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 ]
Millie Bobby Brown of 'Stranger Things' will release her debut novel later this year. 'Nineteen Steps' is inspired by her grandma's experiences during WWII. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-24 22:14:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Formative love affairs and sentimental educations are classic novelistic territory. And for good reason— these connections serve as catalysts, tell stories taut with tension, and leave characters forever changed. Madelaine Lucas’s debut novel Thirst for Salt describes such a relationship, set in... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When Alice Winn stumbled on the archives of her British boarding school’s newspaper, she discovered a world, only to see it “destroyed and dismantled” during World War I. She brought it back in her novel, “In Memoriam.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-03-05 14:54:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Tracey Rose Peyton is the guest. She is the author of the debut novel Night Wherever We Go, available from Ecco Books. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts! From the episode: Brad Listi: This book really brought into focus for me the awful risks and costs of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-03 09:53:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Alfred A. Knopf will publish the debut novel by Dann McDorman, the executive producer of MSNBC’s 'The Beat with Ari Melber,' this fall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-24 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“The Applicant,” a debut novel by Nazli Koca, features a worldly-wise 20-something Turkish writer who works as a cleaner at a Berlin hostel while struggling to figure out what kind of life she wants to lead. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-14 10:00:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The last few months have been an exciting time in the world of publishing, not only for the litany of debut novel and short story collection releases, but also for the publication of two long gestating, highly anticipated projects by Cormac McCarthy and Katherine Dunn. The 89-year old’s first... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Marisa Crane’s debut novel I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is set outside of our reality: in an America where a cruel form of public shaming has taken the place of prisons. In Exoskeletons we meet Kris, a new mother struggling to see a future for herself and her kid in the wake of her partner’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A debut novel from Kira Yarmysh, a longtime critic of Vladimir Putin, offers an intimate look at political imprisonment. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-06 10:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The young Black woman giggles behind her hands as she sits in the furthest corner of the lecture hall at the DC public library where I’m launching Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, my debut novel about a cast of women, of all ages and backgrounds, who become entangled with a freedom-loving jazz... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-06 09:55:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On an isolated island in Maine, a woman is pushed to the brink to save her family, in Meghan Gilliss’ debut novel “Lungfish.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-01-19 22:19:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Josh Riedel's debut novel 'Please Report Your Bug Here' tries to be both a sendup of circa-2010 Silicon Valley and a futuristic sci-fi cautionary tale. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-18 14:30:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In his debut novel 'Vintage Contemporaries,' Dan Kois tracks two friends with big dreams in '90s New York and pays homage to late author Laurie Colwin. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-01-13 14:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Restless Books buys Immigrant Fiction Prize winner Praveen Herat’s debut, Penguin Press nabs a debut novel about generational trauma, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This past summer, an auntie of mine dusted off an old cardboard box of books from a cluttered storage unit, and handed me a slim blue and gold paperback with soft, slightly frayed corners and a creased spine by Octavia E. Butler. I had never read science fiction that featured a Black girl being... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-12-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Elysha Chang’s A Quitter’s Paradise, the first book on Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint at Zando, forthcoming in June 2023. This debut novel examines the grief of a young woman desperate to detach from the reality of her mother’s death and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-08 14:30:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Fall of Tess Gunty (I speak of Autumn, not ruination) continues apace with news that the Indiana author’s much-ballyhooed debut novel The Rabbit Hutch—the story of a group of residents of a low-income housing community in a fictional Indiana town over the course of one sweltering summer—has... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-29 16:36:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An exclusive excerpt and cover reveal for 'Bark On,' the debut novel by Mason Boyles. The post “You Can’t Hurt Like Me”: A First Look at ‘Bark On’ appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-11-25 11:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The editor-in-chief of Electric Literature sells a debut novel to Random House, Europa takes on a novel by the director of the Turin Book Fair, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The book, “Trespasses,” captures the texture of life in Northern Ireland — details, objects and images that carry “incredible emotional weight.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-10-31 16:21:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this