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 ]
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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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William Morrow bets on a debut novel from Victoria Benton Frank, Harlan Coben re-ups at Grand Central, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Stephen Buoro’s debut novel The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, which will be published by Bloomsbury in April 2023. Here’s how the publisher describes the novel: Andrew Aziza is a fifteen-year-old boy living in Kontagora in Northern... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-19 13:30:34 UTC ]
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The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece spans 80 years and is said to be ‘thoughtful, poignant and hugely entertaining’Oscar winner Tom Hanks’s debut novel has been announced, and is due out next year. The book, Hanks’s second foray into fiction – he published a short story collection... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-27 14:01:40 UTC ]
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Critics raved over 'The Old Drift,' Namwali Serpell's epic debut novel. Our critic prefers her more difficult, intimate follow-up, 'The Furrows.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-09-27 13:00:37 UTC ]
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By the time I read Hilary Mantel’s 1996 review of Kate Atkinson’s debut novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum in the London Review of Books, the novel had been a favorite of mine for over a decade. My mother gave me the book when I was in high school—both of us entirely unaware of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-23 14:57:31 UTC ]
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Meghan Gilliss’ debut novel Lungfish follows Tuck, her husband Paul, and their toddler Agnes as they all squat on Tuck’s dead grandmother’s island in the Gulf of Maine after running out of money. While Paul undergoes substance withdrawal in the rustic house, Tuck and Agnes survive on whatever... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-09-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Angela Merkel’s memoir goes to St Martin’s, Berkley buys a debut novel by a former American Ballet Theatre ballerina, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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'Luda,' debut novel by veteran comics writer Grant Morrison, is a camp spectacular in which patriarchy is defined as a kind of magical Oedipal drag. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-09-02 15:30:56 UTC ]
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When the “Crime Junkie” co-host’s debut novel came out, it didn’t seem real until she signed copies to the sound of boarding announcements. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-09-01 19:00:31 UTC ]
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Set on the idyllic New England campus of an elite art school called Wrynn, and situated against the backdrop of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Antonia Angress’ debut novel Sirens & Muses is an exemplary depiction of what can occur at the intersection of art and adolescence. This... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-09-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Congratulations to Tess Gunty, whose critically acclaimed debut novel The Rabbit Hutch has just won the inaugural Waterstones debut fiction prize. The novel (about four teenagers—recently aged out of the state foster-care system—living together in an apartment building in the post-industrial... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 15:48:11 UTC ]
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Tess Gunty’s debut novel The Rabbit Hutch follows the inhabitants of a low-income housing complex, called the Rabbit Hutch, in Vacca Vale, Indiana. It’s a loud novel, full of many voices, since there are many inhabitants of the Rabbit Hutch, some of whom we know by apartment number and some by... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-18 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The 24-year-old’s debut novel Bestiary gained plaudits in 2020. Now her love of fairy tales and queer literature has led to a collection of short storiesK-Ming Chang’s origins as a writer can be traced back to when she was approximately eight years old. At school in California, she would amuse... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-17 08:32:12 UTC ]
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A debut novel views a middle-aged organic farmer through the eyes of a 21-year-old woman he preys upon. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-08-15 19:37:36 UTC ]
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