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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Though some of the publishers that usually attend Toy Fair were absent this year, book publishing exhibitors called the 2019 edition a strong show with new trends rising to the surface. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W.E.B. Griffin, the prolific author of nearly 250 books, nearly 160 of which were military fiction, died on February 12, his publisher, Putnam, confirmed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crime writer Mari Hannah has landed another three-book deal with Orion Fiction that will see the return of DCI Kate Daniels. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The spotlight was on musicians at Sunday's Grammy Awards presentation, but the Recording Academy found time to honor some writers as well. Former president Jimmy Carter took home the Grammy for spoken word album, a category that includes poetry, audiobooks and storytelling. Carter won for the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Writing North, the literature development agency for the North of England, has released its list of ‘12 new books by northern writers you must read in 2019’, part of the Read Regional campaign that it began in 2008. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury Press editor Katie Seaman has bought world rights from Sarah Hornsley at The Bent Agency in Almost Adults, a “laugh-out-loud debut novel celebrating female friendship” by freelance journalist Ali Pantony. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indie publisher says its #Twentyin2020 initiative will cover fiction, non-fiction and poetry and help ‘normalise’ diverse readersA group of unnamed individuals has donated £25,000 towards an independent publisher’s initiative to publish 20 black British writers in 2020, in the hope it will... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“The demand for gender equality is growing louder, and it is coming from all over the world,” Gates told attendees at the opening of the ALA meeting. But progress is not inevitable, she warned. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Eccles Centre at the British Library is joining forces with Hay Festival on the Centre's £20,000 Writer’s Award, which will become the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A 1980s popstar, a former women’s weekly chief and an engineer are all vying for the Costa Short Story Award with an all-female shortlist for the first time. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The London Library has launched the Emerging Writers Programme to support unpublished writers, with literary agency A M Heath one of the scheme's supporters. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new digital platform and newsletter called The FLIP (Female Leadership in Publishing), launched by three Transworld colleagues to showcase "brilliant, inspiring, courageous and creative" women who work in the publishing industry, has been "inundated" with support, collecting hundreds of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new Authors Guild survey, larger than in the past and with input from other writing organizations, brings into question how authors are compensated and how the issue is assessed. The post New, Larger Authors Guild Survey: Falling Incomes for US Writers appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cornerstone has acquired a high-concept debut by Andrew Hunter Murray, a writer on BBC's "QI" and one of the team of writers at Private Eye, in a 24-hour pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The decline in earnings are largely because of Amazon’s lion’s share of the self-publishing, ebook and resale market. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House UK chair Gail Rebuck has paid tribute to Stephen Johnson, the former m.d. of Exclusive Books and Random House South Africa, who died earlier this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling thriller author LJ Ross has established a crime writing award worth £2,500 to celebrate the North East. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Borough Press has teamed up with The Good Literary Agency to open submissions for un-agented BAME writers, with the one winning applicant set to secure a £10,000 publishing contract, agency representation and mentoring from writer Nikesh Shukla. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leodora Darlington, publishing executive at Bookouture, has launched Owned Voices - a creative writing workshop focused specifically on nurturing writing talent from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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