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 ]
News tagged with:
#white writers
#douglas stuart
#james kelman
#irvine welsh
#dolly alderton
#helen fielding
#ali smith
#virginia woolf
#british literature
Myrmidon has acquired the rights to Queen of Bedlam, a self-published debut novel by Laura... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#self-published debut
Traditional book publishing has met its match in the founder of Blackprint press.Yaba Blay has no problem confessing that she is a "recovering overachiever." Which is not surprising since she is also currently a professor of Africana Studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia, co-director of... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#advisory board
#finding success
The Pew survey found that e-reading increased as well but that more adults read a print book in 2013 than in the previous year. 'Print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits,' the report stated. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#reading habits
#pew survey
#print book
#print remains
#report stated
Cold Comfort Farm author left two books unpublished on her death, says daughterThe novelist Stella Gibbons, who delighted a generation of girls with her rural satire Cold Comfort Farm, left behind two unpublished novels – including a ghost story – when she died in 1989, her family revealed this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#anna davis
#literary estate
The Internet has been disrupting the businesses of publishing and bookselling for the past two decades. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
New research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that the percentage of American adults who read an ebook in the past year has risen to 28 percent, up from 23 percent in 2012. Yet the tree book isn't dead yet, at least in the popularity sense, as the results show most ebook... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#print books
#pew internet
#american adults
Turning literature into a numbers game makes some sense for the book trade, but none for readersWe may be halfway through January already, but the spirit of new year is still in full swing over in San Francisco, where the 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge goes from strength to strength to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
E-books are rising in popularity, but according to the Pew Research Center, print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#print remains
#reading habits
Agent Scully actress will use her 'ingrained knowledge and rhythm' for SF to pen multi-volume EarthEnd SagaAfter delving into the paranormal for years as The X-Files' resident sceptic Dr Dana Scully, actor Gillian Anderson is set to create her own science-fictional universe – but this time in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#charles stross
#neal asher
#updated information
Endgame, by the controversial author of A Million Little Pieces, sold in joint publishing and film dealJames Frey, best known for his partially-fabricated memoir A Million Little Pieces, has landed a reported $2m (£1.2m) film deal for his latest novel, a Hunger Games/Battle Royale-esque story... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#drawn criticism
#suzanne collins
#hunger games
The fact a delegation is visiting the UK over the hostile response to the Guardian's reporting of the Snowden leaks, as well as the royal charter, should sound alarm bellsThis week, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has dispatched a delegation of editors and publishers from... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#long tradition
We knew Google's Niantic Labs was planning to use its Ingress tech to power other augmented reality games, but we didn't expect this. In an announcement today, Niantic announced it has teamed up with publisher HarperCollins to create a location-based ... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#james frey
#niantic labs
#publisher harpercollins
Florence Ladd returned an advance and decided to go it alone for her second novel, "The Spirit of Josephine: A Family Reunion in Paris." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#family reunion
For the past 15 years or so, poets and poetry lovers around the world have earmarked January 17 as a day to pay tribute to the late poet and pacifist William Stafford (1914–1993) with public readings from his works. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#pay tribute
#late poet
Sandstone Press has acquired a new novel from Eve Makis, titled The Spice Box Letters. Director... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sandstone press
While literature in translation can be a tough sell to U.S. readers, in recent years the Nicolas Grivel Agency, which represents such acclaimed international comics artists as Ulli Lust, Dylan Horrocks and Blutch, has managed to place a host of impressive foreign titles at U.S. publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#graphic novels
#tough sell
#ulli lust
Last week, Ruth Rendell claimed that reading novels is a dying art. Sadly, she might have a pointNo one can say precisely why John Williams's novel Stoner has become a bestseller almost 50 years after its first publication. After all, plenty of books, "forgotten" or otherwise, are recommended by... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Morrissey is writing a novel, following the success of his memoir released last year.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The fourth book in the Millennium series created by Stieg Larsson will be "a big success... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#millennium novels
#fourth book
#stieg larsson
#big success
Much as we admired the potential of the YotaPhone in our recent review, we just couldn't overlook its lack of support for popular e-reading platforms like Amazon Kindle and Google Books. That problem hasn't been solved just yet, but things are ... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ink display
#amazon kindle
#google books