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 ]
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Waterstone's m.d. James Daunt has called for the government to intervene over tax rates,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cheap new e-readers are expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season. But new owners of Kindles and Nooks may be in for sticker shock on Christmas morning: The price gap between the print and e-versions of some top sellers has now narrowed to within a few dollars -- and in some... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Night in the US has appointed Pulitzer Prize-wining journalist Anna Quindlen as its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French booksellers have called it a "catastrophe" that VAT rates will go up to 7% in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Printed book sales soared by £8.6m week on week last week, but spending remains down on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins and Canongate have backed Fabers Stephen Pages calls for a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com has acquired 450 titles from publisher Marshall Cavendish, marking the retailer's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Half of the one million books to be given away on the next World Book Night on April 23rd 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Printed book sales soared by £8.8m week-on-week last week, with the latest edition of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's entry into the ebook business hasn't been a huge success, but it has still registered with European antitrust regulators. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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According to a survey, 24 percent of people who said they had bought books from an online retailer in the last month also said they had seen the book in a brick-and-mortar bookstore first. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The only non-fiction title shortlisted for the 2011 Guardian First Book Award has taken home the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titles on rugby, cycling, horse racing and Gaelic games have been shortlisted for this year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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American author Jack Kerouac's first ever novel, which was thought to be lost, has been published 40 years after his death. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital royalty rates paid to authors by publishers are increasing, though there remains... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Megan Raphael, executive director of the National Writers Series, a literary nonprofit organization, in Traverse City, Mich., insists that local government leaders should declare it a book city. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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They publisher may want to make sure that library ebooks can't be easily stripped of DRM and kept by a borrower without penalty. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Cuban has 335,000 friends on Facebook and 760,000 followers on Twitter. Monday, the Internet billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team will test just how friendly those fans really are. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 17/11/2011 - 06:45 Full Circle Editions is to publish Body of Work, celebrating 40 years of the University of East Anglia writing course, associated with authors such as Rose Tremain and Ian McEwan, on 1st December. Edited by Giles Foden, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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