Smith’s claim that she is writing about nothing is really her way of renouncing any expectation that her memoir should be anchored by a readily defined plot. This isn’t a story in which a lot of things happen.
Marlon James, who this week became the first Jamaican to win the Man Booker Prize, represents a new generation of Caribbean novelists.
Neil Hall/Reuters
Marlon James won the Booker Prize this week with a book that focuses on the unrest and violence of 1970s Jamaica, a troubled chapter that continues to shape the island nation’s present - and its future.
Every year thousands of students read George Orwell’s 1984 and are doubtless convinced that its perspective on language and power is “definitive”. Except that it’s not; and hasn’t been since at least the 1970s.
Manuel Harlan/Melbourne Festival
Many still regard George Orwell’s 1984 and its message about the nature of language and power “definitive”. But globalisation has revolutionised how we communicate; 1984 tells us nothing about our future.
Marlon James becomes the first Jamaican to win the Man Booker Prize, from a shortlist of novels which reshaped the English language.
A new study examines the responses of Australian authors, publishers and readers to global changes in the contemporary publishing environment.
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A study into the responses of Australian authors, publishers and readers to global changes in the contemporary publishing environment suggests authors are being innovative, but financial rewards can be elusive.
Indonesian literature is in the global spotlight at the world’s largest book festival.
Jack Rice
A brutal anti-communist purge 50 years ago plunged its literature into obscurity. But now, Indonesia is the Guest of Honour of the world’s largest book festival. What do you know about its literature?
Nobel Prize for Literature winner Svetlana Alexievich.
Reuters
Employing a unique literary method that blurred the genres of oral history and documentary prose, the Nobel Prize for Literature winner told the stories of a traumatized people.
Giving voice to the voiceless.
Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA
Claudia Rankine, winner of the Forward Prize, has provoked discussions about poetry and race in the US. Why are these conversations not happening in the UK?
While legal precedent makes banning books difficult, it still happens.
Since 1982, over 11,000 books have been challenged by individuals seeking to have them banned from schools or libraries.
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The Book Council of Australia began to take shape last week when MUP director Louise Adler was announced as its chair. But what is its purpose, and how will it embrace the industry’s new voices?