Latest news with #Writing
San Francisco Chronicle
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Lynn Freed, award-winning Bay Area author and teacher, dies at 79
As a faculty member at Bread Loaf, the oldest and most prestigious writing conference in the country, Sonoma author Lynn Freed would get the attention of her students by arriving elegantly dressed and glamorous — an irregular style for a class at the top of a mountain in Vermont in the heat and humidity of summer. She'd pick out a student's story and flip through it, then stop suddenly at a single sentence that stood out. Then she'd look at the author and announce in her South African English lilt, 'sink it, darling, shoot it through the knees.' That was her way of advising the student to cut that line, and it only worked because Freed was so charming and funny in her delivery. Freed, who was also a professor of English at UC Davis, had a reputation for being an entertainer to the point that fellow faculty would audit her classes. 'Her Bread Loaf lectures would have people doubled over in laughter and shocked at her candor and her turns of phrase and wit,' said Christopher Castellani, writer in residence at Brandeis University and a faculty member at Bread Loaf, which is affiliated with Middlebury College. Castellani got to know Freed when she stopped by his dorm room to borrow whatever clothes hangers he did not need — a standard means of introduction for Freed, who never could collect enough hangers for the wardrobe she brought to the 10-day conference. 'She had a very theatrical approach to teaching in the sense that she was a big personality,' Castellani said. But she also had the words on the page to back it. Freed was the author of seven novels and a collection of stories, many of which draw on her extraordinary upbringing in a prominent family in the tight-knight Jewish community in Durban, South Africa, during apartheid. She also wrote a guidebook to her craft called 'Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home: Life on the Page.' 'She was adored by her students because she was the real deal,' said Patricia Hampl, a Minnesota memoirist, who served on the Bread Loaf faculty until 2016, as did Freed. 'She had presence and she had command, which is different from being performative.' Freed, who made her home in San Francisco before decamping to Sonoma, died there May 9 after an 18-month fight against lymphoma, said her daughter, Jessica Gamsu. She was 79. 'She was tough and had incredibly high standards but was also very loving and generous and a wonderful hostess,' said Gamsu, who was raised in San Francisco and lives in Cape Town. One beneficiary was Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik, who enjoys someone with a dry and cutting wit. She met Freed in a lunch group in the late 1980s, where a group of 25 or 30 creative women would go around the table and describe their latest book or endeavor. 'Lynn was a great subtle eye roller,' Garchik said. 'She did not do it in an obvious way, but once you understood that glance, you felt as though you were in on a delicious secret.' When Freed released her novel 'The Mirror,' in 1997, Garchik attended a crowded reading at Books Inc. in San Francisco's Laurel Village. Freed arrived dressed beautifully in silk with a tiger's claw necklace. 'Listening to her read was like watching a play,' said Garchik. 'She had a very elegant voice and her delivery was forceful. It was obvious that she had grown up in a household where theater was part of everyday life.' Lynn Ruth Freed was born July 18, 1945 in Durban, a coastal city on the Indian Ocean. Her parents, Harold and Anne Freed, did radio plays and ran a theater company. She first came to America as a high school exchange student with the American Field Service, spending a year in Greenwich, Conn. After returning to Durban to finish high school, she attended the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, graduating in 1966. She returned to the United States in 1967 to attend graduate school in English literature at Columbia University in New York, where she earned her Ph.D in 1972. By then she was married to Dr. Gordon Gamsu, a South African radiologist, who was living in New York. The couple relocated several times while Freed was in graduate school. They were living in Montreal, where Dr. Gamsu had a fellowship, when their daughter Jessica was born in 1970. They moved to San Francisco that same year, and Dr. Gamsu joined the faculty at UCSF. They lived in a two-story home until their divorce in 1984. Freed kept the house until her daughter graduated from University High School. Jennifer Pitts, a childhood friend of Jessica's, recalled taking the 43-Masonic bus to Ashbury Terrace after school, far from her own home in Forest Hill, just to spend time under the spell of Freed. 'She was extraordinarily funny and outrageous, and told wonderful stories about her own childhood,' said Pitts, now chair of the political science department at the University of Chicago. 'A lot of these stories later found their way into her fiction, and we loved hearing them all over again.' In 1989, Freed moved to Sonoma to live in a Victorian bungalow near the town square. She maintained the garden herself and wrote in a studio she had built on the property. For 35 years she was in a relationship with Robert Kerwin, a San Francisco writer whom she eventually married. He died in 2021. From 2000 to 2015, Freed commuted to her faculty position at UC Davis. She also made the longer commute to the Squaw Valley Writers Conference, and to Bennington College in Vermont, where she was a member of the core faculty in the MFA program. She was as strict with herself as she was with her writing students, as she made clear in 'Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home.' 'Writers are natural murderers,' she wrote. 'Their murderousness is a form of sociopathy fueled by resentment, scorn, glee, and deep affection. Before they can even begin writing they must kill off parents, siblings, lovers, mentors, friends — anyone, in short, whose opinion might matter.' Freed did it well enough and for long enough to earn her recognition by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which awarded her the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award in fiction, in 2002. She also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. She won the prestigious O. Henry Prize for short fiction for her story 'Sunshine,' in 2011, and for 'The Way Things are Going,' in 2015. 'She brought that laser beam of Freedian candor to everything she wrote and to any text she taught reviewed,' said Hampl. Freed is best known for her autobiographical novel 'Home Ground,' published in 1986. Hampl, who recently reread all of Freed's works, said her masterpiece was 'The Mirror,' a short novel that manages to cover nearly a century of South African history in 219 pages. 'She could not write a flabby line,' Hampl said. None of it came easily to her and she didn't make it easy on her writing students, either. One of her workshop techniques was to take a story, strip it down to the one sentence or phrase that was worth saving and instruct the writer to throw out the rest and start over based on that one passage. 'It was not for the faint of heart. She wasn't interested in making students just feel good about their writing,' said Castellani. 'She wanted to push them to write the best story they were capable of writing.'
Time of India
04-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Apple Launches New Mac Campaign for Students in India - Here's Everything You Need to Know
Apple's back with its second student-focused Mac campaign in India, titled 'Lessons.' This one follows last year's 'Work Is Worth It,' but shifts the focus to learning on your own terms — beyond just textbooks and by Ayappa, the film leans into the chaos and reality of college life, set against an original track made using typical advice students hear from parents, teachers, and well-meaning a quick look at Apple's AI in action too — a student uses the new 'Summarise in Writing Tools' to condense pages of notes into one clean bullet point. Another one juggles engineering apps like AutoCAD and Xcode on the new M4 MacBook Air without campaign's set to run across TV, social, and digital platforms during the back-to-school you're curious about Apple Intelligence, the 'Hands On' film covers tools like:Photo cleanup to remove unwanted stuff from your picsCustom GenmojisImage Playground for quick visual creationWriting Tools to tweak or summarise your textMail summaries for long threadsVisual lookups through the cameraBuilt-in ChatGPT access via Siri and writing featuresApple Intelligence works on iPhone 15 Pro and up, iPad and Mac with M1 or newer, and Vision Pro. More devices and languages are expected to be added is also expected to deliver a massive updates across MacOS and iOS next Monday on June 9th at WWDC 2025. For udpates from the event watch this space.
CNBC
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNBC
I published my first book at 38—here's exactly how I changed careers to make it happen
Once upon a time, before I ever gave any serious thought to becoming an author, I was a recruiter. Then I was an HR manager, resume writer, career advice columnist, and career coach. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. Helping others find jobs they love, or at least like, is incredibly rewarding. But at a certain point, I became determined to write a novel. My knowledge of books was limited to reading them. I had no idea where to begin. What I know how to do was execute a thoroughly researched career pivot. I'd been telling other people how to do that for years. Now it was my turn. Spoiler alert: It took about five years, but I made it happen. My first novel went to auction, where I landed a six-figure, two-book deal with HarperCollins and was able to start writing full-time. "Dear Dotty" was published last year, and my second novel, "Lucky Break," comes out in July. I'm currently hard at work on a draft of a third novel. Here's how I did it: This is the first thing I'd tell anyone considering a change. Look at job postings and LinkedIn profiles of people who have the jobs you want. How did they get there? What skills do they have that you need to cultivate? I had to learn things like how to write a novel, how a book gets published, what the word count of a manuscript should be, how to get an agent, and what an editor does. So, you know, everything. I started with Google. It led me to resources like "The Shit No One Tells You About Writing" and Susan Dennard's blog (now a Substack), which helped me understand what my career pivot would entail. I quickly realized that understanding the publishing industry wouldn't do anything for me if I didn't know how to write the story. So I enrolled in a part-time, two-year writing program. What drew me to the Stanford Continuing Studies Novel Writing Certificate was how it focused on guiding students through the process, from initial inspiration to writing to revision. Even better, we'd get feedback from teachers, all of whom were published authors themselves, and fellow students. I knew I needed to learn the craft and for me, this was the best option. I also wanted to get experience submitting work, implementing feedback, working with editors, and even getting rejected — all things needed to be comfortable with if I wanted to make this my career. So I wrote career advice articles for The Muse, some of which also ran on Forbes, Business Insider, and Fast Company; blogged about living aboard a 45-foot boat; and submitted a short story that was rejected about 10 times before Storyshares published it. Getting better at the craft of writing was so much fun. Getting better at taking in feedback and rejection? Less fun! But all necessary. Once I completed a draft of my manuscript, which took two years, I felt ready to learn more about how to get it published. Connecting with fellow writers at the Northern California Writers' Retreat provided both emotional support and practical knowledge. These peers became my first readers, accountability buddies, and partners in promoting my book. Meeting industry professionals taught me things that no amount of internet research could provide. However, I quickly learned an important truth: Connections can open doors and get your manuscript read faster, but this won't get you published if your writing isn't compelling. While networking is essential, continuously improving your craft is even more important. The closer I became to being ready to query (i.e., send my manuscript to agents I hoped would be interested in representing me), the more I focused on building my platform. I already had a website for my career advice articles and an Instagram about boat life, so I decided to repurpose them. I updated my website to include a section about my writing journey and upcoming novel. I shifted my Instagram content to include more behind-the-scenes glimpses of my writing process alongside the boat life posts. This gave me a foundation to build an author platform without starting completely from scratch. In the midst of this lengthy career pivot that came with absolutely no guarantees, I juggled a few freelance jobs: as a personal assistant, a real estate assistant, a career advice columnist, a freelance resume writer, and a contract career coach — sometimes all at once! Yes, I was tired. My sweet, supportive husband, Brian, worked full-time during this period, and we don't have children. None of this is one-size-fits-all. My "application" was my very polished manuscript and my query letter (which I was delighted to find wasn't too dissimilar from a cover letter). I spent months refining it, researching agents who represented books similar to mine, and personalizing each submission. Just like with job applications, I made sure my first impression was impeccable — no typos, proper formatting, and a compelling hook that would make agents want to read more. Publishing moves slowly. Some agents responded within days, others took months, and some never responded at all. It took nearly nine months before I finally received an offer of representation. While waiting to hear back, I started outlining my second novel and continued building relationships with other writers. This kept me sane and ensured I was developing my skills and expanding my network. When I eventually got interest from editors, they wanted to know what else I was working on. Because I hadn't stopped creating, I had multiple ideas to discuss, ultimately leading to a second book contract. I took into account feedback I received and made significant revisions to my manuscript. I saw firsthand how being flexible and willing to change your approach is often what separates successful authors from those who give up too soon. Having a growth mindset was key to my success. Pivoting from recruiter to novelist isn't exactly the same as changing careers from, say, accounting to customer service. But like any meaningful career change, it requires patience, perseverance, and a willingness to learn. Even with my second novel about to publish and a third in the works, I'm still learning every day.,
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Five Writers Awarded the Prestigious HWR Khozem Merchant Non-Fiction Fellowship
NAINITAL, India, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Himalayan Writing Retreat (HWR) announced the five recipients of the 2025 HWR Khozem Merchant Non-Fiction Fellowship, selected from a highly competitive pool of 183 applicants from across India. Following a rigorous two-stage review process, 25 writers were shortlisted earlier this year. After careful evaluation, the final five fellows were selected this week for their compelling proposals and potential to contribute meaningfully to the Indian non-fiction literary landscape. The selected fellows are: Anusuya Basu Anju Narayanan Jeff Joseph Paul Kadicheeni Radheshyam Jadhav Shirin Mehrotra "Given the number of excellent proposals we received, choosing the final five wasn't an easy task. It came down to the quality of the writing and the durability of the idea. In years to come, I am certain that the fellowship will likely inspire many excellent non-fiction works," said Karthik Venkatesh, Executive Editor at Penguin Random House India, and Jury member. "Each project aims to present a different shade of human experience and to explore, often through deeply personal narratives, what it means to overcome adversity. These are all works-in-progress, demonstrating great promise, but the winning entries seemed much closer to the finishing line as writing projects, both in terms of the writer's vision and intention," added Jury member Vineet Gill, also an editor at Penguin Random House India. Endowed by best-selling author Aparna Piramal Raje, Lata Gullapalli and Saumya Roy, the fellowship honors Khozem Merchant, a former Financial Times journalist and a mentor to many emerging writers. The initiative is designed to support writers working on long-form non-fiction centered on lived experience, personal narratives, history, memoir, and narrative journalism. Each fellow will participate in a five-day masterclass with acclaimed author Jerry Pinto in May, followed by a fully funded 21-day writing residency in the Himalayas in July. They will also receive a ₹50,000 grant upon completion of the residency and a ₹20,000 travel stipend. Fellows will submit their completed manuscripts to Penguin Random House India by April 30, 2026, for consideration. "The winning projects capture everything we want for the Fellowship: all writers with a lot of work under their belts who can take on challenging stories that may otherwise not have happened," said Aparna Piramal Raje." "I congratulate every single person who applied. It doesn't matter if you were shortlisted or selected – you have articulated an idea. If it matters to you, you should pursue and take it to completion," said Chetan Mahajan, co-founder of the Himalayan Writing Retreat. For more information, visit: Media Contact:info@ Photo: View original content to download multimedia:
Sharjah 24
16-04-2025
- Business
- Sharjah 24
‘Sharjah NYU SPS Exec. Pub. Prog.' explores global strategies
Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), in collaboration with the Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media at the NYU School of Professional Studies (SPS), the program is being held at the American University of Sharjah empowering a global contingent of publishing leaders from 17 nations. Identifying global market trends in publishing A standout session in the four-day agenda was 'Global Market Trends and How to Craft a Global Strategy,' led by Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Chief Digital Officer and CEO of International Foreign Language at HarperCollins Publishers. In her session, Restivo-Alessi offered valuable insights on identifying and capitalizing on global market trends to shape impactful strategies for international expansion. 'Everything is global, and positioning accordingly is imperative. We must optimise the reach of every book by ensuring content resonates across cultural boundaries. A major expansion for HarperCollins was becoming a publisher in foreign languages, translating existing US and UK content into over 16 languages. But it's not just about exporting, it's a two-way flow and cultural exchange is multi-directional, identifying opportunities for international works to publish in English and vice versa. Publishers must adapt to new realities: digital transformed our industry, and now AI presents both challenges and opportunities we can't ignore,' Restivo-Alessi explained. This was complemented by her second session, 'Global Publishing, Consumer Trends, and Sources for Editorial Content,' which equipped participants with the knowledge to identify emerging consumer preferences and valuable sources for editorial content across diverse markets, saying, 'Digital formats are a growing part of the market today, and audiobooks are increasingly becoming a go-to for many segments, now making up 10% of the US market and still increasing. The ability to multitask while listening is a big driver for this. Younger consumers are voracious readers, and social media, especially TikTok, is essential for discovery. At the same time, competition has increased with a greater variety of players in the market.' 'Physical books are seen as affordable luxuries, but our data shows that 83% of consumers feel prices are too high, and 9% are putting off purchases. Interestingly, 49% of book purchases are driven by the desire to 'treat yourself.' Subscription models in digital formats are also becoming significant, providing recurring revenue streams for publishers. Meanwhile, graphic novels and manga's global explosion is no accident, driven by retail support as well as media synergy with film and gaming, and its multi-generational appeal,' Restivo-Alessi concluded. Harnessing the power of translation and global reach Another important session was 'Translators as Growth Partners: Words Without Borders' with Samantha Schnee, Founding Editor of Words Without Borders. Schnee emphasised the essential position translators have in bridging cultural gaps and facilitating the global exchange of literature, highlighting the importance of recognising translators as key collaborators in the publishing process. Building on this theme, Naveen Kishore, Founder of Seagull Books, and her Chief Editor/Senior Designer, Sunandini Banerjee, presented 'Publishing with a Global Purpose Harmonizing acquisitions, translation, and design for global growth.' Together they shared their experiences in integrating acquisition, translation, and design to create books that resonate with global audiences, emphasizing the power of cultural sensitivity and artistic vision. Participants were also able to explore expansion opportunities with Christie Henry, Director of Princeton University Press, through case studies and a role-play exercise. Inés ter Horst, Director of Intellectual Property, Princeton University Press, presented 'Powerful Partners Empower Publishing: A Case Study' in collaboration with Christie Henry, which highlighted the importance of intellectual property rights in global publishing. Carlo Carrenho, Publishing Consultant at Alpine Global Collective, discussed 'The Growth of Audio – What to Prepare for', focusing on preparations for the growing audio market, and Chantal Restivo-Alessi also held another session called 'Digital Sales and Digital Operations – Key Elements to Consider' where she shared Key Elements to consider in regards to digital operations. Another highlight was with Kelly Gallagher, Vice President, Content Acquisition, Ingram Content Group, who covered the changes in international print sales in the session 'What's Changing in International Print Sales?'
