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 ]
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
[ Engadget | 2023-12-25 16:30:28 UTC ]
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Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Housemates, the highly-anticipated debut novel by Emma Copley Eisenberg, which will be published by Hogarth on May 28th, 2024. You can pre-order your copy here. When Bernie answers Leah’s ad for a new housemate in Philadelphia, the two find... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-12-21 12:15:00 UTC ]
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“Gray’s idiom may be modern, but it embraces many traditional things; not only autobiographical realism, but low comedy, afterlife fantasy, scattershot satire, nightmarish allegory, self-referential metafiction, tender eroticism, lunatic scholarship and profuse literary borrowings.” —David... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-19 09:57:38 UTC ]
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Where exactly is tech going? Joanne McNeil's debut novel 'Wrong Way' and billionaire Marc Andreessen's 'Techno-Optimist Manifesto' offer some clues. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-12-12 11:00:26 UTC ]
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Psychological thriller Eileen is an adaptation of the 2015 debut novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, who often writes about female loners, giving special attention to the parts of her characters that many would consider unbefitting of a leading lady. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-12-08 09:00:00 UTC ]
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A CBC News investigation has found at least 2,500 copyrighted books written by more than 1,200 Canadian and Québécois authors were shared online as part of a massive — and now defunct — dataset used to train artificial intelligence. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-12-07 09:00:49 UTC ]
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Farah Ali’s debut novel The River, The Town is a haunting portrait of lives relegated to the margins by capitalism and its resulting byproduct: the inequitable distribution of resources. The world of the novel centers two places, the Town and the City, and the narrative focus, in typical... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-11-20 12:01:00 UTC ]
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The moment I learned that Shilpi Suneja’s debut novel House of Caravans was about Partition, I reached out to see if she would be interested in doing this interview. All four of my grandparents lived through this event in Punjab—the state that was split to create Pakistan days after India gained... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-11-13 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The author of “Mother-Daughter Murder Night” started working on her debut novel during a time of tremendous stress. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-10-26 09:02:09 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for C. Michelle Lindley’s debut novel, The Nude, which will be published by Atria in June. Here’s a little bit about the book from the publisher: A gripping, provocative, and sensual debut novel about an art historian who journeys to a Greek island to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-03 14:00:04 UTC ]
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Amazon has taken some steps to stem the tide of books written with artificial intelligence, but another solution may already exist. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-09-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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It occurred at, of all places, a local tapas bar. I was sitting with a group of other Brooklyn moms when someone mentioned that my debut novel was going to be published soon. Everyone congratulated me and asked what the book was about, so I gave them a brief rundown: a group of teenage girls […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-28 08:55:40 UTC ]
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Eliza Clark’s debut novel was a hit on TikTok. With her next book, “Penance,” she aims for literary longevity over viral success. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-09-21 04:01:24 UTC ]
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Publishing figures defend Stranger Things star’s book, Nineteen Steps, after this week’s publication ignites criticism on social mediaThe publication of Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown’s debut novel has reignited a debate over ghostwritten celebrity books.Brown’s Nineteen Steps, inspired... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-09-14 10:56:45 UTC ]
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In Alissa Hattman’s debut novel Sift, the world, at first, appears hostile to life, nearly uninhabitable. Skies darken with toxins and smoke. Food, especially produce, is scarce. Drinking water is limited, a result of rivers and other natural bodies that have been poisoned. Fires rage and a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Aurora Mattia’s debut novel The Fifth Wound is a fantastical journey through the formulation of one trans woman’s truth. Mattia’s own recapitulation as protagonist Aurora aka @silicone_angel bridges the gap between ancient Greece, Covid-era Brooklyn, and the rolling fields of Iowa searching to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Wolff sells a book on Fox News to Holt, HarperVia buys a debut novel from translator Anton Hur, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk’s era-defining debut novel about a load of disaffected men beating the bejesus out of each other in order to feel alive, was first published twenty-seven years ago today. The book rapidly gained a cult following, was adapted into one of the most iconic movies of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 15:30:58 UTC ]
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When I began working on the design for the cover of Kyle Dillon Hertz’s debut novel The Lookback Window, I had two goals in mind: I wanted the book to be taken seriously, and I wanted to get it into the hands of readers who might not otherwise find it. Right from the beginning of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-15 09:40:29 UTC ]
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Ashley Wurzbacher’s debut novel How To Care for a Human Girl jumps with both feet into the debate over reproductive rights. When two sisters find themselves pregnant not long after their mother’s death, Jada choses an abortion, while Maddie drifts into the sticky embrace of a crisis pregnancy... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-08-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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