Tag Archives: Art in Fiction
Virtual Book Club: Suanne Schafer introduces A Different Kind of Fire
This week I’m delighted to welcome Suanne Schafer to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club. Suanne, born in West Texas at the height of the Cold War, finds it ironic that grade school drills for tornadoes and nuclear war were the same: hide…
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Virtual Book Club: Michael Jarvie introduces Black Art
This week I’m delighted to welcome Michael Jarvie to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club. Michael is a working-class writer from the North East of England. He is the author of the composite novel The Prison and the thriller, Black Art. With a…
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An exploration of art in fiction: ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, art snobbery, and redemption
Few authors can be as steeped in art – literally since birth – as Valeria Vescina, my first of today’s guest contributors. “My mother is an art historian and my father directed a gallery of twentieth-century art. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting down with books of old-master paintings,” she says. Passionate about…
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An exploration of art in fiction: finding your inspiration
The focus of this week’s exploration of art in fiction is finding your inspiration. We kick off with a contribution from Michael Jarvie. Michael is a working-class writer from the North East of England. He is the author of the composite novel The Prison and the thriller Black Art. With a BA Honours degree in…
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An exploration of art in fiction, Part 4: when all roads lead to Tate Modern
This week’s Art in Fiction focuses on novels that are set in the mecca of modern art, Tate Modern. One of my favourite reads in recent months was Harriet P Paige’s Man With A Seagull on his Head, which was nominated for Not The Booker 2017. Paige perfectly pitches a portrait of outsider artist Ray…
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An exploration of art in fiction, Part 3: Grief Art Writing
To give this week’s guest post a rambling introduction would be to do it a disservice. It is more than capable of standing on its own two feet. Suffice to say that, when I read it, I felt as if I’d been given a gift. Vivienne Tuffnell is a writer, poet, explorer and mystic. She says…
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An exploration of art in fiction, Part 2: Fictionalised lives of real artists
The week’s exploration of the use of art in fiction (part 2) focuses on novels that tell fictionalised accounts of the lives of real artists. One of my favourite examples is contained in How to be Both, by Ali Smith. Francesco del Cossa was a 15th Century painter. Although few known examples of his works…
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An exploration of art in fiction, Part 1: Smash all the Windows
For the next few weeks, Virtual Book Club will be taking a break. Instead, I’m going to bring you an exploration of the use of art in fiction. Fictionalised stories behind real painting; novels based on the lives of real artists; fictional artists, fictional works of art; fictional members of real art movements; fictional muses…
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