Lara Pawson: “I like to write with rules. It pushes my mind into strange places”
newstatesman.com – Sunday October 20, 2024
The Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted author on making art from objects, and what civil wars taught her about human nature.
Lara Pawson was born in London in 1968 and studied politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Between 1996 and 2007, she worked as a journalist, mainly for the BBC World Service. She lived in Angola, Ivory Coast, Mali and Ghana, and travelled throughout Africa, before returning to London, where she now lives. Her first book In the Name of the People: Angola’s Forgotten Massacre was published in 2014, and her experiences as a reporter covering civil wars in Angola and Ivory Coast informed her “fragmentary memoir” This Is the Place to Be (2016).
Pawson’s third book, Spent Light – another fragmentary work – is a book of objects. From a toaster that recalls a story of horrifying violence heard on a bus ride in Andalucía to a brass door handle that retains the spirit of the east London ironmonger who made it, everything that meets the narrator’s eye connects to a personal memory or historical event, in a chain of shocking, funny, revelatory associations. “It is impossible to predict,” the Goldsmiths Prize judge Sara Baume wrote, “at the beginning of almost every paragraph of Spent Light, where it will have taken the reader by the end.”
‘We’re losing talent’: authors call on Government to fund writing centre in North
inews.co.uk – Sunday October 20, 2024
More than 80 writers have signed an open letter to the Government in support of establishing a centre for the writing industries in the North East
“Hilary Mantel once said she was simply resigned to the fact that as soon as she opened her mouth people thought she was an idiot,” says Pat Barker, the award-winning novelist.
“Anybody who thought she was an idiot for more than five seconds was intellectually challenged themselves.”
The affliction she shared with her friend Ms Mantel, the late author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies and a two-time winner of the Booker Prize, was having a northern accent.
Ms Mantel, who died in 2022, hailed from Glossop, Derbyshire, while Ms Barker, now aged 81, grew up in a working-class family in Thornaby on the banks of the River Tees.
As hugely successful women writers from the North, they are a rarity in England’s literary scene.
A 2021 study by the Publishers Association found 80 per cent of the publishing workforce lived in London or the South East, 7 per cent in the East of England and 5 per cent in the South West – all other regions and nations accounted for less than 8 per cent combined.
4 Best-Selling Authors Share Their Best Advice for Finally Writing and Selling That Book Swimming Inside Your Head
entrepreneur.com – Saturday October 19, 2024
The hosts of the "Friends & Fiction" web series share hard-earned lessons they've learned living the writer's life.
"The Titanic was sinking so we jumped in the lifeboat and paddled like hell."
That's how New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews describes the origin of Friends & Fiction, the weekly web series she co-hosts with her best-selling writer pals Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry. Every Wednesday night at 7 pm ET, they chat with authors like Jodi Picoult, Kwame Alexander, and Elin Hilderbrand about their latest works, their tips for writers, and the books they've read that shaped their careers.
In 2020, the four friends had their upcoming book tours abruptly canceled due to the pandemic. They hopped on a Zoom happy hour to commiserate over glasses of rosé and began strategizing best how to reach their readers and support independent bookstores while everyone was stuck at home. As the wine flowed, so did the ideas, eventually manifesting in their wildly popular Friends & Fiction YouTube show and podcast, as well as a Facebook community that has more than 240,000 members.
Since its inception, which featured former host Mary Alice Monroe, the show has branched out with live appearances, an online book club, a thriving merch store, and newsletters in the F&F mix. "We thought we were doing this for ourselves and for bookstores, but the community was sitting there waiting," says Patti Callahan Henry. "I'd like to say we had a plan for all of this, but we basically built a rocket ship on the way to the moon."
Entrepreneur caught up with the four show founders to get their best tips for writers and creators hoping to make an impact. (Sadly, no rosé was consumed during the conversation.) While they each have their own unique approach to their craft, two words sum up their advice: just start!
The Dangers of AI for Writers and How to Use It Wisely
authorlink.com – Saturday October 19, 2024
If you’re a writer still vexed using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in your work, you are not alone. NPR reports that a recent Authors Guild survey found only 13% of writers admitted using AI for activities like brainstorming character ideas and creating outlines. In reality, anyone using the Internet to perform the simplest tasks is actually dancing with AI–consciously or unconsciously.
Whether you are paying a bill, traveling to a new location, or writing the next bestseller, you are interacting with AI. These special algorithms are embedded in every program and device we use, from simple spell-checkers to graphics generation.
And the technology is not going away.
So the question is, how are we writers going to grapple with this monster?
Writers are actually in a powerful position. We are the very ones who can shape whether technology will help or harm us.
Cyber Edge Writing Award Welcomes Submissions for 2025 Contest
afcea.org – Saturday October 19, 2024
AFCEA International’s The Cyber Edge Writing Award contest is now open for submissions. Each year, SIGNAL Media invites thought leaders from industry, academia, government and military backgrounds to address a theme within the cyber domain and share their knowledge with AFCEA’s audience.
The theme for the 2025 contest is Cyber Defense for Critical Infrastructure. Since news broke that Volt Typhoon, a criminal hacker group backed by the Chinese Communist Party, has been infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure networks for the past five years, experts have said that an even larger threat to cybersecurity could be on the horizon. SIGNAL Media is challenging thought leaders to consider this threat and provide convincing solutions.
The panel of industry experts who review the submissions are looking for articles that not only explain the extent of the threat but offer unique suggestions for strengthening critical infrastructure defense and plans for implementation. Whether the articles touch on emerging technologies, training, tactics, techniques, procedures, policies or partnerships, authors should also recognize challenges to implementing solutions and recommendations for overcoming those obstacles.
So hot right now: literary agents going out on their own
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 17, 2024
The sizzling trend across the British Isles for this autumn/winter? No, it’s not wide shoulders or the return of boho—though we are absolutely here for both of those—it is agents from established larger firms going out on their own.
The exhaustive list of new companies springing up includes (but is not limited to) United Agents duo Seren Adams and Kat Aitken starting up Lexington Literary (see their Frankfurt profile); ex-Darley Anderson colleagues Tanera Simons and Laura Heathfield opening Greenstone Literary; The Marsh Agency joint m.d. Jemma McDonagh kickstarting Jemma McDonagh Associates; Kemi Ogunsanwo launching Seventh Agency after leaving The Good Literary Agency; three-time British Book Awards Literary Agent of the Year shortlistee Amanda Harris announcing she would depart YMU at the beginning of 2025 to start an as-yet-unnamed new company; and Marilia Savvides stepping out from the 42 M&P umbrella to found The Plot Agency.
The trend is so red-hot, other publishing professionals have jumped on board: former HarperCollins Ireland boss Conor Nagle set up The Nagle Agency at the beginning of the year, while just two weeks ago ex-David Fickling and Usborne publicist Carolyn May McGlone launched her Oxfordshire-based May Literary Agency.
New Literary Agency Listing: DunnFogg
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 16, 2024
A high-profile independent literary agency that specialises in quality and commercial non-fiction and fiction. Set up in 2021, the agency represents numerous award-winning, bestselling and renowned writers and artists.
'New romance,' a growing literary genre and gold mine for publishers
lemonde.fr – Sunday October 13, 2024
The literary niche, targetting an almost exclusively female audience, saw its sales double last year. Publishers are trying to carve out their slice of the pie.
Peppered with erotic scenes, these romantic tales where an innocent girl falls for a man who is often crazy and sometimes violent but where everything ends well, have the primary advantage of boosting French publishing figures. According to the latest GFK NielsenIQ study, this literary genre, known as "new adult romance", accounted for 1.8% of books sold in 2023, or 6 million copies – and generated €75 million in revenue.
After a decline between 2015 and 2020, the segment is now thriving, having more than doubled compared to 2022. The selection is expanding and appealing to its audience – both adult women and teenage girls. One striking aspect of the study is that the market is heavily concentrated on the top 100 bestselling titles.
So much so that five authors – French novelists C.S. Quill, Emma Green (a pseudonym for a writing duo), Morgane Moncomble, Algerian writer Sarah Rivens and US author Colleen Hoover – who all have huge social media fan bases – can flaunt sales of between 200,000 and over a million copies of each of their books. The film It Ends With Us, adapted from Hoover's book of the same name and released in cinemas on August 14, should further boost sales of this bestseller.
Akoya Publishing launches with slate of 10 books for 2026
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 10, 2024
A new independent publisher, Akoya Publishing, has announced its launch with a slate of 10 books set for 2026. Akoya is a new literary press which "celebrates courageous, visionary and innovative writing". Akoya has been founded by Norwegian entrepreneur Camilla Hagen, with Xenia Stafford as the managing director, and is a "longtime vision coming to life".
The new press will be dedicated to publishing an inspiring range of literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Akoya will begin publishing in spring 2026, with the release of They by award-winning Danish writer Helle Helle, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken.
Hagen acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Gina Winje at Winje Agency with rights sold in six languages. They is the first of three books by Helle Helle that Akoya has acquired, with Hafni Says and Hey Hafni following.
AAP StatShot: US Industry Was up 18.1 Percent for Month of July
publishingperspectives.com – Thursday October 10, 2024
In its July 2024 StatShot report released this morning (October 8), the Association of American Publishers (AAP) cites total revenues across all categories up 18.1 percent over July 2023.
Year-to-date revenues, the AAP reports, were up 7.6 percent at US$7.8 billion for the first seven months of this year.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the AAP’s numbers reflect reported revenue for tracked categories including trade (consumer books); religious presses; educational course materials; and professional publishing.
Authors of the July 2024 AAP StatShot report point out that, “Nearly all categories experienced an uptick year-over-year.”
In the trade category, adult book net sales rose by 23.9 percent in July, compared to the same month in 2023. Both fiction and nonfiction contributed significantly to this growth, with fiction sales up 25.8 percent and nonfiction up 21.4 percent. This contributed to a 9.0-percent year-to-date increase in adult book sales, with fiction growing by 13.4 percent and nonfiction by 4.0 percent.
In children’s and young adult (YA) book, net sales increased by 15.3 percent year over year. Within this sub-category, fiction sales grew 21.0 percent and nonfiction decreased by 6.7 percent. Year to date, this sub-category remains relatively flat with a 0.5-percent decrease.
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