Library of Luminaries: Virginia Woolf - by Zena Alkayat (Hardcover)

Genre: Art
Sub-Genre: Individual Artists
Series Title: Library of Luminaries
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Age Range: Adult
Book theme: General
Author: Zena Alkayat
Language: English

About the Book

"One of literature's most beloved authors is beautifully documented in this illustrated biography of Virginia Woolf."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

One of literature's most beloved authors is beautifully documented in this illustrated biography of Virginia Woolf. Featuring handwritten text paired with beguiling illustrations and a tactile cover with foil-stamped and debossed details, this giftable package reveals the formative events of Woolf's life: how she was supported--and challenged--in her craft, her struggles with mental illness, and how her great works came to be. With lines pulled from Woolf's own letters featured alongside interesting details, such as her nickname for her husband and how slowly her first novel sold, this intimate guide makes a thoughtful gift for literature lovers and book clubbers.

Review Quotes

Follows Virginia Woolf's life from a childhood marked by love and loss to her dogged rise as one of humanity's most significant writers. Intersecting her life are larger threads - the women's suffrage movement, the artists and intellectuals of the Bloomsbury group, the world wars. Zena Alkayat narrates with succulent concision, but her affectionate admiration for Woolf shows. Nina Cosford's charming illustrations contain echoes of the Provensens and Maira Kalman, yet stand as thoroughly original. Spliced into the story are Woolf's own beguiling lines. -- New York Times

Writer Zena Alkayat and artist Nina Cosford explore Woolf's remarkable life with equal parts concision, compassion, and unsentimental reverence. -- Brain Pickings

About the Author

Zena Alkayat is a journalist, author, and editor based in London.

Nina Cosford is a freelance illustrator based in Hastings, England.