A sheepish one, but a horn toot nevertheless. I've been sitting on this
news for some time now, but now that there's a press release, I can
talk. I'm getting my first novel published! It's due out in summer of
1998, so it'll be FOREVER before anyone sees it.
-nalo
"You'll say reality is under no obligation to be interesting. To which
I'd reply that reality may disregard the obligation but that we may not."
-Jorge Luis Borges
NEWS FROM WARNER BOOKS
Warner Books, Inc.
Time & Life Building
1271 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020-1393
(212) 522-7974
(212) 522-7993 fax
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jimmy Franco
(212) 522-1237
WARNER ASPECT ANNOUNCES FIRST NOVEL CONTEST WINNER
NEW YORK, NY - July 22, 1997
Warner Aspect announced today that it will publish the debut novel by the
winner of the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. Nalo Hopkinson, the
author of BROWN GIRL IN THE RING, was chosen as the best entrant out of
four finalists. Almost 1,000 manuscrip ts were sent in from all over the
world. The final selection was made by Hugo Award-winning author C.J.
Cherryh. The contest was open to authors who have not previously
published a novel. Submissions were sent to Warner Aspect between June 1,
1996 and January 31, 1997, with entries from all over the world, including
the United States, Great Britain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Australia and
Germany. BROWN GIRL IN THE RING will be published as a trade paperback
original in July 1998.
BROWN GIRL IN THE RING, set in Toronto after the turn of the millennium,
focuses on "the Burn," the inner city left when Toronto's economic base
collapses. Young Ti-Jeanne lives with her grandmother, who runs a trade
in Caribbean herbal medicine that is vital to the disenfranchised of the
Burn.
"I'm delighted to have found BROWN GIRL IN THE RING," said Betsy Mitchell,
Editor-in-Chief of Warner Aspect. "As the publishers of Octavia E. Butler
and LeVar Burton, Aspect has been searching for other authors of color in
order to expand the boundaries of the SF/fantasy readership. Nalo has a
unique new voice that brings to life a fascinating culture."
C.J. Cherryh praised BROWN GIRL IN THE RING by calling the manuscript "Not
your average urban fantasy, not your average science fiction story, not
your average fantasy, but with something of all three, Caribbean folklore
in a city of the conceivable futur e. Unusual and intriguing in
concept...with all the payoffs you hope for in a story. Plus command of
craft...swinging into and out of dialect and all in a mature style. I
think Nalo Hopkinson has real promise as a writer."
Nalo Hopkinson was born in Jamaica and grew up in Jamaica, Trinidad, and
Guyana, moving to Canada when she was 16. She is a literary grants
officer for the Toronto Arts Council. Of her writing she says, "I use
Afro-Caribbean spirituality, oral history, culture and language in my
stories, but place my characters within the idioms and settings of
contemporary science fiction/fantasy. I see it as subverting the genre,
which speaks so much about the experience of being alienated, but contains
so little wri ting by alienated people themselves."
In BROWN GIRL IN THE RING, a fascinating cast of characters combines with
the rituals and beliefs of Afro-Caribbean magic to create an altogether
original and compelling story by an intriguing new voice.
The runners-up for the First Novel Contest were:
* DULCINEA THE ARCHWITCH by Denise Weeks of Richardson, Texas
* CURSE OF THE DRAGON EYES by Sharon Burris of Ardmore, Oklahoma
* A MATTER OF FORM by Chris Sorenson Sims of Jericho, Vermont.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:31 PDT