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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Freight Books has acquired rights to a debut novel by Scottish food writer Sue Lawrence. Adrian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Korean publisher JR Comics debuted its popular graphic novel series based on classic Chinese adventure stories at BookExpo America last week. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This coming August marks 10 years since David Mitchell’s groundbreaking novel, Cloud Atlas, was published to great acclaim. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Reading Room, one of the fastest growing social discovery platforms for books, has reached more than one million members and just released a major platform update with a new look and feel, including a responsive design for mobile. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury will publish a first novel from actress and writer Sheila Hancock. Miss Carter's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the publication of Ben Mezrich’s Seven Wonders (Sept.), a fast-paced thriller with an Indiana Jones–type character at its center, Running Press is moving outside its comfort zone of lavish lifestyle, pop culture, and books on house and home. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Piccadilly Press will next year publish a YA novel from Arabella Weir, the comedian and author of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yes, it's called My Independent Bookshop, but what does Penguin Random House's new site do for booksellers?I've just opened my very own bookshop at myindependentbookshop.com, the new book recommendation site from Penguin Random House. I enjoyed choosing the font for my logo (Shakespearean), the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While the first few months of 2014 were tough for comics specialty retailers, graphic novel and merchandise sales remained solid. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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St. Martin’s Press is teaming up with Swagbucks, the loyalty and rewards site, to launch Read, a new digital literature channel on the Swagbucks site. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Although the crowd was relatively small, they came to buy at this year's Maine Comic Arts Festival. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former tennis player Jimmy Connors, publicists Karen Geary and Rebecca Mundy, and retailer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Dan Kois asked me to review David Kinney’s fascinating book The Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob for the Slate Book Review, I took a look at the Dylan section of my bookshelves and wondered how different I was from the Bob obsessives Kinney profiles. Over the years I have... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2014-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To mark the June 6 release of the new sci-fi blockbuster film, "Edge of Tomorrow," starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Viz Media has released a new paperback edition of the book the film is based on, in addition to a new graphic novel adaptation of the book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Humble Bundle, the website that bundles digital content and offers it to consumers for whatever they wish to pay, is teaming with Image Comics to offer its first all-graphic novel digital bundle. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Baldacci’s The Finisher has been chosen as London Marriott Hotel County Hall’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Disney Publishing Worldwide and Del Rey Books are teaming up to do a new line of Star Wars adult fiction novels. The publishers will be working directly with brand creator, Lucasfilm. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Beckham, Andy Murray and Ronnie O’Sullivan are among the sports stars competing for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This past year I served on the selection committee for the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction & Nonfiction—a task I undertook with a good amount of dread. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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