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 ]
Essay “Literature was a vast minefield occupied by enemies,” Roberto Bolaño, who enjoyed accruing enemies in the pantheon of Latin American letters, writes in the short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” (New Yorker, December 22, 2008): except for a few... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-28 21:05:10 UTC ]
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News and Events Laura and Bunmi celebrate 41 books by Black authors. From Black joy to history to empowerment, the books on this list provide affirming messages for children and young adults with a special shout-out to NSK Neustadt Prize finalist Jason... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-24 19:13:40 UTC ]
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'Wall Street Journal' reporter John West is bringing a debut memoir to Eerdmans; Kar-Ben takes a picture book biography of 19th century leader, Rabbi Wise; and Convergent nabs a young astronaut’s inspiring story. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Anti-racism activist and co-founder of New Beacon Books, Britain’s first specialist black bookshop and publishing companyThe veteran activist Sarah White, who has died aged 80, was for more than half a century a stalwart of initiatives dedicated to anti-colonialism, anti-racism and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-02-16 19:10:04 UTC ]
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Children’s books website ReadingZone has launched a competition for children and young people to create a picture book for World Book Day, judged by author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 20:56:16 UTC ]
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From reads about lexicographers and bookshop employees to librarians, these books about books, including The Sentence, are for serious bibliophiles only. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-21 11:36:00 UTC ]
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More than 100 writers, artists, comedians and musicians will voice James Joyce’s seminal novel in celebration of its publication a century agoOne hundred years ago, in February 1922, Sylvia Beach, owner of the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company, published James Joyce’s Ulysses, in full, for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-01-20 09:30:55 UTC ]
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The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has grown for the fifth consecutive year despite challenges brought by the pandemic, the Booksellers Association says. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-07 22:34:12 UTC ]
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The Provensens lived inside a picture book as much as picture books lived inside them. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-30 17:14:23 UTC ]
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If you want to expand your picture book horizons past the classics, pick up one of these hidden gems of the format! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-12-29 11:34:00 UTC ]
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The UK's first Black specialist bookshop is to shut its doors and move entirely online, as financial constraints jeopardise its future. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-28 16:05:54 UTC ]
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The Margate Bookshop has collected almost £3,000 to buy books for local schoolchildren with plans to run the fundraiser as an ongoing scheme alongside other independent bookstores, potentially as part of a charity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-23 07:48:13 UTC ]
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Newham Bookshop is giving over a thousand books to children and communities in need this Christmas. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2021-12-21 06:12:46 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ next picture book, Marmalade, will be published by HarperCollins Children's Books in February featuring illustrations by Adam Stower. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-21 01:51:57 UTC ]
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An independent Somerset bookshop is being forced to close for good after Storm Arwen damaged the roof. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-20 01:26:46 UTC ]
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New Frontier Publishing has signed Jump for the Stars, the debut picture book from TV presenter and model Vogue Williams, illustrated by Tilia Rand-Bell. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-14 22:35:02 UTC ]
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Now in its second year, the publisher-owned Fraktura Bookshop serves as a hub of literary events and trusted recommendations in Zagreb. The post Croatian Publisher Fraktura and Its Bookshop: ‘To Present Quality Books’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-12-13 07:33:12 UTC ]
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Abby Voss has won the inaugural Searchlight Awards Best Children’s Bedtime Story Competition with her picture book text "The Witch Who Couldn’t Spell". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-12 23:12:07 UTC ]
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Alongside Richard Osman and JK Rowling, figures show huge successes for relative unknowns Ellery Adams and Brenda ChapmanThe UK’s library users are widely seen as a traditional bunch when it comes to choosing their next read, but while Richard Osman might have topped the list of the year’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-08 16:34:37 UTC ]
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It might seem odd for a magazine called The Bookseller to have a dedicated issue for “booksellers”, but this week’s issue is a dedicated one for, well, booksellers, including our now-annual listing of the Bookshop Heroes, those purveyors of the written word who, when push came to shove in 2021,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-03 15:21:51 UTC ]
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