When did the BBC publish its 100 Most Inspiring Novels list?
The BBC published the 100 Most Inspiring Novels list on the 5th of November 2019. This publication launched a year celebrating literature across the United Kingdom.
The BBC published the 100 Most Inspiring Novels list on the 5th of November 2019. This publication launched a year celebrating literature across the United Kingdom.
The panel included Stig Abell, Mariella Frostrup, Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal, Alexander McCall Smith, and Syima Aslam. Canadian broadcaster CBC News later characterized this group as writers, curators, and critics working together.
The panel broke their list into ten categories containing ten items each including Identity, Love Sex Romance, Adventure, Politics Power Protest, Class Society, Coming of Age, Family Friendship, Crime Conflict, and Rule Breakers. One category focused on Identity featured Toni Morrison's Beloved from 1987 alongside Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart from 1958.
According to The Guardian the list commemorated the publication of Robinson Crusoe three hundred years earlier. That novel was widely seen as the progenitor of the English-language novel when it first appeared in 1719.
The final list featured authors from numerous countries including Nigeria India Canada and the United States alongside Britain. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote Half of a Yellow Sun while Chinua Achebe authored Things Fall Apart both Nigerian voices.