Gesa Stedman rounds up the news, from defunct as well as new literary prizes to delivery crises, slow successes in the North to the huge impact of TikTok on publishing. Read more
diversity
Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 – “Improving Diversity in Publishing”
Frankfurt Book Fair created a “Special Edition” in 2020 and went completely online, allowing me (during the last few weeks of my pregnancy) to participate in a panel called “Improving Diversity in Publishing: Who Can Lead the Change Process?” with the following speakers, chaired by Dr Anamik Saha, Senior Lecturer […] Read more
Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing – Now Go Out and Make a Difference
On 23 June 2020, Dr Anamik Saha (Goldsmiths, University of London) and I launched our report called Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing. We spent the previous year interviewing 113 people in publishing and bookselling, and we set out to challenge the ways ‘diversity’ was talked about. And we wanted to find […] Read more
Book News for May and June 2020
Gesa Stedman goes on a round-trip and gives you the latest on sales figures, endemic racism in the literary field, bookselling during a pandemic, and more. The next Book News will be published after the summer break. Read more
Common People –
“We’ve had enough and we are coming”
(The quote in the title is from the poem “Tough” by Tony Walsh (aka Longfella), published in Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers, ed. by Kit de Waal (Unbound, 2019).) On International Workers Day 2019, the anthology Common People was launched (first in a pub, then at the […] Read more
That Was the Year That Was – The Literary Field in 2017
Gesa Stedman looks at the most important trends of 2017, sums up key events of the year, and is somewhat sceptical about diversity increasing in the literary field in 2018. Diversity? That was the year that was – and what an odd year for the literary field in the […] Read more
#BritLitBerlin 2017: Diverse Voices, New Directions
On 26-28 January, the 32th British Council Literature Seminar opened its doors at the ever-inspiring Werkstatt der Kulturen (link). Seven authors and many seminar participants discussed the topic “Diverse Voices, New Directions”. This is the attempt of a summary plus links for further reading (at the end of the post). Read more
