Jonathan Escoffery: ‘I was trying to write novels aged nine’

The If I Survive You author on the suspense of the Booker ceremony, Americans’ warped view of the Caribbean, and writing his next novel on the roadJonathan Escoffery, 43, was born in Texas and lives in Oakland, California. His debut, If I Survive You, about a second-generation Jamaican in Miami, where Escoffery grew up, was shortlisted for last year’s Booker and is currently on the shortlist of the Gordon Burn prize, announced on 7 March. The novelist Rumaan Alam has called it “a reminder of what fiction can do... It’s truly a feat that a book of short stories tackling such big stuff – family, love, violence, race – could be so damn funny.”What did it mean to be shortlisted for the Booker prize?It felt like I’d arrived in the UK for the first time, even though the book had been out for months. I’d already connected with readers outside the US because the book is partly set in Jamaica and talks about the African-Caribbean diaspora, but suddenly I was hearing from people in India and Australia. I’d watched the ceremony when Marlon James won with A Brief History of Seven Killings in 2015. I loved what that book did for Jamaica and to see it honoured in such a massive way was beautiful. I felt like that novel was capturing a history of tumultuous politics and rising crime I’d grown up hearing in a very matter of fact way from my parents: “This is what was happening in the 70s, this is why we left.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-27 18:00:42 UTC ]
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From Serialization to Novelization: On the First Iteration of Frank Herbert’s Dune

If anyone has ever told you Dune is a “tough read,” it would be interesting to see if that same person was able to read an eight‑hundred‑page Stephen King or Harry Potter novel. Although there are dozens and dozens of characters, and various layers of politics, religion, philosophy, and science... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-27 09:40:37 UTC ]
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9 Historical Novels by 20th-Century Queer Writers

Queer people have been writing historical fiction since before queerness existed—by which I mean, since before it was hammered into an antithesis to heterosexuality during the long nineteenth century. By the turn of the twentieth, queers looking to write about the past had to grapple with new,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-25 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Winfrey picks Nathan Hill's novel 'Wellness' for book club

For her latest book club pick, Oprah Winfrey broke the news to author Nathan Hill in modern style Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2023-09-19 12:32:06 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘Father and Son,’ by Jonathan Raban

Jonathan Raban’s “Father and Son” is a memoir of illness and recovery paired with a parental history. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-09-18 09:01:46 UTC ]
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Debut novel by Millie Bobby Brown reignites debate over ghostwritten celebrity books

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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More Like Miyazaki: 13 Mesmerizing Manga and Graphic Novels for Fans of Hayao Miyazaki

The films of Hayao Miyazaki are truly exceptional! These manga & graphic novels tap into that Miyazaki magic, including Alice in Kyoto Forest by Mai Mochizuki, illustrated by Haruki Niwa, Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-09-11 10:34:00 UTC ]
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Claire Keegan: ‘I can’t explain my work. I just write stories’

The much-acclaimed Irish author of Small Things Like These on her quietly devastating new story and why George Saunders wouldn’t read it aloud for a podcastClaire Keegan’s five books to date run to just 700 pages and some 140,000 words. “I love to see prose being written economically,” she tells... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-02 17:00:10 UTC ]
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Aconyte Books Sets a New Novel Series in the World of a Lovecraftian RPG

Aconyte Books, the U.K.–based fiction imprint of games group Asmodee Entertainment, will adapt game settings from the 'Call of Cthulhu' tabletop RPG into novel series set in Regency and Victorian England. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Jim Milliot to Retire from 'PW'; Jonathan Segura Named Editorial Director

After more than 30 years at the company, Jim Milliot will retire as editorial director of 'PW' at the end of 2023, with Jonathan Segura set to succeed him in the position, among other editorial changes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Study Up on Campus Novels: A Back-to-School-Inspired Reading List for Grown-Ups

These campus novels for adults raise questions around race, class, or gender or are simply set in or around campuses, including Real Life by Brandon Taylor. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-08-21 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Pidgeon Pagonis on the Urgency of Writing a Memoir as an Intersex Writer

Pidgeon and I met in the summer of 2020, the summer of sickness, and violent change. We spoke over Zoom, nearly 800 miles apart—I had been hired as a developmental editor for an intersex activist named Pidgeon Pagonis. A developmental editor is a bit of a catch-all title: we do a bit of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 09:20:26 UTC ]
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How to Design a Cover for the Emotional Center of a Novel

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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8 Graphic Novels like NIMONA with Murder Teens and Queer Pining

Find even more graphic novels like your favorite webcomic turned graphic novel turned movie NIMON by Nate Stevenson. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-08-11 10:34:00 UTC ]
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Levelling up: how Gabrielle Zevin’s gaming novel became the book of the summer

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow overtook titles by David Walliams and Colleen Hoover to become the UK’s number one bestseller. The author, booksellers and fans reflect on how it became a literary phenomenonTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’s distinctive cover, with its image of Hokusai’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-11 10:00:35 UTC ]
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Ready to Play: Graphic Novel Media Tie-Ins

Publishers take a collaborative, multiplatform approach in adapting video game IP into comics. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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It Takes All Kinds: Graphic Novel Media

Comics source storytelling inspiration from all manner of media—video game–based graphic novels are a growing trend, but there have also been recent adaptations from such unexpected originals as a suppressed WWII opera and a 1980s cult classic film. These media tie-ins promise a timely remix in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Prince Harry and Meghan buy film rights to Canadian author Carley Fortune's romantic novel

A Canadian author says a production company belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has bought the screen rights for her romantic novel. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-08-08 18:39:04 UTC ]
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“How To Care for a Human Girl” is the Novel for the Post-Roe Era 

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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Suki Thompson, founder of Oystercatchers, dies aged 56

Thompson raised nearly £200,000 for Macmillan Cancer Research, and donations continue to come in. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2023-08-02 15:16:19 UTC ]
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Exclusive: See the cover for Téa Obreht’s next novel, The Morningside.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for The Morningside, the third novel by bestselling, award-winning writer Téa Obreht, which will be published by Random House in March. Here’s a little bit more about the book from the publisher: After being expelled from their ancestral home in a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-02 14:00:09 UTC ]
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