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 no. A good novel is nourished by the sap of one’s own culture, one’s people, and what happens in daily life.—Ricardo Jorge Machado[i] A recurring drama when I lived in Cuba throughout the 1970s was the periodic emigration of citizens from all social strata who for one reason or another felt compelled to leave their homeland. This might take place in waves, such as the Mariel exodus in May 1980 when 125,000 people boarded boats for southern Florida. Or it might be a high-profile individual: a baseball player who wanted to join the Major Leagues, a well-trained physician who believed he or she could earn more elsewhere, or a poet or novelist who was fed up with the Revolution and wanted to try their luck in another country (most often the United States). All were considered traitors and departed amidst a barrage of vituperative harassment. Heberto Padilla was one such poet. In the late 1960s he entered a collection of his work in an important literary contest. The book, Fuera del juego (Outside the game), was given first prize by an international jury. As it was perceived as being critical of the Revolution, the power structure didn’t know what to do with the decision; it eventually... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-10 21:07:28 UTC ]
To mark its 50th anniversary the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, will award six new prizes for publishers at the "forefront of innovation" and "creative editorial choices." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hairy hobbit feet and elfin cloaks took over the Frankfurt Book Fair this weekend as JRR Tolkien fans dressed to impress Weta Workshop’s Sir Richard Taylor. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the beginning of a standing-room-only Frankfurt Book Fair discussion, Richard Mollet, CEO of the U.K. Publishers Association, said he imagined there was a day 100 or more years ago at a book fair when, after yet another panel on how electricity was going to revolutionize the business, an... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This years BookExpo America, an annual publishing business trade show, is full of talk of e-reading and other shifts in the industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 22/03/2011 - 08:39 Puffin has acquired world rights, including film and TV, in a dystopian romance series Fever by debut author Dee Shulman. The publisher will be showcasing the trilogy at Bologna Children's Book Fair next week and has already... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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