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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Foyles has partnered with the National Academy of Writing to host courses for writers seeking to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Good Housekeeping has launched a £25,000 competition for budding novelists in association... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has bought a novel following five couples in an antenatal class ahead of the births... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Cuban has 335,000 friends on Facebook and 760,000 followers on Twitter. Monday, the Internet billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team will test just how friendly those fans really are. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The top three fiction titles in Germany were all debuts in October, led by In Times of Fading Light, which recently won the 2011 German Book Prize and is set for publication in the U.S. by Graywolf Press in fall 2013. Umberto Ecos newest book, The Prague Cemetery, which debuted at #3, is newly... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 17:29 Hilary Mantel will turn her attention to the downfall of Anne Boleyn, after Fourth Estate bought the follow-up to her Man Booker prizewinning Wolf Hall. Publishing director Nicholas Pearson bought rights to Bring Up the Bodies... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 12:51 Hodder & Stoughton is withdrawing the novel Assassin of Secrets by Q R Markham from sale, alongside its US publisher Little, Brown, after the announcement that the book contains "numerous plagiarised passages". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 03/11/2011 - 15:00 Oneworld has acquired the third novel by The Book of Night Women author, Marlon James. Publisher Juliet Mabey acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in a strong five-figure pre-empt from agent Claire Roberts at Trident Media Group. Lined up for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 02/11/2011 - 13:15 Quercus has acquired two novels by Dorothy Koomson, who has moved from Sphere. Executive director David North bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Antony Harwood. Koomsons first novel for Quercus will be published in autumn... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:42 Avon has become the latest publisher to acquire a book tying into the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Editorial director Claire Bord bought world English rights to two novels by Gill Paul from Vivien Green at Shiel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 27/10/2011 - 07:30 Ebury Press has signed Anne Berrys third novel The Adoption, a multi-generational story about adoption and identity, with the author moving from HarperCollins imprint Blue Door. Ebury editorial director for fiction Gillian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 25/10/2011 - 08:00 Penguin has pre-empted a novel set in contemporary San Francisco, with Penguin Press also to publish in the US following a 10-way auction there. Viking commissioning editor Will Hammond acquired UK and Commonwealth rights... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 30/09/2011 - 08:55 Publishers should not be too quick to write off physical products and should encourage competition between a number of digital players to avoid the mistakes the record industry made, the director general of the Entertainment... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 28/09/2011 - 14:38 Titan has acquired award-winning fantasy author James P Blaylock's first steampunk novel in 20 years, The Aylesford Skull. Titan fiction editor Cath Trechman bought world rights via John Berlyne and John Parker at Zeno Agency for "a good five-figure... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 27/09/2011 - 15:05 Jonathan Cape has acquired the new novel by author Joe Stretch, with his previous two novels Friction and Wildlife published as Vintage Originals. Senior editor Beth Coates bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The Adult... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 23/09/2011 - 08:35 Marian Keyes is writing a cookery title for Michael Joseph, as the imprint ramps up its spring food publishing list next year by releasing one title every month during the first half of 2012. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 22/09/2011 - 11:01 Faber is to publish a new detective novel from P D James which combines a murder investigation with the world and characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, revisiting Darcy and Elizabeth six years into their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 22/09/2011 - 15:46 Agents who wish to publish their clients work must offer them a detailed explanation of what they will personally gain from the arrangement and obtain their full and written agreement, the president of the Association of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 19/09/2011 - 08:20 Scotland is to hold its first Crime Writing Festival next year, supported by Stirling Council, Creative Scotland and the University of Stirling, and working closely with Stirling's general literary festival, Off the Page.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 15/09/2011 - 08:30 The Red Queen author Philippa Gregory is turning her hand to young adult fiction for the first time, after signing a deal with Simon & Schuster. Ingrid Selberg, director of children's publishing at S&S UK, and Jon... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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