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Thursday 28 March 2013

The Hunt for "New" Authors

Last year, the Global Reading Challenge at Mysteries in Paradise lit the spark to make me seek out more authors from around the world. Because my favourite genre is mysteries, that can narrow my choices.

I hesitate to say “new authors” as they are only new to me. Many have been writing in their own country for years: Unity Dow (Botswana), Kwei Quartey (Ghana), Batya Gur (Israel) and Eduardo Sacheri (Argentina), to name a few.
Even in my own country of 10 provinces and 3 territories, there are many less well-known authors I am just discovering, Michael Van Rooy being my favourite to date.
 
The only problem with reading challenges is….once I find these new-to-me authors, I need to move on to another one, even when I want to read more of one author! In Kerrie’s Global challenge, to achieve the Expert level, you need to read authors from 21 countries. This being my second year in the challenge, I’m pushing myself to pick 21 countries that are different from last year’s and finding authors from some places can be difficult, especially countries in Africa and Central/South America. And what’s with Norway and Sweden??? Enough already, way too many good authors for a girl to keep up on.

I have found some helpful sites, such as Bill Selnes' Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan for Canadian authors.  I’ve provided the links on the right side of this blog under “Finding Books from Different Countries". I would love to be able to add to this list so please let me know how you find authors.
 
Do you have a great source for different countries? Who are your favourite authors in your own country?

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for linking to me, Debra!

    I agree that signing up for the expert level of the Global Reading Challenge feels like too much pressure for me because I'd rather dig into some authors I've already discovered instead of moving on to other countries and continents. The positive thing about signing up for the challenge is that I've hardly read any books by American authors, which is what I was hoping for. It's great to get out of my comfort zone.

    As for suggestions for books from different countries, I like Fair Dinkum Crime.

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    1. Great suggestion, Rebecca!I'm trying to add the site to my list, but having some technical difficulties at the moment.

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  2. Debra: Thanks for the mention of my blog. Good luck with the challenge. I have so many books I want to read I try to limit the number of challenges in which I participate so I am not feeling guilty about what I choose to read.

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    1. You're welcome! Yes, 2014 may be the year of limited challenges for me too. Although I do find them a way to push me in new directions.

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