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 poll by Gallup reveals South Korea's favorite foreign novelist was, surprise, French SF author Bernard Werber, followed by Murakami and Hemingway. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Reading Agency has partnered with publisher Barrington Stoke to create initiatives that will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As a result of laws prohibiting 'homosexual propaganda' in Russia, a young adult novel featuring a gay character, is sold with adult-age warning labels. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oh, the magic of finding a great book through the sheer power of chance! Is the summer the best time for that to happen? Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Speak' was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Allison & Busby has secured a first novel about the publishing world from Judith Flanders,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new YouTube channel encourages readers to upload a video of themselves sharing a paragraph from a favorite book. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With titles like The Walking Dead: Compendium One leading the way, sales of graphic novels in the USA are up 10% year-over-year in 2013. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookshop Band write songs inspired by the books of visiting authors like The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry's Rachel Joyce. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling's "secret" crime novel tops book charts after it is revealed she wrote it under a pseudonym. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jim Hilt, managing director of Barnes & Noble's European ebook business, said the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A graphic novel adaptation of the life of Gabriel García Márquez published by Rey+Naranjo in Bogota has brought new attention to Colombia's graphic novel industry. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jihad, a Ukrainian graphic novel with a wild and unlikely publishing history, is, says Daniel Kalder, "the perfect secret post-Soviet graphic novel." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some of the brightest children from disadvantaged backgrounds can have reading levels two and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Reading Agency is to receive a £1m donation from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The gift... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin (South Africa) has won four novels by Karin Brynard at auction in a "significant... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The British author discusses her novel 'The Pink Hotel,' set in L.A.It's almost like something out of a novel by Jack Kerouac: In 2008, Anna Stothard landed at what must have been the last scruffy hotel in Venice Beach, a dingy pink monolith at the end of the wild road trip she took after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lynn Liedman wakes up every morning looking for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She’s been a loyal subscriber for years, but it wasn’t until this summer that she really got hooked. She’s not reading for news. Inst ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers, a novel written entirely in verse, wins the annual Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Teachers have a strong desire to teach reading for pleasure but feel frustrated by a restrictive... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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