The author of a debut novel about diversity in the workplace on how black people act around white people, embracing her hair, and what’s changed a year after George Floyd’s murderZakiya Dalila Harris was born and raised in Connecticut and is currently based in Brooklyn. Now a full-time writer, she previously worked in book publishing, an experience she draws on in her highly anticipated debut novel, The Other Black Girl, which combines thriller with social satire to tell the story of Nella, the only black employee at a fictional publishing house, until Hazel joins the company. The book charts how the two become frenemies, explores the challenges of surviving in a systemically racist workplace, and was the subject of a 15-way auction prior to publication in the US.What were your own experiences in publishing and how have they played into the book?I worked in publishing for two and a half years. I was an editorial assistant then promoted to assistant editor. I felt fortunate, as a part of me enjoyed editing and I felt I was good at it, but it’s also an exhausting job for an entry-level person in terms of the pay. I was also one of the very few black people in the company – it wasn’t as bad as Nella in the book, but I was the only black woman in editorial in a full-time position for a while. I thought: why does it feel like we’re living in 1955 still, in terms of what we value? Publishing is such a rich, easily spoofable world.Code-switching is the act of switching up how... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-06-05 17:00:15 UTC ]
“Everything is copy.” That was an Ephron family saying that I’ve adopted as my own maxim, and it is in that spirit that my debut novel A World Between––a tale of two queer women of color, Eleanor and Leena, who grow away from and towards each other over the course of 13 years––is a web […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-15 08:48:45 UTC ]
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Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing told the story of two branches of a Ghanaian family, one descended from a woman who marries a white slave trader and whose line stays in Ghana, another descended from her half-sister who is captured and sent to America in bondage. Gyasi’s second novel... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-09-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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An excerpt from a debut novel Kirkus calls "hypnotizing and inscrutable." The post ‘Pink Mountain on Locust Island’: Featured Fiction from Jamie Marina Lau appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-09-09 10:00:12 UTC ]
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“The Discomfort of Evening,” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, winner of this year’s International Book Prize, is about strictly religious dairy farmers mourning a son’s death. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-08 16:16:33 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker has won a debut novel by K-Ming Chang in a "heated" five-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-07 06:51:52 UTC ]
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Oprah’s Flatiron imprint nabs a nonfiction title by a Nobel laureate, Holt buys a debut novel by a PRH UK editor, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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HQ has scooped The Steel Girls, a debut novel from journalist and university lecturer Michelle Rawlins, in a three-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-01 19:21:33 UTC ]
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Ros Anderson’s debut novel may not break new ground, but the depth of its first-person presentation is a quiet triumph. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-30 06:19:39 UTC ]
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In 'Transcendent Kingdom,' Yaa Gyasi's second novel, she focuses on America — its promise and peril — and on one Ghanaian American family in Alabama. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-08-27 16:49:47 UTC ]
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A story collection offers a cleareyed survey of the Black American experience, and a debut novel traverses hundreds of versions of Earth. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-27 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Janet, the acerbic narrator of Lucie Britsch’s debut novel Sad Janet, is a resister. She’s sad—has been for most of her life—and doesn’t want to take the pills that big pharma, her mother, and the culture at-large is pushing on her to “fix” her. She’s content with sadness, and she’s not into the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Tinder Press has acquired a debut novel by Naomi Ishiguro, former bookseller and bibliotherapist at Mr B’s Emporium in Bath. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-20 02:07:21 UTC ]
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Rebecca Watson’s debut novel has a simple story line and an experimental approach. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-18 07:39:15 UTC ]
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Allen & Unwin is publishing Victoria Park, the debut novel of British teacher Gemma Reeves, set in contemporary east London. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-14 03:42:15 UTC ]
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Xander Miller’s debut novel asks how we can stay together when the world is coming apart. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-11 18:21:58 UTC ]
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Easu McCaulley takes on the 'barbershop or barbeque questions' Black people have about how the Bible addresses their lives —and reveals God's love. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“The Party Upstairs” focuses on the tenants of one building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Continue reading at The Economist
[ The Economist | 2020-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate has won a five-publisher auction for the “dazzling” debut novel from PRH assistant editor Kasim Ali, in a six-figure two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-06 21:45:48 UTC ]
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“The Party Upstairs” focuses on the tenants of one building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Continue reading at The Economist
[ The Economist | 2020-08-06 14:59:44 UTC ]
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Raven Leilani’s debut novel follows an interracial, intergenerational affair as it leads to an unusual redefinition of family. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-08-06 09:00:04 UTC ]
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