The arts world is facing a fierce reckoning about diversity. But is it too late? | Arwa Mahdawi

A scandal has exposed massive pay disparities in publishing and journalism. But the information may not help muchThe writer Chip Cheek got paid an $800,000 advance for his erotic debut novel, Cape May. Good for him, right? Even he, however, admits he was shocked by the figure. “But I’m more shocked to see the numbers from writers of color like the extraordinary Jesmyn Ward,” Cheek tweeted earlier this week. “I hope this movement begins to change things.”The movement in question is #PublishingPaidMe. Started by the black fantasy author LL McKinney, the hashtag urges authors to share the amounts of their book advances, in order to highlight the disparities between what black and non-black writers are paid. Cheek, I probably don’t need to tell you, is a white man. His advance, received as a relatively unknown writer, eclipses that of many established writers of colour including, as his tweet notes, the two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. Related: Top editors resign amid accusations of racist ‘toxic culture’ at US publications We’ve been having the same conversation over and over again for the past decade but nothing seems to change Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-12 09:30:18 UTC ]
News tagged with: #established writers #arwa mahdawi ##publishingpaidme #book advances #white man #past decade #national book award

Other Publishing stories related to: 'The arts world is facing a fierce reckoning about diversity. But is it too late? | Arwa Mahdawi'


In ‘Aftershocks,’ a Search for Home in a Life Around the World

Nadia Owusu’s beautiful and unsettling memoir is an attempt to understand what it means to be rooted and rootless. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-13 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir


Lloyd extends First World War histories for Viking

Viking is to publish two further First World War history titles by Dr Nick Lloyd, to follow on from The Western Front, which the imprint is bringing out next March.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 09:20:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Sally Rooney to Publish ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’

The novel, which follows four young people in Ireland, is part of a two-book deal for the best-selling author of “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-12 14:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sally rooney #normal people #best-selling author


Faber to release Rooney's third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You in September

Faber will publish Sally Rooney's third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, this September, following bestsellers Conversations with Friends and Normal People. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 03:36:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #beautiful world


Boats, Bread, and Biblioburros: Unusual Libraries Around the World

Explore libraries that have unusual collections, exist in strange places, or use novel modes of transportation to deliver books to readers. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-01-11 11:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #strange places #deliver books #libraries


HarperCollins appoints Choonara in diversity and inclusion role

HarperCollins UK has appointed Maheen Choonara to the newly created role of diversity, inclusion and belonging manager. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-10 13:02:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harpercollins uk #harpercollins


‘The Power of Ethics’ offers a way forward in an increasingly muddled world

Modern life has multiplied our conundrums. Susan Liautaud’s “The Power of Ethics” tries to help. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-08 06:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #modern life


“The World Wakes Up, Enlarged”: A Conversation with Dan Chiasson

AS SOON AS I picked up Dan Chiasson’s latest book of poetry, The Math Campers, I was immediately drawn into a collaborative experience in which writer and reader make meaning together. Chiasson’s lyrical ruminations can take the form of a “choose your own adventure,” but the poet skillfully... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-06 18:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


World War II’s less-famous fascist

Mussolini is overshadowed by Hitler, but his deeds were despicable too, John Gooch writes. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-31 17:28:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Are Book Biz Diversity Efforts Starting to Kick In?

Publishing employees who weighed in on a new 'PW' survey are hoping new initiatives will yield results. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-31 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


An independent curator tries to make sense of contemporary art

In Tony Godfrey’s entertaining book, artists, curators, museums and the all-devouring art market elbow one another for space on every page. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-29 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #make sense #contemporary art


'I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year

Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #print run #allison busby #wonderful time #independent publisher


How Julia Donaldson conquered the world, one rhyme at a time

She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #local bookshop #recently bought #jacqueline wilson #favourite author #famous creation #ladybird heard #picture book


A Wave Blue World Debuts New Model for Publishing Comics

A Wave Blue World is an independent comics and graphic novel publisher with an unusual model. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent comics #graphic novel


World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2020, by Michelle Johnson

Lit Lists Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved from bookstores to Zoom. Writers and... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-14 20:55:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fig tree #dubravka ugrešić #memoir


John le Carré didn’t just invent the characters in the foreground of the spy world. He designed the entire set.

His genius was that his re-imaginings of people and events have proved more memorable than the real things. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-14 10:02:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


All I want for Christmas is the death of lazy 'diversity' language

In light of last week’s Penguin ethnicity pay gap report, their first-ever following in the footsteps of Hachette’s 2019 iteration, it seems like the perfect moment to reconsider the publishing industry’s approach to those vague, catch-all acronyms and terms that are so often used... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-10 06:31:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #perfect moment #publishing industry


André Gregory’s ‘This Is Not My Memoir’ is a free-form monologue about his quest for meaning in life and art

The boundary-smashing theater director turns an exuberant flow of reminiscences into a relatively coherent roller-coaster of narrative. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-09 12:59:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


BBC director of arts Claypole to step down

BBC director of arts Jonty Claypole is stepping down from his role and leaving the corporation in April 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-07 18:10:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Lady Anne Dodd pens biography of late husband Ken Dodd

Great Northern Books will publish The Squire of Knotty Ash… and his Lady, an "intimate" biography of the late Sir Ken Dodd by Lady Anne Dodd and biographer and TV producer Tony Nicholson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-06 15:04:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this |