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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Art publisher Phaidon has been acquired from Richard Schlagman by the family of private equity... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker has acquired the debut novel by journalist Elif Batuman, following a "highly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A week ago, Salon.com published an interview with the novelist Jeffrey Eugenides titled, “Jeffrey Eugenides: I don’t know why Jodi Picoult is belly-aching.” Eugenides was asked a question about gender bias in the publishing world (a topic about which Picoult, along with other novelists like... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Children's author Jeremy Strong has launched a new national schools reading competition... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling author JK Rowling spoke for the first time in public last night about her new novel The Casual Vacancy, which signals the coming of age of the Harry Potter generation. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author J K Rowling has said she will "very likely" write a children's story next,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's Books has signed up three new titles from author Sarah Lean. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Black Dog Publishing is kicking off a new series in association with London Underground's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new survey found that more than 70 percent of parents still prefer print books to the iPad when it comes to reading to children. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When a man routinely hailed as one of America’s “greatest living writers” publishes a new novel, one hardly expects it to draw reviews posing questions along the lines of “Can he do it? Can he actually pull it off?” Because when you’re Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner, the act of writing a... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Throughout its 17-year history, Amazon has helped change the way that books are sold, the format in which they’re read and how they are published. Now it could change how they’re written. In addition to the Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon introduced a subscription book format... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Peter James and Rose Tremain are among the authors competing on the longlist for this year's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fans of Bloomsbury’s young adult novel Throne of Glass will soon be able to showcase their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Religion, bathroom routines and politics are three things you should never, ever discuss at the dinner table. However, if you're curious about your neighbors' political reading habits, then you should check out Amazon's Election Heat Map. The bookseller rated the top 250 books with a "clear... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indian consumers haven't been cut off from Amazon's world of ebook goodies, but their experience is about to get a lot more native with the launch of a local Kindle Store. The prices of over a million books are now available in rupees, and if you're in need of hardware, the latest bare-bones... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In its first frontlist deal with agency Conville & Walsh, US digital publisher Open Road has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is to broadcast an evening of readings by this year's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House imprint William Heinemann has acquired rights in a unique edition of Ernest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Century and Arrow has acquired two novels by Andrew Clover, the former Sunday Times columnist.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The basketball captain and father introduces a book series meant to encourage kids to pick up books and take control of their surroundings.NBA superstar Amar'e Stoudemire is so passionate about promoting literacy that he has a tattoo on his forearm that says "Read." This week, the 29-year-old... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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