I read only non-white authors for 12 months. What I learned surprised me | Sunili Govinnage

Reading science fiction, chick lit and fantasy novels by people of colour for a year brought home to me just how white my reading world wasIn 2014, I managed to read 25 novels. All of them were written by people of colour. That was the result of a small challenge I set myself: not to read books by white authors for a year. The things I learned in my year of selective reading made me pretty glad to have persevered. Rather than restricting myself, my decision to be conscious about what I read introduced me to books I ordinarily would not have bothered with. Instead of my usual crime/procedural/legal thrillers, I actually read some science fiction. And some fantasy. And I loved it. Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon and Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death are now two of my favourite books. I would never have heard of them had I not deliberately sought them out.One difference that my book list made is that it ever-so-delicately altered the way I looked at the world. It was slow at first, but opening myself up to a variety of female perspectives made me more aware of the female lives around me … Feminism, as bell hooks pointed out, is for everyone. And when we become more aware of the small injustices and tiny everyday tragedies around us, we become better people. Reading women’s voices helped me to hear them more loudly in my daily life. Our culture is getting better and better at encouraging women to speak, but it’s not doing enough to listen to what they say when they... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Winter Institute 2024: Adult Authors to Meet

Fiction and nonfiction writers presenting their work at this year’s Winter Institute range from renowned keynotes and all-star bestsellers to love-at-first-read newcomers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors

Concerns raised about interference or censorship after documents showed writers were barred despite receiving enough nominationsA prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards,... Continue reading at The Guardian

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Must-Read Historical Fiction Set in Italy

The best historical fiction set in Italy, like these nine titles, explores the complex and even chaotic history of the country. Continue reading at Book Riot

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Inaugural Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards Set for Next Month

On February 17, the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and the Fisher Center at Bard College will host the first-ever Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards; in addition, Judy Blume will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Bravery in Literature. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Terry Bisson, Award-Winning Sci-Fi Author, Dies at 81

The award-winning science fiction author, whose short story “Bears Discover Fire” swept the genre's major awards in 1990, died on January 10 following a recent cancer diagnosis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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15 Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Winter

Solstice has come and gone, but in addition to the returning of the light, we can also herald another excellent small press publishing season. What I love about these titles is the richness of imagination and inquiry, leading to inventive plots in fiction and deep emotional honesty in... Continue reading at Electric Literature

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Book Banning Will Not Stop at Schools: Book Censorship News, January 12, 2024

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The Week in Libraries: January 12, 2024

Among this week's headlines: EveryLibrary updates its “legislation to watch” tracker for 2024; Indiana lawmakers take aim at how libraries are funded in the state; and the Los Angeles Public Library gets into publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Your Guide to Reading More Short Stories and Anthologies

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Authors Guild Surveys Literary Translators on Labor Conditions

The 2022 Survey of Literary Translators' Working Conditions collected data on income, royalties, copyright, and more from the responses of nearly 300 literary translators in the United States. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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What Booksellers Can Teach Us About Reading, Writing and Publishing

My longtime girlfriend is a longtime bookseller. Her relationship with bookselling predates ours three times over. It is a surprisingly taxing career path—one that asks of the body, and of the mind. There are the bad days, where she brings home the classic bookseller gripes: failed hand-sells,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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Trial of Salman Rushdie’s attacker postponed because of author’s memoir

Rushdie’s book about the incident will be published in April, but the delay ‘will not change the ultimate outcome’ of the trial says district attorneyThe trial of the man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie has been postponed because of the publication of the author’s memoir about the attack.A... Continue reading at The Guardian

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The First Books You Should Read in 2024

To celebrate the new year, our reviews editors share eight books guaranteed to get your year in reading started on the right foot—err, page. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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9 New Nonfiction Releases to Read in January

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10 books to add to your reading list in January

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18 New Books to Read in January

A look at the Trump-DeSantis rivalry, a witty tribute to “Murder on the Orient Express,” a memoir of open marriage and an epic Swedish novel in verse, among others. Continue reading at The New York Times

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‘Historical reparation’: new bookshops in Europe give voice to female authors

Greta Livraria in Lisbon and Rare Birds in Edinburgh are among the new stores dedicated to women’s writingWith its neatly arranged tables and shelves laden with books written by women, Greta Livraria’s small space masks its big ambitions. Since opening earlier this year, the bookstore in Lisbon... Continue reading at The Guardian

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Pietsch Touts New Marketing Efforts in Letter to Authors

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The best books we read in 2023

With El Niño slated to drop a warm, wet winter on most of the US in the coming months, everybody’s going to need something good to read while the weather outside is frightful. Engadget’s well-read staff have some suggestions: our favorite books of 2023! We’ve got a phenomenal assortment of... Continue reading at Engadget

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