Interviews Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s debut novel, The Fallen—a withering portrait of a Cuban family with conflicting visions of their country and their roles within it—was published in June 2020 and has helped establish Álvarez as one of the leading writers of Cuba’s new generation. The book’s schisms reflect deeper rifts within the country today. Armando, a diehard Marxist, clings to his idea of the sanctity of the Cuban Revolution, even as he becomes the pawn of a corrupt bureaucracy. Meanwhile, his son, Diego, disillusioned and distraught, chafes under the demands of enforced military duty. Mariana, the mother, is prone to mysterious dizzy spells and is slowly losing her grip on reality; while their daughter, Maria, finds herself entangled in a web of betrayals in the black market of the island’s tourist economy. Revolutionary idealism has run up against the harsh realities of modern life. The deprivations of the “special period” of the 1990s, in fact, still loom over the present. “Now, thinking back, all we can remember is a cycle of hunger, a state of siege in which there was nothing,” Mariana recalls, “an emptiness in every plate, an emptiness in the shops, an emptiness in the freezer compartment of the fridge, an emptiness in the fields and in the factories, and an emptiness, larger than all the rest, in our hearts and in our stomachs.” This past December, Álvarez came under fire from Cuban authorities for his support of the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2021-03-29 21:52:25 UTC ]
More than 250 members of the literary community signed a letter this week urging publishers not to sign book deals with anyone in the Trump administration. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-01-15 19:12:33 UTC ]
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Interviews Barbara Epler started working at New Directions after graduating from college in 1984, and she has been its president and publisher since 2011. In 2015 Poets & Writers awarded Epler their Editor’s Prize, and in 2016 Words Without Borders... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-11 14:39:22 UTC ]
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Book club and literary community Rebel Women Lit aims to ‘showcase the amazing range’ of Caribbean literature with the newly launched Caribbean Readers' Awards. The post In Jamaica, Rebel Women Lit Launches the Caribbean Readers’ Awards appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-18 19:25:33 UTC ]
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The small press industry works on a shoestring. Departments of marketing, PR, editorial and design often do not exist and instead become merged into one, with a couple of freelancers. Small presses exist for the same reason that large publishing houses do - for the love of books and in the name... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 19:57:10 UTC ]
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PW speaks with evangelical publishing houses about the representation of people of color among both their staff and authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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News and Events Photo by Christopher T. Assaf World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, today announced Cynthia Leitich Smith as the winner of the 2021 NSK Neustadt Prize... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-10-20 23:56:14 UTC ]
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Two Big Five US publishing houses independently announce new directorial appointments focused on workplace diversity and inclusion. The post In New York, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins Announce Diversity Roles appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-09-15 23:40:06 UTC ]
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When One Hundred Years of Solitude hit the market in 1967, the book industry in Spanish was booming. This situation was unimaginable for most writers and critics just a few years before. “How can literature exist,” writer Mario Vargas Llosa asked, “in countries where there are no publishing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-11 08:48:47 UTC ]
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News and Events World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced today that the 2020 Neustadt Lit Festival will be held entirely online from Oct. 19-21. The festival will... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-09-10 12:52:47 UTC ]
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With voter registration deadlines approaching and misinformation around voter fraud spreading, a newly-formed coalition of writers is volunteering their time to defeat Donald Trump in the presidential election this fall. The group, Writers Against Trump—whose initial members include Paul Auster,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-25 17:07:21 UTC ]
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Last week I had the honour of being a panelist on a webinar about publishing values in 2020. I listened to the various publishers, both big and small, in the UK and abroad talk about the challenges and opportunities brought by the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic. Everyone is talking... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-17 11:16:02 UTC ]
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Last week I had the honour of being a panelist on a webinar about publishing values in 2020. I listened to the various publishers, both big and small, in the UK and abroad talk about the challenges and opportunities brought by the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic. Everyone is talking... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-16 14:10:29 UTC ]
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The National Book Foundation has announced that this year’s National Book Awards events—including the 71st annual ceremony—will be held digitally, due to the ongoing, not-even-remotely-controlled, coronavirus pandemic. Lisa Lucas, the National Book Foundation’s Executive Director, said of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-10 14:22:53 UTC ]
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I have been writing children's books for over 10 years now. I have worked as an editor in children's publishing houses for 15. For the last 18 months, I have been mentoring writers and illustrators of colour, and doing my best to try and explain how publishing works. How to navigate this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-26 10:43:21 UTC ]
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Responding to the newly formed Black Writers’ Guild, all five of the biggest publishers say they will make more room for black authors and staffThe “big five” UK publishing houses have separately acknowledged that “change is not happening fast enough” and that they must do a lot more to address... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-17 12:45:22 UTC ]
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Pandemic Dispatches Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
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'Rights departments of publishing houses invariably seem the poor relation of the sales team,' says Richard Charkin. The pandemic is a prompt to reconsider. The post Richard Charkin: Let’s Hear It for Book Rights Sales People Worldwide appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-24 14:43:14 UTC ]
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Aspiring writers and directors now have a rare chance to impress producers and publishers with time on their handsCameras have stopped rolling, book launches are postponed and actors are all “resting”. It looks as if nothing is moving in the world of entertainment and storytelling, yet from... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-04-18 13:05:09 UTC ]
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THESE TIMES: Lit Hub editor Jonny Diamond on literary community in a time of global pandemic • Ysabelle Cheung on trying to write in Hong Kong during the rise of the novel coronavirus • Italian editor Sara Reggiani on life in lock-down • How to support your local bookstores during the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-21 11:30:33 UTC ]
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