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Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

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Culture

Can we talk about “Serial?”

January 2, 2015 by Nathan Bransford 15 Comments

Like many people across America, I was totally captivated by the podcast “Serial,” which, if you haven’t yet been accosted by a raving fan, is about a 1999 murder and hinges on whether you believe one of the two former teenagers at the heart of the case: Adnan, in prison for the murder of his […]

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Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Culture

What the cover of “About a Girl” says about today’s publishing world

November 18, 2014 by Nathan Bransford 23 Comments

The traditional publishing industry is located in one of the most liberal cities in America. On the whole its employees skew left. Still, while homosexuality has been explored in YA novels for quite some time, it still says something that the cover for my friend Sarah McCarry’s About a Girl felt like something new. The […]

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Filed Under: Publishing Industry Tagged With: Culture

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at fifty

July 23, 2014 by Nathan Bransford 15 Comments

Happy fiftieth birthday to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was originally published in 1964. To celebrate, Penguin has a new paperback edition plus a golden ticket sweepstakes. It’s hard to imagine a book that was more influential for me than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and all of Roald Dahl’s books for that matter, […]

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Filed Under: Books Tagged With: book recommendations, Culture

What Jiro Dreams of Sushi means for writers

May 13, 2014 by Nathan Bransford 13 Comments

Like many people I know, I have been seriously obsessed with the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which is available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon. Jiro Ono has been making sushi for over 70 years. His restaurant, a humble space that is literally located in a subway station, has been awarded three Michelin stars. […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Culture

On a love of weather

February 20, 2014 by Nathan Bransford 21 Comments

Talking about the weather is almost by definition the height of banality. When you have absolutely nothing else to talk about with someone, well, at least there’s the weather. You can chitchat about how nice it is or how horrible or gosh I hear we’re going to get some snow tomorrow. And yet the weather […]

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Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Culture

The Terrifying Permanence of the Internet

December 17, 2013 by Nathan Bransford 29 Comments

There’s a moment in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go where two of the characters go looking for a cassette tape in a coastal town in England. One of the characters had lost a tape in her childhood and she hadn’t heard it in years. They go hunting through second hand shops until, magically, there […]

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Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Culture

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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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My Books

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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