Bernardine Evaristo: 'These are unprecedented times for black female writers'

The first black woman to win the Booker prize argues that a revolution is sweeping through British publishing. But can it lead to lasting change?Chidera Eggerue, AKA The Slumflower, is a social media star, south-east London homegirl and feminist. She first came to prominence in 2017 when she created the hashtag #SaggyBoobsMatter on Twitter in order to promote the body-positive message that women’s breasts and bodies are fine just as they are. It’s an important idea and antithetical to a beauty industry that berates us for our imperfections. A year later Eggerue published a self-help motivational book, What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower’s Guide to Why You Are Already Enough, which entered the Sunday Times bestseller list the week it was published in 2018, when she was 23. In her very pink, zanily illustrated book, Eggerue, a self-styled “guru, confidante and best friend” to her readers, offers advice on self-worth and self-acceptance. An earlier booklet called Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women, by Otegha Uwagba, became a bestseller in 2016, paving the way for Eggerue. This, in turn, was probably influenced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2014 essay We Should All Be Feminists. These are unprecedented times for black female writers, in no small part due to the internet. It has reconfigured how we present ourselves to the world at large, as well as bringing previously marginalised social groups and writing to the fore in ways hitherto unimaginable. As a... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-19 07:00:24 UTC ]
News tagged with: #offers advice #black book #margaret atwood #times bestseller

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Bernardine Evaristo: 'These are unprecedented times for black female writers''


Sign of the times: how Show Me a Hero captures our political mood

Despite being set in the 1980s, David Simon’s new show seems spookily topical. It’s not the only TV series that has turned up in the right place at the right time...David Simon’s new series Show Me a Hero provides everything you might expect from a TV-maker with The Wire, Homicide: Life on the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tv series #non-fiction book


Black & White signs psychological thriller from Forry

Black & White Publishing has signed a psychological thriller, Abigale Hall, by the winner of Faber and Faber Creative Writing MA Prize, Lauren A. Forry. Managing director of Black & White Publishing, Campbell Brown, acquired World English rights for the publication from Sandra Sawicka... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #psychological thriller #campbell brown #sandra sawicka #marjacq scripts


How Vox Media slashed its webpage load time in half

The sharp rise in mobile readership has forced publishers to ask themselves hard questions about their site performance. Joining the likes of GQ and The Washington Post, Vox Media has taken a hard look at its page load time, cutting it in half to an average of 11.5 seconds. Vox did this by... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vox media #sharp rise #mobile readers #bounce back


How to Survive the Cruel Times: Life Lessons from Bestselling Rabbi Harold Kushner

In Kushner's 12th book, 'Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life,' he offers reasons to come back to religion for those who have walked away. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #life lessons #ve learned


Scottish Book Trust launches young writers programme

Reading charity Scottish Book Trust today launched What’s Your Story?, a new programme to increase opportunities for young writers in Scotland. Funded by Time to Shine, Creative Scotland’s arts strategy for young people, the programme will connect young writers using writer groups, workshops,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #creative scotland #young writers


New York Times backs down after complaint by Mario Vargas Llosa

Paper says use of Mail Online article was ‘at odds’ with its ‘journalistic standards’Mario Vargas Llosa, the Nobel prize-winning author, has slammed the New York Times for publishing what he called “slanderous and perfidious” gossip that, it transpired, was culled from the Daily Mail’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Drastic action needed' to help Scottish writers

Author Janice Galloway has called on Creative Scotland to “to do something drastic” to stop the nation’s writers from struggling.   According to the Scotsman,  Galloway, author of The Trick is to Keep Breathing (Vintage Classics), has warned that most of Scotland’s writers are being left to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #creative scotland #publishing industry


'Times' Exposé of Amazon Workplace Draws Gov't Attention

This weekend's damning 'New York Times' article painting Amazon as a "bruising workplace" continues to draw attention, this time from the government. According to the AP, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has assured the public that the company will be complying with various labor standards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Soup’s On, For a Cause: Big Time Authors Unite for Syrian Refugee Food Relief

Anthony Bourdain, Alice Waters, Mark Bittman, and Yotam Ottolenghi are among the cookbook authors who contributed recipes to 'Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate Our Shared Humanity.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #anthony bourdain #alice waters #mark bittman #yotam ottolenghi #cookbook authors


Time Inc UK’s Marcus Rich: ‘We are a magazine brand business’

The publisher’s chief executive on taking his titles on to fresh platforms, the future for a free NME – and why he has been poring over vintage comicsMarcus Rich, the chief executive of Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK, has been spending a lot of time buried in the company’s vast archives... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #marcus rich #dating back #numerous occasions


Is 'out of print' running out of time?

Never being 'out of print' is not good news You can't self-publish. Because you can't get your rights back. And your book is nowhere to be seen. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agent reactions 'depend on author gender', claims writer

US writer Catherine Nichols has revealed that she received eight times as many responses by sending out her manuscript to agents under a man’s name than when sending it out under her own name. In an essay for Jezebel, Nichols said she sent query letters to 50 agents under her own name,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Female author submits novel under man's name. You will totally believe what happens next.

Writer Catherine Nichols submitted the opening pages to her novel to 50 literary agents under her own name, and then again using a man's name. Can you guess which name got more positive responses? Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #opening pages


John Blake to release Cilla Black book

John Blake will publish a book about the late Cilla Black next week. Black, whose real name was Priscilla White, died overnight on Saturday 1st August at her home in Spain after falling over, hitting her head and having a stroke. She was 72. On Monday 10th August John Blake will publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john blake


'Don't be a prima donna, Doris' … and other advice. UEA opens writers' letters

The University of East Anglia is publishing archived private correspondence from novelists such as Doris Lessing, JD Salinger and WG Sebald to inspire today’s students of creative writing“Don’t,” a young Doris Lessing is advised as she tries to find a publisher for her first novel, The Grass is... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #east anglia #nobel prize


Digital Nears a Third of New York Times Ad Revenue

The New York Times Co. posted second-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates after the publisher cut expenses faster than revenue declined.Earnings excluding some items were 13 cents a share, the New York-based company said in a statement. That compares with the 11-cent average of... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seeing stars: writers should not fear online reviews

Will social media and aggregated preferences sweep away book reviewing and literary culture? There’s nothing new about the death of literatureThe writer Caleb Crain is unhappy about “the intrusion of counting into the life of literature”. He believes that big data and predictive-taste algorithms... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary merit


Ready for Your Close-up?  What YouTube Can Do for Writers

Teymour Shahabi found motivation to write by posting videos about self-publishing on YouTube , which gave him both an education and an audience. The post Ready for Your Close-up?  What YouTube Can Do for Writers appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #writers appeared #posting videos


Binders Full of Women Writers: can a secret Facebook group claim to be inclusive?

Can an online ‘safe space’ be both selective and preoccupied with inclusivity? That’s a question that Binders Full of Women Writers is trying to sort out after a member published an article about the Facebook groupThe first rule of Binders Full of Women Writers is: you do not talk about Binders... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Financial Times will now have Rising Sun ethics

Being sold to Nikkei brings a Japanese-style code of behaviourThe FT has not joined the Independent Press Standards Organisation, or its rival Impress project; it is doing its own regulation thing. And it’s worth pausing over that decision as the Pink One becomes a Rising Sun under Nikkei... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers association #circulation practices #good sense