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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Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this yearChimamanda Ngozi AdichieFive Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PEN American Center's report "Chilling Effects," offers some disturbing data about the effect of government surveillance on free expression and self-censorship in the literary world.PEN American Center’s report “Chilling Effects,” officially released Tuesday morning, offers some disturbing data... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, a destination literary and arts festival created in response to the Bali bombings in 2002 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It was just more than a year ago that Ev Williams and Biz Stone created the publishing platform Medium. The Internet officially met the site in August 2012, and since then, Medium’s popularity has grown enough for even the most ske ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Copies of Helen Fielding's new Bridget Jones novel, Mad About the Boy (Jonathan Cape), have... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Back in 2011, Seth Godin published a blog post titled, “The Future of the Library,” in which he wrote: “The library is no longer a warehouse for dead books.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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InboundWriter wants to help big publishers and niche bloggers figure out how much demand there is for their idea in the Web ecosystem before they type a word or hit "publish." At least that's the idea behind the newest version of the startup's software, which the company said will be used by... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While some books on this year's Man Booker prize long list have gotten buzz here in the US, none of them compare (so far) with the success of last year's winner, Hilary Mantel's 'Bring Up the Bodies.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As of this writing, Christine Quinn, the first female and openly gay speaker of the New York City Council, remains a front-runner in the city’s crowded race for mayor. A poll by Quinnipiac University, the New York Times reports, shows Quinn, the second-most-powerful elected official in the... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate has acquired What Do Women Want? Adventures in the Science of Female Desire by Daniel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vice Magazine's newest fashion spread depicted models dressed like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, and others in the act of committing suicide. The photos were taken down after a public outcry. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty-two published and unpublished authors last night (18th) shared the £40,000 prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The digital publishing platform will let fans write, publish, and sell the stories they've written based on popular books, TV shows, and more. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's taken a number of steps to bring different types of content to the Kindle Store, and it's now venturing into an area that has a long history with the internet: fan fiction. The company's today announced Kindle Worlds, a new publishing platform that promises to pay writers royalties for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Guild of Food Writers Awards shortlists include a “wonderful diversity of subject... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The longlist for the sixth Desmond Elliott Prize, which honours the best in debut fiction, is unveiled, with seven of the 10 novels by women. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Journalist killed in Syria is shortlisted for Orwell Book Prize, which celebrates political writing. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A previously unpublished writer has won the inaugural Historical Novel Society International... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The death of novelist Chinua Achebe has been confirmed. A statement from The Wylie Agency... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Little A imprint will release novels, memoirs, and story collections, while Day One will focus on short stories and new writers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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