I believed readers only wanted trauma stories from writers of colour. Then I became an author | Zoya Patel

For so long, it seemed that readers were only interested in the experiences of people like me if we were traumatised, not triumphant – and I internalised this as an indisputable factGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI can’t pinpoint exactly when I started imagining myself in the stories I read but I know it was at a young age. Some of the first books I really connected with were Sweet Valley Twins, a US series about blond, blue-eyed twin sisters who lived a very middle-class white life I could barely picture. I knew on some level that I wouldn’t exist in their community, where there was no suggestion of cultural diversity. But I wanted to, so in my daydreams about the twins and their world I added an Indian girl to their friendship group.Even as a child I knew that the onus was on me to stretch my imagination to include myself; it was not on the writers to incorporate diversity in their stories in the first place.Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morningZoya Patel’s novel Once a Stranger is published by Hachette Australia ($32.99) Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-18 19:00:19 UTC ]
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Women writers "unequal to me" says V S Naipaul

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 02/06/2011 - 08:37 Nobel Prize-winning author V S Naipaul has declared that women's writing is "unequal" to his, during an event at the Hay Festival. The writer, who won the Man Booker in 1971 for In a Free State, said during an interview... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pluto author Shahzad "found dead"

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 31/05/2011 - 14:18 Journalist and Pluto Books author Syed Saleem Shahzad has been found dead near Islamabad, after going missing on Sunday (29th May), according to reports just in from the Pakistan media. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HCCB acquires Inkpop author

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pluto "deeply worried" over vanished author

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ofsted: libraries the key for 'keen readers'

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Em dashes—why writers should use them more sparingly.

According to the Associated Press Stylebook—Slate's bible for all things punctuation- and grammar-related—there are two main prose uses—the abrupt change and the series within a phrase—for the em dash. The guide does not explicitly say that writers can use the dash in lieu of properly crafting... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors readied to support strong Independent Booksellers Week

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Forna wins Commonwealth Writers Prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo's Strategy Also Includes Hardware With Introduction of New Touch E-Reader

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[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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