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 ]
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk’s era-defining debut novel about a load of disaffected men beating the bejesus out of each other in order to feel alive, was first published twenty-seven years ago today. The book rapidly gained a cult following, was adapted into one of the most iconic movies of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 15:30:58 UTC ]
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When I began working on the design for the cover of Kyle Dillon Hertz’s debut novel The Lookback Window, I had two goals in mind: I wanted the book to be taken seriously, and I wanted to get it into the hands of readers who might not otherwise find it. Right from the beginning of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-15 09:40:29 UTC ]
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Ashley Wurzbacher’s debut novel How To Care for a Human Girl jumps with both feet into the debate over reproductive rights. When two sisters find themselves pregnant not long after their mother’s death, Jada choses an abortion, while Maddie drifts into the sticky embrace of a crisis pregnancy... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-08-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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You and the Universe, adapted from his posthumous 2020 Earth Day message, will bring the late physicist’s ‘extraordinary work to life for readers of all ages’A new children’s picture book by Stephen Hawking is due to be published six years after the theoretical physicist’s death.You and the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-04 12:26:34 UTC ]
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For the children’s book creators Doug Salati, Brian Floca, Sophie Blackall, Rowboat Watkins, Johnny Marciano and Dasha Tolstikova, the light-filled space has become much more than just a place to work. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-08-03 09:01:00 UTC ]
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See our tributes to children’s authors, illustrators, and publishers we have lost this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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School district member files challenge to Arthur’s Birthday, 1989 book by Marc Brown, which is among 45 titles pending reviewA title in the Arthur children’s book series is facing a potential ban after a conservative activist claimed that it “damaged souls”.On 12 July, Bruce Friedman, a member... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-28 16:22:54 UTC ]
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For a decade while I was drafting it, my debut novel The Peach Seed had a different title, Peach Seed Monkey, which referred to a tiny monkey carved from a peach pit that had been a present to me and my sister when we were children. A book title has power to pique interest, crack […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-27 09:45:33 UTC ]
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In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Ours, the debut novel by award-winning poet Philip B. Williams, forthcoming from Viking in February. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: In this ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-26 14:00:11 UTC ]
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Amazon has the company’s Kindle Kids e-reader on sale for 33 percent off right now. Its $80 price (usually $120) is nearly as low as it was on Prime Day, making it an ideal time to surprise your little one(s) with the gift of distraction-free reading. The device is an Engadget recommendation in... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-25 19:20:11 UTC ]
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As I prepare for the paperback launch of my debut novel The Girls in Queens, I share with a group of writers and artists that I’m putting together a Book Club Kit. This has become a fairly common digital offering; a colorful PDF of brief insights from the author, a recipe or two related to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-07-25 11:12:00 UTC ]
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Virginia Woolf’s first novel, The Voyage Out, was published in the UK in 1915, after which she wanted to tweak some passages for the printing of the US edition. We know this thanks to the work of unsung hero Simon Cooper, a metadata officer at the University of Sydney, who found Woolf’s own copy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-24 17:39:46 UTC ]
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With the company's marketing and publicity teams unified across adult and children’s book imprints, Abrams aims to create a more efficient way to reach readers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Stories Are All about Taking up Space: A Conversation with Ekemini Pius, by Darlington Chibueze Anuonye Interviews [email protected] Thu, 07/20/2023 - 15:08 Photo by Offlong EkpenyongThe first week of July, the Caine Prize for African Writing... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-20 20:08:39 UTC ]
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Last year, all of literature’s big prizes went to small publishers. In a risk‑averse climate, edgy debuts and ‘tricky-to-sell’ foreign titles have found a home at the likes of Fitzcarraldo Editions and Sort Of Books – and the gamble has paid offA quiet revolution is afoot in British publishing.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-16 08:00:02 UTC ]
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Editor with the Paris-based publisher Gallimard Jeunesse who was determined to give British children’s books a presence in FranceChristine Baker, who has died aged 71 of cancer, did much to give British children’s books a presence in France, making them readily available to families and schools... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-10 16:54:07 UTC ]
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New children’s book releases include clever nonfiction picture books, thrilling middle grade fantasies, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-07 10:32:00 UTC ]
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Two Pacific Northwest–based book workers have cofounded the Cercador Prize for Translation. A committee of five booksellers will nominate titles and award a winning translator $1,000. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Ruth Madievsky, a clinical pharmacist, insists her debut on sisters living dangerously is 'so fictional!' But it also channels her immigrant family's stories. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-07-06 13:00:43 UTC ]
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