Interviews Matthew Davis Ugandan novelist and short-story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth Short-Story Prize for her story Lets Tell This Story Properly, published by Granta, and the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction 2018 to support her writing. Her first full story collection, Manchester Happened, was published by Oneworld in May 2019. Retitled Let’s Tell This Story Properly, the collection was published in the US in July 2019. She lives in Manchester with her husband and son and lectures in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. While Makumbi was a fellow at the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center at George Mason University this past spring, she talked with Matthew Davis, the center’s founding director. Here they discuss how westerners and Africans read African literature differently, writing for Ugandans, and how eighteen years in England has changed her. Matthew Davis: Jennifer, welcome. I want to start by discussing your novel, Kintu, which is in many ways a modern classic of world literature. It begins in 1750, when Kintu Kidda sets out for the capital to pledge allegiance to the new leader of the Buganda kingdom. The novel follows the descendants of Kintu as they struggle with a curse he unleashed as he made his way to the capital in the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-06 13:42:31 UTC ]
Authors Guild survey finds writers’ incomes have fallen dramatically in five years – with literary novelists worst-hitA major survey of American authors has uncovered a crash in author earnings described as “a crisis of epic proportions” – particularly for full-time literary writers, who are “on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Each month in 2018, Future Tense Fiction—a series of short stories from Future Tense and ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination about how technology and science will change our lives—will publish a story on a theme. The theme for October–December 2018: Work. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2018-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Daunt Books, Waterstones and Foyles are raising money for The Passage, a charity that supports people who are homeless, by selling a book of short stories by AS Byatt, Lennie James and Michael Morpurgo. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thirty-six short stories were submitted for the first ever FutureBook speculative fiction competition run with digital reading platform the Pigeonhole. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stan Lee's impact on popular culture spurred a billion dollar superhero industry, but the comic supremo's contribution to American literature during a period of intense social change was just as rich. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2018-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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He has charmed Elton John, angered Paul McCartney – and horrified Yoko Ono. What will he uncover about the ‘murky’ death of Jimi Hendrix? The great rock writer reveals the pain – and pleasure – of chasing starsSlowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton is my eighth rock biography since Shout!... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Saqi Books is publishing a newly discovered collection of short stories by the late author Naguib Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Orwell Foundation will next month launch a prize to celebrate novels or short stories that illuminate social and political themes through the art of narrative. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber Children’s Books has acquired a collection of short stories, set in World War II, by Emma Carroll. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As well as slashing fees for short stories, the magazine has demanded fiction writers waive all rights to their workThe new issue of the Woman’s Weekly fiction special is out now, promising its readers short stories from writers who “never fail to come up with new twists and turns and unexpected... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has revealed it is publishing a posthumous collection of "powerful" short stories by Helen Dunmore, a day after the late author was given the Costa Award for Poetry. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Children’s will publish what is believed to be the first ever all-female authored Doctor Who collection of short stories, with input from writers Jenny Colgan, Dorothy Koomson, Scottish comedian Susan Calman and Doctor Who author Jacqueline Rayner. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Raymond Chandler, the crime novelist, in 1946. One of his short stories, “It’s All Right — He Only Died,” was recently discovered and published by Strand Magazine, a literary quarterly. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every era has its own fairy tales—fables that teach children what a princess looks like, and what monsters they should fear. According to the short stories in Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado’s exhilarating debut collection, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction, our... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2017-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion has acquired "a hilarious and heartwarming" début by Caroline Hulse at auction and a collection of short stories from Man Booker shortlistee Emily Fridlund. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Walker Books will publish a new collection of short stories from American YA author Cassandra Clare featuring characters from the bestselling Shadowhunter world. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new study finds a 'dramatic' increase in swear words in American literature over the last 60 years. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's not just your @#%& imagination: American books have gotten a lot more profane over the last six decades, according to a study led by a San Diego State University psychology professor. A team of scholars reports that there's been a “dramatic” increase in curse words in American... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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