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 ]
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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Sneha, the 22-year-old protagonist of Sarah Thankam Mathews’ debut novel All This Could Be Different, is the dutiful immigrant daughter. Despite the long recession, she bagged a corporate job right after college, and a free apartment in Brewers Hill, Milwaukee. She regularly sends money home to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The latest from Jamie Ford, a debut novel by Anthony Marra, and two Jane Austen classics are among the titles selected by book clubs across the country for the month of August. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Taymour Soomro’s debut novel Other Names for Love begins with a son flinching at the sound of his father’s voice. Sixteen-year-old Fahad has been ordered to spend the summer with Rafik, his authoritarian father who manages their family farm in Sindh, Pakistan. It’s on the train ride there that... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Gentrification takes center stage in Cleyvis Natera’s debut novel Neruda on the Park, which follows the different reactions the members of the Guerrero family have to the impending redevelopment of their predominantly Dominican New York City neighborhood.When a neighboring tenement is demolished... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Before we begin, I must confess to my bias. I am not an objective reader, so in some ways I have already failed. A few months before I read Elif Batuman’s debut novel The Idiot, I had a conversation with a friend that unlocked a safe in my brain. After, there was nowhere I could […] The post... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-19 11:05:00 UTC ]
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An excerpt from Tess Gunty's debut novel The Rabbit Hutch. The post Where Life Lives On appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2022-07-19 10:43:28 UTC ]
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For founder and owner Jazzi McGilbert, the concept bookshop and creative space is a physical offering for Black people in L.A. to be themselves. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-06-17 19:58:19 UTC ]
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Leila Mottley’s debut novel about a teenager’s serial abuse is based on a true story. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-07 09:00:12 UTC ]
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‘Careful when you turn your eyes towards someone, you allow them the chance to turn theirs on you.’ Tice Cin on her debut novel Keeping the House. The post Podcast | Tice Cin appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2022-06-03 13:00:57 UTC ]
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For some reason, whenever I sit down to make this list of paperbacks coming out this month, Justin Timberlake’s 2006 hit always gets stuck in my head: We’re bringing paperback (yeah). * Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl (Atria, June 7) “The Other Black Girl is about many... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-01 13:30:03 UTC ]
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I wrote the bulk of my debut novel between 2016 and 2020, years of intense political tension and heightened concern for our planet and the people we love. My debut novel, Walk the Vanished Earth, is a speculative exploration of what it means to be both a parent and a child at the mercy of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-01 08:51:21 UTC ]
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Katie Runde’s debut novel takes readers on a stroll down a sandy boardwalk and into a family facing a big loss. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-05-24 09:00:07 UTC ]
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