I was called aggressive for criticising passages in Kate Clanchy’s memoir. But the real problem lies deep in the overwhelmingly white world of publishingIt started with a tweet. Kate Clanchy, author of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me posted on her Twitter account that a reviewer on Goodreads had “made up a racist quote and said it was in my book”. She urged her almost 40,000 followers to flag the review that claimed she had bigoted views on race, class and body image, and had used terms such as “chocolate-coloured skin” and “Jewish noses”. Prominent authors and columnists swooped in to offer support, decrying how Clanchy could possibly be subjected to such inhumane treatment – including the current president of the Society of Authors, Philip Pullman, who declared: “But of all the people and of all the books to have had this happen … It’s hard to stay optimistic about the human race sometimes.”However, it soon emerged that those terms were, in fact, in the book. Incredulous that antisemitic and anti-Black tropes could have made it into a book published as recently as 2019, I downloaded and read it. I recoiled as a Somali boy is described as having a “narrow skull”, while one Muslim girl is “very butch-looking … with a distinct moustache”, and another “looked brilliant because she has such a strong skull shape”, which sounds more like something a eugenicist might observe than a trusted teacher. There is a troubling exchange where Clanchy is baffled by a boy who,... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-13 13:51:20 UTC ]
In “The Wild Silence,” a sequel to her best-selling memoir “The Salt Path,” the British author contends with the illness and death of loved ones but finds solace outdoors. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-04-06 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On Friday, Politico published an excerpt from On the House, a forthcoming memoir by John Boehner, the Republican former House speaker, that, in Politico’s words, is the story of “how America’s center-right party started to lose its mind, as told by the man who tried to keep it sane.” The excerpt... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-04-05 12:13:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
William Morrow preempts a debut novel by Liz Stein, Michelle Tea sells a memoir about the reproductive industrial complex to Dey Street, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Octopus imprint Monoray is to publish Drinking Custard: The Diary of a Confused Mum, a "hilarious" memoir on the trials and tribulations of motherhood from comedian Lucy Beaumont. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-01 13:58:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Faber has pre-empted music industry veteran Tony King’s memoir on a nine-minute video submission. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-01 07:02:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Lit Lists Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate one book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a brief statement explaining their choice. Now it’s your turn... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-03-31 20:04:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In “Beautiful Things,” the president’s son addresses issues that shaped his life and father’s campaign Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-31 07:45:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Manifesto will chart the first Black Booker prize winner’s 40-year journey to literary centre-stage and encourage others to pursue creative fulfilmentBernardine Evaristo, the first Black woman to win the Booker prize, is writing a memoir about how she “moved from the margins to centre stage”... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-03-27 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In “Plunder,” a memoir by Menachem Kaiser, the author tries to repossess a building owned by his grandfather before the war and discovers a history he knew nothing about. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-16 09:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald reexamines his father’s legacy in this fascinating blend of family memoir and moral reckoning. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-13 14:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Back in January 2018, freelance journalist Mason began work on a new novel in the little shed in her back garden in Sydney. She already had two books under her belt with HarperCollins Australia, a memoir of early motherhood—the brilliantly titled Say it Again in a Nice Voice—and her début novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-12 23:02:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Walker Books is to publish Sticky McStickstick, a new personal memoir picture book from Michael Rosen, illustrated by Tony Ross, exploring Rosen's personal experience of illness and recovery from Covid-19. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-12 15:54:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A few months ago my friend Nick Lyons, long admired for books about his passion for fishing, published a beautiful memoir, Fire in the Straw. Reading the book has underscored, in a personal way, the gap between life and literature that so many of us take for granted. I’m familiar with quite a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-12 09:48:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
But “Between Two Kingdoms,” her memoir of cancer and its aftermath, is striking a chord with readers who are enduring ordeals of their own. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-11 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Unless you’re a disgraced politician, trying to get a book published can be difficult, nerve-wracking, soul-denting work. If you’re anything like me, though, it really helps to hear that rejection is the rule in the publishing industry, rather than the exception. When my novel was out on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-10 17:04:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Photo by Sonette Watt Stephanie McKenzie is a poet and scholar who works for the English Programme at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her scholarly work has traced the flourishing of Indigenous literature in... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-03-09 21:39:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In the memoir “Model Citizen,” Joshua Mohr recounts a life of substance abuse, real love and “cheery nihilism.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-09 10:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
He took his British brand of satire to nightclubs, TV, film (“This Is Spinal Tap”) and National Lampoon. But a memoir led to a sex-abuse accusation. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-05 19:48:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Ecco goes big on a debut novel, Kal Penn sells a memoir to Gallery, Brittney Cooper sells seven for seven figures to Scholastic, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Comedy writer and actor Daisy May Cooper has written a "wonderful and ultimately uplifting" memoir, Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her, to be released by Penguin Michael Joseph. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-02 18:28:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this