Our publishing industry seems to champion just one or two black and Asian authors at a time. Lack of diversity is a real problemMonths back I was trudging through the streets of Dalston when I spotted a copy of Simi Bedford's Yoruba Girl Dancing in a charity shop window. It evoked the same emotion that stumbling into an old school friend might – part nostalgia and part wonder at the old magic. I found myself inside the store reaching for it, just as I had done years ago as a teenager. The book is a hilarious, touching read about a Nigerian girl sent to boarding school in England. Back then, it resonated with me deeply. I too had been a young Nigerian girl sent to England at the age of eight to attend boarding school in Norfolk. Its recounting of otherness in an unfamiliar land made me laugh and recall my own experiences. There was something about that dancing silhouette on the cover that seemed hopeful, unburdened somehow, and, though I'd been enamoured of the talents of Roald Dahl and Harper Lee, it was refreshing to see an author who looked like me.As I left the shop, it made me wonder: whatever happened to Simi Bedford? I know she wrote another novel, Not With Silver, but whatever happened not just to her, but to the career trajectories of other black and Asian female British authors?I admire the tenacity of writers such as Andrea Levy, who deserved to garner more attention earlier in their careers. Andrea eventually went on to have great success, but there was little... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Smith, the founder and former c.e.o. of Quercus, is to join Bonnier Publishing as c.e.o. of its fiction department. Smith left Quercus after the formerly independent publisher was bought by Hachette UK’s Hodder & Stoughton earlier this year. He will now become c.e.o. of Bonnier... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Smith, founder and former CEO of Quercus, has been named CEO of Bonnier Publishing Fiction in London, covering both adult and children’s lists. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, Julian Barnes, and others expressed delight when a high court in the United Kingdom struck down a ban on sending books to prisoners. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Most great hip-hop collaborations involve an MC and a producer. For 36 Seasons, Pretty Toney turned elsewhere.Last year, comic artist Matthew Rosenberg, a lifelong Wu-Tang Clan fan, sent off pitches to several rappers with ideas for album stories. When he got the call that rapper Ghostface... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The retail colossus is aiming to recruit fan fiction writers with their own ambitions to sell, but Wattpad is winning users who want to shareIt’s a cheerful orange giant stuffed with fan fiction and smileys which can garner a billion reads for an erotic One Direction story – scoring 25-year-old... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Tony Black has signed a four-book deal with Scotland’s Cargo Publishing. Helen Sedgwick, joint m.d. of Cargo Publishing, signed world rights to the novels directly from Black. She said: “Tony Black is a writer of enormous skill and depth and we’re absolutely delighted that he’s chosen... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales in the US jumped 23% week on week in the seven days ending 30th November as 15.8 million print books registered through Nielsen BookScan. It follows two consecutive weeks of volume growth above 5%. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A book about animals illustrated with infographics has won the 2014 Educational Writers’ Award. The £2,000 prize was presented to Jon Richards and Ed Simkins for The World in Infographics: Animal Kingdom (Wayland) by Tristram Hunt, shadow secretary of state for education, at a ceremony... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W H Smith (WHS) is increasing its focus on book distribution to its stores in a bid to make cost savings. The company’s book buyers have been working within its new “books operating model”, which involves more focused targeting of big titles to key stores, which will be a priority going... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon kicked off this year’s cyber Monday by claiming that Black Friday sales of its Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets were up significantly over last year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic Children’s Books has signed a four-book deal with Johnny Smith, a screenwriter on CBBC TV shows such as "Dennis & Gnasher" and "Muddle Earth". The series, John Smith is NOT Boring, is about John Smith who has a boring name but his adventures take him from the Wild West to pirate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble will be offering 500,000 copies of signed works by major authors to kick off the holiday shopping season. But will it be enough? Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new show, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, will launch with a two-day show in Columbus, Ohio in 2015 and transition to an annual four-day comics festival in Fall 2016. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alice Lee was a key figure in Marja Mills's recent bestseller 'The Mockingbird Next Door.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Hachette Book Group has agreed to acquire Black Dog & Leventhal in a deal set to close in the next several months. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Four “outstanding examples of non-fiction books” make up the shortlist for the 2014 Educational Writers’ Award. The award, run by the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Society of Authors (SoA), celebrates educational writing that “inspires creativity and encourages... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Jerry Jenkins has shuttered the Christian Writers Guild, a writers education group he owns. Former CWG employees are gearing up to fill the void with a new company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s not just Amazon that is testing how early shoppers are willing to get serious about Christmas. B&N is launching Discovery Weekend, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher Andersen Press enters the race to publish Nobel prizewinners work in English, comparing new childrens story to Hans Christian AndersenA childrens book by Patrick Modiano a mystery set in the 10th arrondissement of Paris has just been snapped up by a British publisher amid a flurry of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Allen & Unwin has signed rights to a novel from Australian author Dominic Smith. The publisher acquired UK, Commonwealth and Australia/New Zealand rights to At the Edge of A Wood, in a deal with Devon Mazzone as Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Gaby Naher at the Naher Agency. The book is set... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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