'BAME writers must tell their own stories – and we have to be disruptive'

In a series to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, author Tanya Byrne says true diversity in books for young people is shamefully overdueAs a BAME author who writes BAME characters, I’m frequently asked to explain why my books are so unusual. They’re not unusual, at least I don’t think they are. My books are about teenagers doing what teenagers do, trying to find their place in the world and fucking it up along the way. The fact that some of my characters are Nigerian or Jamaican or, in the case of my story for the new anthology A Change is Gonna Come, Guyanese, doesn’t make them unusual. It just means that my books reflect the world in which we live, as all books should. Related: Do black children's lives matter if nobody writes about them? | Daniel José Older Related: Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals' all-white longlists prompt inquiry Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2017-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #bame writers #500th anniversary #black children

Other news stories related to: "'BAME writers must tell their own stories – and we have to be disruptive'"


The Top 10 Library Stories of 2020

PW looks back at the library stories that captivated the publishing world this year—and what they portend for 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #publishing world #library stories


The story behind ‘And the People Stayed Home,’ the little poem that became so much more

With one Facebook post, Kitty O’Meara set off a wave of hope — and a creative windfall. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-10 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #facebook post


Jeremy O. Harris is donating a collection of plays by Black writers to libraries across the country.

On Late Night with Seth Meyers this week, Slave Play and Daddy playwright Jeremy O. Harris announced he is donating a collection of 15 plays by Black playwrights to 53 libraries and community centers across the United States—and is donating one such collection to Northwestern University in Seth... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-09 17:29:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #libraries #literary hub #northwestern university #united states— #community centers #black playwrights #seth meyers #late night #black writers


Black History Matters scoops 2020 ALCS Educational Writers' Award

Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, From African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter by historian Robin Walker has been crowned the winner of the 2020 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-09 12:12:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #black history


How a DACA recipient came to tell the stories of 'The Undocumented Americans'

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio talks about her eye-opening book "The Undocumented Americans" and what it taught her about herself. She'll join the LAT Book Club on Dec. 15. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-12-08 15:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book club #ll join #undocumented americans


YA author James launches The Climate Fiction Writers League

Author Lauren James has established The Climate Fiction Writers League, a group of over 50 international published authors writing about climate change.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-07 22:31:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #climate change


Strange and Wondrous Journeys with Palestinian Writer Sonia Nimr, by Madison Doyle

Book Reviews Sonia Nimr / Source: TAMER Institute for Community Education This whirlwind adventure begins with protagonist Qamar’s birth and follows her life along the titular wondrous journeys around the Mediterranean. Less novel than novella,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-07 20:34:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #short stories


What Kurt Vonnegut’s rapturous love letters reveal about him as a writer — and husband

Discovered in his attic, the letters in “Love, Kurt” feel both very private and very important. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-03 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #kurt vonnegut


Scholarships to support emerging writers launched at UEA in Mehta's memory

The University of East Anglia (UEA) has launched two new scholarships for international writers in memory of Sonny Mehta, the editor-in-chief of Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing who died aged 77 in December last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 15:40:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #sonny mehta


First PRH ethnicity pay report shows gap of 16% for BAME employees

Penguin Random House has published its first ever ethnicity pay report, which found that BAME staff are paid 16% less than their white colleagues, on average. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-29 12:21:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #penguin random house #bame employees


11 New Books by Native American Writers

This year has been a dumpster fire and we mean that literally. But the shining bright spot in the literary world is an abundance of great new books by Indigenous writers being published in 2020. Since it’s National Native American Heritage Month, we’re focusing on books coming out of the U.S.... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #literary world #electric literature #indigenous writers #books coming


Andrew Hunter Murray | 'I wanted the story to be the uncovering of a secret about this world'

Andrew Hunter Murray was out walking when an image occurred to him: a still Earth, half in light, half in darkness, no longer rotating. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 04:30:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Oloixarac and Umoren win Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award

Novelist Pola Oloixarac and historian Imaobong Umoren (pictured) have been named as the 2021 winners of the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-26 17:20:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Sphere to publish new ghost stories from the 'very finest storytellers'

Sphere will publish The Haunting Season, a "dazzling" collection of "haunted tales". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-26 08:00:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #ghost stories


Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #short stories #quick listening #bite-sized entertainment


Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #short stories #quick listening #bite-sized entertainment


Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #short stories #quick listening #bite-sized entertainment


CBC launches Breakthrough Writers' Programme

The Curtis Brown Creative Writing school is launching a Breakthrough Writers’ Programme, which features fully funded courses, mentoring and scholarships for underrepresented writers.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 13:15:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #underrepresented writers


The Stories We Become: On William Cash’s ‘Restoration Heart’

Cash’s memoir is the story of a man whose penchant for letters suggests a desire to hold on to the present. Sealing up the envelope means ending the letter; it means allowing our fantasies and stories to be finished, read, and judged. The post The Stories We Become: On William Cash’s... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-11-23 17:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir


Warhol Foundation Awards $675K to 22 Arts Writers

The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant has awarded $675,000 to 22 writers to support critical writing on contemporary art in the categories of books, articles, and short-form writing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #contemporary art