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Showing posts from September, 2013

Diversity in Publishing: A Literary Conversation Worth Having

Literary Conversations Worth Having (click link for entire article:  Broader, Better Literary Conversations, Roxanne Gay , Sep. 2013 ) "This wasn't a highly scientific work - with the help of two graduate assistants, Gretchen Schaible and Doug Urbacnski, we simply found all the 2013 reviews we could for several publications and looked at the race/ ethnicity of the writers whose books were covered. The approach, however inelegant, does begin to tell a familiar story. Below is a rough look at what I found; it was too dispiriting to spend time on pie charts stating the obvious." (I've just adapated her chart to fit here, with the hope of readers seeing the value of the article and reading for themselves. Join in the conversation.) Selection of Reviews African  Vs Caucasian Others Bookforum 126 4 vs 115 3 4 Los Angeles Review of Books 483 13 vs 420 24 26 NPR 186 2 vs 165 9 10 New York Review

SMALL AXE SALON a Caribbean platform for criticism - article link

CODEX LEGACY: The Soul Profit of a People (Published, Small Axe Salon) (Click link for entire article) NALIS, P.O.S., Trinidad Bahamas  Diego Martin, Trinidad   "Comparing manuscript word counts between picture books and chapter books, between young adult (YA) novellas and adult novels, it is typical to dismiss our creations as “easier,” altogether “too easy” to be of sincere literary value and concern. Not completely unlike the promising West Indian novelist, however, a children’s book author also needs to be grounded in craft. To display any talent, we depend on the delivery of strong concepts conveyed through a biblical simplicity. Mastering the potency of brevity, too, is a challenge we share. Further, we must trust both illustrator and publisher, albeit at times with words as few as any toddler can speak. We too expect that the entirety of the final publication will fulfil and reveal the intention of the original intellectual property."  (August, 2012, S