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Is My Dark Vanessa the most controversial novel of the year? Author Kate Elizabeth Russell speaks out

Exploring issues of abuse and consent, Russells novel My Dark Vanessa could not be more timely. She talks about the pressure to write a likeable victim and the line between fiction and memoir When, in 2018, Kate Elizabeth Russells agent presented publishers with her first novel, Kristen Roupenian. After years spent studying in near-penury, having money in the bank feels weird, Russell tells me. She had always told her husband, who works in academia: Ill move wherever you get a job, just dont expect me to bring in money. In…

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Real censorship: Roxane Gay responds to American Dirt death threat row

The author argues the debate around Jeanine Cummins controversial novel shows how people are threatened for daring to have opinions As writers and critics reveal the death threats theyve received in the wake of the uproar surrounding Jeanine Cummins novel, American Dirt, the cancellation of Cummins tour for her controversial novel American Dirt, over concerns for her safety. The novel has been widely criticised for its stereotypical portrayals of Mexico and Mexicans, with tweeted Stephen King, an early fan of American Dirt, in response. But the had admitted the author…

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Beyond American Dirt: the best books to understand Latinx culture

Mexican ghosts, a Splanglish coming of age saga, and trauma on the US border Myriam Gurba picks books exploring the Latinx experience I believe the publishing industry made a profound mistake publishing Jeanine Cumminss wannabe narco-novel Juan Rulfos Pedro Pramo is often hailed as the great Mexican novel. TheHouse of Broken Angels, evokes Rulfo in both style and content, even down to the opening line: Big Angel was late to his own mothers funeral. Urreas prose style is pure chingn: confident, sleek and funny. Like Pedro Pramo, House of Broken…

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