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 ]
The Promised Land, which releases in Toronto and Vancouver on Feb. 9, is an impressively directed piece of historical fiction — even if it isn't a masterpiece. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-02-09 09:00:00 UTC ]
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The movie, with its handful of Oscar nominations, has refocused attention on “Erasure,” a satire of the literary world and its racial biases. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-02-03 10:02:42 UTC ]
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The best historical fiction set in Italy, like these nine titles, explores the complex and even chaotic history of the country. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-18 11:31:00 UTC ]
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In the midst of chaos, the characters in these books find their own ways to metabolize real-life tragedy. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-15 10:00:46 UTC ]
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Read your way into the best historical fiction of 2023, which spans the globe and time. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-12 11:31:00 UTC ]
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There are historical fiction books out there for every reader. Find recommendations for fans of literary fiction, romance, fantasy, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-19 11:32:00 UTC ]
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The literary world may have a complicated relationship to popularity—see every literary novelist’s love/hate (and almost always unrequited) relationship with the bestseller list—but the internet does not. Simply: it’s good to be read, and so we thank you, our readers, for consuming, commenting... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-18 09:52:49 UTC ]
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There is no denying that African literature is having a moment on the global literary stage. In 2021, African writers took the literary world by storm. It is in light of this that the South African writer Damon Galgut said in his acceptance speech at the 2021 Booker Prize ceremony that “2021 was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-18 09:49:40 UTC ]
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These books provide us with a deeper understanding of what Korea is beyond what we hear or see in popular culture. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-15 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Should historical fiction stick to the views and opinions of the time, or provide a modern perspective? Here are the pros and cons. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-05 11:31:00 UTC ]
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It’s been a roller coaster of a year. Thankfully, we’ve had novels to whisk us to days gone by, even if those eras had their own highs and lows. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-05 10:01:03 UTC ]
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A secret, a disappearance, a frozen body and a mysterious stranger — these historical novels have something for everyone. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-01 10:53:25 UTC ]
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Categorising fiction may help to sell books, but it says little about how writers write or readers readIn her Reith lecture of 2017, recently published for the first time in a posthumous collection of nonfiction, A Memoir of My Former Self, Hilary Mantel recalled the beginnings of her career as... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-27 12:30:00 UTC ]
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These must-read historical fiction books set in France span more than 800 years, from the reign of Eleanor of Aquitaine to post-WWII Paris. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-26 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Novelist, playwright and screenwriter Marie Ndiaye has had the attention of the French literary world since she published her first novel, As to the Rich Future, at seventeen. Born in Pithiviers, the daughter of a French school teacher mother and a Senegalese father, she won the 2001 Prix Femina... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-24 08:20:28 UTC ]
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After you've listened to the EMPIRE podcast, these history and historical fiction books will deepen your understanding of the subject. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-19 10:32:00 UTC ]
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When you hear the phrase “queer history,” how far back does your mind go? For many, there’s a sense that LGBTQIA+ history is fairly recent, starting with Marsha P. Johnson or maybe Oscar Wilde. Beyond that, we start to get into murky territory: stories of “lifelong bachelors” and “happy... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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This essay isn’t about World War II. But like any historical fiction writer publishing in 2023, it’s impossible to ignore the recent wave of WWII novels that fill bookstore shelves at the moment. As someone who reads and enjoys many of these books but has no desire to write one, I have a theory... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 08:45:05 UTC ]
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From haunting historical fiction to poetic contemporary fiction, these 10 Haitian books in translation are worth picking up. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-11 10:34:00 UTC ]
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Encompassing a wide range of genres from historical fiction to fantasy to poetry to investigative journalism to memoir, this exciting abundance of books published in 2023 by emerging and acclaimed Native writers speak to the rich diversity of the Indigenous experience. From meditations on the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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