The heart of World Book Day is encouraging book haters to become book lovers, to tackle the elitist stereotypes around reading, to give a child a form of escapism. How can we not justify this scheme being useful for adults?
Give the people books: Why World Book Day tokens should be available to all
‘Love has no nationality’: Minority Writers & Stereotyping
“When I write, I’m not a woman, I’m not a Moroccan, I’m not a Muslim, I am whatever I want.… Love has no nationality,” says author Leïla Slimani. This raises the question, and a paradox for our age: Should authors from a minority background be restricted to writing novels based on their own experience?
YA Fiction is Leading the Way in Representation
Mainstream literature can learn a lot from YA fiction about writing characters. It should be remembered that not all characters need to be straight and white. YA provides a great, safe place for BAME and LGBT+ writers and readers alike to see themselves represented.
Lie to Me: Literary Memoir in a Post-Truth Era
Call it the Trump effect: “post-truth” was named Oxford Dictionaries 2016 word of the year. It is no coincidence that the literary memoir has appeared in abundance on shelves ever since.
The Language of Coronavirus
Over the past few weeks, it has become pretty clear that if there’s one thing the journalism industry loves more than political acronyms, immigration, or Princes Diana, it’s a good, old-fashioned disease story.
Stephen King: The ‘It’ Man of Screen Horror
One of the most successful and prolific horror writers of all time, Stephen King has sold over 350 million copies of his novels since the start of his career. King’s kingdom expands further than the territories of literature, however, with a new crop of cinematic adaptations gaining worldwide praise and success.
The Power of #Bookstagram
Rainbow colour-coded bookshelves, special edition hardbacks surrounded by fairy lights, atmospheric coffee shop scenes with a splayed open paperback on the table – this is what you can expect to see when scrolling through the 39 million posts under the ‘bookstagram’ hashtag on Instagram.
A Vaccine for Coronavirus Racism
On the bus back to my accommodation yesterday, a little boy around the age of 8 waved at me from the sidewalk, then yelled “CORONAVIRUS!” before dissolving into giggles with his friends.
Little Women, Big Hype: Re-Branding a Classic
With the novel celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2018 and the release of its sixth film adaption in 2019, Little Women has seen a recent surge in popularity. To what extent do film adaptations ‘re-brand’ the original book
Kill Your Darlings, Butcher Your Books
On the 21st January 2020, Alex Cristofi went from the peaceful quiet life of editor and author to being branded as a “book murderer”. Cristofi had, as his crime, cut three large books in half to make them easier to carry and read.
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