Interviews Eloghosa Osunde and Okwiri Oduor. Photo of Oduor by Chelsea Bieker. It’s hard to argue with Booker Prize–winning author Damon Galgut’s assertion that 2021 was “a great year for African writing.” And as WLT’s “New African Voices” issue helped make clear, 2022 is shaping up to be one as well. Here, then, are two debut novelists who give us every reason to believe the richness and variety of writing from the continent is no passing trend: Nigerian Eloghosa Osunde, author of Vagabonds!, a kaleidoscopic vision of Lagos’s outcasts and outlaws (published in March by Riverhead Books); and Kenyan Okwiri Oduor, author of Things They Lost, which captures a vivid, incantatory world through the eyes of a solitary twelve-year-old girl (published in April by Scribner). Anderson Tepper: Eloghosa, did you set out to write Vagabonds! as a novel or as a collection of vignettes of life in Lagos that you then stitched into a cohesive whole? Eloghosa Osunde: Neither. I set out to write a book of fiction where the individual stories were given momentum by a narrator’s perspective, in a particular sequence, to create a specific rhythm. Beyond the above categories, this book is that. Tepper: Tell us more about the animating spirits of Lagos and particularly Tatafo, the book’s fiery, gossipy, all-seeing narrator? Osunde: They are angels and monitoring spirits moving in favor of Eko, who is the chief spirit of the city, their creator.... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-04-21 13:41:40 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#novelists
Millie Bobby Brown of 'Stranger Things' will release her debut novel later this year. 'Nineteen Steps' is inspired by her grandma's experiences during WWII. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-24 22:14:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#debut novel
#nineteen steps
#stranger things
Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Bryan Washington’s latest novel, Family Meal, coming this fall from Riverhead Books. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: From the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel about two young... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-21 14:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#award-winning author
#young men
#riverhead books
#literary hub
#family meal
#bryan washington
As if starring in three seasons of Sex Education wasn’t enough, Gillian Anderson’s embarking on a brand new project set to get our pulses racing. At Bloomsbury, Anderson is leading an update of Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, a groundbreaking 1973 book that collected anonymous sexual fantasies.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-16 08:54:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#anthology
#secret garden
#gillian anderson
Ann Napolitano toiled in obscurity for years. Novels went unpublished; agents turned her down. She found recognition with “Dear Edward.” Then came the call: “Hello Beautiful” was the 100th pick for what is arguably the most influential book club in the world. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-03-14 12:35:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#book club
#dear edward
#ann napolitano
Stephanie Landsem, author of the suspense-thriller 'Code Name Edelweiss', discusses the work of religious fiction and how stories can help illuminate Jewish and Christian teachings. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#religious fiction
American author Laurie Halse Anderson is the winner of the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s book prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-07 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#american author
#children’s book
#book prize
#largest children
When Alice Winn stumbled on the archives of her British boarding school’s newspaper, she discovered a world, only to see it “destroyed and dismantled” during World War I. She brought it back in her novel, “In Memoriam.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-03-05 14:54:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#debut novel
#world war
Superheroes aren't limited to comic books. Read your way into these novels starring comic book heroes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-03 11:32:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#comic book
#comic books
#written word
It’s true: a new Haruki Murakami novel—his first since 2017’s Killing Commendatore—will be published on April 13th . . . but only in Japan. Sorry to tease you, English-speaking readers! Still, not to fret: I’m sure this means that translations are forthcoming. In the meantime, here’s everything... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-02 15:32:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#first novel
#haruki murakami
This morning, Penguin Press announced that they will be publishing Zadie Smith’s next novel, The Fraud, on September 5, 2023. Here’s how the publisher describes the book: From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, The Fraud is a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-02 14:57:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#historical fiction
#publisher describes
#zadie smith
I don’t know if we deserve Rebecca Makkai, but we certainly need her. The author of four novels and a short story collection, she’s been bringing range, depth, and humor to the literary world for at least fifteen years. She’s a regular among the pages of Best American Short Stories and was a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#literary world
#short stories
#pulitzer prize
#electric literature
#fifteen years
#rebecca makkai
As the winner of the second annual Books Like Us First Novel Prize, Dorabji will receive a $50,000 book deal with Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#first novel
#book deal
#simon schuster
#annual books
What is it about campus novels that makes us love them so? The campus has inspired many novelists over the years: Michael Chabon, Kazuo Ishiguro, Curtis Sittenfeld, Elif Batuman, Nabokov, to name just a few. Readers love these stories, too; “the campus novel” has become its own literary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-14 09:53:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#novelists
#elif batuman
#curtis sittenfeld
#kazuo ishiguro
#readers love
#campus novels
With their expressive type and bawdy illustrations, romance novels turned book covers into potent advertisements. The paperback pulp romance—birthed in the 1930s, but arguably at its height during the murky cultural soup of postwar America—exists at a unique intersection of smut and chastity.... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-02-14 09:31:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Her 1,300-page “Doubleday Cookbook” was a rival to “The Joy of Cooking,” and her rigorously tested recipes taught generations of home cooks. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-09 22:37:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#cookbook
#home cooks
Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew talks to River Sing Me Home author Eleanor Shearer about her hotly... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-01 09:53:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#first novel
#hotly anticipated
#andrew talks
#technological issues
#leading thinkers
#features conversations
#andrew keen
The former 'Baywatch' star opens up in a new memoir, 'Love, Pamela' — to an extent. Here are five excerpts that left us with more questions than answers. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-30 14:00:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#memoir
#memoir left
Last year’s historical fiction was all about the 60s, baby, while this year’s features more from the 1950s, the long 19th century, and the 1970s. I have bad news for Gen-Xers and Xennials: the 1990s are now historical fiction, and there’s plenty coming out about the tail end of the 20th century... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-30 09:52:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#historical fiction
#20th century
#tail end
#bad news
#horror novels
Jesmyn Ward's next novel, LET US DESCEND, will be published on October 3, 2023. It's her first novel since SING, UNBURIED, SING. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-28 01:23:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#first novel
#jesmyn ward
Lovers of gorgeous prose and ghost-soaked literary fiction rejoice: two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward’s next novel officially has a release date. Let Us Descend, Ward’s first novel in five years (since 2017’s Sing, Unburied Sing) will be published by Scribner on October 3. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-27 15:09:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#literary fiction
#national book award
#first novel
#release date
#jesmyn ward