An Indian-American filmmaker wants fans to help 'fix' Simpsons character Apu
digitalspy.com – Friday May 4, 2018
Indian-American filmmaker Adi Shankar has come up with a solution to the problem of The Simpsons' character Apu: he wants to hand the character over to the fans for a rewrite.
The character has become the subject of controversy in recent months, especially after the release of 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, which discussed the way the long-running TV series has helped to perpetuate the (negative) stereotypes of Indian-Americans, as well as the problems of having a white actor putting on a heavy accent to voice the character.
Lovegrove launches magazine for Caribbean writing
thebookseller.com – Monday April 23, 2018
Sharmaine Lovegrove has launched an online magazine dedicated to Caribbean literature.
Pree offers new contemporary writing from and about the Caribbean, including fiction, non-fiction, essays, interviews and experimental writing giving the authors “international visibility far beyond the islands”.
Lovegrove is publisher of the magazine and also publisher at Little, Brown imprint Dialogue Books, which is dedicated to inclusivity. Joining her at the online magazine is editor-in-chief Annie Paul, who is based at University of the West Indies, and editors include Jamaican writer and environmental activist Diana McCaulay, cultural analyst Isis Semaj-Hall and New York-based essayist Garnette Cadogan. The magazine’s creative director is designer Nerys Hudson.
Richard & Judy 'Search for a Bestseller' competition returns
thebookseller.com – Thursday April 19, 2018
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan are launching their third “Search for a Bestseller” competition to find a promising first-time writer. The prize is a £30,000 publishing deal with Bonnier Zaffre with specialist advice from literary agency Furniss Lawton.
The competition is supported by W H Smith and will open to unpublished writers today (19th April 2018). Writers must submit 10,000 words, plus a synopsis of the novel and the work must be a piece of original fiction aimed at adults. The full terms and conditions can be found on the Richard and Judy website.
Man Booker International Prize shortlist a boon for small publishers
theconversation.com – Friday April 13, 2018
Six books, six languages, two former winners and a bonanza for independent publishers: the Man Booker International Prize – the UK’s most prestigious prize for translated fiction – has announced its 2018 shortlist. Whittled down from a longlist of 13 titles spanning the globe, the six titles to make the cut are translated from Arabic, French, Hungarian, Korean, Spanish and Polish.
This year’s nominations have been selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by novelist Lisa Appignanesi with fellow writers Hari Kunzru and Helen Oyeyemi alongside poet and translator Michael Hofmann and journalist Tim Martin. The shortlist includes Han Kang and Deborah Smith – who won the prize in 2016 for The Vegetarian – and László Krasznahorkai – who won the prize in its former iteration in 2015 – when it was awarded for an achievement in fiction evident in a body of work.
Authors hit back at Self's claim 'the novel is doomed'
thebookseller.com – Monday March 19, 2018
Authors have hit back at writer Will Self's assertion that the novel is “doomed to become a marginal cultural form”.
Self’s interview in the Guardian, published on Saturday (17th March), featured insights into his thoughts on the Iraq war, e-readers, the future of fiction and female writers.
The headline of the interview with journalist Alex Clark, ‘The novel is doomed’, attracted much debate on social media with writers such as Colin Barrett, Roxane Gay and Joanne Harris disagreeing with Self.
From romance to rhetoric and from sonnets to satire: the Canterbury festival poet of the year competition 2018 is launched
firstwriter.com – Friday March 9, 2018
The Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2018 is now open for entries.
This is the 12th year of the Competition which has grown into an internationally respected event and forms a major part of the Festival year. In 2016 there were a total of 391 entries from all over the world and in 2017 there were 311 poems submitted.
Each year around 35 poems are longlisted from the entries received and these are published in an anthology; copies are available from the Festival Office for £5 each. Poets included in the booklet receive a free copy.
SoA challenges publishers to reveal how much they pay authors
thebookseller.com – Friday March 2, 2018
The chief executive of the Society of Authors has challenged publishers to reveal how much they pay writers in their annual financial accounts.
Publishers' profits have grown while authors' pay has shrunk in recent years, Nicola Solomon has argued in an articlefor The Bookseller. As a result, the chief of the trade body is calling on publishers to state in their financial accounts how much they pay authors, illustrators and translators in advances, royalties and secondary income.
Welsh to scout for Eccles Fisher
thebookseller.com – Wednesday February 28, 2018
Rosie Welsh, previously of the Jonathan Clowes Literary Agents and The Wylie Agency, is joining Eccles Fisher Associates as a literary scout.
Welsh, most recently an agent at Jonathan Clowes for over two years, was previously a royalties manager at Wylie for over three years.
Berthoud joins Jo Unwin's agency
thebookseller.com – Wednesday February 28, 2018
Ella Berthoud is joining Jo Unwin as a literary agent at JULA, and will build a list focusing on literary, reading group and children’s fiction.
Berthoud published her co-authored books The Novel Cure (Canongate) in 2013 and The Story Cure (Canongate) in 2017 with Susan Elderkin. As well as being a successful artist, she is a bibliotherapist at The School of Life.
Lindsay Literary Agency launches scholarship for under-represented children's writers
thebookseller.com – Tuesday February 20, 2018
The Lindsay Literary Agency is sponsoring a scholarship place for an "under-represented" writer of children's fiction at the Winchester Writers’ Festival 2018.
Open to unagented YA and middle grade writers, of any age, from an under-represented background (including but not limited to LGBTQIA, BAME and people with disabilities), the scholarship will cover the cost of three days at the festival which takes place 15th - 17th June.
The scholarship includes access to all workshops and talks at the Winchester Writers’ Festival, four one-to-one appointments with industry experts, all meals, accommodation and travel.
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