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A Point of View

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A Point of View: The Rise and Rise of Up Lit

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23/03/2018

The Rise and Rise of Up Lit

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, The Rise and Rise of Up Lit

Kamila Shamsie on the limitations of the publishing trend 'Up Lit'.

Kamila Shamsie on the limitations of the publishing trend 'Up Lit' - uplifting stories about kindness and community that are topping the best seller lists.

There was Chick Lit, then Grit Lit....now it's "Up Lit" - uplifting stories about kindness and community that we all seem to be reading. 

Kamila Shamsie says she, too, has been carried along with this wave of escapism from "dark times". 

But she says the idea that "upliftment" should be marketed to the reading public as the only fictional response to difficult times strikes her as problematic. "The best fiction always makes us look at - rather than away from - the world". 

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

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