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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Kobo has released data about how many people finish ebook bestsellers and data indicates that purchasing a book is no indication of willingness to read it. The post Haven’t Finished Reading that Bestseller? You’re Not Alone appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Boyd has moved to Bloomsbury for his next novel. The British author, who was at HarperCollins, will release 'Sweet Caress' with his new publisher in September 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Whiting Foundation and the Slate Book Review have joined forces on a new campaign that, according to the two partners, aims to "breathe new life into second novels." This year, the initiative, We Second That, recognizes five of the "greatest second novels of the last five years." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Romance is the main genre which Kobo platform users in the UK read all the way to the end, an inaugural Kobo Book Report on e-reading trends in the UK has found. Kobo has revealed both its top purchases, and which books readers actually completed. It found that romance was the most thoroughly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crime novels The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm, written under the author’s pseudonym, to form the basis of new dramaThe BBC will adapt the crime novels written by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, its second collaboration with the Harry Potter author.The Cuckoo’s Calling, the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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YouTube blogger Zoe Sugg asks fans for patience while she takes a few days off, saying book controversy was ‘clouding up my brain’The YouTube blogger Zoella has revealed she is temporarily quitting the internet amid controversy over her record-breaking debut novel.Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online, about a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a seven figure deal, Ecco has acquired world English rights to Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's debut novel, 'The Nest' about, as HC put it, a "wonderfully dysfunctional" family. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bear with me, video blogger Zoella asks fans, as she takes break from internet after admitting that runaway bestselling debut Girl Online was written jointlyYouTube star Zoe Sugg has announced that she is taking a break from the internet after admitting that she did not write her bestselling... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sugg's debut book, 'Girl Online,' now holds the record for the highest sales in its first week for a new writer in the UK. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Geordie Shore" star Vicky Pattison, who released her autobiography earlier this year, is to write two novels. Manpreet Grewal, commissioning editor, acquired world rights to the books for Little, Brown Book Group imprint Sphere from David Riding at MBA. Pattison’s novels will focus on a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Toni Morrison’s new novel God Help the Child will be published by Chatto & Windus in April next year. The book is described as “spare and unsparing” and is “about the way childhood trauma shapes and misshapes the life of the adult”. It follows a woman called Bride, “whose stunning... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Tony Black has signed a four-book deal with Scotland’s Cargo Publishing. Helen Sedgwick, joint m.d. of Cargo Publishing, signed world rights to the novels directly from Black. She said: “Tony Black is a writer of enormous skill and depth and we’re absolutely delighted that he’s chosen... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales in the US jumped 23% week on week in the seven days ending 30th November as 15.8 million print books registered through Nielsen BookScan. It follows two consecutive weeks of volume growth above 5%. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Atlas Shrugged author’s work, which she abandoned and adapted for the stage, will be released next yearA “never-before-seen” novel from the late Ayn Rand, who expounded her personal philosophy of “Objectivism” in the doorstopper work of fiction Atlas Shrugged, is due to be released next year,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Ideal,' the first Ayn Rand novel to be released since 1957's 'Atlas Shrugged,' is set to be published by Penguin Random House imprint NAL on July 7, 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booksellers are usually tasked with selling books but, in a twist this holiday season, they’ve been invited to write the ending to one. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon kicked off this year’s cyber Monday by claiming that Black Friday sales of its Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets were up significantly over last year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist, a debut novel inspired by a dollhouse in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, is named Waterstones Book of the Year. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 26 rights deals for Milena Busquets' short debut novel have raised eyebrows — but looking at the author's passion and personal history, it makes sense The post Big Rights Deals for Barcelona Author’s Debut Novel appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print books are more popular with three to five-year-olds than reading on devices, but children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds spend more time reading on devices than their wealthier peers, according to a new report from the National Reading Trust (NLT) and Pearson. For the report... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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