Monique Roffey, the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch, on the lit-boom that’s happening on the Caribbean islandLast week, Trinidadian writer Lisa Allen-Agostini’s novel The Bread the Devil Knead landed a coveted spot on the Women’s prize shortlist. As a fellow Trinidadian writer, this is both exciting and unsurprising. These days Trinidad is producing world-class female writers hand over fist. Allen-Agostini’s shortlisting comes on the heels of the announcement, two weeks ago, that Trinidadian writer Amanda Smyth had made the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction shortlist, the only woman on the list, and the first Caribbean writer ever to be chosen. Meanwhile, Celeste Mohammed has become the fifth woman (and third Trinidadian woman) to win Trinidad’s regional OCM Bocas prize.Something has happened in Trinidad, in our small but dense hothouse of a literary world. Perhaps it’s 12 years of the Bocas literary festival, or five waves of feminism, or maybe it’s to do with the internet opening up opportunities for those from developing countries, but in the last decade Trinidad has produced a host of outstanding female writers. It’s a trend that anyone in Caribbean literary circles knows about. Myself, Smyth, Allen-Agostini, Mohammed and others are part of a “lit-boom”, and most of this boom is female. We are finding ourselves on the global stage, on prestigious shortlists in North America and the UK. This huge generational and gender shift would have been... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-05-03 13:03:34 UTC ]
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Unpublished authors in their 60s, 70s and 80s are now at a premium in the book world – with radical, edgy women in high demandThe literary world is often accused of an obsession with youth, from multiple awards targeted at authors under 40 to publishers who hunt for new voices exclusively among... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-25 07:00:46 UTC ]
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Publisher who founded Virago Press began as a campaigning outsider who introduced UK readers to authors including Angela Carter and Margaret AtwoodCarmen Callil, the publisher and writer who championed female writers and transformed the canon of English literature, has died of leukemia in London... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-18 09:09:25 UTC ]
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Trio step out from behind pseudonym marketed as ‘Spain’s Elena Ferrante’ to accept €1m prizeA million euro literary prize has lured three Spanish men out of anonymity, to reveal that they are behind ultra-violent Spanish crime thrillers marketed as the work of “Spain’s Elena Ferrante”The men had... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-16 22:37:44 UTC ]
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The organisers of the 2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival have apologised for not including any female writers of colour in the programme . Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-02 16:32:23 UTC ]
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Martha Ackmann’s “These Fevered Days” considers the life events that made the poet who she was. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-18 18:06:09 UTC ]
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The first black woman to win the Booker prize argues that a revolution is sweeping through British publishing. But can it lead to lasting change?Chidera Eggerue, AKA The Slumflower, is a social media star, south-east London homegirl and feminist. She first came to prominence in 2017 when she... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-10-19 07:00:24 UTC ]
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Emotional connection and reconciliation feature in the all-female shortlist for the 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award, run in association with literacy charity First Story and Cambridge University. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-22 07:04:04 UTC ]
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Female writers and first-time authors dominate the longlist for the 2019 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize, worth £30,000. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bluemoose Books has revealed it will only publish female writers in 2020, with co-owner Kevin Duffy lamenting how “women over a certain age are overlooked in the publishing world”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Topped by Margaret Atwood, the UK’s Top 10 bestselling authors of literary fiction last year features only one male writer, Haruki MurakamiFlying in the face of Norman Mailer’s infamous comment that “a good novelist can do without everything but the remnant of his balls”, Haruki Murakami was the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Only a third of books translated into English last year were by female writers. As Women in Translation month wraps up, we investigate why – and if things are changing• In their own words: 10 female translators on the work that inspires themWhen Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin’s first book,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After polling 1,100 of its members, the female crime writers group found that it is a disproportionately white organization. Non-hispanic whites make up 93% of its membership, compared to 62% of the U.S. population. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laurie Garrison’s call to arms is intended to foster collaboration ‘rejecting traditional models of publishing’The internet is not always a safe place for women, so there is something hearteningly radical about women staking a claim to this space to assert their own ambitions and interests. The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Not That Kind of Girl is a reminder of the publishing obsession with women divulging their private livesA week or so ago, I went to LA to interview a ridiculously talented young woman. Despite being only in her 20s, she has achieved the kind of success that most people multiple times her age... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More people are buying more books than ever, and more people are making a living by writing them. Why do millionaire authors want to destroy the one company that's made this all possible?As an author of ten novels legacy-published, self-published, and Amazon-published I'm bewildered by the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Meghan O'Rourke reported here last week, VIDA, an organization for women writers, has released a tally of male and female bylines for the 2010 run of 14 high-end, literary-oriented magazines. Despite a couple of relatively bright spots (the New York Times Book Review surprisingly being one),... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The award-winning fiction writer, poet, and playwright, whose best-known and most influential work, the story collection 'Jesus' Son,' turned 25 this year, has died. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Jill Hoffman, the daughter of a writer, explores her complex relationship with her daughter, yet another writer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty-seven writers have been recognised at this year's annual Northern Writers’ Awards, sharing the £47,000 prize fund to enable their new writing in progress, across forms including prose, poetry and television. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 14:11:07 UTC ]
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