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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Traditional book publishing has met its match in the founder of Blackprint press.Yaba Blay has no problem confessing that she is a "recovering overachiever." Which is not surprising since she is also currently a professor of Africana Studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia, co-director of... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Digital Book World survey revealed that 54% of “traditionally-published” authors (and nearly 80% of self-published authors) earn less than $1,000 a year. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Xiaolu Guo warns that English-language mainstream has warped a broader 'reading habit', on panel with Jhumpa Lahiri and Jonathan FranzenAmerican literature is "massively overrated", the award-winning author and film-maker Xiaolu Guo told the Jaipur literature festival – and fellow panellist and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Figures show the vast majority of authors, both traditionally and self-published, are struggling to make a living from their workThe publishing industry has never been so sharply divided. In the week when the erotica writer Sylvia Day signed a staggering eight-figure two-book deal with St... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus c.e.o. Mark Smith has blamed a "lack of visibility" for the company's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The fact a delegation is visiting the UK over the hostile response to the Guardian's reporting of the Snowden leaks, as well as the royal charter, should sound alarm bellsThis week, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has dispatched a delegation of editors and publishers from... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bell Lomax Moreton Agency has appointed Helen Mackenzie Smith as a literary agent to find new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Scribd executive acknowledged the problem of pirated content on Scribd and also outlined the company's efforts to prevent unauthorized uploads. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing Perspectives' #EtherIssue debate on the allegedly slowing ebook market reveals apparent contradictions in self-publishing interests. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Patrick Janson-Smith, one of the most popular figures in modern British publishing, has announced he will retire next autumn. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following OxTales (2009) and OxTravels (2011), Profile Books will publish fundraising collection... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literature. Love. They get skewered — though generously — by Los Angeles author Mark Haskell Smith in his new novel, 'Raw: A Love Story.'It's impossible to count how many times literature has died. In the last century alone, it's been killed by radio, television, comic books, video games and,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Black and White Publishing has bought two books by debut crime novelist M P Wright. Campbell... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titles from Simon and Schuster and Egmont/Jelly Pie have won the 2013 Roald Dahl Funny Prizes,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indie publishing via online writing communities and ebooks can provide valuable feedback, and even set you on the path to mainstream successNews that a quarter of the top 100 Kindle books on Amazon.com are from indie publishers doesn't surprise me. I started out writing online. Fed up with the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Science fiction has a long tradition in North Korea and SF authors enjoy greater freedom to explore edgy subjects, such as crime and violence, than their counterparts. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new book retail site, The Great British Bookshop, is being soft-launched in December, vowing to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this yearChimamanda Ngozi AdichieFive Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The chaos brimming at the heart of Robert Stone's finest works surfaces in his latest book set on a New England campus.Robert Stone has long been a big-picture novelist. "Dog Soldiers," which won a 1975 National Book Award, involves a "journalist of sorts" who tries to smuggle three kilos of... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PEN American Center's report "Chilling Effects," offers some disturbing data about the effect of government surveillance on free expression and self-censorship in the literary world.PEN American Center’s report “Chilling Effects,” officially released Tuesday morning, offers some disturbing data... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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