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 ]
As the public conversations around mental health continue to grow, these new books about living with mental illness offer more insight. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-02-28 11:41:26 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney’s takeover of the world continues apace today with the announcement that the Irish literary phenom’s debut novel Conversations With Friends will be adapted into a twelve-part series for the BBC. Like the upcoming BBC/Hulu adaptation of Rooney’s 2019 juggernaut Normal People, which... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 18:39:10 UTC ]
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If you haven’t had a chance yet to read Kiley Reid’s smash-hit debut novel SUCH A FUN AGE, now is ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-02-25 18:15:40 UTC ]
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Hilary Leichter’s brisk, wildly imaginative book tracks a young woman’s experiences in 23 jobs, including one on a pirate ship. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-25 17:40:43 UTC ]
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Conversations with Friends will follow Rooney’s Normal People that will air in April The BBC has commissioned a 12-part series based on Sally Rooney’s hit debut novel Conversations with Friends in the hope that fans of the young Irish author will bring in younger audiences.The BBC is to show its... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-02-25 10:19:05 UTC ]
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Among this week’s notable deals is the seven-figure sale of a debut novel titled The Other Black Girl. The send-up of the publishing industry, by a former Knopf assistant editor, was pitched as Get Out meets Younger. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Over seven years ago, two books written by retired lieutenant-colonel Douglas Bland offered some sobering warnings about the future of the Crown-Indigenous relationship — warnings that seem eerily prescient after the events of the past two... Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2020-02-20 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate is publishing an "astonishing" debut novel of “extraordinary suspense” from award-winning writer and US Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-19 20:45:41 UTC ]
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In the debut novel “Real Life,” a biochemistry Ph.D. candidate confronts the harder lessons of how to be a gay black man in a white world. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-18 10:00:07 UTC ]
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In the debut novel “Real Life,” a biochemistry Ph.D. candidate confronts the harder lessons of how to be a gay black man in a white world. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-18 10:00:07 UTC ]
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The New York Public Library is marking its 125th birthday this year—in part with this list of their favorite books written for adults from the past 125 years, which they hope will “inspire a lifelong love of reading.” The list is full of classics, of course, but it’s also got a few refreshing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-14 14:59:09 UTC ]
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The debut novel follows a child detective bent on tracking down a missing classmate. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-06 17:56:05 UTC ]
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Emily Nemens' debut novel about a fictional baseball team takes on the social swirl of spring training. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-02-02 15:00:12 UTC ]
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Shannon Pufahl’s remarkable debut novel “On Swift Horses” tells a searing story about a forgotten side of 1950s America. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-01-28 20:36:21 UTC ]
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The debut novel examines the lives of people who are more interested in how they appear online than who they are in real life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-21 17:44:04 UTC ]
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In this delightful debut novel Katherine Kayne sweeps us back to a Hawaii still mourning its lost kingdom, where ladies—their ballgowns covered in yards of protective fabric—gallop across the mountains and down the city streets on their way to polo matches and parties, men dance the hula as well... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-17 09:46:07 UTC ]
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These days, it seems like every book that gets even the barest amount of hype gets snapped up by a production company in the first month of its publication, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those are the books whose adaptations get made. 2020 starts out with a whole host of movies adapted from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-16 09:50:47 UTC ]
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Heidi Sopinka’s debut novel The Dictionary of Animal Languages is the deceptively gentle tale of the aging artist Ivory Frame, whose character and life are based, both loosely and closely, in alternation, on Leonora Carrington. In fact, Sopinka was struggling to write the book—struggling to get... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-13 09:48:01 UTC ]
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Kiley Reid’s debut novel is a funny, fast-paced, empathetic examination of privilege in America. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2020-01-08 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Kendra Winchester: Hello, I’m Kendra Winchester. And this is Reading Women, a podcast inviting you to reclaim half the bookshelf by discussing books written by or about women. Today, I’m talking to Sarah Moss about her book Ghost Wall, which is out now in paperback from Picador. Welcome to 2020,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-08 09:45:19 UTC ]
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