As a recipient of the Arts Connects Us Grant I travelled to Ghana and Sierra Leone to meet with writers and publishing professionals working in the field of books for young readers to foster creative and collaborative exchanges between those contacts and publishing professionals and readers in the UK. This blog post is by necessity a focus on very specific meetings and conversations and is only a fraction of the encounters and connections I made. I planned my visit to Ghana to coincide with the PaGya! Festival which is organised by Writers Project Ghana and the Goethe Institute. Over the course of three days writers and publishers gathered to talk about everything from poetry to narrative non-fiction, memoir to books for younger readers. There was a packed programme from morning until night with simultaneous events happening making the festival a positive and vibrant event. Speakers came from all over the world and their backgrounds, interests and perspectives ensured a well rounded and broad look at the world of writing with roots in West Africa. Prior to the festival I had arranged several days of meetings with people involved in the world of children’s literature to talk about their work as writers and publishers and also to get to grips with the market in Ghana. It soon became very clear that not only is there a thriving publishing scene in Ghana it is one that is self-sufficient both in terms of talent and audience. I was told often that what readers in Ghana need... Continue reading at 'British Council global'
[ British Council global | 2019-03-19 11:10:28 UTC ]
In “I Live a Life Like Yours,” Jan Grue, a Norwegian professor, writes of living with a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-15 09:00:03 UTC ]
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I was called aggressive for criticising passages in Kate Clanchy’s memoir. But the real problem lies deep in the overwhelmingly white world of publishingIt started with a tweet. Kate Clanchy, author of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me posted on her Twitter account that a reviewer on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-13 13:51:20 UTC ]
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Icon has landed journalist and debut author Marianne Eloise's memoir of life with obsessive compulsive disorder and autism. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 20:18:23 UTC ]
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Headline will publish the memoir of Tarana Burke, the founder and activist behind the "Me Too" movement. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 20:11:16 UTC ]
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The “Saturday Night Live” comedian’s “This Will All Be Over Soon” looks back at her beloved cousin’s cancer diagnosis and death. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-11 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Yesterday morning, Rita Glavin—an attorney for Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, who has vigorously defended her client (including in a fifty-one-minute live interview on CNN) since a state report concluded that he sexually harassed eleven women—came out swinging again in a virtual... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-08-11 12:45:23 UTC ]
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Hollywood. It’s one of those locations—it’s hard, somehow, to call it a concrete place—that conjures up all sorts of archetypes: the ruined writer, egomaniacal director, sleazy executive, out-of-control star. In writing my memoir Always Crashing in The Same Car—a book with elements of criticism,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-08-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The pandemic memoir “American Crisis” has become a financial and ethical headache for Penguin Random House, dragging the company into the scandals that prompted the governor’s resignation announcement. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-10 22:21:07 UTC ]
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Poet and teacher has apologised for ‘overreacting’ to scrutiny of book’s portrayals of autistic pupils and children of colourKate Clanchy is rewriting her critically acclaimed memoir after widespread criticism of her portrayal of her pupils, particularly children of colour and autistic... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-10 18:58:54 UTC ]
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The 2020 Tokyo Games will be defined by many things—the anachronism of its title, the risk of superspreading, the welcome absence of Matt Lauer—but, hopefully, these Olympics will also be remembered for bringing mental health to the forefront of popular discourse. Simone Biles’ “twisties.”... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-08-10 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In “Blind Man’s Bluff,” James Tate Hill opens up about the measures he took to avoid admitting that he had lost his eyesight. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-05 09:00:03 UTC ]
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She took the music seriously at a time when not many writers did. Among her books was a memoir of her life with one of its biggest stars, Jim Morrison. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-08-04 22:08:44 UTC ]
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Canongate has landed Time on Rock, an outdoor climbing guide and memoir of self-discovery by Anna Fleming. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-04 21:31:00 UTC ]
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Claire Wilcox has won the PEN Ackerley Prize 2021 for her "vivid" memoir Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-04 21:28:36 UTC ]
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In his memoir about being drafted into the Vietnam War, Jeff Danziger lays bare the futility and waste, as well as his own naiveté. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-08-03 20:35:22 UTC ]
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Gina Frangello had a suspicion there was a hunger to talk about women who break the rules. In advance of the release of Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism and Treason, she admits after some prodding, “I got more letters from women before this book came out than I ever received for... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-30 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia brings his memoir about his father, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, and mother, Mercedes Barcha, to the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-29 20:18:15 UTC ]
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Seeking out the best new Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers, this year’s finalists range across continents to show ‘the best of what stories can do’The fallout from civil war invades the London home of a high-flying Sri Lankan couple. An elderly Jamaican woman faces up bravely to the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-29 11:00:30 UTC ]
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Buzzy new novels from Alexandra Kleeman, Leila Slimani and Stephen King, Billie Jean King’s memoir and plenty more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-28 17:14:59 UTC ]
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The polite, white middle-class mass that encompasses most of the publishing industry doesn’t hold prejudice against foreigners, probably voted Remain, and yet they will still shut the door in your face. If you’re not British and middle-class, the chances are that you won’t understand the subtle... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-27 06:45:54 UTC ]
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