"Unbelievably cute and easy-to-follow kawaii drawing, broken down into step-by-step exercises that anyone can master."--

Portraits of icons from Maya Angelou to Viola Davis, collected alongside dazzling essays and criticism by the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Ordinary People 'A pleasure and an invigoration' Guardian 'A moving, witty and seductive anthology' Financial Times 'Every piece feels beautifully sewn together and complete' BERNARDINE EVARISTO Crafted over twenty-five years, I Want to Talk to You invites you into a conversation about literature, art and music, identity, grief and everything in between As a young journalist, Diana Evans was catapulted overnight into the role of culture editor, going on to interview a roster of stars including Lauryn Hill, Viola Davis, Alice Walker and Edward Enninful. In these portraits of contemporary icons, the author remains the observer. Alongside them, in pieces collected here for the first time, we also see her turning the lens on herself. We watch as she dances on stages in London and travels through Cuba. We sit beside her desk as she develops her voice as a writer, shaped by her love for Jean Rhys, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. We walk by her side as she navigates the world - her family and the midlife sandwich, reflections on fashion, yoga, the British monarchy and lockdowns, and the lasting impact of George Floyd and Grenfell. 'Truly insightful, conversational and unique... Absolutely brilliant' ORE AGBAJE-WILLIAMS 'Intimate and moving... Elegant in tone and finely wrought in form' EKOW ESHUN 'A celebration of a career that has been anything but ordinary and an intellectual mind forever evolving' CHARLIE BRINKHURST-CUFF

Details

ISBN13: 9781784744250
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 256
Edition:
Publication Date: 04 Feb 2025
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 216(H)x136(L)x20(W)258
Weight (gm): 258

Author Biography

Diana Evans is the author of the novels 26a, The Wonder, Ordinary People and A House for Alice. She was the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers for 26a, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel, the Guardian First Book, the Commonwealth Best First Book and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Ordinary People won the 2019 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Literature and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, for which A House for Alice was also a finalist. A former dancer, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, her journalism and nonfiction appearing in Time magazine, the Guardian, Vogue and the Financial Times among others. She lives in London. www.diana-evans.com

Reviews

A pleasure and an invigoration -- Alex Clark * Guardian *
Evans’s nonfiction marries that faith in the value of subjective experience to a fierce intellect; the result is a fascinating overview not only of a writer’s evolution but of the shifts in our understanding of art as…”activism and community” -- Stephanie Merritt * Observer *
Perceptive and empathetic... This was always going to be a book that grabs you by the lapels and insists on you listening but all the same, you do emerge impressed and better informed -- and also kind of windswept and happy -- Sue Gaisford * Financial Times *
There is a depth and integrity to Diana Evans’s writing; every piece feels beautifully sewn together and complete -- BERNARDINE EVARISTO
Thoughtfully layered pieces... deeply personal -- Megan Conner * Red *
Luminously questioning, always intelligent and unafraid of confronting the impact others can have on us -- ORE AGBAJE-WILLIAMS, author of The Three of Us
An intimate and moving meditation on the mysteries of writing and the pleasures of reading. Elegant in tone and finely wrought in form, it is a deeply insightful, and also profoundly enjoyable, collection -- EKOW ESHUN, author of The Strangers
A celebration of a career that has been anything but ordinary and an intellectual mind forever evolving. A blueprint for all of us straddling between fiction and journalism, who want to create meaningful, transcendent work -- CHARLIE BRINKHURST-CUFF, editor of Mother Country
One of our most outstanding writers * Bernardine Evaristo *
A lyrical and glorious writer * Naomi Alderman *