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 ]
Lee Child’s Blue Moon has boomeranged back into the Weekly E-Book Ranking top spot, a week after Philip Pullman’s collected His Dark Materials sensationally knocked the 24th Jack Reacher title from the number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-06 08:47:34 UTC ]
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“I’m fascinated by stories of how the various plant specimens we take for granted today were originally discovered,” says the actor, whose latest book is “Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-05 10:00:03 UTC ]
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Led by sales of such of powerhouse titles as Delia Owen's wildly popular novel 'Where the Crawdads Sing' on the fiction list, and Michelle Obama's memoir 'Becoming' for nonfiction, Amazon released lists of the e-tailers top selling books of 2019. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK will plant 10 trees for every new book published in 2020 as part of its ongoing sustainability plan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-04 01:32:05 UTC ]
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Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. Hosted by Jude Brewer and with original music composed for each episode, the podcast features the voices of today’s literary icons reading their essays, poems, and fiction. In our first episode, Mitch Albom reads an excerpt from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-03 09:47:32 UTC ]
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Of Bohumil Hrabal’s six great loves, guess how many were cats? (Hint: almost all of them.) | Lit Hub Memoir The car culture that’s helping destroy the planet was by no means inevitable: on the relentless campaign to force Americans to accept the automobile. | Lit Hub History Here are the 78 best... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-30 12:30:39 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, collated into a single e-book, has subtly knifed Lee Child in the back to claim the Weekly E-Book Ranking number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-29 09:51:32 UTC ]
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“UNLIKE MOST JEWISH BOYS from New Jersey, I have a Jamaican accent,” writes Ross Kenneth Urken in Another Mother, his memoir in which he goes in search of both his recollections of the Jamaican nanny who raised him and all of the things he never knew about her before she died. He writes,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-11-24 20:00:33 UTC ]
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THE QUEER COMING-OF-AGE MEMOIR is a weapon against erasure. The best of these memoirs move us by daring to be profoundly specific, providing a necessary consolation to readers who might have believed until then that they were alone in the dark. That their suffering would have no choice but to... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-11-24 13:30:59 UTC ]
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Networking happens outside of Brooklyn, and New York isn't the only game in town: a list of lessons about publishing a book and making it worthwhile. The post Lessons: The Less-Traveled Road to Getting a Book Published appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-11-21 11:00:05 UTC ]
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If Michelle Obama's memoir left you looking for more of the same, you're not alone. Check out these books like BECOMING and fill that hole in your heart. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-11-20 11:36:56 UTC ]
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Elton John was greeted by a standing ovation last night as the legendary singer took to the stage to discuss his life in the spotlight. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-19 16:03:01 UTC ]
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Henry Barajas’ Latinx memoir and graphic biography of his social activist great-grandfather, 'La Voz de M.A.Y.O.: Tata Rambo' with art by J. Gonzo, will be published this month by Image Comics. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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I first encountered Carmen Maria Machado in 2016, reading her short fiction “Horror Story” in Granta. Her innovative and acclaimed debut collection Her Body and Other Parties had not yet been published, but I scourged the internet for everything I could find. What I found were stories about... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Comedian and actor Alan Davies is publishing a memoir, Just Ignore Him, with Little, Brown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-15 09:50:15 UTC ]
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Michael O’Mara Books is to publish a memoir by Jay Jayamohan, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and star of the acclaimed BBC fly-on-the-wall series Brain Doctors. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-15 05:03:30 UTC ]
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Carmen Maria Machado explains why she dedicated a chapter of her new book to recapping a sci-fi show from the ‘90s. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-11-14 23:07:23 UTC ]
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Altan’s cri de coeur is a timeless testament to the art and power of writing amid Orwellian repression. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-14 18:01:28 UTC ]
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Orlando Patterson’s “The Confounding Island” is a sociologist’s analysis of his birthplace as well as a personal memoir of affection and failure. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-13 19:00:09 UTC ]
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NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed his memoir Permanent Record has been censored in China, saying it breaks the terms of his publishing agreement. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-13 03:25:45 UTC ]
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