Melanie Ramdarshan Bold – författare

An exploration of Paddingon the Bear as an international cultural phenomenonIn 1958, a little marmalade-loving brown bear from Peru named Paddington was introduced to the post-war British public. Inspired by his creator Michael Bond's memories of displaced Jewish children in the United Kingdom during World War II, Paddington became a symbol of how to treat refugees with kindness. Author Bond was clear from the outset about Paddington's refugee status. Nearly sixty-five years later, the bear's legacy has evolved into a transmedia phenomenon; his once marginalized image has now been licenced to numerous British organisations -- such as Barbour and Marks & Spencer -- and more recently, even become a symbolic figurehead of national mourning following Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022.Please Look After This Bear analyzes the titular character's transformation from displaced Peruvian bear to member of a wealthy, upper-class West London family, raising questions about migration, assimilation, tolerance, and national identity. The first of its kind to trace the publication history of the Paddington stories, this cutting-edge, critical text not only offers a unique sociocultural biography on the series' origins and background, but looks closely at its contemporary adaptations and afterlives, citing its emergence as a British cultural symbol across the globe. To date, Paddington books have been translated into forty languages (including Latin) and have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.Told in poignant, incisive prose, this book reveals how Paddington evolved from an unassuming Peruvian bear on the printed page to an international transmedia phenomenon and icon of Britishness. With thoughtful nods both to nostalgia and to national identity, this book traces the character's dramatic change across the ever-changing British historical and political landscape of the past nearly-seven decades.

International bestsellers are the ideal sites for examining the complicated relationship between literary culture and national identity. Despite the transnational turns in both literary studies and book history, place is still an important configurer of twenty-first-century book reception. Books are crucial to national identity and catalysts of nationalist movements. On an individual level, books enable readers to shape and maintain their own national identities. This Element explores how contemporary readers' understandings of nation, race/ethnicity, gender, and class continue to shape their reading, using as case studies the online reception of three bestseller titles-Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies (Australia), Zadie Smith's NW (UK), and Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians (USA). In doing so, this Element demonstrates the need for and articulates a transnational conceptualisation of the relationship between reader identity and reception.

Despite their long publishing history, anthologies have received little scholarly attention. However, they play an important role in collecting, and reflecting upon, voices and identities that have all-to-often been on the fringes of publishing. This Element explores the sociocultural functions of anthologies in relation to discussions around exclusion/inclusion in the publishing industry. Focusing on YA anthologies, using a case study of A Change Is Gonna Come anthology (2017), this Element argues that the form and function of anthologies allows them to respond to and represent changing ideas of socially-marginalised identities. In A Change Is Gonna Come, this medium also affords Black and Brown authors a platform and community for introspection and the development of both individual and collective identities. Beyond merely introducing writings by socially-marginalised groups, this Element contends that YA anthologies embody a form of literary activism, fostering community-building and offering a means to circumvent obstacles prevalent in publishing.

Are you considering a career in the world of publishing, or simply want to understand more about the industry? If so, The Publishing Business will take you through the essential publishing activities performed in editorial, rights, design, production, sales and marketing departments. International examples from across the industry, from children's books to academic monographs, demonstrate key responsibilities at each stage of the publishing process and how the industry is adapting to digital culture. This 3rd edition has been updated with more on the role of self-publishing, independent publishers, audio books, the rise of poetry and non-fiction and how the industry is facing up to challenges of sustainability, inclusivity and diversity.Beautifully designed and full of insight and advice from practitioner interviews, this is an essential introduction to a dynamic industry. Interviewees include:Anne Meadows, Commissioning Editor at Granta and Portobello BooksZaahida Nabagereka, Head of Social Impact at Penguin Books UK Ashleigh Gardner, Senior Vice President, Managing Director Global Publishing, WattpadCaroline Walsh, Literary Agent, David Higham AssociatesPeter Blackstock, VP, Deputy Publisher, Grove Atlantic/Publisher, Grove Press UKAmy Ellis, Head of Rights and Permissions, Publishers' Licensing ServicesVictoria Lawrance, Rights Manager, Bloomsbury Publishing PlcShaun Hodgkinson, COO, Dorling KindersleyThomas Truong, Publishing Director, Little Tiger GroupJenny Blenk, Associate Editor, Dark Horse Comics Jeanette Morton, Digital Publisher, Oxford University PressMaria Vassilopoulos, Publishing Sales, Uni of Wales Press and Calon BooksIan Lamb, Head Of Children's Marketing and Publicity, Simon and Schuster