Help me find litfic authors who use settings from all over the world!
July 22, 2016 9:44 PM Subscribe
Bookfilter! I'm looking to find authors with that internationalist flair.
I love devouring the complete works of any given author that I enjoy, but I hate it when they "write what they know" and every book is set in upstate New York or rural Iowa or what have you. I want to find more authors who go out of their way to include a variety of settings and characters with unique geographical backgrounds. I'm thinking of people like Thomas Pynchon, David Mitchell or Zadie Smith. I'd also like for these authors to be women or people of color since I already read plenty of books by white dudes as it is.
I love devouring the complete works of any given author that I enjoy, but I hate it when they "write what they know" and every book is set in upstate New York or rural Iowa or what have you. I want to find more authors who go out of their way to include a variety of settings and characters with unique geographical backgrounds. I'm thinking of people like Thomas Pynchon, David Mitchell or Zadie Smith. I'd also like for these authors to be women or people of color since I already read plenty of books by white dudes as it is.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Start with the excellent Half of a Yellow Sun.
Isabel Allende's early works, especially The House of the Spirits, are great.
The Brief Wondreous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is fantastic.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:43 PM on July 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
Isabel Allende's early works, especially The House of the Spirits, are great.
The Brief Wondreous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is fantastic.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:43 PM on July 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
Michael Ondaatje
I can recommend lots of authors from around the world if you want a change from the US as a setting, but you want authors who set their books in various places, is that right?
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 6:52 AM on July 23, 2016
I can recommend lots of authors from around the world if you want a change from the US as a setting, but you want authors who set their books in various places, is that right?
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 6:52 AM on July 23, 2016
Is Naipaul too obvious a choice?
posted by .kobayashi. at 3:49 PM on July 23, 2016
posted by .kobayashi. at 3:49 PM on July 23, 2016
Response by poster: Bloxworth, you've got it--I'm looking for authors who set their books in various places, not just authors who write in a fixed international setting.
posted by zeusianfog at 4:03 PM on July 23, 2016
posted by zeusianfog at 4:03 PM on July 23, 2016
Not a contemporary writer, but you could try Graham Greene.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:12 AM on July 24, 2016
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:12 AM on July 24, 2016
Maybe Barbara Kingsolver? She's written seven novels so far, with four set in different parts of the Southern US (Oklahoma twice, Appalachia (Virginia, I think) and Tennessee), one set in Arizona with Nicaragua very important to the plot, one set partly in Mexico and partly in North Carolina, and one set in the Belgian Congo (as was).
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:25 AM on July 26, 2016
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:25 AM on July 26, 2016
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posted by Thella at 10:06 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]