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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The Federation of European Publishers captured photos of more than 150 MEPs and heads of European publishers and writers associations posing with their favorite books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jennie Bristow, associate fellow at the University of Kent, says grown-ups read children's books because they feel 'disenchanted with adult culture'. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A visit to the Seoul Book Fair reveals publishers are still wary of ebooks and blame smart devices for the decline in reading, even as Korean culture has become hip abroad. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A young adult novel about a dramatic journey that transforms an East Coast boy has taken out this year's New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards tonight. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Gardner has won the prestigious Carnegie Medal for "Maggot Moon;" Levi Pinfold won the Kate Greenaway Medal, which awards excellence in illustration, for his picture book "Black Dog." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Angry Robot's crime imprint Exhibit A has signed up two historical mystery books starring... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Through First to Read, members will have the chance to get advance reading copies of Penguin Books before they are published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nearly half the titles read by children in a national reading competition were consumed online, according to the charity Booktrust. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The free online library created for the Read for My School made children "excited" to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Craig Chappelow has written about how leaders can be more successful. But he'd crack One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest before the latest business book any day. Here's why he thinks you should, too. Read any good leadership books lately? Me either. It seems like popular books about leadership... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It is "so American": actress Scarlett Johansson is suing French author Gregoire Delacourt for describing a character in his novel as her "doppleganger" -- or exact double. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sylvia Day's Entwined with You (Penguin), the third instalment in her bestselling Crossfire... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In order to better gauge social media success, and help usher foot traffic into bookstores, SIBA has launched the marketing initiative, "Code Read.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling crime writer Peter James is fundraising for The Reading Agency as he publicises his... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrities including actor Rupert Everett [pictured] will read to children in London’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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England footballer Frank Lampard has become a champion of The Reading Agency’s Summer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has acquired a debut novel by Sloane Crosley, former publicity director of Knopf in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass. was one of two booksellers given permission by Gaiman to pre-sell signed copies of his forthcoming book 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane.' 'We’ve never sold that many copies of any book in any place I’ve ever worked,' said the store's co-owner. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House UK has launched stage one of its online narrative gaming project, Black Crown, as... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A book about Christopher Marlowe written entirely in verse makes the shortlist for the sixth Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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