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 ]
Invoices totalling hundreds of dollars sit in a pile on Laura Nicholas-Grieve's coffee table, bills which tell the story of the not-so-hidden costs of becoming an author in New Zealand. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[caption id="attachment_134125" align="alignright" width="150"] Kelley Gudahl[/caption] Kelley Gudahl was tapped as Fatherly’s first VP of marketing this week. In her new position, Gudahl will be tasked with leading the pre-sale RFP process, generating multi-purpose franchise ideas with the... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has snapped up an "exquisite" novel and a short story collection about flawed masculinity from Benjamin Myers six weeks after he scooped the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for his book published by Bluemoose Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams, Philip Pullman and Children’s Laureate Lauren Child are just some of the authors and illustrators lined up to take part in this year’s Bath Children’s Literature Festival, which is gearing up to be the event’s best year yet, according to artistic director John McLay. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman and David Fickling will talk about the author/editor relationship at this year’s The Bookseller Children’s Conference, which is taking place in London this September. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A children's book published by a tiny independent publisher has beaten off competition from authors such as Malala Yousafzai and Gill Lewis to win the Little Rebels Children's Book Award for Radical Fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Fickling Books is to publish the first children’s novel by Chris Wormell, the illustator of the covers for Philip Pullman's La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust – Volume One. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman and Eleanor Oliphant author Gail Honeyman are honoured at the British Book Awards. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2018-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman is to judge a new 500-word short story competition which is being launched ahead of the 2018 Liverpool Literary Festival. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s annual ‘dirty dozen’ list misses some obvious targetsCosmopolitan has been removed from the checkouts at Walmart in the US, which the chain has attributed to a business decision, although it accepts that “concerns raised were heard”. The conservative... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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His Dark Materials author condemns way book industry ‘allows corporate profits to be so high at a time when author earnings are markedly falling’Philip Pullman has called on publishers to stop damaging “the ecology of the book world” and start giving authors a fairer share of the money their... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman is in the running for the YA Book Prize 2018 alongside previous winners Sarah Crossan and Patrice Lawrence, and début author M A Bennett. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and founder of the BuyMeOnce website Tara Button was a shopaholic until she fell in love with a Le Creuset pot. Now disposable is a dirty wordForget retail therapy. It’s so yesterday. Avoiding frequent visits to the shops is a better way to serenity, claims a book published this week,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Roughly 60 Specsaver Bestsellers were fêted overnight (January 25) at London's May Fair Hotel, with Nielsen Book determining which titles sold 250,000, 500,000, and 1 million units in 2017. The post UK: Specsavers Awards, Based on Sales, Honor Paula Hawkins, Philip Pullman, More appeared first... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ali Smith’s seasonal novel Winter (Hamish Hamilton), Sally Rooney’s "perfectly observed" début Conversations with Friends (Faber) and the eagerly anticipated first instalment of Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust trilogy, La Belle Sauvage (Penguin/David Fickling Books), were among the critics’... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman’s first instalment of the Book of Dust has been crowned the Waterstones Book of the Year for 2017. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman's return to the world of His Dark Materials is a hit with bookshop staff. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The second book published by premium cycling brand Rapha Editions has scooped the 29th William Hill Sport Book of the Year for its “startlingly intimate portrait” of Tour de France trailblazer Tom Simpson . Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Brown’s Origin reclaimed the Weekly E-Book Ranking number one from Philip Pullman’s first title from The Book of Dust series, La Belle Sauvage, giving the title its third weekly digital pole. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman's La Belle Sauvage is the first Children’s title in Weekly E-Book Ranking history to go to number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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