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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In Thomas Grattan’s Début Novel, Historical Fiction Gets Personal

Set in the wake of Germany’s reunification, “The Recent East” follows a country coming together and a teen-ager coming out. Continue reading at New Yorker

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In Cleveland, four men helped bring baseball into the modern age

Bob Feller, Satchel Paige, Larry Doby and Bill Veeck represented integration and commercialization. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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How an acclaimed author decided to write fiction for Black women like her

Deesha Philyaw talks about the long gestation of her collection 'The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,' a Times Book Prize finalist for first fiction. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

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10 Romance Novels that Tug at the Heartstrings

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A modern-day historian writes the timeline of American decline

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Lisa Scottoline’s latest novel, ‘Eternal,’ is not a thriller but is thrilling nonetheless

Lisa Scottoline’s historical novel centers on three teenagers whose lives are shaken by Italy’s fall into fascism. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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The Guardian view on the writing business: readers must ultimately benefit | Editorial

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Beverly Clearly, beloved creator of Ramona Quimby, has died at the age of 104.

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Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo writing memoir about 'never giving up'

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Jacqueline Winspear’s latest novel reminds us why we love Maisie Dobbs

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Hodder scoops 'lyrical' novel from publisher Jacquie Bloese

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Dr Gwen Adshead | 'I wanted to write something that could be read by a lay person'

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