L’auteur Bryan Washington s’exprime sur l’affaire George Floyd dans le New Yorker

Dans l’article « George Floyd, Houston’s Protests, and Living Without the Benefit of the Doubt » récemment publié par le New Yorker, Bryan Washington évoque ses souvenirs du quartier de Third Ward à Houston au Texas, où a grandi George Floyd, et décrit ses impressions après avoir participé à une manifestation en sa mémoire la semaine dernière. Il fait part de ses réflexions sur ce que le mouvement de soutien à George Floyd signifie pour la société américaine.

Bryan Washington est l’auteur du recueil de nouvelles LOT, paru l’an dernier chez Riverhead Books aux Etats-Unis, et du roman MEMORIAL, à paraître en octobre prochain. Il a remporté de nombreux prix, dont le Dylan Thomas Prize, le Ernest J. Gaines Award, le O’Henry Short Story Prize, et le Lambda Literary Award annoncé le mois dernier. Il fait aussi partie des jeunes auteurs sélectionnés par la National Book Foundation en 2019 (« 5 Under 35 »). Les droits de langue française des deux ouvrages sont toujours disponibles.

ONE TIME de Sharon Creech

From Sharon Creech, Newbery Medal winner and New York Times bestselling author, comes a powerful coming-of-age story of a girl who discovers the endless possibilities her future may hold, with help from a brilliant teacher and a boy with a generous smile.

ONE TIME
by Sharon Creech
HarperCollins, September 2020

Gina Filomena has been told she has an overactive imagination. With her bright clothing and artistic spirit, she’s always felt different from the other kids in her class. That is, until she meets her new neighbor, a mysterious boy named Antonio with a wide, welcoming smile. Add in a creative new teacher, Miss Lightstone, and a world of possibilities opens up for Gina, Antonio, and their classmates. With the help of Antonio and Miss Lightstone, will Gina find the answers to the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be?

Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says.

Joyce Carol Oates remporte le Prix mondial Cino Del Duca 2020

Le prestigieux Prix mondial Cino del Duca vient d’être décerné à Joyce Carol Oates pour l’ensemble de son œuvre.

Souvent considéré comme un tremplin pour le Prix Nobel, le Prix mondial Cino del Duca est l’un des quatre grands prix des fondations de l’Institut de France et récompense une personnalité littéraire ou scientifique « qui, outre ses talents artistiques ou professionnels, s’impose comme un grand humaniste. » Son jury est composé de membres des cinq Académies.

L’autrice américaine, qui aura 82 ans en juin, est l’une des plus grandes écrivaines anglophones contemporaines. On lui doit plus de soixante-dix romans, essais, recueils de nouvelles et de poésie, pièces de théâtre, et romans policiers publiés sous les noms de plume Rosamond Smith et Lauren Kelly. Son œuvre, qui dresse un tableau très critique de la société américaine contemporaine et de ses tensions, a été récompensée par de nombreux prix littéraires. Les romans Reflets en eau trouble, Corky et Blonde ont été finaliste du Prix Pulitzer.

Joyce Carol Oates est publiée en français aux éditions Philippe Rey. Son dernier roman traduit en français, Un livre de martyrs américains sur la remise en cause du droit à l’avortement aux États-Unis, a été finaliste du prix Médicis l’an dernier.

TWELVE de Myriam J. A. Chancy

A novel about crisis — in this case the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 — which explores the way people find ways to cope even in the darkest of times. The messages in Myriam’s novel — those of hope, courage, resilience, and the importance of community — are ideas that will resonate with readers at this time and far into the future.

TWELVE
by Myriam J. A. Chancy
Tin House, publication date TBD

Embracing the ambition of Marlon James’ and the vivid storytelling of Bernadine Evaristo, TWELVE skillfully interweaves the lives of a group of people, all linked through friendships and family, before, during and after the catastrophic Haitian earthquake. Chancy reveals the inner lives of each of her characters, drawing the reader into their hopes, dreams and regrets, and recounts how each of them do — or do not — survive. TWELVE is a masterful literary portrait of a group of citizens in Port au Prince as they struggle in the face of disaster.

« Myriam Chancy has written a gorgeous and compulsively readable, page-turner in the most haunting and stunning prose. This novel is exactly what we need during this time of uncertainty and crisis. Twelve’s characters reveal to us how to bend and not break when facing loss, grief, and displacement. If you love the works of Jesmyn Ward, Edwidge Danticat and J.M Coetzee, this is the book for you! Absolutely breathtaking! » —Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana, nominated for the 2020 Women’s Prize

Myriam J. A. Chancy is a Haitian-Canadian-American writer and a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She is currently the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair of Humanities at Scripps College in California. As a writer, she focuses on Haitian culture, gender, class, sexuality, and Caribbean women’s studies. Her novels have won several awards, including the prestigious Guyana Prize in Literature Caribbean Award.

KIND OF A BIG DEAL de Shannon Hale

Effortlessly funny, incredibly poignant, and deliciously readable, KIND OF A BIG DEAL is Shannon Hale’s much-anticipated first YA outing for 5 years, and a one-of-a-kind novel that will suck you in – literally!

KIND OF A BIG DEAL
by Shannon Hale
Macmillan, August 2020

There’s nothing worse than peaking in high school. Nobody knows that better than Josie Pie. She was kind of a big deal ― she dropped out of high school to be a star! But the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Josie fell. Hard. Ouch. Broadway dream: dead. Meanwhile, her life keeps imploding. Best friend: distant. Boyfriend: busy. Mom: not playing with a full deck? Desperate to escape, Josie gets into reading. Literally. She reads a book and suddenly she’s inside them. And with each book, she’s a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, a 17th century wench in a corset. It’s alarming. But also. . . kind of amazing? It’s the perfect way to live out her fantasies. Book after book, Josie the failed star finds a new way to shine. But the longer she stays in a story, the harder it becomes to escape. Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever?

Shannon Hale started writing books at age ten and never stopped, eventually earning an MFA in Creative Writing. After nineteen years of writing and dozens of rejections, she published The Goose Girl, the first in her award-winning Books of Bayern series. She has published 20+ books for young readers including the Newbery Honor winner Princess Academy. Her novels for the adult crowd include Austenland (now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell). Shannon and her husband Dean Hale have collaborated on several projects, such as Eisner-nominee Rapunzel’s Revenge. They spend non-writing hours corralling their four young children near Salt Lake City, Utah.