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 ]
How Richard Lange went from literary short stories to crime fiction and his new gothic horror tale, 'Rovers,' about a '70s vampire biker gang. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-26 13:00:38 UTC ]
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Short stories, to me, are sparked by desire. I don’t mean they’re all love stories, though they certainly can be. I mean they are collisions or conflagrations, small or spectacular traffic accidents in which the desires of one person bump up against the impossible—whether in the form of some... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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With the help of a brilliant co-writer, a fully rounded picture may now emerge of the much-maligned royalNot since criminals were barred from profiting in this way can a publisher’s announcement of a memoir have united the British press in such disgust. Before that, even the gangster turned... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-25 07:00:45 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel's 'Sea of Tranquility' goes to Knopf's Jenny Jackson, Prince Harry sold a currently untitled memoir to Random House, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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While the publishing industry had a relatively stable 2020 and a pretty sunny 2021 thus far, we are definitely not out of the woods yet, not with the mutating virus around. For Hong Kong/China print manufacturers, pandemic-induced challenges outside of their control are hampering the efforts to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Oscar-winner and all-around Renaissance woman Viola Davis is going to put her life story (so far) to paper. The actor will publish a memoir, Finding Me, with HarperOne. Davis will discuss her tumultuous childhood growing up in Rhode Island, including poverty and family strife, to her rise as a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-22 15:04:57 UTC ]
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Last week, Guto Harri, an anchor on GB News, in the United Kingdom, addressed a pressing news story: the racist abuse that Black English players faced following the final of the European soccer championships, which England lost, and the broader debate around the players’ practice of taking a... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-20 12:38:46 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House said the book, tentatively coming in 2022, would be “an intimate and heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-19 20:26:00 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired Sins of My Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unravelling, a "dazzling" literary memoir from Lily Dunn about her attempt to unravel the mysteries of her late father's life. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-18 21:27:23 UTC ]
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Graeme Macrae Burnet was picked out by the literary spotlight when his second novel, His Bloody Project, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016. Published by small indie Saraband, it tells of a brutal triple murder in the remote Scottish Highlands in 1869 via witness statements, a memoir... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-16 17:48:55 UTC ]
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It can be too easy to write villains— people stunted and incapable of love or compassion—when we write about opponents of our politics, especially in short stories, which have so much less space to detail nuance. Sometimes writing about villains and pointing the finger is necessary in a world... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Culture Adrian Aguilera (Mexican, b. 1981) and Betelhem Makonnen (Ethiopian American, b. 1972), untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be), 2020 (installation view). Printed standard flag fabric,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-15 19:45:53 UTC ]
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Chicago’s memoir, “The Flowering,” looks back at the uphill battle to make it in the art world as a woman. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Representation matters. Last year, using the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award submission list, I wrote about the problems facing the genre publishing industry here in the UK. Since then, using the same methodology, we’ve collated the data from 2013 through 2020 to look for progress. We could have... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-07 19:02:10 UTC ]
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In 'A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes,' filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia writes about losing both parents — and the one event his renowned father couldn't record: his own death. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-07 16:19:08 UTC ]
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Essay Photos by Mai Al-Nakib / Courtesy of the author Civilizations, empires, dynasties, and monarchies end, leaving behind ruins of their fabled splendor. Traces of achievements become more or less decipherable, contingent upon the mercy of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-07 12:48:10 UTC ]
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“Fox & I” is Catherine Raven’s memoir of her relationship with a bushy-tailed creature — no, not a dog. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-06 09:00:01 UTC ]
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A debut and a long-honored veteran of short stories take the 2021 top honors provided by the Washington-based PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The post Two PEN/Faulkner Foundation Award Winners: Deesha Philyaw and Charles Baxter appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-07-02 18:54:49 UTC ]
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Months before Andrea Constand’s memoir about the Cosby case and its aftermath was set to be published, a Pennsylvania Court overturned his conviction for assaulting her and released him. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-02 13:52:59 UTC ]
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On Tuesday, Donald Rumsfeld—who, as defense secretary under George W. Bush, was a driving force behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—died. Major outlets wheeled out pre-written obituaries. The AP’s, by Robert Burns, bordered on hagiography. Its headline initially declared Rumsfeld “a cunning... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-02 12:32:38 UTC ]
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