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J.K. Rowling

YOU get an open letter! YOU get an open letter! (This week in books)

July 10, 2020 by Nathan Bransford3 Comments

This week in open letters! I mean books! This was the week of Open Letters to Solve Everything. First, a group of luminaries led by Thomas Chatterton Williams including J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Malcolm Gladwell published an open letter that bemoaned an “intolerant climate that has set in on all sides” and, though it […]

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Filed Under: This Week in BooksTagged With: Dana Canedy, J.K. Rowling, Kathryn Craft, Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Atwood, Nan Talese, Ruth Harris, Thomas Chatterton Williams

Honoring Juneteenth in the book world (This week in books)

June 19, 2020 by Nathan Bransford1 Comment

This week! It’s Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Texas two full years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Here are some of the articles about Juneteenth this morning that caught my eye: Jamelle Bouie on the centrality of slaves in the struggle for emancipation and a better America. Mary Harris […]

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Filed Under: This Week in BooksTagged With: #BlackLivesMatter, Adam Serwer, Ashley Dennis, Bookshop, Bookstores, Brent Staples, Camryn Garrett, Cheryl I. Harris, Herman Melville, J.K. Rowling, Jamelle Bouie, James Baldwin, Jelani Cobb, Jessica Faust, Juneteenth, Kellie Carter Jackson, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Mary Helen Fein, NBCC, Poetry Foundation, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanessa Hua

J.K. Rowling…… (This week in books)

June 12, 2020 by Nathan Bransford22 Comments

This week! Books! As thousands of people around the world continued protesting injustice and brutality in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and at the start of Pride month, J.K. Rowling decided to double down with views on transgender people widely seen as transphobic, first in a series of tweets, then on a more […]

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Filed Under: This Week in BooksTagged With: #BlackLivesMatter, J.K. Rowling, Jane Friedman, Janet Reid, literary agents, Trans Rights, writing advice

A heartbreaking week in America (This week in books)

May 29, 2020 by Nathan Bransford15 Comments

I’m not going to lie, it’s tough to post today and what’s happening is bigger than books. My heart is utterly breaking about what’s happening in this country. The police and vigilante mobs are murdering Black people in broad daylight and arresting journalists. 100,000+ COVID deaths and counting, by far the most in the world, […]

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Filed Under: This Week in BooksTagged With: book recommendations, Brandy Colbert, Bronx Book Fesitval, Camryn Garrett, Danielle Burby, Ibi Zoboi, J.K. Rowling, Jonathan Karp, Leah Jonson, PitMad, wolf erotica

How to create a great villain

September 23, 2019 by Nathan Bransford2 Comments

Bleak painting of two old men

Bill Sikes. Lady MacBeth. Captain Ahab. Voldemort. The Wormwoods. Sauron. Iago. The best villains in literature send a shiver down our spine and make our blood pressure rise. Why do some villains have such a hold on us while others feel like weak sauce? Here are some tips on how to craft a memorable villain. […]

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Filed Under: Writing AdviceTagged With: Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, J.K. Rowling, J.M. Barrie, J.R.R. Tolkien, Roald Dahl, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare

Who are the most memorable parents in books?

July 24, 2019 by Nathan Bransford9 Comments

A painting of a family

The Wormwoods in Matilda. The Weasleys in Harry Potter. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are some seriously memorable parents in literature. Which ones are your favorites? Art: The Artist and His Family by James Peale

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Filed Under: BooksTagged With: Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Roald Dahl

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About Nathan

Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors chase their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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How to Write A Novel
Cover of How to Publish a Book by Nathan Bransford
Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapo
Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe
Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp

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