Older generations argue that young people’s insistence on equality in all things – including books – threatens to stifle free speech. But is that always true?I wouldn’t normally air my dirty literary linen in public, but here goes. When I finished writing my novel Putney, about a 13-year-old girl who has a “love affair” in the 1970s with an older man and realises decades later that it was actually abuse, my previous editor at Jonathan Cape chose not to publish it. The reasons emerged this year when he was interviewed in the Spectator. “If Lolita was offered to me today,” Dan Franklin said, “I’d never be able to get it past the acquisition team – a committee of 30-year-olds, who’d say: ‘If you publish this book we will all resign.’” He pointed to #MeToo and social media as fundamental factors: “You can organise outrage at the drop of a hat.”Fortunately, Bloomsbury’s acquisition team – overwhelmingly female and mixed aged – were brave enough to take on Putney, which was described in the Observer as “a Lolita for the era of #MeToo”. Whether there was any truth in his words or not, Franklin’s position reveals how much fear now exists in publishing. Related: Putney by Sofka Zinovieff review – a Lolita for the age of #MeToo ‘It’s only about not being an arsehole,’ my daughter said. ‘That’s not so difficult’ Related: Nabokov's Lolita: the latest thing millennials have apparently ruined Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-10 10:03:01 UTC ]
If you bought a copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey" for your e-reader, you are not alone -- not by a long shot. If you bought a copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey" for your e-reader, you are not alone -- not by a long shot. E.L. James' sexy novel about innocent college student Anastasia Steele and her... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape has acquired a new Bridget Jones novel by Helen Fielding. The novel, for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titles from Orchard Books and Jonathan Cape have won this year's Roald Dahl Funny Prizes,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just how important Amazon’s Prime shipping offer has been to the online giant’s success can be seen in data recently compiled by the Codex Group. Last Monday, Amazon announced that Prime, which allows customers free two-day shipping for a $79 annual fee, had surpassed its free shipping on orders... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape will publish the unfinished novel The Hanging Garden by Australian author Patrick... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape has acquired a steampunk novel by journalist Matt Suddain, describing it as being... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Cape has acquired the Observer/Cape/Graphic Short Story Prize 2011-winning work, The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Nicholas Royle has moved to Jonathan Cape and Vintage for his seventh novel, titled,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Booker Prize moves sales, especially for the winner. Not only does the British literary prize matter to U.K. readers, but Americans apparently care as well. After Julian Barness The Sense of an Ending was awarded the Booker last week, the authors English publisher, Jonathan Cape, announced... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 19/10/2011 - 15:02 Random House is now reprinting 125,000 copies of Jonathan Cape's Booker-winning The Sense of An Ending, signing off a further 50,000 copies in addition to the initial 75,000 copy reprint. Vintage sales director Tom... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 24/06/2011 - 10:57 Headline has bought a memoir by German footballer and Liverpool cult hero Dietmar "Didi" Hamann, with publishing director Jonathan Taylor making his first acquisition as head of Headline Publishing Group's non-fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:20 Poetry publishers have united en masse to demand the Arts Council overturn its decision to stop funding the Poetry Book Society, saying the demise of the organisation would lead to a "considerable loss of sales". A total of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 11:14 Six titles spanning imperial Japan to 19th-century Jamaica have been shortlisted for the second Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, worth £25,000. Andrea Levy's The Long Song (Headline Review) and Tom McCarthy's C (Jonathan Cape) both shortlisted... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 22/03/2011 - 08:39 Puffin has acquired world rights, including film and TV, in a dystopian romance series Fever by debut author Dee Shulman. The publisher will be showcasing the trilogy at Bologna Children's Book Fair next week and has already... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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