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 ]
“You think you’ve known someone for a long time,” a character in one of Jenny Bhatt’s short stories says of her Indian colleague shortly after he’s shot dead by a white man in a bar. “Maybe he never really took to us. Never really became one of us.” Turn by turn, each of his white […] The post... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Mrs Hinch's memoir This is Me (Michael Joseph) has dusted off a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 25,983 copies in its first full week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-12 18:35:40 UTC ]
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Bärbel Becker’s selection of events at the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair, ranging from rights presentations to book prize ceremonies and introductions to international literature. By Hannah Johnson | @hannahsjohnson Noteworthy Sessions in and Around the Trade Show ublishing Perspectives has asked... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-10-12 02:08:45 UTC ]
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Wade through the vast library and a horrifying picture emerges: an ignorant, narcissistic, racist liar with a strange relationship with his daughter and senior adviserDonald Trump is not a reader but to the publishing industry he is the gift that keeps on giving. His time in the White House has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-11 05:00:04 UTC ]
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His memoir recounts his suspicions on Russia and has intriguing comments on Joe Biden. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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“The road was a community in which we all pursued our destination at our own pace.” Lynne Sharon Schwartz on a lifetime in cars. | Lit Hub Memoir “People say I arrived in Trump’s America, but is it really Trump’s?” Ajibola Tolase making the move from Nigeria to the USA. | Lit Hub Politics “I’ve... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-09 10:30:37 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Maggie Smith, whose inspirational memoir, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, is published by Atria/One Signal Publishers. In the book, Smith intersperses bits of memoir — about moving forward after... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-09 08:48:58 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph has bought a memoir from Jake Tyler, the mental health advocate, adventurer, runner, walker and depression sufferer who made headlines when he embarked on a 3,000-mile journey around the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-08 12:33:17 UTC ]
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Ebury Press has bagged Fleshpot, the second book by Cash Carraway, billed as a “powerful, politically-charged” coming of age memoir set in the last days of the Soho sex industry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-07 22:53:30 UTC ]
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The last few days have brought two major pieces of surf literature news: one welcome, the other dispiriting. The first is that Barbarian Days—New Yorker staff writer and journalist William Finnegan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning surf memoir and one of the greatest books ever written about the greatest... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-07 14:11:57 UTC ]
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Mrs Hinch's This is Me (Michael Joseph) has jumped straight to the top of the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Non-Fiction top 20 in its first week on sale. The cleaning influencer's memoir earned the "all ears" tag, meaning it was more listened to on Audible last week than read on Kindle. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-07 08:08:06 UTC ]
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From memoir to young adult, there is a little bit of something for everyone on this list of audiobooks by Indigenous authors. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-10-06 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Verso is to publish the memoir of Korean novelist Hwang Sok-Yong, which details the years he spent in a Seoul Detention Centre. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-06 09:32:52 UTC ]
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Chatto & Windus has won a six-way auction for organic food grower Claire Ratinon's “beautiful and moving” memoir Unearthed: On Race and Roots, How the Soil Taught Me I Belong. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-05 23:59:18 UTC ]
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A new memoir and rarities collection show the powerhouse vocalist and songwriter’s evolution into a poised, boundary-blurring pop superstar. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-10-04 17:32:58 UTC ]
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Simply submitting your story to be read by someone who knows talent when they see it is important for so many reasonsWriting prizes are massively important for aspiring and emerging writers. I think they are vastly more important than literary prizes. So many aspiring writers don’t have access... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-03 07:00:18 UTC ]
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What lengths will we go to in order to belong? To be part of something exclusive? To be part of a sisterhood or brotherhood? That’s the searing question that authors Benjamin Nugent and Genevieve Sly Crane try to answer in their books about college Greek life. Nugent’s Fraternity, a collection... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
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When Sonja Livingston began to write about her life with an itinerant mother and six siblings in the raw corners of western New York, she wrote, she says, in snatches. “I wrote of living in apartments and tents and motel rooms. Of places where corn and cabbage grew in great swaths. Of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-02 08:48:29 UTC ]
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A federal judge this week denied former national security adviser John Bolton’s motion to dismiss the government's case against him, finding that the government has presented sufficient evidence to support its claim that Bolton breached his confidentiality agreements by publishing his memoir... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In his memoir Children of the Land, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo tells the story of growing up undocumented in California and having to navigate the convoluted and dehumanizing American immigration system. Hernandez Castillo captures the emotional and psychological toll that being both invisible... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-01 11:00:54 UTC ]
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