Where are the hotshot British male novelists? BAME authors may know

Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Abir Mukherjee, Courttia Newland, Guy Gunaratne, Paul Mendez and Okechukwu Nzelu on why British writers of colour are left out of the conversationAfter this week’s Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked “Where are the new male hotshot novelists?” I was expecting to see the article discussing the brilliant fiction by men, in particular men of colour, being written at the moment, but they were only mentioned in passing. It seemed the hotshot British male novelists the Times was looking for were really British, male and white.It’s exhausting that one of the reasons offered for the dearth of these voices is the industry’s efforts to “introduce more racial diversity to their lists”, posing diversity and inclusion once again as pitting people against each other. Ask any Black or Brown writer if they’re the reason white men are being shut out of the books world and they’ll probably shout, because the alternative is crying. In 2016, only one debut novel from a Black British male author was published in the UK. As the Black Writers’ Guild says, despite efforts across the industry, change isn’t happening fast enough.Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez is published by Dialogue BooksIn Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne is published by Tinder PressA River Called Time by Courttia Newland will be published by Canongate in January 2021The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney by Okechukwu Nzelu is published by Dialogue BooksThe 392 by Ashley Hickson-Lovence... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]

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