Tommy Robinson’s book went to No 1 on Amazon. This is what I learned from the reviews | Zoe Williams

The far-right activist’s Manifesto briefly topped the website’s chart. It is gone now, but the comments make for worrying readingIt’s always tempting to self-soothe when the far right is on the march. Tommy Robinson’s new book, Manifesto: Free Speech, Real Democracy, Peaceful Disobedience, briefly topped Amazon’s bestseller chart last week – above Boris Johnson’s memoir, but also above Richard Osman, the fastest-selling hardback fiction author in British history, and Sally Rooney. Oh well, I thought. Maybe the book itself is not that bad? Maybe he’s turned over a new leaf?It is that bad: I will not read it, because I will not buy it, because the day I put £24.99 or any fraction thereof into the pocket of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is the day I’ve parted company with the material world. But here’s how it is described in the blurb: “For decades the political class have openly planned to replace the indigenous people of Europe and in Manifesto we focus on how they are doing this in the UK.”Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-10-15 10:00:56 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Tommy Robinson’s book went to No 1 on Amazon. This is what I learned from the reviews | Zoe Williams"


Kehlmann's Tyll to riverrun

Quercus imprint riverrun has acquired a new historical fiction novel by German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann,Tyll, in a translation by Ross Benjamin. The book, which has already sold 600,000 copies in Germany according to Quercus, will be published in hardback 6th Feburary 2020. UK and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-09 22:15:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Go Beyond Sally Rooney With These 13 Irish Women Novelists

It’s a confusing thing, being Irish. We’re European with none of the sophistication, and for a tiny island, we have an impressive lack of consistency. That said, we also have an impressive literary output. Our politics, social movements, and religions have born enough conflict to make a canon... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Weekly E-Ranking: Twice in a Blue Moon for Child

Contrary to its namesake, Lee Child's Blue Moon appeared twice in the week ending 2nd November; the title topped the Nielsen BookScan charts in hardback format, and the e-book edition stormed to the top of the Weekly E-Book Ranking. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-14 14:57:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Was Oliver Wendell Holmes Right About Free Speech?

The director of the National Coalition Against Censorship reflects on the Supreme Court justice’s defense of freedom of expression. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Announcing the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award shortlist

From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


FutureBook Live to explore publishing freedom and free speech

Issues around publishing freedom and free speech are to be debated at FutureBook Live, with a panel of industry insiders, including publishers, agents and authors to discuss how today's political climate and the rise of social media has changed what is permissible and possible to publish today.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-22 22:49:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ismail Kadare Wins Prestigious 2020 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

News and Events WLT Photo by J. Foley Opale World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced late Wednesday evening that Ismail Kadare is the 26th laureate of the renowned... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-16 22:21:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Amazon Charts: Secret Commonwealth steams into number one

Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth (Penguin/David Fickling) has soared 15 places to top the Amazon Charts Most-Sold: Fiction chart, in the same week it sold 54,301 copies in hardback through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-09 20:59:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Picador scoops 'great British Novel' from Evers

Picador has scooped a “Great British Novel” by Stuart Evers, charting more than 60 years of British history through the lives of two very different families. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-06 15:38:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Doubleday pre-empts Faber Academy graduate Ericka Waller’s debut

Doubleday has pre-empted Faber Academy graduate Ericka Waller’s debut novel, Dog Days, about the solace of canine companions “when times are hard”.   Kirsty Dunseath, publishing director of Doubleday Fiction, bought world rights in all languages for two titles from Katie Greenstreet at C&W.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-01 12:33:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Handmaid's sales: Margaret Atwood's The Testaments is immediate hit

Novelist’s return to the dystopia of Gilead sold more than 100,000 copies in hardback in its first week on sale in the UKA hardback copy of Margaret Atwood’s follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, was sold every four seconds in the UK last week, according to sales figures that show... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-09-17 14:57:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Osman, Smith and Alderton at Penguin General showcase

Richard Osman, Ali Smith and Dolly Alderton were among the line-up of authors at a packed Penguin General 2020 Spring Showcase. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 13:10:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Blood Quantum injects zombie horror genre with an Indigenous perspective

Telling original, Indigenous-focused stories in different genres, filmmaker Jeff Barnaby is helping to normalize the presence of Indigenous people in a variety of realms: horror, science fiction and the broader cultural world. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2019-09-10 17:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On college campuses, managing the tension between inclusion and ideas

Michael S. Roth explores political correctness and free speech in a divisive age. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-30 12:31:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Olivia Laing calls out Boris Johnson, splits £10,000 literary prize with fellow nominees.

Celebrated British writer and cultural critic Olivia Laing has been widely praised for her decision to split her James Tate Black award winnings with her fellow shortlisted authors. “I said in Crudo that competition has no place in art and I meant it,” Laing told the gathered crowd upon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-19 15:39:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Biteback bags Big Book of Boris from Dale

Biteback Publishing has bagged a book by its founder and broadcaster Iain Dale with radio producer Jakob Szweda, containing some of Boris Johnson’s most memorable quotes and gaffes. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-01 08:28:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Less ado: Boris Johnson's Shakespeare book delayed for 'foreseeable future'

The incoming prime minister’s Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius was scheduled for October 2016, but has been pushed back multiple timesThe riddle of Shakespeare’s genius must remain unsolved, for now at least, after Boris Johnson’s publisher said on Wednesday morning that the new prime... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-24 13:09:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Boris Johnson spoof teenage diary scooped by Quercus

Quercus will publish the spoof teenage diary of "thatch-headed wasteman" Boris Johnson, from comedy writer Lucien Young. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 11:59:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Boris Johnson urged to support creative industries in open letter

Boris Johnson has been urged to support a second EU referendum rather than a no-deal Brexit in order to support the UK's creative industries and protect the sector's public investment, just hours after he was elected leader of the Conservative Party.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 11:05:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Summer reading: dive into the perfect book

As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this