The Booker-winning novelist is relaunching a series of neglected novels by black British writers. She explains why they deserve a new readership In today’s culture, it’s as though black British literary history began relatively recently, and new books are published without reference to or knowledge of what has gone before. This is not the case with white writers. Publishers, critics and readers will often understand where books sit within their literary contexts and cultural ecosystem. We can trace the literary lineage of Douglas Stuart’s Booker-winning Shuggie Bain back to the works of James Kelman and Irvine Welsh. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is in conversation with Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones series and all the novels that were published in its wake, just as Ali Smith’s postmodern novels are descendants of Virginia Woolf’s modernist oeuvre. And we know that today’s historical novels have antecedents in their earlier counterparts.Our appreciation of literature is deepened when we understand the foundations from which each new generation creates literature anew, but because so much of the body of black British literature hasn’t been taught in schools or universities, or immortalised on television and film, or even been widely or seriously reviewed in the media and academia, it’s as if each new book is published out of a void. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-30 11:00:07 UTC ]
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A new novel by Salman Rushdie being published this autumn will blend “history, mythology, and a timeless love story to bring alive a world - our world – that has been plunged into an age of unreason”. Jonathan Cape will publish Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights in September, seven... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pavilion has signed a book by “The Great British Sewing Bee” finalist Chinelo Bally. Bally was a runner-up in the second series of the show, aired on BBC Two in 2014. Amy Christian, senior commissioning editor at Pavilion, bought world rights from Stuart Cooper of Metrostar Media Limited. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has acquired 'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,' a new novel by Salman Rushdie, set to pub in September. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're the sort of Harry Potter fan who can't help but read the series again and again, Oyster has a treat in store. The all-you-can-read subscription service has teamed up with Pottermore to carry all of the Harry Potter books, including the Hogw... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Helen Macdonald wins the Costa Book Awards Book of the Year 2014 for her book H is for Hawk. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2015-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Schoolchildren’s increased interest in books attributed to school campaigns and better targeting by publishersDespite a myriad of new media competing for their attention, Danish children are bucking the trend and reading more books today than they did 14 years ago.A survey of 1,999... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has launched a new literary fiction imprint called Scout Press, debuting it with the first novel by literary agent Bill Clegg. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zuckerberg is asking Facebook users to join him in reading certain titles this year. The next book to be part of the program is Steven Pinker's 'The Better Angels of Our Nature.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Image Comics announced sales gains and 19 new titles at their fourth Image Expo earlier this month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Netflix-for-magazines race continues… The post More Competition in the All-You-Can-Read Magazine Market appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than half of teachers believe contemporary children read less than their generation did when they were growing up, according to new research carried out for the launch of this year’s Read for My School competition. For the study, 500 teachers in the UK were asked about the reading habits... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A panel at Digital Book World last week offered several insights on how ebook platforms are analyzing user data and what they have discovered. The post Ebook Platforms Know What, When and How You Read appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corinne Gotch has joined The Reading Agency as programme co-ordinator for publishing partners. In her new role Gotch will manage the charity’s partnerships with children’s publishers and work with them to deliver reading activities in libraries. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Recently, my boss (the mayor of White Plains) brought together some of the city’s commissioners to discuss the various projects we hope to launch in 2015, with the idea that we may find opportunities to work with one another. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Mitchell is writing a new short novel, inspired by a Twitter story he penned ahead of the release of his latest book The Bone Clocks (Sceptre). Carole Welch, publishing director of Sceptre, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Slade House from Jonny Geller at Curtis... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of youngsters reading for pleasure has declined sharply, but this sector of publishing is booming – which results in some very strange mathsAre children reading less – or more? I’m confused. If less, then what happened to the 854,262 copies of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The University of British Columbia Library has acquired two rare, 19th-century novels that scholars believe may have been written by Oscar Wilde. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Buzzfeed, HuffPo, Mashable and Vice have all set up in the U.K. Agencies weigh in on their collective impact. The post Why British publishers don’t sweat new US competition appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Read and Eat, a bookstore that will specialize in books about food and cuisine, will open in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood in April. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first quarter of 2015 sees the publication of several début novels, including books by new voices James Rice, Anna Smaill and Sara Taylor. Kate Howard, editorial director at Hodder, acquired Rice’s Alice and the Fly (15th January, £14.99), on exclusive submission from Karolina Sutton and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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