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 ]
Zaffre has bagged an "unbelievably timely" debut novel from Helly Acton, which has already been optioned for TV, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-14 12:23:54 UTC ]
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Ocean Vuong reads from his stunning debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-06-14 12:00:01 UTC ]
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Allen & Unwin will publish the debut novel by Sophie Hardcastle, a research assistant at Oxford University, exploring “the female ill-treatment at the hands of men”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-13 21:53:54 UTC ]
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Picador has pre-empted a “razor-sharp, brutal and darkly comic” debut novel from recent NYU graduate Raven Leilani about a black millennial woman pulled into a suburban white couple’s life. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-13 21:43:52 UTC ]
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“We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other,” explains Samantha Heather Mackey, the narrator of Mona Awad’s new novel, “Bunny.” “Seriously. Bunny. … Bunny, I love you. I love you, Bunny.” Awad does so many things right in “Bunny,” her follow-up to her 2016 debut novel,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-11 15:00:00 UTC ]
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For more than a year, the Observer writer has been probing a darkness at the heart of Silicon Valley. Last week, at a TED talk that became a global viral sensation, she told the tech billionaires they had broken democracy. What happened next?If Silicon Valley is the beast, then TED is its belly.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indonesia is the country of focus at the London Book Fair this year and recently at Frankfurt - to what extent do you think Indonesian literature is finally having it's moment in the spotlight? I cannot say for certain what these one-off ‘spotlights’ on Indonesian literature would mean for... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-02-08 10:06:53 UTC ]
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Authorities in Texas have charged a 20-year-old man in the shooting death of a 7-year-old black girl who was killed while riding in a vehicle with her family. The Harris County Sheriff's Office announced early Sunday that Eric Black Jr. was charged with capital murder in the death of Jazmine... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Facebook defends its handling of Russian political interference, an ex-employee published another scathing critique of the company's culture. Facebook "has a black people problem," Mark S. Luckie wrote in a lengthy internal memo circulated earlier this month and made public on Facebook... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke have turned a dream into a hot publishing property – a self-help guide for black womenIn March 2015, Elizabeth Uviebinené had a brainwave that a less determined 22-year-old might have dismissed as a water-cooler pipe dream. It was ignited by a single chapter... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the two and a half years since its launch, UCL Press has made considerable strides. Benedicte Page reports. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The yet-to-be-titled book is scheduled for publication in 2018 and will trace Clapper's career in the military and his six and a half years as President Obama’s senior intelligence advisor. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For many people in the U.S., the phrase “Jewish cooking” calls to mind a specific kind of dish: “heavy, old-fashioned, and maybe not very good for one’s health,” says Kim Lim, assistant editor at Skyhorse. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lucy Dauman, assistant editor at HarperCollins for crime and thrillers, is joining Little, Brown Book Group as commissioning editor at Sphere Fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The absence of any black, Asian or minority ethnic writers on next year’s World Book Night list provoked an outcry and a Twitterstorm. We asked writers and leading figures within the industry what can be done to encourage greater diversity in British publishingLatest work: Meatspace (Friday... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At a time when black people are disrupting presidential campaign speeches nationwide in an effort to be recognized as human beings, "Negroland," the new memoir by Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic Margo Jefferson, offers poignant insight into what it means to have been raised in the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate has appointed Anna Kelly to the position of commissioning editor. Kelly, who is currently assistant editor at Hamish Hamilton, will take up the role on the 17th March. Kelly said she is “very excited” to join the company. “Fourth Estate is home to a dazzling... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Murray Press imprint Two Roads has hired Kate Hewson as senior non-fiction editor. Two Roads’ editorial assistant Fede Andornino has also been promoted to assistant editor. Hewson, who will report to Two Roads’ publisher Lisa Highton, joins Two Roads on 2nd February from Icon, where she... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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