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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In the wake of the government shutdown, Baltimore-based breathe bookstore café is offering a 10 percent discount to furloughed workers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The content on Scribd, the San–Francisco based startup that aims to create the digital library of the future, is available on a range of devices, from laptops to smartphones to tablets. But CEO Trip Adler tells Fast Company we won't be reading e–books in our hands in the future––they'll be... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new study finds that reading literary fiction “leads people to perform better on tests that measure empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chain bookstores, indie locations, schools and school libraries are participating all over the world. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A recent study done by New York's New School for Social Research found that, after reading literary fiction, participants displayed more social perception and empathy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has bought two novels by writing collaboration "S L Grey", in a "... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Facebook employee Kate Losse says Eggers used her personal story as the narrative for his novel 'The Circle.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you'd like to combine your new iPhone and your wallet into a single device that looks like an old-fashioned mini datebook, Pad & Quill's Little Pocket Book is the case you want. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The real problem with ebooks is that they're more 'e' than book, so an entirely different set of rules govern what someone can and can't do with them compared to physical books, especially when it comes to pricing. The collusion in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but we need to talk... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones has raised over £75,000 for Booktrust's Children's Reading Fund at a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate's Clare Reihill has bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Nicola Barker’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The good news: According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of American adults read books for pleasure in 2012.The good news: According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of American adults read books for pleasure in... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alan Watt, who edited the anthology 'My First Novel,' invited 25 writers to contribute recollections about how they got their start. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Roughly the same portion of adult Americans read at least one book in 2012 as did in 2008, but the share of adults who read at least one work of literature last year fell. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After discovering the winner of a debut novel prize was co-authored, Planeta is donating the prize money of million pesos (USD $76,800) to Mexico's flood victims. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of children who rarely read—or do not read at all—has risen in the past... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retirement means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For Steven Soderbergh, it has meant, turning his attention away from directing theatrical releases at a breakneck pace, and working on any number of other projects instead. One such project involved writing a novella on... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Boyd signed seven copies of his heavily embargoed new Bond novel Solo (Jonathan Cape) to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic has donated 1 million books to Reach Out and Read, a literacy charity that works to provide books to at-risk children via doctors and nurses. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp., the publishing company that owns The Wall Street Journal, reported $506 million in net income for the fiscal year ended June 30, the last year before its split from Rupert Murdoch's entertainment operations.The profit, which amounted to 87 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.08... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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