Books by Laura Cumming
“It examines the life and work of Carel Fabritius, the 17th-century Dutch artist – who painted ‘The Goldfinch’, among other things. He actually only left just over a dozen paintings, and has been under-recognised in assessments of the Golden Age of Art. But it’s also an examination of Cumming’s own father’s work – James Cumming, an artist in his own right. The two disparate stories are drawn together, I suppose, by what one might call memoir. There’s a connection, which is Laura herself. It’s a work of admiration of both people, and it has this incredible structure which unfurls and pulls in all manner of things along the way.” Read more...
Recent Nonfiction Highlights: The 2024 Women’s Prize Shortlist
Suzannah Lipscomb, Historian
“It is just a remarkably well-structured memoir, in terms of revelation piling upon revelation upon revelation. She’s plainly dealing with a family that has been very tight-lipped, and has tried to shut down all manner of secrets, about what has happened in family life. So I think it reads, especially in its tail end, in a very thriller-ish way as all of this information comes to light.” Read more...
On Chapel Sands: My Mother and Other Missing Persons
by Laura Cumming
***Shortlisted for the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction***
Interviews where books by Laura Cumming were recommended
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1
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
by Casey Cep -
2
On Chapel Sands: My Mother and Other Missing Persons
by Laura Cumming -
3
The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth 1922 - 1968
by William Feaver -
4
Maoism: A Global History
by Julia Lovell -
5
Guest House for Young Widows: Among the women of ISIS
by Azadeh Moaveni -
6
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
by Hallie Rubenhold
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, recommended by Stig Abell
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, recommended by Stig Abell
Every year, the Baillie Gifford Prize judges seek to identify the very best nonfiction books published in the last year. Here, the chair of this year’s judging panel Stig Abell talks us through the 2019 shortlist: a thrilling line-up of books that are as notable for their literary prowess as for their weight and significance.
The Best of Memoir: the 2020 NBCC Autobiography Shortlist, recommended by Mark Athitakis
From a brave account by the Stanford rape case survivor Chanel Miller to New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow’s gripping tale of investigating the Harvey Weinstein scandal, it’s been a golden year for autobiography. Veteran critic Mark Athitakis talks us through the memoirs that made this year’s National Book Critics Circle autobiography shortlist.
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1
Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death
by Laura Cumming -
2
A Flat Place
by Noreen Masud -
3
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI
by Madhumita Murgia -
4
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
by Naomi Klein -
5
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
by Tiya Miles -
6
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir
by Safiya Sinclair
Recent Nonfiction Highlights: The 2024 Women’s Prize Shortlist, recommended by Suzannah Lipscomb
Recent Nonfiction Highlights: The 2024 Women’s Prize Shortlist, recommended by Suzannah Lipscomb
Since 1996, the Women’s Prize has been awarded the best new novels by female writers. This year, for the very first time, an equivalent prize has been established for female nonfiction writers—whose books receive less coverage and lower advances than those of their male counterparts. Suzannah Lipscomb, historian and chair of the inaugural judging panel, introduces us to the six books that made the 2024 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction shortlist.
