In her 20s, she set up her own company, publishing everyone from James Ellroy to the Worst Witch series, and changing Britain for the better, book by book There is a revealing story Margaret Busby tells, about the first novel she published. A family friend had bumped into a former US serviceman called Sam Greenlee. Greenlee said he had written a novel, rejected by 40 American publishers, a satirical thriller about the first African American man hired by the CIA but given a very visible non-job (the point being it was only to improve the CIA’s image). The man keeps his head down, learns about guerrilla warfare, then quits to become a freedom fighter in Chicago. Busby took it on, borrowing money so Greenlee could stay in London while the book was edited and, when it was about to be published, in 1969, she sent it to the Observer.The paper refused it – it didn’t extract fiction and certainly not black power novels. Busby sent it back, insisting the paper was wrong. It ran an extract, and The Spook Who Sat By the Door was translated into six languages and turned into a film. When this “parable of institutional racism”, as the New York Times described the film, opened in 1973, newspapers wondered if it would start race warfare. It closed early under FBI pressure, and was not reissued until 2004, then, nearly a decade later, added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-22 05:00:17 UTC ]
Joseph Earl Thomas won this year’s Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for his book God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer. Congratulations! The novel has made it onto several best-of-2024 lists, and has been praised as “a powerful examination of every day black life–of health and sex, race and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-11 16:36:55 UTC ]
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Since 2009, when his first novel Some Things That Meant the World to Me introduced his heart-rending, beat-driven, often surreal voice, Joshua Mohr has published nine books—two raw addiction memoirs (Sirens and Model Citizen) and seven idiosyncratic novels. The New York Times called his 2011... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-22 08:55:25 UTC ]
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Earlier this May, an Esquire article by Kate Dwyer called “Why Are Debut Novels Failing to Launch?” channeled the fear of debut novelists everywhere: What happens if no one buys my book? Book sales are an important way for editors and agents to gauge whether to invest in an author. If her first... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2024-10-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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I highlighted Luis Jaramillo’s first book, the short story collection The Doctor’s Wife—a gathering of 91 ultra-short chapters, some as brief as a sentence, that add up to a portrait of a family—as a best book of 2012 for NPR. His first novel further reveals his wide-ranging literary talents.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-08 08:55:05 UTC ]
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The Oscar-winning actor and author of the Myron Bolitar series have been ‘writing pages over many months’ together to create a thriller to be published next yearReese Witherspoon has written her first novel, in collaboration with bestselling author Harlan Coben, publisher Penguin Random House... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-10-02 17:00:45 UTC ]
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We spoke with Peter Brown about the experience of seeing 'The Wild Robot,' the first novel in his middle grade trilogy, adapted by DreamWorks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The two bestselling authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fictionIn the four years since Richard Osman published his first Thursday Murder Club novel he has consistently topped the bestseller lists, and now his... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-14 09:00:23 UTC ]
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The first novel in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet was just voted the best book of the 21st century. We like it too. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-08-23 13:58:16 UTC ]
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After publishing my first novel Catalina I spiraled into strange despair. Writing, for me, had always been about connection, yet I felt both disconnected from what I’d written and by how it was being received. Had I written a noir? I hadn’t set out to. Was my protagonist unlikeable? I liked... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-19 08:56:33 UTC ]
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Boubacar Boris Diop’s Un tombeau pour Kinne Gaajo: The Value of Memory, Writing, and Translation, by Marame Gueye Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 08/05/2024 - 15:14 Photo of Diop by Gavyn Redd / Shevaun Williams PhotographyOn September 26,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-08-05 20:14:31 UTC ]
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Distinct among the literary prizes for its emphasis on debuts, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize has been recognizing “exciting emerging voices in contemporary fiction” since 2006. This year, a panel of readers and judges selected a longlist of 25 novels out of 144 debuts submitted for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-01 14:21:54 UTC ]
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“Through Multiculturalism We Become Better Humans”: A Conversation with Vonani Bila, by Ming Di Interviews [email protected] Thu, 06/13/2024 - 15:21 Vonani Bila with his mother and his son. Courtesy of Mark Waller, 2010.Vonani Bila (b. 1972) grew... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-06-13 20:21:36 UTC ]
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In Nicola Yoon’s first novel for adults, “One of Our Kind,” a woman finds that a lush California suburb is not what it seems. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-06-11 09:01:04 UTC ]
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He starred in Peep Show, Green Wing and Wonka – and his first novel won an award. Now the star is making operas with 64 homeless people. Not bad going for someone who was written off by his teachersPaterson Joseph is, by his own admission, an unlikely opera librettist. He had turned 50 by the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-27 04:00:13 UTC ]
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Translated by Michael Hofmann, it’s the first novel originally written in German to win the major literary award. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-05-21 23:13:25 UTC ]
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R.O. Kwon first novel, The Incendiaries, made my top ten list of books in 2018 for BBC Culture: “Kwon’s finely polished first novel is an explosive mix, tracking the evolution of a cult that turns to violence, bombing abortion clinics.” Her second novel, Exhibit, is more intimate, an artfully... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-21 08:54:03 UTC ]
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Photo by Miria-Sabina Maciągiewicz. As Emerson said to Whitman: “I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start.” The same words my editor said to me when I published my first novel in—good God—1982! Although I have to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-10 08:56:38 UTC ]
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Tlotlo Tsamaase’s first novel adds to an exciting and growing body of African science fiction. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-05-09 14:08:00 UTC ]
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Michael Deagler’s first novel follows a young man who is piecing his life back together and trying very hard not to drink. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-05-06 09:00:26 UTC ]
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