Every now and then I encounter people who can’t suspend disbelief. They ask how I can write about ‘such terrible things’Feeling unappreciated is your lot as a writer. Few readers; no readers. Scathing reviews; no reviews. Publishers saying, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” or not taking a punt on your second book because the first sold poorly. The fat American and English imports on display at the front of many bookshops, a tiny Australian section in the back corner. Beverley Farmer finding her short-story collection Milk shelved with books on nursing mothers; me finding my novel The Stencil Man shelved in Art and Craft.Most of these indignities occur while you’re still at your desk. They multiply once you appear in public. Elizabeth Jolley, signing books at a department store in Perth, was scrutinised by a beady-eyed woman who eventually approached and asked, “How much is the table?” A bookseller stuck the first page of a US thriller under my nose and said, “Once you can learn to write as good as this …” Related: Harold Bloom’s defence of western greats blinded him to other cultures | Kenan Malik If I say, 'Worse things happen in real life than I invent, just read a newspaper,' I learn they don’t read newspapers Related: Peter Handke's Nobel prize that dishonours the victims of genocide | Ed Vuilliamy Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-11-03 17:00:27 UTC ]
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S&S is to publish an illustrated gift book by nature writer and conservationist Simon Barnes next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-28 12:04:41 UTC ]
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“I’m done with shame,” says Lacy Crawford, the author of the memoir “Notes on a Silencing.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-27 09:00:22 UTC ]
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Writers of colour are denied a level playing field and often have to publicise books themselves because the industry does not understand how to reach non-white middle-class audiences, novelist Dorothy Koomson has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-25 16:53:15 UTC ]
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The London Library has announced the 40 participants of its early career writing development programme, as the library plans its reopening for 6th July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-25 01:17:13 UTC ]
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PW asked a sampling of agents and editors about the challenge of publishing books keyed to headline news and the future audience for titles addressing racism. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“Death in Her Hands” is not so much about solving a death as it is about conjuring a life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-23 14:05:17 UTC ]
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Six authors have formed Writers Against Racial Injustice, raising $55,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative in three weeks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Women's Prize Trust is launching Discoveries, a writers’ development programme offering aspiring female writers of all ages and backgrounds "encouragement and support" at the beginning of their creative journeys. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 07:15:38 UTC ]
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Val McDermid has revealed her 2020 “New Blood” list of hotly tipped crime-writing talent, featuring Deepa Anappara and Elizabeth Kay. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 03:04:34 UTC ]
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Publishers have responded to the Black Writers’ Guild’s open letter, welcoming their suggestions and agreeing they have work to do Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 13:02:41 UTC ]
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More than 100 authors join new body calling for the industry to address deep-seated inequalities in output and personnelMore than 100 writers including Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo, Benjamin Zephaniah and Malorie Blackman have called on all major publishing houses in the UK to introduce... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-15 17:08:57 UTC ]
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The protest movement sweeping the world since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has forced an international soul searching to understand the pervasive racial inequalities that haunt most sectors of our society. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-15 17:05:27 UTC ]
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The Black Writers' Guild has issued an open letter, signed by writers including Dorothy Koomson, Malorie Blackman, Candice Carty-Williams, David Olusoga and Bernardine Evaristo, telling British publishers it is "deeply concerned" they are "raising awareness of racial inequality without... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-14 19:50:25 UTC ]
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Bad Form, the quarterly literary review magazine, is launching a new prize for young black, Asian, Arab and other non-white fiction writers based in the UK, with support from across the publishing industry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-14 17:30:53 UTC ]
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In the inaugural episode of its new digital webcast series, SVWC NOW, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference presents bestselling author (My Own Country, Cutting for Stone), physician, and winner of a 2015 National Humanities Medal, Dr. Abraham Verghese in conversation with novelist and SVWC... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-10 17:00:11 UTC ]
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A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
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“The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope,” by C.W. Grafton, first published in 1943, is an offbeat, old-school suspense story. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-05 14:00:00 UTC ]
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In this week’s issue, A.O. Scott writes about Wallace Stegner. In 1948, Stegner wrote for the Book Review about universities as a place for training writers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 09:00:03 UTC ]
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As thoughtful citizens we are hemmed in now by gigantic problems that appear as insoluble as they are menacing, so how pleasant it is to take an hour or two off to consider only the problem of the body that locked itself in its study and then used the telephone. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-05 01:33:09 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton will publish Unquiet, a novel by Norwegian writer Linn Ullmann, daughter of film director Ingmar Bergman and actress Liv Ullmann. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-05 01:22:58 UTC ]
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