Sort of Nothing Like A Book Club: Issue 41

This weeks' editor:
Kate

Hello,

Welcome to Sort of Nothing Like A Book Club, the newsletter from Creative CoLab.

November is National Novel Writing Month. Beginning in 1999, it started as a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. Now each year, hundreds of thousands of people spend November writing and creating novels.

Inspired by this, I've been looking into writing as creative practice, a expressive art, and looking at the debates happening in the world of literature.

Read on to find out what we discovered...

Diversifying The Bookshelf - The Importance of Representation in Children's Literature

In this article I look at why representation is so important in children's books. I explore how these books can act as a 'mirror' and also a 'window' - either reflecting our own identity or giving insight into other experiences and why this is so important for children.

Just How White Is The Book industry?
This article written in December 2020 examines how the book industry is predominantly white. It studies data collected on English language fiction books published between 1950 and 2018. It was found that of 7,124 books of which they identified the authors race, 95% of them were written by white people. It also looks at action that publishers are taking following the 2020 BLM movement.

'Solace, joy and a lifeline': Why queer literature is vital for people growing up LGBTQ+
In this article, writer and editor Amelia Abraham speaks to three people from different generations and backgrounds about the role reading played in finding their identity. They speak about books that lead to personal revelations and gave them a language for their own identities they didn't previously have.

Creative Access x Penguin Random House work in publishing week panel
This is a recording of a webinar hosted during Work in Publishing Week. Past and present employees of Penguin Random House discuss getting into the publishing industry, non-traditional entry points, publishing MAs and hints and tips for applying for jobs in the industry.

Writers HQ
Writers HQ are a fantastic organisation and community that aim to motive you to get writing. They do writing retreats, online courses (many of which are free) and also have a facebook community to chat, get inspiration and feedback from fellow writers.

Writing West Midlands
Writing West Midlands evolved from the work of the Birmingham Book Festival established in 1999. The organisation is now the literature development agency for the region. They host many events, course and workshops for adult and young people across the region.

And Lastly...

There is a common saying that everyone has a book inside of them. And taking part in NaNoWriMo is a perfect opportunity to gain motivation and get started. Writing is cathartic, relaxing, creative and fun. It doesn't matter if it's not the next best seller - write your story.

If you have anything you'd like to share about what we've looked at in this issue we'd love for you to get in touch!

Bye!