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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HarperCollins scoops four new novels from Hunter

HarperCollins has scooped four new novels from Cara Hunter, including two books in the DI Adam Fawley series, plus two standalone novels. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-10 10:09:02 UTC ]
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Art of Writing 2021 Highlights Diverse Characters, Mental Health

Hosted annually by the ECPA, 2021’s Art of Writing took place virtually from Sept. 30—Nov. 4 with webinars touching on the need for authentic representations of diverse people, the impacts of Covid-19 on writers, and other challenges within the Christian publishing industry today. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Myleene Klass writes modern household manual for HQ

Myleene Klass has written an “essential” modern household manual for HarperCollins imprint HQ, based on her TikTok series. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-09 21:35:14 UTC ]
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Oneworld scoops Juhea Kim's 'elegant and dreamy' debut novel

Oneworld has acquired Beasts of a Little Land, an historic story of love and war hailed as a "magnificent achievement", by debut novelist Juhea Kim. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-08 13:15:23 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores after translation boycott

Following the acclaimed author’s decision not to have Beautiful World, Where Are You translated by an Israeli publisher, two major retailers have removed her work from their shelvesBooks by Sally Rooney will no longer be sold in two Israeli bookshop chains, after the acclaimed writer’s decision... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-11-05 16:14:29 UTC ]
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A Graphic Novel About 100 Years of Matrilineal Family History, From South China to Singapore

To hear Weng Pixin tell it, Let’s Not Talk Anymore started out as a kind of “fuck you” move after a particularly bad fight with her mom but—as these things tend to go—it gradually transformed into a project to locate herself within the moth-eaten story of her matrilineal line.  Moving back and... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-11-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Paul Newman’s memoir—which he started writing in the 80s—will finally be released next fall.

If you’re like me and have a deep appreciation and love of classic Hollywood, then you’ll be delighted to hear that Knopf plans to publish Paul Newman’s memoir in the fall of 2022. The actor, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, began working on his memoir in the 1980s; according to the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-11-03 14:46:35 UTC ]
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Damon Galgut wins Booker Prize with 'spectacular' novel The Promise

Damon Galgut has won the Booker Prize with The Promise (Chatto & Windus), hailed by judges as “a spectacular demonstration of how the novel can make us see and think afresh”.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-03 11:06:30 UTC ]
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Mariko Tamaki Debuts New LGBTQ+ Graphic Novel Imprint

Surely Books, a new LGBTQ+ focused imprint at Abrams ComicArts curated by comics writer Mariko Tamaki, will release its first graphic novel, 'Lifetime Passes' by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre, this month; in addition to a set of unannounced forthcoming titles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka Discusses His First Novel in Nearly Fifty Years

The Nigerian writer explains the origins of his latest book’s title, why novels are harder to write than plays, and the masochistic pull of political activism. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2021-11-02 22:37:29 UTC ]
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Alex Gino’s children’s novel George retitled Melissa ‘to respect trans heroine’

Writer says they had not realised they should speak up about the title when the book was first published, but it will henceforth take the heroine’s female nameAlex Gino’s award-winning children’s novel about a trans girl, George, is being renamed Melissa, after Gino and publisher Scholastic said... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-11-02 14:38:09 UTC ]
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My Trip to a Used Book Fair and 6 Reasons Romance Novels and Readers are the Best

These photos from a giant used book fair prove that romance novels are the best, and romance readers have the most fun. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-11-02 10:39:00 UTC ]
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Granta signs second 'exhilarating' novel from Desmond Elliott winner Blakemore

Granta Books has signed a second "electric" novel from A K Blakemore, whose debut The Manningtree Witches won the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021 and is a Waterstones Book of the Month for November. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-01 16:54:33 UTC ]
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Writing while caring

Many people who read this month’s column will be carers. If you are not one now, you may be later and some of us will always be in this role. What does this mean? A carer (I use the NHS definition) is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-01 15:01:50 UTC ]
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‘The Days of Afrekete’ is a bitingly funny novel with echoes to ‘Mrs. Dalloway’

The centerpiece of Asali Solomon’s story is a dinner party that goes off the rails. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-28 14:04:39 UTC ]
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Lightning Books scoops debut novel from Scottish playwright Boyle

Lightning Books has scooped the debut novel by award-winning Scottish playwright and rising screen star Kenny Boyle. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-28 09:09:50 UTC ]
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10 Groundbreaking Horror Novels

Gus Moreno, author of the new novel 'This Thing Between Us,' recommends 10 horror novels that push the boundaries of the genre. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“Anybody’s life could be a wonderful piece of art.” Read Maxine Hong Kingston’s best writing advice.

On this day in 1940, Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, CA. Kingston, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, took the literary world by storm with her seminal work The Woman Warrior (1976), which blends autobiography and mythology. The Woman Warrior, the winner of the 1976 National Book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-27 16:42:53 UTC ]
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Claire Vaye Watkins’s new novel approaches motherhood — with a torch

In “I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness,” a conflicted new mother abandons her child and husband. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-26 14:39:00 UTC ]
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What inspired ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’? One novel explores the possibilities.

In Patti Callahan’s “Once Upon a Wardrobe,” a logic-minded teenager learns the power of stories during afternoons with C.S. Lewis. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-26 14:36:00 UTC ]
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