Saturday, April 18, 2015

Time 100: 'Most Influential' Book People


Time magazine released its annual list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." With just two authors showcased, the book world was underrepresented compared to last year's seven people, but the 2015 choices are excellent nonetheless:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Radhika Jones wrote: "Adichie writes of the complex aftermath of Nigeria's colonial history and her nation's rise to prominence in an era when immigration to the West no longer means a one-way ticket. With her viral TEDxEuston talk, 'We Should All Be Feminists,' she found her voice as cultural critic. (You can hear it rising midway through Beyoncé's woman-power anthem 'Flawless.') She sets her love stories amid civil war (Half of a Yellow Sun) and against a backdrop of racism and migration (Americanah). But her greatest power is as a creator of characters who struggle profoundly to understand their place in the world."

Haruki Murakami. Yoko Ono wrote: "He is a writer of great imagination and human sympathy, one who has enthralled millions of readers by building fictional worlds that are uniquely his. Murakami-san has a singular vision, as informed by pop culture as it is by deep channels of Japanese tradition. And he's a Japanese writer--while Murakami-san spends much of his time in the U.S. and has earned acclaim internationally, he and his books are very much a product of Japan. In recent years, as the government in Japan has become more conservative, Murakami-san has become a valuable voice for peace."


via Shelf Awareness

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