The author was repeatedly told that no one wanted to read fun books with disabled heroes. Now she has won the £5,000 Waterstones children’s book prize for her debut, A Kind of SparkWhen Scottish author Elle McNicoll was first trying to enter the publishing world, she was repeatedly told that people didn’t want to read about an autistic heroine. “In job interviews, I was saying that I wanted to see more books with disabled characters in them that were not traumatic, boring or educational, but fun and full of life. A lot of the reactions were, ‘Waterstones don’t like books like that’,” she says.Now McNicoll’s debut novel A Kind of Spark has won the Waterstones children’s book prize. Published by tiny independent Knights Of, it follows Addie, an 11-year-old autistic girl, as she campaigns for a memorial to the witch trials that took place in her Scottish village. The novel has been praised by Waterstones’ booksellers as “eye opening, heart-wrenching, sad [and] inspiring”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-01 05:01:05 UTC ]
In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
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In Daniel Loedel’s haunting debut novel Hades, Argentina, Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires—“a city made for forgetting as much for nostalgia”—ten years after fleeing the military dictatorship whose regime disappeared upwards of 30,000 thousand political opponents, including Isabel Aroztegui,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The movie adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry—the best-selling debut novel about an Iraq veteran turned heroin addict turned bank robber—will be released in theaters in two days, directed by the Russo Brothers (who you might know from Avengers) and starring Tom Holland (who you might know from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-24 18:21:44 UTC ]
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I don’t know what’s wrong with me or what year I think it is, but it’s just now come to my attention that Ryan Gosling has a big ol’ tattoo on his arm commemorating the most disturbing and perverse children’s book of all time. That’s right, I am talking about The Giving Tree. (Okay, Love […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-22 17:49:35 UTC ]
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Some welcome news for those of you with little ones running and/or crawling around your ankles right now: Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o’s bestselling 2019 children’s book Sulwe is getting a small screen musical adaptation. Netflix announced earlier today that Sulwe will join a roster of upcoming... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-18 18:28:11 UTC ]
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Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
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Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
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Picador has netted New Animal, a “sharp and witty” debut novel by poet and sculptor Ella Baxter. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:43:00 UTC ]
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Carsten Coesfeld took over as DK CEO days before Covid-19 shut down the publishing world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Wildfire has pre-empted former Home Secretary and memoirist Alan Johnson’s debut novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-10 23:51:47 UTC ]
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The leading award in German-language fiction opens its 2021 competition with the appointment of seven new jurors and €25,000 for the winner. The post German Book Prize Names Its 2021 Jury, Opens Submissions appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-02-09 15:02:11 UTC ]
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DURING ONE KEY MOMENT, E. Lily Yu’s disquieting debut novel On Fragile Waves offers a kind of authorial self-critique regarding the representation of diasporic migrants. A character Yu calls “the writer” has traveled to Australia to interview asylum seekers in the Afghan migrant community there... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-06 16:00:46 UTC ]
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Many of us have fond memories of Harold and the Purple Crayon—Crockett Johnson’s beloved children’s book about a four-year-old boy exploring the contours of his imagination through drawing. Yesterday afternoon, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Zachary Levi will be starring in Sony... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-02 17:11:35 UTC ]
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Yesterday—after a decade of democratic transition, five years of elected government, and several days of threats, apparent walkbacks, and rumors—Myanmar’s military executed a coup and returned to power. Myawaddy TV, a station owned by the military, announced that Min Aung Hlaing—the army’s... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-02-02 13:37:45 UTC ]
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Today, as we have done in years past, LARB honors Black History Month by highlighting a series of reviews, essays, interviews, and exchanges of letters we published in January. Below you will find a poignant essay on the Compton Christmas Parade; a penetrating interview with Kiley Reid, author... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-01 13:30:13 UTC ]
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“Fake Accounts,” Lauren Oyler’s debut novel, considers how social media has reconfigured our behavior, relationships and how we think of ourselves. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-01 10:00:02 UTC ]
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The best-selling author just found out that her debut novel is soon to be on the first lady’s bedside table. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-28 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Culture A still image from the film White Tiger (Netflix, 2021). After watching White Tiger, a writer contemplates the film alongside revolution in Egypt, Black Lives Matter protests, the film Parasite, and literary “complicated works of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-27 20:33:27 UTC ]
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The children’s book has influence out of proportion with its 24 pages and its cardboard cover devoid of medallions. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson is publishing the debut novel of comedian, actress and writer Isy Suttie, Jane is Trying, in July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-27 11:15:14 UTC ]
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