marlon james
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The Rumpus Interview with Rion Amilcar Scott
Rion Amilcar Scott discusses his story collection Insurrections, father relationships, hip-hop, knowing when to abandon a project, and choosing not to workshop certain stories.
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All Talk, No Action
Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, pens an essay for Lit Hub pointing out the meagerness of diversity as a meaningful end goal for creative communities. He critiques the repeated use of diversity panels, as they merely…
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Yellow Is the New Black
Publishers know that most book buyers can’t adhere to the age old adage to never judge a book by its cover. The result has been an uptick in yellow book covers as book sales move online. Yellow is an eye-catching color, especially…
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The Sunday Rumpus Interview: Louise Erdrich
The esteemed author talks about the themes of justice, atonement, and reparation in her fifteenth novel, LaRose, and about the importance of Planned Parenthood to her success.
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The Rumpus Interview with Manuel Gonzales
Manuel Gonzales talks about his new novel, The Regional Office is Under Attack!, transitioning from nonprofit work to teaching, and how to zig when a trope wants you to zag.
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The Sunday Rumpus Interview: A Roundtable on Writing, Editing, and Race
With Lisa Factora-Borchers, Patrice Gopo, Jennifer Niesslein, Tamiko Nimura, and Deesha Philyaw.
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White Women Dominate Publishing?
Man Booker prize-winner Marlon James was right: the people who work in publishing are overwhelmingly white and female. New data shows that publishing executives, editors, and the staff behind books are predominantly white women: At the executive level, publishing is 86…
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In Her Own Words
Over at NPR, authors Claire Vaye Watkins and Marlon James talk about Watkins’s recent essay, “On Pandering,” which she describes as: …internalizing the sexism that I’d encountered in the writing world, and the world beyond, and adjusting what I wrote…
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On Pandering—to White Women
For the Guardian, Sian Cain investigates Marlon James’s recent series of criticisms that accuse publishers of “pandering to white women.” James, the 2015 Man Booker prize winner, has been particularly vocal about the subject on social media. In a recent Facebook post,…
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Taylor Swift, Feat. Willie Shakespeare
Taylor Swift, Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell, Mumford and Sons—they’ve all got a surprising musical forefather in the Bard of Avon. Looking for more literary musical references of the week? Check out the favorite tracks of Man Booker prize-winning author Marlon…
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Famous Rejections Show Publishing’s Shortcomings
Rejection is often cited as an essential part of writing. Rejection is even celebrated, as if great works must be first overlooked and then pulled from obscurity. Consider Marlon James, 2015 Man Booker Prize winner: his first manuscript was rejected eighty times.…
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Marlon James Knows It’s Over
When you’re 15 and a reject, you’re looking for communion, even if you would never admit it. I wanted a painting of myself, but I got a mirror instead. Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, on…