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 ]
Lisa Bird-Wilson's debut novel revolves around a Métis girl adopted by a White family. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-10 22:14:37 UTC ]
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Okay here we go. I’m about to get in my car and drive 14 hours. Rae has picked out twenty albums for us to listen to. All this driving is because my debut novel Teenager is coming out. I have to drive around America a little bit and read it to some nice people. Fittingly, […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-10 08:52:01 UTC ]
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The Branford Boase program annually awards a debut novel for children–and the winning author's editor is honored, too. The post Children’s Books Edition: The UK’s Branford Boase Award 2022 Shortlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-05-06 19:55:39 UTC ]
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When learning about the Holocaust, it's important to center Jewish voices and books that don't shy away from the brutal realities of it. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-04-28 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Vaishnavi Patel’s debut novel is a powerful, feminist retelling of the epic from the vilified queen’s point of view. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-26 12:19:32 UTC ]
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No couple ever recovered from infidelity by only reading books, even the books written for that purpose. But books are what kept me from falling apart. The post Distancing: On the Writers Who Saved My Marriage appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-04-21 10:00:59 UTC ]
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Aamina Ahmad’s debut novel The Return of Faraz Ali begins with a moment of no return. Born and raised in Lahore’s old city, the young Faraz is forced to leave behind his mother and his sister Rozina. It isn’t until Faraz is an adult in 1968 working as a policeman, that he goes back to […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-04-07 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut novel traces a young Chinese woman’s coming-of-age: abandoned, trafficked — and posing as a man. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-04-03 09:00:09 UTC ]
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Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel When We Were Birds begins in the time before time and follows the uneasy truce between the living and the dead. Cigarettes are offered, liquor is poured, prayers are said, all in the hope that the buried stay buried. This is the story of Yejide, a young woman who... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-04-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Riverhead buys a debut novel about a Georgian father and son fleeing the Russian occupation of South Ossetia in 2008, Joe Abercrombie sells a new trilogy to Tor, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Berkley buys a debut novel about a mother’s journey across the Caribbean, SJP Lit makes its first acquisition, Kristen Martin sells a book about orphanhood to Bold Type, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-03-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lit Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Laura Warrell’s debut novel Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, which will be published by Pantheon in fall 2022. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm follows Circus Palmer, a forty-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies’ man, who lives for his music... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-03 15:00:48 UTC ]
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The lives of queer Arab-Australian boys and men are vividly inhabited in award-winning poet Omar Sakr’s darkly comic debut novel, set in Western Sydney. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2022-02-28 19:12:38 UTC ]
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Photo credit: Nigel DaviesSunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award marks the 30th anniversary with one of it's most decorated shortlists to date:• Irish novelist Megan Nolan for her darkly funny debut novel Acts of Desperation;• US-based writer Anna Beecher for her novel... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 14:40:41 UTC ]
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Canadian author Nita Prose's debut novel The Maid became a New York Times and Canadian bestseller just a few weeks after its release on January 4. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-02-16 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Coco Mellors' 'Cleopatra and Frankenstein' evokes a rich universe in multiple senses, but it feels engineered for a Netflix adaptation. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-04 14:00:54 UTC ]
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Early in Julia May Jonas’s searing debut novel Vladimir, the unnamed narrator, an “oldish white woman in her late fifties (the identity I am burdened with publicly presenting, to my general embarrassment)” finds herself in the last place anyone wants to be—a faculty meeting of a small New... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-02 09:50:43 UTC ]
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Julia May Jonas' "Vladimir" is a thrilling "Lolita" update in which the deliciously wicked narrator is not the male abuser but his wife. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-01 14:00:41 UTC ]
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Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel is a musical bildungsroman cleverly contained within a literary thriller. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-02-01 10:00:07 UTC ]
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I have always held a keen interest toward the processes of myth formation and how beliefs about family identity are handed down through generations. My debut novel Defenestrate tells the story of a family in the midst of reckoning with superstition and inheritance, the long-held beliefs that can... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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