Zadie Smith on Male Critics, Appropriation, and What Interests Her Novelistically About Trump

In an interview in 2000, Zadie Smith told the Guardian about the pressure she felt after the astonishing success of her debut novel, White Teeth. “I was expected to be some expert on multicultural affairs, as if multiculturalism is a genre of fiction or something,” she said. “Whereas it’s just a fact of life—like there are people of different races on the planet.” Whether it’s indeed a fact of life or, we now fear, a feature of American life that is at risk of erasure, multiculturalism in all its complexity is at the center of Smith’s books. From White Teeth to NW, which was published in 2012, Smith’s characters inhabit mixed urban communities, often in London. Her latest novel, Swing Time, is out this week; set in England and West Africa, the story concerns the friendship of two young girls who meet in a dance class (“our shade of brown was exactly the same”) and traces the paths of their lives over a quarter-century. Continue reading at 'Slate'

[ Slate | 2016-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #american life #white teeth #swing time #west africa #young girls

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Zadie Smith on Male Critics, Appropriation, and What Interests Her Novelistically About Trump

In an interview in 2000, Zadie Smith told the Guardian about the pressure she felt after the astonishing success of her debut novel, White Teeth. “I was expected to be some expert on multicultural affairs, as if multiculturalism is a genre of fiction or something,” she said. “Whereas it’s just a... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2016-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american life #white teeth #swing time #west africa #young girls


Zadie Smith, Rachel Kushner among nominees for 2019 National Book Critics Circle Awards

The National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for its annual literary awards on Tuesday, with Zadie Smith, Rachel Kushner, Robert Christgau and the late Denis Johnson among the nominees. Los Angeles author Kushner's "The Mars Room" and Johnson's "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" both... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #rachel kushner #sea maiden


Attention: a new Zadie Smith novel is coming this fall.

This morning, Penguin Press announced that they will be publishing Zadie Smith’s next novel, The Fraud, on September 5, 2023. Here’s how the publisher describes the book: From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, The Fraud is a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-02 14:57:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #publisher describes #historical fiction


Fun fact: Zadie Smith’s younger brother is in the bad Austen adaptation.

Today in extremely niche literary world factoids: in case you didn’t know (I did not) Zadie Smith has a younger brother named Ben Bailey Smith, an actor and standup who goes by Doc Brown, admires Taylor Swift’s writing ability, and features in Netflix’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 16:07:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fun fact #zadie smith #younger brother #jane austen #literary world


To understand the Trump era, a Post critic read 150 books

Carlos Lozada finds that the best works are those least focused on the president. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-08 09:18:55 UTC ]
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Reclaim Her Name: why we should free Australia's female novelists from their male pseudonyms

The Women's Prize for Fiction has just published 25 literary works by female authors with their real names for the first time. Could we do the same for Miles Franklin and Henry Handel Richardson here? Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-08-13 06:43:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #female novelists #male pseudonyms #female authors #real names #miles franklin #novelists


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... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #racial diversity #brown writer #books world #unpublished writer #debut novel #novelists


Zadie Smith’s New Book Was Written During Lockdown. It’s Optimistic.

The author’s latest collection shows how few novelists seem to genuinely love human beings the way she does. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-07-21 19:06:23 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton to publish lockdown essays from Zadie Smith

A collection of six essays written during lockdown by Zadie Smith, titled Intimations, will be published by Hamish Hamilton this summer. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 18:45:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hamish hamilton #zadie smith


Zadie Smith and Nick Laird picture book goes to Puffin

Puffin has snapped up Zadie Smith and Nick Laird's "endearing" debut picture book, Weirdo, featuring a judo suit-wearing guinea pig.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 07:57:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #puffin #picture book


Zadie Smith and Ben Lerner shortlisted for Rathbones Folio Prize 2020

Zadie Smith and Ben Lerner are among the eight authors shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-25 23:52:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #ben lerner #authors shortlisted


Zadie Smith’s debut short story collection is a dazzling experiment in form and genre

The “White Teeth” author is witty and eviscerating in stories sprinkled with current events. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-10-28 16:43:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #current events


Zadie Smith to publish first short story collection in 2019

Zadie Smith is releasing her very first story collection with Hamish Hamilton next autumn: Grand Union. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith #story collection #hamish hamilton


Patti Smith discusses activism in the age of Trump: 'I’m not going down with the ship, that’s for certain'

Patti Smith is speaking from a pasture in Brittany, France, she explains by way of apology at the beginning of a recent phone conversation. The musician, poet, memoirist and activist is about an hour out from showtime there, a period that she uses to ground herself before taking the stage. Given... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump Books Travel, but German Rights Directors Say Interest Rarely Runs Both Ways

The growing list of political Trump books published in the States this season are seeing strong foreign rights sales into Europe. The post Trump Books Travel, but German Rights Directors Say Interest Rarely Runs Both Ways appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #growing list


Asked about her critical new book, Trump calls Omarosa Manigault Newman ‘a lowlife’

President Trump has one word to describe former White House staffer and fellow reality-TV star Omarosa Manigault Newman: “Lowlife.” Manigault Newman says in her upcoming book, “Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House,” that the president used racial slurs on the set of his reality... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #president trump #upcoming book #manigault newman #racial slurs


Vida report: 'Dangerous lens' of male bias remains in literary criticism

Vida’s latest survey of gender bias in literary criticism has revealed less than half of publications achieved gender equality, with the New York Review of Books halving its coverage of female voices. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary criticism #latest survey #gender bias


Smith and Pullman top the critics’ picks

Ali Smith’s seasonal novel Winter (Hamish Hamilton), Sally Rooney’s "perfectly observed" début Conversations with Friends (Faber) and the eagerly anticipated first instalment of Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust trilogy, La Belle Sauvage (Penguin/David Fickling Books), were among the critics’... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ali smith #sally rooney #eagerly anticipated #philip pullman #dust trilogy #favourite titles


Zadie Smith to write first historical novel

Zadie Smith is publishing two new books with Penguin imprint Hamish Hamilton, including her first historical novel. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zadie Smith adaptation gets BAFTA nods

The adaptation of Zadie Smith's NW (Hamish Hamilton) has been nominated for two BAFTAs.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zadie smith