Francophone African books are still very often published by French imprints, which can make them hard to get at home. But there is a growing push for changeWhen Cameroonian author Daniel Alain Nsegbe first saw his debut novel for sale in his home city of Douala, the price was so high “you would have to ask someone to stop eating for two days in order to buy the book”. It was around 16,000 CFA francs (£20); the average monthly salary in Douala is £150. The book, Ceux qui sortent dans la nuit (Those Who Go Out at Night) was published by Grasset, a French imprint.This is not uncommon: Francophone African authors, whether classic or contemporary, are often published by French, not African presses. This arrangement began in colonial times, but continues because of a number of factors that are particular to France. Publishers frequently push for world rights for all books written in French. Many African writers operate without agents, who would usually divide up rights territories on their behalf. Agents are still a new feature on the African literary landscape, meaning that many classics, such as 1953’s L’enfant noir (The African Child) by Guinean author Camara Laye, and Algerian writer Kateb Yacine’s 1956 novel Nedjma, are owned by publishers in France (Plon and Éditions du Seuil respectively). As French publishers continue to control distribution and pricing, classic authors go missing from bookshelves while contemporary authors struggle to get their books in the hands of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-05-14 09:59:14 UTC ]
Lauren Oyler’s debut novel brings the reader down a rabbit hole of endless, mindless scrolling, online identities, and conspiracy theories. Fake Accounts follows the journey of a young woman after she discovers that her boyfriend is running an Instagram account spouting dangerous conspiracies... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In Daniel Loedel’s haunting debut novel Hades, Argentina, Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires—“a city made for forgetting as much for nostalgia”—ten years after fleeing the military dictatorship whose regime disappeared upwards of 30,000 thousand political opponents, including Isabel Aroztegui,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
These queer historical figures each lived fascinating lives and deserve to be highlighted in nonfiction. Join me in exploring their legacies. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-25 11:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The movie adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry—the best-selling debut novel about an Iraq veteran turned heroin addict turned bank robber—will be released in theaters in two days, directed by the Russo Brothers (who you might know from Avengers) and starring Tom Holland (who you might know from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-24 18:21:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Cameron Williams, a former staffer at Chattanooga Public Library and a local Black Lives Matter activist, has been fired from his library job three months after being accused of “improperly” burning books written by Donald Trump and Ann Coulter. In December, as the Chattanooga Times Free Press... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-17 17:26:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Picador has netted New Animal, a “sharp and witty” debut novel by poet and sculptor Ella Baxter. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:43:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Wildfire has pre-empted former Home Secretary and memoirist Alan Johnson’s debut novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-10 23:51:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Firefly Press has acquired world rights in Major and Mynah, a junior detective story featuring a hard of hearing protagonist, by children’s author Karen Owen. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 14:40:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
DURING ONE KEY MOMENT, E. Lily Yu’s disquieting debut novel On Fragile Waves offers a kind of authorial self-critique regarding the representation of diasporic migrants. A character Yu calls “the writer” has traveled to Australia to interview asylum seekers in the Afghan migrant community there... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-06 16:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today, as we have done in years past, LARB honors Black History Month by highlighting a series of reviews, essays, interviews, and exchanges of letters we published in January. Below you will find a poignant essay on the Compton Christmas Parade; a penetrating interview with Kiley Reid, author... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-01 13:30:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Fake Accounts,” Lauren Oyler’s debut novel, considers how social media has reconfigured our behavior, relationships and how we think of ourselves. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-01 10:00:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The best-selling author just found out that her debut novel is soon to be on the first lady’s bedside table. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-28 10:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Culture A still image from the film White Tiger (Netflix, 2021). After watching White Tiger, a writer contemplates the film alongside revolution in Egypt, Black Lives Matter protests, the film Parasite, and literary “complicated works of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-27 20:33:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Weidenfeld & Nicolson is publishing the debut novel of comedian, actress and writer Isy Suttie, Jane is Trying, in July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-27 11:15:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Oyler’s debut novel is about a smart, irascible narrator who is steeped in the concerns and tone of social media. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 21:16:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
White Rabbit publisher Lee Brackstone has acquired world rights to two new books by Dylan Jones, through Jonny Geller at the Curtis Brown Group. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-25 10:46:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Has this Google lawyer written the book of the year? The part-time author talks about the inspiration for her thriller about siblings who flee abusive parents and their ‘house of horror’Abigail Dean was about to turn 30 when she suddenly realised that her job as a lawyer was using up all the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-25 06:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this