with local wildlife and helping out with the endless array of dishes her mum creates to keep the bands fed. She's looking for a dog, she's looking for a father; but the one constant throughout is her and Joan, building an unconventional family in the most unlikely of locations.My Family and Other Rock Stars is Tiff's remarkable, truly unique story of growing up in a rural idyll, of Cordon Bleu cookery and of a childhood where the chances of bumping into Freddie Mercury playing piano, or a group of Hell's Angels turning up to record for Lemmy, or even the hope of David Bowie appearing, were as normal as hopscotch and homework.My Family and Other Rock Stars was the Sunday Times book of the week 12.05.2024
The Quizmaster: From Life on the Streets to a Global Quizzing Sensation
by Jay Flynn** Available to pre-order now **THE HEART-WARMING, REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF THE QUIZMASTER JAY FLYNN, WHOSE VIRTUAL PUB QUIZ BECAME AN ONLINE SENSATION DURING COVID.Jay Flynn was down on his luck when the Covid pandemic struck. He had just lost the tenancy of the pub he ran in Lancashire - and with it the loyal community of locals who loved his quirky weekly quiz.As the world closed down, he sensed the quiz could now be a lifeline both for him and the locals - so he sent them invites to an online version. But he had forgotten to mark the event 'private', and on the night, a disbelieving Jay played quizmaster to half a million teams, from Kenya to Canada, New Zealand to the Ukraine. This was to be the start of a global online quiz sensation, earning more than £1 million for charity and Jay an MBE, as well as his own slot on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show.It was all the more incredible because, as a lost and troubled young man, Jay had spent two years homeless, sleeping on a bench on the Embankment in London, almost taking his own life. Rescued by a homeless charity, he'd learnt how a simple community can save lives. It proved a priceless lesson.Now, in his inspiring memoir, Jay shows how, sometimes, you can find the answers you're seeking in the most unexpected places.
The Quizmaster: From Life on the Streets to a Global Quizzing Sensation
by Jay Flynn** Available to pre-order now **THE HEART-WARMING, REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF THE QUIZMASTER JAY FLYNN, WHOSE VIRTUAL PUB QUIZ BECAME AN ONLINE SENSATION DURING COVID.Jay Flynn was down on his luck when the Covid pandemic struck. He had just lost the tenancy of the pub he ran in Lancashire - and with it the loyal community of locals who loved his quirky weekly quiz.As the world closed down, he sensed the quiz could now be a lifeline both for him and the locals - so he sent them invites to an online version. But he had forgotten to mark the event 'private', and on the night, a disbelieving Jay played quizmaster to half a million teams, from Kenya to Canada, New Zealand to the Ukraine. This was to be the start of a global online quiz sensation, earning more than £1 million for charity and Jay an MBE, as well as his own slot on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show.It was all the more incredible because, as a lost and troubled young man, Jay had spent two years homeless, sleeping on a bench on the Embankment in London, almost taking his own life. Rescued by a homeless charity, he'd learnt how a simple community can save lives. It proved a priceless lesson.Now, in his inspiring memoir, Jay shows how, sometimes, you can find the answers you're seeking in the most unexpected places.
Expect A Miracle and Lots of Hard Work: My life with Vicente Ferrer
by Anne FerrerIn the heart of drought-stricken Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, Vicente and Anne, hailing from diverse backgrounds, unite under the guiding force of destiny and Providence to establish the Rural Development Trust (RDT). Over four decades, they spearhead a remarkable journey of hope and prosperity, igniting transformative change across vital spheres of rural development: ecology, education, health, housing, women's empowerment, and support for the disabled. Their tireless dedication and the unwavering commitment of their team, largely comprising local villagers, breathe life into their vision of community-led progress. Through countless trials and triumphs, RDT becomes a beacon of empowerment, lifting thousands from the depths of poverty to a future defined by dignity and optimism. This is the epic saga of Vicente and Anne, their indomitable spirit, and the enduring legacy of empowerment they leave etched upon the landscape of Anantapur.
Truth Be Told: Tales from a Baggy Mouth
by Linda RobsonTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING HILARIOUS AND HEARTFELT MEMOIR FROM LINDA ROBSON__________Linda Robson’s nickname is Baggy Mouth for good reason.She may be one of the nation’s favourite TV personalities – whether playing Tracey Stubbs in Birds of a Feather or being a regular on Loose Women – but she can’t help hilariously oversharing. Luckily, this is an ideal trait for her first-ever memoir . . .Taking us back to the very beginning, growing up in a North London council house, Linda explains how she came to attend theatre school aged nine, where she met Pauline Quirke.As their friendship blossomed and evolved into a professional partnership, small parts in theatre and film productions culminated in the pair being cast in the enduring and beloved sitcom Birds of a Feather.With a wicked glint in her eye, Linda recounts the twists and turns of an actor’s life, sharing tales of backstage antics, on-set stories and demanding co-stars from across her her varied and celebrated career.However, it has not all been laughter, and she candidly talks about the struggles she’s faced in her personal life and the battles she has had to overcome. Yet her determination to pull herself back from the brink shows us that the tough times really do make us stronger.Truth Be Told is funny, warm and loose-lipped about a remarkable life well-lived.__________PRAISE FOR TRUTH BE TOLD'Searingly honest' The Mail
Dorothy Arzner: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Martin F. NordenThrough dozens of interviews, a detailed chronology and filmography, and a selection of Dorothy Arzner’s own writings—including her unfinished autobiography—Dorothy Arzner: Interviews offers major insights into and an in-depth examination of the life and career of one of the few women to direct films during Hollywood’s Golden Age. A key figure in Hollywood for decades, she directed more studio films than any other woman in history. Her movies often focused on courageous women who must make difficult decisions to remain true to themselves—women not unlike Arzner herself, who once said that “all we can ever do in our work is write our own biography.”Dorothy Arzner (1897–1979) began her film career in 1919 as a script typist for the Famous Players-Lasky company, which later became Paramount Pictures. She quickly rose through the ranks to become a script supervisor, screenwriter, and editor before directing her first film, Fashions for Women, in 1927. After the release of her final Hollywood film, First Comes Courage, in 1943, Arzner changed directions in her professional life. She made several training films for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II and directed many television commercials for Pepsi-Cola in the 1950s. She concluded her career by serving as a filmmaking instructor at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts and UCLA, where she helped launch the first wave of college-trained moviemakers.
Songs of Sorrow: Lucy McKim Garrison and Slave Songs of the United States (American Made Music Series)
by Samuel ChartersIn the spring of 1862, Lucy McKim, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Philadelphia abolitionist Quaker family, traveled with her father to the Sea Islands of South Carolina to aid him in his efforts to organize humanitarian aid for thousands of newly freed slaves. During her stay she heard the singing of the slaves in their churches, as they rowed their boats from island to island, and as they worked and played. Already a skilled musician, she determined to preserve as much of the music as she could, quickly writing down words and melodies, some of them only fleeting improvisations. Upon her return to Philadelphia, she began composing musical settings for the songs and in the fall of 1862 published the first serious musical arrangements of slave songs. She also wrote about the musical characteristics of slave songs, and published, in a leading musical journal of the time, the first article to discuss what she had witnessed. In Songs of Sorrow: Lucy McKim Garrison and “Slave Songs of the United States,” renowned music scholar Samuel Charters tells McKim's personal story. Letters reveal the story of young women's lives during the harsh years of the war. At the same time that her arrangements of the songs were being published, a man with whom she had an unofficial “attachment” was killed in battle, and the war forced her to temporarily abandon her work. In 1865 she married Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and in the early months of their marriage she proposed that they turn to the collection of slave songs that had long been her dream. She and her husband—a founder and literary editor of the recently launched journal The Nation—enlisted the help of two associates who had also collected songs in the Sea Islands. Their book, Slave Songs of the United States, appeared in 1867. After a long illness, ultimately ending in paralysis, she died at the age of thirty-four in 1877. This book reclaims the story of a pioneer in ethnomusicology, one whose influential work affected the Fisk Jubilee Singers and many others.
Peep Light: Stories of a Mississippi River Boat Captain
by Lee HendrixMost people only consider the Mississippi River when they cross it or when it inconveniently abandons its banks. But every year, millions of tons of cargo are transported by towboats on the river. In Peep Light: Stories of a Mississippi River Boat Captain, Captain Lee Hendrix provides unique insight on people who work and live on and near the Mississippi River. Hendrix, formerly a pilot for the Delta Queen Steamboat Co., has worked on the Mississippi for fifty years, first as a towboat deckhand in 1972 and eventually as a pilot of towboats and passenger vessels. In 2014, Hendrix became captain of the towboat Mississippi with the US Army Corps of Engineers, then he later retired to return to passenger vessels. For Hendrix and others like him, he is at home on the river, living and dining with the same people they work with, working with familiar faces for years at a time and yet meeting new people every day.Demonstrating a fascination not only with the river but also with the passions and dreams of those who live and work on it, these stories range from personal reflections on aging, experiencing one’s first night on the river and the complex emotions that come with it, working on the deck, promotion to pilot, the characters working aboard these boats, and the history of the river itself. Peep Light unites humans with the river through engaging storytelling and sheds light on Hendrix’s rare experience along one of the most powerful and important waterways in the world.
Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Carl RollysonDana Andrews (1909–1992) worked with distinguished directors such as John Ford, Lewis Milestone, Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, William Wyler, William A. Wellman, Mervyn Le Roy, Jean Renoir, and Elia Kazan. He played romantic leads alongside the great beauties of the modern screen, including Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Greer Garson, Merle Oberon, Linda Darnell, Susan Hayward, Maureen O'Hara, and most important of all, Gene Tierney, with whom he did five films. Retrospectives of his work often elicit high praise for an underrated actor, a master of the minimalist style. His image personified the “male mask” of the 1940s in classic films such as Laura, Fallen Angel, and Where the Sidewalk Ends, in which he played the “masculine ideal of steely impassivity.” No comprehensive discussion of film noir can neglect his performances. He was an “actor's actor.”Here at last is the complete story of a great actor, his difficult struggle to overcome alcoholism while enjoying the accolades of his contemporaries, a successful term as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and the love of family and friends that never deserted him. Based on diaries, letters, home movies, and other documents, this biography explores the mystery of a poor boy from Texas who made his Hollywood dream come true even as he sought a life apart from the limelight and the backbiting of contemporaries jockeying for prizes and prestige. Called “one of nature's noblemen” by his fellow actor Norman Lloyd, Dana Andrews emerges from Hollywood Enigma as an admirable American success story, fighting his inner demons and ultimately winning.
They Called Us River Rats: The Last Batture Settlement of New Orleans
by Macon FryThey Called Us River Rats: The Last Batture Settlement of New Orleans is the previously untold story of perhaps the oldest outsider settlement in America, an invisible community on the annually flooded shores of the Mississippi River. This community exists in the place between the normal high and low water line of the Mississippi River, a zone known in Louisiana as the batture. For the better part of two centuries, batture dwellers such as Macon Fry have raised shantyboats on stilts, built water-adapted homes, foraged, fished, and survived using the skills a river teaches. Until now the stories of this way of life have existed only in the memories of those who have lived here. Beginning in 2000, Fry set about recording the stories of all the old batture dwellers he could find: maritime workers, willow furniture makers, fishermen, artists, and river shrimpers. Along the way, Fry uncovered fascinating tales of fortune tellers, faith healers, and wild bird trappers who defiantly lived on the river. They Called Us River Rats also explores the troubled relationship between people inside the levees, the often-reviled batture folks, and the river itself. It traces the struggle between batture folks and city authorities, the commercial interests that claimed the river, and Louisiana’s most powerful politicians. These conflicts have ended in legal battles, displacement, incarceration, and even lynching. Today Fry is among the senior generation of “River Rats” living in a vestigial colony of twelve “camps” on New Orleans’s river batture, a fragment of a settlement that once stretched nearly six miles and numbered hundreds of homes. It is the last riparian settlement on the Lower Mississippi and a contrarian, independent life outside urban zoning, planning, and flood protection. This book is for everyone who ever felt the pull of the Mississippi River or saw its towering levees and wondered who could live on the other side.
My Memories of John Hartford (American Made Music Series)
by Bob CarlinMy Memories of John Hartford is a memoir about author Bob Carlin's years working alongside singer, songwriter, banjoist, and fiddler John Hartford (1937-2001). Throughout his short life, Hartford was a hit tunesmith, festival headliner, and godfather of newgrass music. He also made contributions to the film and television industry as a star in The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and helped create the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?Carlin and Hartford first met when Carlin interviewed the entertainer for Fresh Air with Terry Gross. From this first meeting over microphones developed a sixteen-year affiliation. Six years into their friendship, a working collaboration grew between the two. Carlin first accompanied John Hartford on several albums, eventually becoming his project manager for audio and video recordings. Finally, Carlin was recruited into John Hartford's last Stringband, for which he also served as the de facto road manager and right-hand guy. My Memories of John Hartford opens with an overview of the years before Hartford and Carlin's friendship, then details the last fifteen years of John Hartford's life. Included are in-depth descriptions of Hartford's lifestyle, as well as his philosophies about music, performing, recording, and living as he expressed them to the author or to those around him, with some road stories thrown in for good measure. And, those last fifteen years of his short life, while tempered by available information, are viewed here through the impressionist lenses of the author's own experience.
Conversations with Ben Okri (Literary Conversations Series)
by Vanessa GuigneryConversations with Ben Okri collects twenty-six interviews that range from 1986 to 2023 and reflect the international resonance of Nigerian writer Ben Okri's work. The reader is given access to the various phases of Okri’s life and career, beginning with his childhood (b. 1959) and upbringing in Nigeria and the publication of his early short stories and novels. The interviews also explore the tremendous success of The Famished Road (for which Okri became the first Black African writer to receive the Booker Prize in 1991) and the dazzling creativity of his subsequent work in a multiplicity of literary genres. The volume offers insight into the writer’s creative process and his unique views on literature, history, memory, politics, freedom, spirituality, and environmental issues. The conversations often veer into fascinating philosophical discussions about the nature of art and reality, the value of myth, and the dynamics of storytelling.Since the publication of his first novel in 1980, Okri has encouraged his readers to open their minds and eyes to new modes of perceiving reality. Convinced of the universality of art, he has been intent on redreaming the world from a variety of perspectives in poems, essays, short stories, novels, and plays written over a period of more than forty years. Throughout his career, Ben Okri has never stopped experimenting with new forms, creating the stoku (a mixture of short story and haiku), endowing his fictional and nonfictional creations with poetic undertones, and collaborating with visual artists, musicians, and dancers.
Hanna and Barbera: Conversations (Television Conversations Series)
by Kevin Sandler and Tyler Solon WilliamsHanna and Barbera: Conversations presents a lively portrait of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, the influential producers behind Tom and Jerry, the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, the Smurfs, and hundreds of other cartoon characters who continue to entertain the world today. Encompassing more than fifty years of film and television history, the conversations in this volume include first-person accounts by the namesakes of the Hanna-Barbera studio as well as recollections by artists and executives who worked closely with the pair for decades. It is the first collection of its kind about Hanna and Barbera, likely the most prolific animation producers of the twentieth century, whose studio once outflanked its competitor Walt Disney in output and influence.Bill Hanna fell into animation in 1930 at the Harman-Ising studio in Los Angeles, gaining skills across the phases of production as MGM opened its animation studio. Joe Barbera, a talented and sociable artist, entered the industry around the same time at the wild and woolly Van Beuren studio in Manhattan, learning the ins and outs of animation art before crossing the country to join MGM. In television, Hanna’s timing and community-oriented work ethic along with Barbera’s knack for sales and creating funny characters enabled Hanna-Barbera to build a roster of beloved cartoon series. A wide range of pieces map Hanna and Barbera’s partnership, from their early days in Hollywood in the 1930s to Cartoon Network in the 1990s, when a new generation took the reins of their animation studio. Relatively unknown when they made over one hundred Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoons at MGM in the 1940s and 1950s, Hanna and Barbera became household names upon entering the new medium of television in 1957. Discussions here chart their early primetime successes as well as later controversies surrounding violence, overseas production, and the lack of quality in their Saturday morning cartoons. With wit, candor, insight, and bravado, Hanna and Barbera: Conversations reflects on Bill and Joe’s breakthroughs and shortcomings, and their studio’s innovations and retreads.
Conversations with Sarah Schulman (Literary Conversations Series)
by Will BrantleyThe twenty-four interviews collected in Conversations with Sarah Schulman, roughly a fifth of those that exist, have enabled Schulman to expound upon her distinctive fusion of art and social commitment. Ranging from major forums to smaller venues, and covering a period of more than thirty years, these interviews provide full evidence of Schulman’s value as a pivotal player in the intellectual life of her time. Schulman’s career as a writer, activist, teacher, and oral historian is now in its fifth decade. Spanning multiple fiction genres, her eleven novels include After Delores (1988), Rat Bohemia (1995), The Child (2007), and Maggie Terry (2018). A native New Yorker, Schulman (b. 1958) writes for the people that she writes about—women and men making the most of a society that seems continually marked by homophobia, which Schulman regards as less a phobia than an unacknowledged pleasure system. Readers have come to relish Schulman’s provocations, nowhere more so than through her books of nonfiction on topics such as gentrification and the interlocking nature of conflict and abuse. And since the early 1980s, when Schulman worked as a journalist, readers have come to applaud her searing indictments of the nation’s woeful response to its AIDS crisis. Schulman has received the Kessler Award from CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies in honor of her body of work that has influenced the field of gay and lesbian studies, as well as the Bill Whitehead Award from Publishing Triangle for lifetime achievement. She holds an endowed chair in creative writing at Northwestern University.
The Delta in the Rearview Mirror: The Life and Death of Mississippi's First Winery
by Di RushingAfter graduating from Mississippi State University in 1976, Di Rushing and her husband, Sam, found themselves back on their family farm near Merigold, Mississippi, with 350 acres and no real clue what to do. The couple decided to open the first winery in Mississippi, and with it, a successful business was born. Six years later, a small restaurant joined the Delta winery. Both businesses were thriving by 1990, with eight national award-winning wines, a beautiful vineyard, and a successful restaurant.But in March of 1990, a series of unforeseen events rocked the operation. After the Rushings discovered one of the tour guides, Ray Russell, selling drugs in the winery parking lot, they fired him. He responded with a terrorizing vengeance that persisted over the next nine months. In the early morning hours, the former guide broke into the winery, crept into the wine cellar, and released the entire inventory—nearly a quarter of a million dollars’ worth—down the drain. Fortunately, his incompetence thwarted his most destructive intention to blow up the restaurant. In his rampage, he broke all the windows, which allowed the gas from the kitchen oven to escape, sparing the premises. Though the Rushings rebuilt with the help of their community, Russell continued to stalk and threaten the young family. As his menacing behavior continued to escalate, the Rushings closed their business of fourteen years and moved to Ouray, Colorado, where they began rebuilding their lives. Culminating in the sudden, violent murders of Russell, his wife, and his father twenty-five years later, this book tells a story of both shock and resilience, charting Mississippi history in the process.Intertwined with the true crime narrative, The Delta in the Rearview Mirror: The Life and Death of Mississippi’s First Winery details author Di Rushing’s life in and out of Mississippi, including growing up in 1960s Greenville, attending university, traveling overseas, and the relationships she cultivated along the way.
Tell Me Everything: A Memoir
by Minka KellyNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA Washington Post best celebrity memoir of 2023An Audible best celebrity memoir of 2023“A timely, urgent portrait of working-class American women.”—Gabrielle UnionIn her highly anticipated memoir Tell Me Everything, Minka Kelly shares a story as powerful as it is page-turning.Fans know her as the spoiled, rich cheerleader Lyla Garrity on Friday Night Lights or as the affluent, mysterious Samantha on the HBO megahit Euphoria. But as revealed for the first time in these pages, Minka Kelly’s life has been anything but easy.Raised by a single mother who worked as a stripper and struggled with addiction, Minka spent years waking up in strange apartments as she and her mom bounced around the country, relying on friends and relatives to take them in. At times they even lived in storage units. She reconnected with her father, Aerosmith’s Rick Dufay, and eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she landed the role of a lifetime on Friday Night Lights.Now an established actress and philanthropist, Minka takes this next step in her career as a writer. She has poured her soul into the pages of this book, which ultimately tells a story of triumph over adversity, and how resilience and love are all we have in the end.
The Old Lion: A Novel of Theodore Roosevelt
by Jeff ShaaraIn one of his most accomplished, compelling novels yet, acclaimed New York Times bestseller Jeff Shaara accomplishes what only the finest historical fiction can do - he brings to life one of the most consequential figures in U.S. history - Theodore Roosevelt - peeling back the many-layered history of the man, and the country he personified. From the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, from the waning days of the rugged frontier of a young country to the emergence of a modern, industrial nation exerting its power on the world stage, Theodore Roosevelt embodied both the myth and reality of the country he loved and led. From his upbringing in the rarefied air of New York society of the late 19th century to his time in rough-and-tumble world of the Badlands in the Dakotas, from his rise from political obscurity to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, from national hero as the leader of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War to his accidental rise to the Presidency itself, Roosevelt embodied the complex, often contradictory, image of America itself.In gripping prose, Shaara's The Old Lion tells the story of the man who both defined and created the modern United States. “Shaara deftly weaves a growing intensity that explodes on the pages.” – Bookreporter.com on To Wake the Giant.”
Pageboy: A Memoir
by Elliot Page#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA New York Times "100 Notable Books of 2023"A TIME Magazine "100 Must-Read Books of 2023"A Washington Post "50 Notable Works of Nonfiction"An Autostraddle "Best Queer Books of 2023"“Vivid…Moving…Juicy” – NPR"Eloquent and enthralling..." —Washington Post"Searing, deeply moving, and incredibly poignant... This isn’t simply a book on what it means to be trans, it’s about what it means to be human." —Alok Vaid-MenonFull of intimate stories, from chasing down secret love affairs to battling body image and struggling with familial strife, Pageboy is a love letter to the power of being seen. With this evocative and lyrical debut, Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world.“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back. With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare. As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do. Until enough was enough. The Oscar-nominated star who captivated the world with his performance in Juno finally shares his story in a groundbreaking and inspiring memoir about love, family, fame — and stepping into who we truly are with strength, joy and connection.
Close to Home: A Novel
by Michael MageeWhile growing up in West Belfast, Sean does everything he's supposed to do. He works hard, he studies, and he - mostly - stays out of trouble. The thirty-year conflict is over, he's told, and his future is lit with promise. But when Sean returns home from university, he finds much of the same-the same friends doing the same gear in the same clubs; the same lost brothers and mad fathers; the same closed doors; the same silences. There are no jobs, Sean's degree isn't worth the paper it's written on, and no one will give him the time of day. One night, he assaults a stranger at a party, and everything begins to come undone. Close to Home begins with this sudden act of violence and expands into a startling portrait of working-class Ireland under the long shadow of the Troubles. It's a first novel drawn from life, written with the immediacy of thought. It's about what happens when men get desperate, about the cycles of loss and trauma and secrecy that keep them trapped, and about the struggle to get free.