Round-up 20

A Cupboard Full of Coats
The publishers Oneworld contacted me a couple of months ago to tell me about a book that they'd guessed (correctly as it turns out) that I'd be interested in - Yvvette Edwards' first book is called A Cupboard Full of Coats,  It is set in the East End of London and has at its centre the West Indian community from the Caribbean island of Montserrat. I am not yet that far into it at this moment, but I am loving it so far. I shall be reviewing it in more detail at a later date, but here is a link about it: more information  which also includes a further link to a piece that Yvvette had published recently in The Independent.

The Barrenness
At our April book club session we invited along a new author, Sonja Lewis, to tell us about her new book The Barrenness. Sonja has admirably published the book herself, it is a fictional story that has come out of her own experiences on whether or not motherhood was the right thing her. The story takes the lead character Lille, back into the southern states of the US to reconnect with older relatives and to sort out the details of a  disputed family will. It is very much the story of families across the generations analysing how the family goes on. In the discussion at the book group Sonja explained her decision to publish the book herself and described how she decided that the skills that she needed most - the specialist knowledge of a good PR - has made a difference to the profile of the book. We were also fascinated by Sonja's experiences of taking part in the London Book Fair to promote her book. Here's a link to an interview that Sonja did with The Voice newspaper recently.

Graphic Novels
Pleased to hear that the graphic novel publishers SelfMadeHero have published a book of the film Chico and Rita. It is a beautiful cartoon film, set in 1940s Cuba and New York with the original jazz music performances of the era providing the soundtrack. I particularly enjoyed the meticulous re-creations of original Dior dresses of the period (in the film) and will be looking forward to seeing how they appear in the book. It is an elegant romantic film - with a bitter sweet happy ending, and I have to say that I enjoyed very much. It recently came out on DVD - happy to recommend it. The film came first and then they did the book - bet that does not happen often these days!

I only recently made the connection with the drawings by the Swedish/Kenyan Catherine Anyango  illustrator of last year's graphic novel of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. This was also published by SelfMadeHero, and the drawings are every bit as frightening as the celebrated - by some - novel.  Here's Catherine explaining (last September) how she approached creating the images for Heart of Darkness: radio interview.

Guardian book website
I am impressed by the revamped Guardian book website - its easy to use and a real resource for book lovers everywhere.  The Children's Bookclub is pretty wonderful too it has a link to Malorie Blackman, explaining why she did her latest book Boys Don't Cry from the the perspective of a teenage father.

Helen Oyeyemi

Look out for Helen Oyeyemi's new book Mr Fox - really enjoyed the interview that she did for the magazine for reading groups called newbooks - she really does sound like a free spirit. No idea why I've yet to read any of her books - I have two. Mr Fox is Helen's fourth novel. Helen will be talking about her work at an event at the Southbank centre: information here.

The Caine Prize
Writers from the south of Africa dominate the this year's Caine Prize shortlist. Two from South Africa, one each from Botswana and Zimbabwe, with the final contender being from East Africa's Uganda. All the stories are available online on the website. The Caine Prize 2011.  All the authors will be taking part in an event, talking about their work and doing readings in London: information here.
The winner will be announced in Oxford on the 11 July.