The book that tore publishing apart: ‘Harm has been done, and now everyone’s afraid’

Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?At the end of March, a book that had been condemned to die came back to life. There was no star-studded launch, and no great fanfare, although this book is now somewhat famous. The new publisher of the poet Kate Clanchy’s memoir Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me felt it wrong to cash in on the controversy that has engulfed it. So the new editions – with some intriguing changes to the original text – were quietly resupplied to bookshops willing to stock them.What follows is a tale that reverberates well beyond publishing. It’s about whose voice is heard, which stories are told, and by whom. But it has broader implications for working life, too, particularly in industries where so-called culture wars raging through the outside world can no longer be left at the office door. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-18 08:00:13 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "The book that tore publishing apart: ‘Harm has been done, and now everyone’s afraid’"


Michael J. Fox Reviews a Thoughtful Memoir on the Challenges of Living With Disability

In “I Live a Life Like Yours,” Jan Grue, a Norwegian professor, writes of living with a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-15 09:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Pointing out racism in books is not an ‘attack’ – it’s a call for industry reform | Monisha Rajesh

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... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-13 13:51:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Icon bags Eloise's 'refreshing' debut on life with OCD and autism

Icon has landed journalist and debut author Marianne Eloise's memoir of life with obsessive compulsive disorder and autism. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 20:18:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Headline signs Me Too founder Tarana Burke's memoir

Headline will publish the memoir of Tarana Burke, the founder and activist behind the "Me Too" movement.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 20:11:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book industry figures condemn abuse of Clanchy critics in open letter

An open letter, signed by more than 150 figures from the book industry, has condemned the abuse suffered by Monisha Rajesh, Professor Sunny Singh and Chimene Suleyman following their criticisms of Kate Clanchy.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-11 17:31:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Cecily Strong has a raw new memoir about grief. That surprises her too.

The “Saturday Night Live” comedian’s “This Will All Be Over Soon” looks back at her beloved cousin’s cancer diagnosis and death. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-11 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On accountability and Andrew Cuomo’s rise-and-fall story

Yesterday morning, Rita Glavin—an attorney for Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, who has vigorously defended her client (including in a fifty-one-minute live interview on CNN) since a state report concluded that he sexually harassed eleven women—came out swinging again in a virtual... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-08-11 12:45:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


8 Books That Illuminate the Hidden Histories of Hollywood

Hollywood. It’s one of those locations—it’s hard, somehow, to call it a concrete place—that conjures up all sorts of archetypes: the ruined writer, egomaniacal director, sleazy executive, out-of-control star. In writing my memoir Always Crashing in The Same Car—a book with elements of criticism,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-08-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How Cuomo's Book Became a Cautionary Tale

The pandemic memoir “American Crisis” has become a financial and ethical headache for Penguin Random House, dragging the company into the scandals that prompted the governor’s resignation announcement. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-10 22:21:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kate Clanchy to rewrite memoir amid criticism of ‘racist and ableist tropes’

Poet and teacher has apologised for ‘overreacting’ to scrutiny of book’s portrayals of autistic pupils and children of colourKate Clanchy is rewriting her critically acclaimed memoir after widespread criticism of her portrayal of her pupils, particularly children of colour and autistic... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-10 18:58:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Kate Clanchy book may be updated to remove racial stereotypes after criticism

Publisher Picador says it is looking at changing passages in prize-winning memoir, which Clanchy intially claimed were not in the book at allPicador, the publisher of Kate Clanchy’s award-winning Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, is in discussions to update future editions of the book... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-08-09 15:36:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Impact, not intent

If you are on Twitter, you couldn’t have missed it. Kate Clanchy’s memoir, that won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, is rife with racialised descriptions of her students. Words such as chocolate and almond used to describe skin colour, tired tropes of hair or size of bosoms used to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-09 07:24:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Memoir of Pretending to See

In “Blind Man’s Bluff,” James Tate Hill opens up about the measures he took to avoid admitting that he had lost his eyesight. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-05 09:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, Rock Journalist, Dies at 75

She took the music seriously at a time when not many writers did. Among her books was a memoir of her life with one of its biggest stars, Jim Morrison. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-08-04 22:08:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Canongate acquires Fleming's outdoor climbing memoir

Canongate has landed Time on Rock, an outdoor climbing guide and memoir of self-discovery by Anna Fleming. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-04 21:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Wilcox wins PEN Ackerley Prize for 'vivid' memoir Patch Work

Claire Wilcox has won the PEN Ackerley Prize 2021 for her "vivid" memoir Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-04 21:28:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘Lieutenant Dangerous’ uses wry humor to point out the absurdity of Vietnam War

In his memoir about being drafted into the Vietnam War, Jeff Danziger lays bare the futility and waste, as well as his own naiveté. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-08-03 20:35:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Memoir About Divorcing the Patriarchy

Gina Frangello had a suspicion there was a hunger to talk about women who break the rules. In advance of the release of Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism and Treason, she admits after some prodding, “I got more letters from women before this book came out than I ever received for... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-30 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How to watch filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia discuss 'A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes'

Filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia brings his memoir about his father, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, and mother, Mercedes Barcha, to the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-07-29 20:18:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this


11 New Books Coming in August

Buzzy new novels from Alexandra Kleeman, Leila Slimani and Stephen King, Billie Jean King’s memoir and plenty more. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-07-28 17:14:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this