A giant of African literature whose best works existed between the political and the personal, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was warm, funny and friendly – and liked to bet on my pool gamesAmong the African writers who emerged in the middle of the 20th century, the most political undoubtedly was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Born in Kenya while it was still under British rule he was anti-colonialist, a communist, anti-dictatorial, and an almost militant proponent for African languages being used for African literature.His best works exist at the interface between the political and the personal. His first book of essays, Homecoming, is at once engaging and polemical. His early novels Weep Not, Child and A Grain of Wheat look at the impact of colonialism and the Mau Mau rebellion on individual lives. He was strangely at his best with the personal and the intimate, but his reputation grew more from his political stances – first against the British government, then against the dictatorship in Kenya in the 70s. He was jailed not for a thundering political text but for a play in Kikuyu called I Will Marry When I Want. In prison he wrote his memoir on toilet paper. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-30 16:36:34 UTC ]
Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry will tell the story of her career as a musician and actress in a new memoir set for release this fall. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-30 16:44:35 UTC ]
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Pop sensations the Jonas Brothers will tell the story of their lives in the music world in a new memoir. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-29 17:59:56 UTC ]
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Marlantes’s second novel, 'Deep River,' is a sprawling, painstakingly realistic novel about Finnish immigrants in the Pacific Northwest during the first half of the 20th century. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]
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'Book piracy threatens authors' livelihoods' according to a new appeal from the Society of Authors to the British government to help protect copyright. The post Society of Authors Calls on UK Government to Fight Online Book Piracy appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Viking has signed two new books from author Ben Macintyre, with the first revealing unpublished intelligence sources about the 20th century's "greatest woman spy" Ursula Kuczynski. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As a recipient of the Arts Connects Us Grant I travelled to Ghana and Sierra Leone to meet with writers and publishing professionals working in the field of books for young readers to foster creative and collaborative exchanges between those contacts and publishing professionals and readers in... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-03-19 11:10:28 UTC ]
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People keep saying that it would never get past the censorious new generation, rather forgetting its arduous struggle to be printed in the 1950sIf millennials are currently aged between the ages of 22 and 36, I am one, albeit somewhere in the upper echelons – and I am also a publisher. And so I... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Burningham, who was married to fellow children’s writer Helen Oxenbury, created beloved picture books including Mr Gumpy’s Outing and Avocado BabyJohn Burningham, the children’s author and illustrator behind some of the 20th century’s most enduring children’s books, has died at the age of 82.The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Germany, Turning Point, the finale of Carmen Korn’s Century Trilogy, a historical series about four women in the 20th century, topped the fiction bestseller list in September, and prolific mystery novelist Charlotte Link was in second with The Search, about a missing teen. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Folio Literary Management, LLC, has acquired Harold Ober Associates, a full-service literary agency founded in 1929 that has represented some of the literary titans of the 20th century, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Agatha Christie and J.D. Salinger. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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V. S. Naipaul, the award-winning writer born in Trinidad who settled in England and wrote an astonishing number of great novels and searing works of nonfiction, died over the weekend at the age of 85. After publishing a novel, The Mystic Masseur, and a number of short stories about Trinidad in... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2018-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vintage has paid tribute to Pulitzer Prize and Man Booker International Prize-winning author Philip Roth as "one the greatest American novelists of the 20th century” following his death at the age of 85. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Founding art director of Walker Books who oversaw some of the company’s great children’s classics including We’re Going on a Bear HuntAmelia Edwards, who has died aged 77, was the art director of Walker Books and one of the most important influences on children’s book publishing in the 20th... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google, Facebook, et al are in reality media companies and must accept the responsibilities that go with it Attention, like snow, comes in two varieties; the fun, beautiful kind, and the “wrong” kind, the kind that stops trains and freezes democracy. Recently the seemingly unstoppable digital... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A few chapters into Universal Harvester, you might be forgiven for thinking you were reading an unusually artful novelization of some forgotten X-Files episode. John Darnielle—front man of the Mountain Goats and author of the National Book Award–nominated novel Wolf in White Van—opens his story... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2017-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A few months ago, after I picked up and devoured a beautifully written memoir by Elisa Hategan and was left with a serious Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2017-01-03 15:48:11 UTC ]
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When Jayne Ann Krentz decided to take her 19th century Amanda Quick mysteries into the 20th century, the look of the novels needed a thoroughly modern update. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital-only publisher Bahati Books will release an anthology showcasing the “best in contemporary African writing” to mark Black History Month at the end of the month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The man who ushered classics like Catch-22 into the world, Gottlieb has reason to brag. But in his new memoir Avid Reader he prefers to downplay the editor’s role Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, once gave an interview where he credited his editor with kicking his work into shape. After... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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