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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Scrolling book-reveals for Lit Hub’s Climate Change Library I sighed, “Here we go again.” On the first day, “Part One: The Classics” listed 48 books written by mostly white authors. The four exceptions, Robert D. Bullard, a Black American and Winona LaDuke, an Indigenous North American, along... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-26 08:50:12 UTC ]
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If you don’t know Noname, the Chicago rapper and former slam poet born as Fatimah Nyeema Warner, now might be a good time to read up following the official launch of her book club on Wednesday. The unassuming 90s kid launched to fame after some notable collaborations with artists like Mick... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-25 17:08:40 UTC ]
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The London Library has joined forces with indie publisher Jacaranda for its #Twentyin2020 project, celebrating black British writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-22 11:44:25 UTC ]
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Literature Wales has launched a brand new funding scheme for Wales-based writers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, and writers with a disability or illness (mental or physical). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-21 20:58:51 UTC ]
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Foyles bookshop has joined forces with indie publisher Jacaranda for its Twenty in 2020 initiative, celebrating black British writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-17 20:34:16 UTC ]
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The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) has announced the line-up for its Joan Hessayon Award for new writers with two Avon titles in the running. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-16 05:34:40 UTC ]
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Businesses and public policy makers are tapping novelists to imagine the path forward. But how much stock should we put in the predictions of storytellers? Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-07-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Margaret Randall Children’s choir at the 2014 La Matanza Book Fair / Photo by Mauro Rico / Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación / Flickr When good engineers or scientists emigrate, they are able to continue their work. Novelists... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-10 21:07:28 UTC ]
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Author Carmen Marcus has teamed up with the North Yorkshire bookshop Book Corner to offer aspiring working-class writers a free course on developing a strategy to write professionally. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-10 19:37:39 UTC ]
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The author reflects on “Three Women,” which was the result of countless interviews and a cross-country drive in an RV. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-03 12:54:00 UTC ]
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Joe Biden wasn’t slated to appear on the Democratic debate stage on Wednesday night; still, he was expected to loom large. Many commentators, guided by the polls, have called him the presidential candidate to beat. The 10 candidates who did appear Wednesday didn’t mention Biden once. But that... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-06-28 11:54:32 UTC ]
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Writers including Tara Guha, Adam Bennett-Lea and James Harris are amongst the winners of this year’s Northern Writers’ Awards, administered by New Writing North. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-26 19:17:21 UTC ]
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Juliet Escoria’s “Juliet the Maniac” sees the life of a bipolar teenager in gut-wrenching fragments. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-24 09:00:07 UTC ]
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Alice Oswald has been elected as the next Oxford University Professor of Poetry after triumphing in the vote, making her the first woman to serve in the role in 300 years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-23 18:01:20 UTC ]
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Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' new documentary tells the story of a pioneering book editor, the first female African American senior editor at Random House, who brought to print such distinctive voices as Angela Davis, Gayle Jones and Muhammad Ali, as well as popular and influential collections... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-21 15:30:00 UTC ]
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A number of writers have pulled out of Bradford festival in protest over funding from a government counter-extremism programme. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-21 10:06:03 UTC ]
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A member of the Muscogee Nation, Harjo has authored eight collections of poetry. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-06-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Sixty-seven percent of professional writers earned £10,000 or less in 2018, a Royal Society of Literature poll of more than 2,000 authors has found, with a room of one’s own still viewed as the most important requirement for a writing career 90 years on from Virginia Woolf’s seminal essay. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-18 18:49:13 UTC ]
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Amanda Ridout has announced a "thrilling" 20-strong, all-female launch list for her new commercial fiction press Boldwood, with plans to publish in e-book, audio and print-on-demand simultaneously on a global scale. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-18 02:56:15 UTC ]
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