HOME





Guardian First Book Award
The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspaper had sponsored from 1965. The Guardian First Book Award was discontinued in 2016, with the 2015 awards being the last. History The newspaper determined to change its book award after 1998, and during that year also hired Claire Armitstead as literary editor. At the inaugural First Book Award ceremony in 1999, she said that she was informed of the change, details to be arranged, by the head of the marketing department during her second week on the job. "By the time we left the room we had decided on two key things. We would make it a first book award, and we would involve reading groups in the judging process. This was going to be the people's prize." About the opening of the prize to nonfiction she had said in August, "readers do not se ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


2000 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2000. Events *February – The bookstore El Ateneo Grand Splendid takes over the ''Teatro Gran Splendid'' in Buenos Aires, converting it for use as retail space. *February 13 – The final original ''Peanuts'' comic strip by Charles M. Schulz is published. Schulz died on February 12. *March 14 – Stephen King's novella '' Riding the Bullet'' is published in e-book format only, as the world's first mass-market electronic book. * September 26 – English politician and writer Jeffrey Archer is charged with perjury, and on the same day opens in the title role of his own courtroom drama, ''The Accused''. *December 15 – In a landmark censorship case, '' Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada (Minister of Justice)'', the Supreme Court of Canada rules that Canada Customs has no authority to make judgments on the permissibility of material being shipped to retailers, only to confiscate material ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mountains Of The Mind
''Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination'' is a book by British writer Robert Macfarlane published in 2003 about the history of human fascination with mountains. The book takes its title from a line by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and combines history with first-person narrative. He considers why people are drawn to mountains despite their obvious dangers, and examines the powerful, and sometimes fatal, hold that mountains can come to have over the imagination. The book's heroes include the mountaineer George Mallory, and its influences include the writing of Simon Schama and Francis Spufford. In the end, Macfarlane criticizes Mallory for devoting more time to the mountain than his wife and notes that he has personally sworn off high-risk mountaineering. ''The New York Timess John Rothchild praised the book, writing "There's fascinating stuff here, and a clever premise, but ''Mountains of the Mind'' may cause recovering climbaholics to trace their addiction to their ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


2003 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2003. Events *February 12 – An invitation from the First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, for some poets to attend a conference at the White House is postponed when one of them, Sam Hamill, organizes a "Poets Against the War" group for poetry readings across the United States on the same date. *February 15 – Anti-war protests occur in London. They are later used as the setting for Ian McEwan's 2005 novel ''Saturday''. *March – The University of Mosul library is damaged and looted during the Iraq War, but many volumes are removed for protection by staff. *April 14 – The Iraq National Library and Archive is burned down during the Battle of Baghdad. *April – Nicholas Hytner succeeds Sir Trevor Nunn as artistic director of London's Royal National Theatre. *November 7 – UNESCO places among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity ''wayang kulit'', a shadow p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight
''Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight'', a memoir of life with Alexandra Fuller and her family on a farm in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe.) After the Rhodesian Bush War ended in 1980, the Fullers moved to Malawi, and then to Zambia. ''Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight'' won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize in 2002, was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book for 2002 and a finalist for ''The Guardian''s First Book Award, an award given to the best regional novel of the year. Plot summary Alexandra Fuller's book tells the story of her family of white Zimbabwean tenant farmers in the years before and after Independence. These are not the wealthy landowners demonised by the present Zimbabwean government; they struggle to make a living off the land, as well as the usual hazards of the African bush, they fear landmines and attacks by guerrillas crossing the border from Mozambique. During the civil war, their parents join the police reserve. Bobo and her sister are warned not to come into th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Everything Is Illuminated
''Everything Is Illuminated'' is the first novel by the American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2002. It was adapted into a film of the same name starring Elijah Wood and Eugene Hütz in 2005. The book's writing and structure received critical acclaim for the manner in which it switches between two stories, both of which are autobiographical. One of them is the fictionalized history of the eradicated town of Trochenbrod (Trachimbrod), a real exclusively Jewish shtetl in Poland before the Holocaust where the author's grandfather was born. The second narrative encompasses Foer's trip to Ukraine in search of the remnants and memories of Trachimbrod as well as the author's writing-in-progress. Historical background The real town of Trochenbrod was an exclusively Jewish shtetl located in Western Ukraine. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in the 1941, a Nazi ghetto was established at Trochenbrod for local residents including those from nearby villages. The ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


2002 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2002. Events *March 16 – Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrest and jail the poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and dismiss a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem "The Corrupt on Earth", which criticizes the state's Islamic judiciary, accusing some judges of being corrupt and issuing unfair rulings for personal benefit. *March 31 – '' American Writers: A Journey Through History'' resumes its run on C-SPAN, having been interrupted by the September 11 attacks and their aftermath. *May – The results of a poll of 100 authors conducted in Norway are announced, leading to the Bokklubben World Library beginning publication. *October 16 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina (designed by Snøhetta) is inaugurated in Alexandria, Egypt. *November – Raymond Benson releases his final James Bond novel, based on the film '' Die Another Day'', bringing to a close an uninterrupted series of novels featuring ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Carter Beats The Devil
''Carter Beats the Devil'' is a historical mystery thriller novel by Glen David Gold centred on the American stage magician Charles Joseph Carter (1874–1936). Novel's title The title of the novel comes from Carter's evening length stage show, the third act of which is called "Carter Beats the Devil" and features Carter in a magician's duel with an assistant made up as the Devil. Summary The 1920s was a golden age for stage magic and Charles Carter is an American stage magician at the height of his fame and powers. At the climax of his latest touring stage show, Carter invites United States President Warren G. Harding on to stage to take part in his act. In front of an amazed audience, Carter proceeds to chop the president into pieces, cut off his head, and feed him to a lion, before restoring him to health. The show is a great success, but two hours later the president is dead, and Carter finds himself the centre of some very unwelcome attention indeed. Plot This novel is a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Story Of A Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




John Eidinow (writer)
Fra' John Samuel Christopher Eidinow (born September 1968) is a barrister and a Knight of Justice of the Order of Malta and was the Presiding Fellow at St Benet's Hall, Oxford. He currently serves as the Dean and Keeper of the Statutes at Merton College, Oxford Early life Eidinow was born and raised in London and was educated at Highgate School. Academic career Eidinow read Classics at Merton College, Oxford, and received the degree Master of Arts from the University of Oxford. In January 1992 he was appointed to a lecturership in Classics at Merton College where he was later elected a Bodley Fellow. Since 2003 he has been Director of Studies in Classics at St. Benet's Hall. In 2004 he was named a Fellow of St. Benet's. He is also Dean and Keeper of the Statutes at Merton College. His research is mostly about the Roman poet Horace, although he has also written about Ovid and Virgil. He was formerly Honorary Secretary of the Horatian Society. Eidinow has a Graduate Diploma in L ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth
''Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth'' is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Chris Ware. Pantheon Books released the book in 2000 following its serialization in the newspaper ''Newcity'' and Ware's ''Acme Novelty Library'' series. Publication The story was serialized in the alternative Chicago weekly newspaper ''Newcity'' and in Ware's comic book ''Acme Novelty Library'' (in issues 5–6, 8–9, and 11–14) from 1995 to 2000. Plot summary Jimmy Corrigan is a meek, lonely thirty-six-year-old man who meets his father for the first time in the fictional town of Waukosha, Michigan, over Thanksgiving weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing mother and a very limited social life. After an ill-timed phone call, Jimmy agrees to meet his father without telling his mother. The experience is stressful for him as he can barely communicate with anyone other than his mother, let alone his estranged father. The two do very little together and Jim ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


2001 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2001. Events *February 15 – The author Michael Crichton signs a new deal with HarperCollins Publishers that reportedly earns him $40 million for two books. *April 1 – The BookCrossing scheme for leaving books for strangers to find is launched. *April 13 – The film version of Helen Fielding's 1996 novel '' Bridget Jones's Diary'' has uncredited cameo roles as themselves for Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes and Jeffrey Archer, at a literary party. * July 19 – The English popular novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer, having been found guilty of perjury in a libel trial, is sentenced to imprisonment. * September 19 – Amiri Baraka reads his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?" at a poetry festival in New Jersey, eight days after the September 11 attacks. * November 4 – Film premiere of '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', first in the commercially successful ''Harry Potter'' film seri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]