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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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 15:41 The administrators of British Bookshops and Stationers has said it can only pay back eight-10p in every pound owed and expects the level of claims to increase. A recent document published on Companies House said the former... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 15:53 WH Smith customers have voted Youre Next by Gregg Hurwitz as the best read from Richard and Judys Spring Book Club titles. The thriller, published by Sphere, came top of an online poll asking readers to judge which of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Nobles advertising campaign for the Nook Color, an e-reading tablet, features no company stores in the ads, a nod to changes in the publishing industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:11 Canongate will publish a book co-created by JJ Abrams, the man behind "Lost" and "Star Trek", next year after a deal was signed during London Book Fair. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 11/04/2011 - 14:34 The Osprey Group is to acquire Old House Books and Maps on 28th April, expanding its range of British heritage titles. Osprey previously acquired Shire in 2007 and Angry Robot in 2010. Rebecca Smart, Osprey Group managing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 06/04/2011 - 14:24 Quercus has won a "keenly contested" auction to a debut literary crime novel set in Hull and East Yorkshire. Editor Jon Riley acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada to The Dark Winter from Oliver Munson at Blake Friedmann in a two-book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 14:55 Fourth Estate will publish the latest novel by The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan after HarperCollins bought The Valley of Amazement. Publication date for the novel is expected to be autumn 2012. Daniel Halpern, president and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 28/03/2011 - 08:54 Seventeen former British Bookshop & Stationers stores have held their first weekend of trade under WH Smith ownership. Nine venues opened their doors as WH Smith stores and eight re-opened under their original name of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:50 Hodder author Jojo Moyes has won Romantic Novel of the Year at the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) Pure Passion Awards, scooping the prize with The Last Letter from Your Lover. Both Josephine Cox and Penny Jordan,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:57 The Galaxy-sponsored advertising campaign for Quick Reads has been unveiled, with advertising, posters and bookmarks lined up for the literacy campaign. The 10 Quick Reads, all published on World Book Day, 3rd March, include titles by Linwood Barclay,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:12 National Reading Group Day is among the new features designed to boost the importance of indie retailers during this years Independent Booksellers Week. The Booksellers Association has just announced that the annual IBW will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/02/2011 - 09:25 Hodder & Stoughton is gearing up for the launch of the final book in the Earths Children series, which began 35 years ago with an idea for a short story. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 17:04 All remaining 28 British Bookshops and Stationers stores will shut up shop within a month, unless a last-minute deal can be made with any interested parties. The programme of closure will begin over the next week, with around... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 08/02/2011 - 09:10 W H Smith has acquired 22 stores previously run by British Bookshops and Stationers in a £1m deal. The bookshops will continue to trade under BB&S until a "phased takeover" begins later this month in stores in Teddington... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Little, Brown will be examining Britains industries with a title by Evan Davis, Dragons Den and Today programme presenter. Made in Britain will be published on 5th May as an £18.99 hardback, tying-in to a three-part BBC2 series of the same name, fronted by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Simon & Schuster prepares to release O: A Presidential Novel, based on the Obama administration and starring a thinly veiled Barack Obama as the character "O," the publisher is trying to keep the identity of its anonymous author under wraps. Slate imagines a few possibilities.[more ...] Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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