Her best-selling debut has sold 6m copies and been made into a hit TV series. The author discusses how a bad day in the office was the spark for worldwide success
Joanne Harris has spoken out against an "absurd" focus on debuts in the publishing world.
The Chocolat author urged publishers to support existing writers in their careers rather than pursuing one debut after another, during a Q&A held with The Empowered Author founder Sam Missingham on Monday 23rd September. Read more
Authors are being told to write under pseudonyms to present themselves as debut writers and feed the publishing industry's "obsession" with new, marketable voices, Joanne Harris has said. Read more
I continued to work on the manuscript anyway. Two and half years in, I got an agent who promised we'd revise a bit and then send it out. I worked on many revisions with her but they never coalesced into a project she thought she could sell. Through all the effort I learned about character development though; I learned about plotting and pacing; I learned about voice. Read more
There's Granta's list of the Most Promising Authors Under 40. There's The Guardian's 20 Writers Under 40 to Watch. There's The New Yorker's 20 Under 40. And I'm sure there are others. Lots and lots of others.
When did forty become the cut-off age for discussing "promising" debut authors?
Debut novelist Anne Charnock searched for two years for a publisher, and finally self-published. Then Amazon offered her a contract. She has since been in contention for two awards, pipped to a Kitschie this week by Ann Leckie. Read more
'I'm very reassuringly honest. It's a job as well as a calling. It's my living - I'm the chief breadwinner in my house. My husband is retired, he supported me through the two decades while I wasn't making enough to live on, and was doing all kinds of things to do with writing to survive - judging competitions, running workshops, appraising manuscripts.
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more
For the past five years or so, I've read books on my phone. The practice started innocently enough. I write book reviews from time to time, and so publishers sometimes send me upcoming titles that fall roughly within my interests. Read more
The Guardian calls Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill "Britain's most-followed poet on social media"-she has 780,000 Instagram followers and 180,000 TikTok followers, and her Instapoetry has been reshared by the likes of Khloe Kardashian, Alanis Morissette, and Sam Smith-and she has published seven volumes of poetry and two novels in the U.K. But she is far less known on this side of the pond. Read more
Nikkolas Smith knows a thing or two about book bans. The illustrator has created five picture books over the last three years-four of which have been yanked off library shelves. There's I am Ruby Bridges, about the civil rights icon; That Flag about the confederate flag; Born on the Water, which explores slavery; and The Artivist which features a child supporting trans kids.
Simon & Schuster has acquired the largest Dutch publishing group Veen Bosch & Keuning, including all of its publishers in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as sister companies Thinium and Bookchoice.
The Publishers Association (PA) has criticised the government's response to a House of Lords report on AI, saying that it has failed to make "any tangible commitments to protect the creative industries against mass copyright infringement".
'A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances in which it is used.’
'I'm very reassuringly honest'
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more