Malorie Blackman laments the lack of BAME children’s characters. I know – it’s a real battle to get writers of colour publishedMy daughter, like me, is of mixed heritage. She has wildly curly hair, as have I. When she was born four years ago I was given five copies of the same kids’ picture book by well-meaning friends and relatives. It was called Guess How Much I Love You. This book, whose lead characters are rabbits, was a bestseller in the 1990s. Back then it flew off the shelves. What I did not expect when I was pregnant with my daughter was that it would be far easier to find her a rabbit picture book than one featuring a child like her with brown skin and curls.This week Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts and Crosses, told Channel 4 News that of the many books she read as a child “not one of them featured a black child like me”, adding that “it made me feel invisible in the world of literature”. And when, in her mid-20s, she noticed in a children’s bookshop that little had changed, “that’s when I decided that I wanted to write for children ... for the child in me, really, for all the books I wish I could have read as a child”.If we feel disconnected from each other, perhaps it starts in this skewed, unrepresentative vision of the world that begins in our books when we are at knee height Related: Whatever happened to author Dorothy West? Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-17 07:00:41 UTC ]
Scholastic and Penguin Random House retained their #1 spots in our rankings of children’s frontlist fiction and picture book bestsellers by corporation, respectively, though each company’s share of positions on its list diminished slightly from 2018. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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LOS ANGELES–BASED AUTHOR Mark Z. Danielewski recently published a strange picture book called The Little Blue Kite. The project marks an unexpected pivot from his most recent experimental quintet, The Familiar: Volumes 1–5 (2015–’17), which Danielewski described as a “love letter” to his home... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-14 20:00:12 UTC ]
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Bookshop Santa Cruz in California and Changing Hands Bookstore in Arizona, have partnered in a drive to register Arizona voters and persuade them to vote Democrat in this year's presidential election. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Could a bespoke book subscription service break you out of your reading rut or encourage you to explore new genres?Heywood Hill bookshop has stood on the same spot since 1936. It inhabits a Georgian townhouse at 10 Curzon Street in Mayfair, London, a blue plaque outside commemorating its most... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-02-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A pair of Prosecco-drinking burglars have been sentenced after police caught the two men knocking back alcohol during a break-in at Gay's the Word bookshop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-13 04:34:38 UTC ]
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Just a month into 2020 and my wishlist is already straining under the weight of all the new titles I’m looking forward to being published. Maybe it’s working in a bookshop or the concentrated effort I’ve been making to retreat into a fantasy-bubble when I’m at home, but I’ve found myself excited... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-03 09:50:09 UTC ]
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The copy of Françoise Frenkel’s No Place to Lay One’s Head that was recently found, I’m told, in Nice, in an Emmaus Companions charity jumble sale, had a curious effect on me. Perhaps because it had been printed in Switzerland in September 1945 for Geneva-based publishers Jeheber. That... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-27 09:49:55 UTC ]
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Sometimes you just have to read between the lines—the felines, that is! There’s something about books and cats that just go together. You’ve probably met your fair share of bookshop cats, but have you ever stumbled into a store looking for A Tale of Two Cities and left with two kitties? Otis and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-16 18:38:25 UTC ]
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An indie bookshop which was the official bookseller of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival has been replaced by organisers in favour of Waterstones. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 03:02:58 UTC ]
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The new online bookstore intended to benefit indies is nearly ready to go, and will launch January 28. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Coven, an English language bookshop and café in Paris, has fulfilled its crowdfunding goal of around £21,000 to open a store dedicated to "intersectional feminism, engaged literature and ethical hospitality". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 16:28:22 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has scooped the début picture book from “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness about a gender non-binary guinea pig. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 06:46:35 UTC ]
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Wakefield indie Rickaro Books will close its bricks and mortar bookshop in March and move its focus to its website selling rare and antique books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-07 01:28:46 UTC ]
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Read these spectacular picture books featuring human main characters from a marginalized community. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-06 11:32:03 UTC ]
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Mary Webber O'Malley of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Ill., recommends 'The Roxy Letters' by Mary Pauline Lowry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The independent family-run Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery in Galway, Ireland, is celebrating 80 years in business this year after attributing its success to "innovation and experience". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-06 04:40:44 UTC ]
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A crowdfunding campaign to create a “feminist safe haven” bookshop in Paris has only a week left to raise the remaining £7,000 needed to secure premises, after securing two-thirds of its financial target. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-02 16:26:28 UTC ]
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Author-illustrator Benji Davies reveals how his latest picture book spawned from a single sketch. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-25 06:16:49 UTC ]
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A Kickstarter is under way to create a 'feminist safe haven' bookshop in Paris called COVEN to offer English language books, a café and range of events. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-20 11:14:17 UTC ]
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When it was announced that the legendary bookshop Le Pont Traversé would definitely close down on the 31st of December in Paris, many French TV stations put in phone calls and tried to convince Josée Comte-Béalu to do a filmed interview. She refused every single one of them. “They are like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-20 09:48:10 UTC ]
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