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 ]
There is so much historical fiction outside the confines of the WWII! Put these five books about other wars on your TBR. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-02-06 11:30:00 UTC ]
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These new historical fiction reads promise lessons, romance, drama, and intriguing settings ranging from the 1700s to the 1970s! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-02-03 11:36:00 UTC ]
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Looking for great new reads in the new year? Add these 2022 historical fiction books to your TBR right now, including The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-04 11:30:00 UTC ]
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From Franzen to Kidneygate (with a prolonged pit stop in the land of Supply Chain Issues), we’ve finally reached the end of the Biggest Literary Stories of the Year. Against reading historical fiction to learn history: Juhea Kim considers how the onus of writing educational fiction falls... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-20 11:30:45 UTC ]
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The year’s most transporting novels have taken us to the past and around the globe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-09 10:00:10 UTC ]
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Twelve new yarns will whisk readers to the past, where life was every bit as complicated, dramatic and story-worthy as the present. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-03 14:00:06 UTC ]
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On this day in 1940, Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, CA. Kingston, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, took the literary world by storm with her seminal work The Woman Warrior (1976), which blends autobiography and mythology. The Woman Warrior, the winner of the 1976 National Book... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-27 16:42:53 UTC ]
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The Tudor Dynasty lives on in these outstanding historical fiction novels, including The King’s Witch. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-10-22 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Historical fiction can remind us that these "unprecedented" times are anything but. Here's what they can teach us about our current crisis. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-10-13 10:38:00 UTC ]
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“Fitzgerald likes to rub rich people’s monstrousness against their beauty and thereby make sparks fly.” Andrew Martin and Benjamin Nugent discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald on his birthday. | Lit Hub Criticism Biographer Jacques Berlinerblau on why it matters that the literary world lacks critical... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-24 10:30:35 UTC ]
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With Harlem Shuffle, the Underground Railroad author moves from heavy historical fiction to a heist, but he’s still just doing his weird thing. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2021-09-12 09:40:00 UTC ]
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An author’s historical fiction novel connects the past with the present. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-31 04:00:00 UTC ]
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News and Events In this second episode of WLT Book Buzz, Laura Hernandez & Bunmi Ishola cover 42 books that connect with history. Find out what they read this summer and why these books should be on your shelf. Partition, World War II, the Tulsa Race... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-08-04 15:40:39 UTC ]
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Check out the latest pick from Reese's Book Club--a YA historical fiction set in the New South--and #ReadWithReese this summer. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-07-20 19:01:58 UTC ]
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I’ve never read the ending of a book first, though I do have a habit of flipping to the back before I begin, turning instead to the acknowledgments page. There are stories embedded here. Acknowledgments capture the real-life intimacies of the literary world and lay bare the backdrop of the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and journalist Ann Rinaldi, best known for her painstakingly researched YA historical fiction featuring female protagonists, died on July 1 in Branchburg, N.J.; she was 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A K Blakemore has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for her "stunning" historical fiction novel The Manningtree Witches (Granta Books). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-01 17:06:17 UTC ]
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Immerse yourself in history from highwaymen to Hollywood starlets with 25 of the best queer historical fiction books to get lost in. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-06-25 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Historical fiction was once considered a fusty backwater. Now the genre is having a renaissance, attracting first-rank novelists and racking up major prizes. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-06-13 09:00:02 UTC ]
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'Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,' historical fiction about Kepler's mother, is Galchen's first novel since 2008's 'Atmospheric Disturbances.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-06-03 14:00:33 UTC ]
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