Sophie, Author at Allison & Busby

Splitfish Poetry Launch

22 October, 2013

So it turns out a friend of a friend is an amazing poet. Last night I went to the launch of Kiran Milwood Hargrave‘s latest poetry collection, Splitfish. I was given the collection for my birthday earlier this month and decided to start reading it at the weekend to get a taste before the launch. […]

Say Goodbye to Emails

15 October, 2013

I turned 24 at the start of October and had some wonderful celebrations and presents with my family and friends. My older brother lives in Berlin so his gift took a little longer to arrive. But oh it was worth the wait. I arrived home late on Friday to find a large, very heavy parcel […]

Globe to Globe

8 October, 2013

At the weekend I went to see a production of King Lear at The Globe performed in Belarusian. The Globe has been running a Globe to Globe festival all summer, celebrating the international interpretations of Shakespeare, from a South African Venus & Adonis to an Indian Tempest. While so far, Venus & Adonis has been my […]

The lesser-known Northumberland treasure…

27 September, 2013

I have just returned from a week’s holiday visiting family in the north of England. My parents have a little holiday cabin by the sea in Bamburgh, Northumberland so it’s as north and as cold as it gets. Although rather chilly, the fresh sea air worked wonders. On the drive back to my parent’s house […]

Exploring through Friends

16 September, 2013

One of the great things about living in London is that there is a plethora of cultural things to do. So many in fact it’s quite hard to narrow it down or find an event that takes you interest between the masses of silent discos and blinded-folded dining experiences. This is where friends come in. […]

A Change of Season…

12 September, 2013

As the temperature has finally dropped in London, there’s one thing in the back of everyone’s mind; winter is coming. I will probably regret saying this in two months time – but I am kind of glad. In hot weather London is even more muggy than usual and not to mention public transport becomes a […]

Heaney Remembered

3 September, 2013

All over the world right now people are remembering when they first encountered Seamus Heaney. I was sat in a classroom, aged fourteen, while a quiet, somewhat mousy English teacher began an impassioned recital of Digging. The chatter suddenly subsided and we listened as Heaney’s rhythmic words filled the room. Afterwards there was the usual […]

If you could have one talent…

30 August, 2013

What would it be? I am not musical, athletic nor a literary genius. But if I could have one talent in the world, I would love to be able to draw. To capture someone’s personality and emotions with only a pencil is a true talent, one that takes years of patience and craft. I think […]

Literature brought to life by dance…

19 August, 2013

Since I love books, I’ve found I tend to like most things associated or derived from literature such as film adaptations, art work and even literary home wares. So I thought I’d try literature-inspired ballet and last week I sent to see the Shanghai Ballet’s production of Jane Eyre. Apparently Jane Eyre is as popular […]

Behind the Stories

12 August, 2013

Over the weekend I started reading our very own The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg. Since I’ve been here I’ve started an A&B reading list and this has been top of the pile for a while. It’s one of those books I want to force on everyone. I am utterly fascinated by Manley Halliday, the tragic […]

The Regrettable White Choice…

6 August, 2013

Just like Sara last week, I recently came across one book with two very different covers. I’m currently reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst after being captivated by his recent release The Stranger’s Child. I’m trying to work my way through his extremely esteemed backlist (one prize and one long-list for the Man […]

Unexpected Gifts

29 July, 2013

My older brother Matthew turned twenty-nine last week and as usual I struggled to find the perfect book. (We are an entire family of book-givers) He works as a journalist/tour guide in Berlin so loves anything based on German history or culture. But Matthew’s birthday was fast approaching and my lack of German history titles […]

The Boy, the bandwagon and the bets…

23 July, 2013

Kate finally popped! So the third in line to the throne is a boy. And we wait with baited breath for a name. I wonder if there’s one already chosen or if they’re trying to decide from a few shortlisted names. We can scoff and imagine they’ll call him something like Bartholomew, but I think […]

Bringing Down a Giant

16 July, 2013

Last week I read an article title that made me feel a little smug. Young book-buyers ‘put off Amazon’. A survey from the Booksellers Association showed that over 70% of 16 – 24 year olds said recent revelations about internet-only booksellers’ tax affairs made them less likely to shop for books online, as did 59.5% […]

Past, Present or Future?

9 July, 2013

A new title has slipped into our Autumn schedule called Over a Hot Stove – the memoir of Flo Wadlow who was a kitchen maid in some of England great houses such as Blickling Hall and Hatfield House. There seems to be a trend for all things nostalgic with the BBC’s Downton Abbey and Aprons […]

The Love Lettering Project

1 July, 2013

London is filled with wonderful things, one of which is its huge variety of creative and original art projects. I came across The Love Lettering Project today, created by Lindsay Zier-Vogel, it’s a community arts engagement project that brings love letters to strangers in the form of an anonymous love letter to the city you […]

Wednesday Cover Story: It All Begins with a Letter

26 June, 2013

I recently discovered something extremely gorgeous, expensive and what I have no need for at all. Which means I must have them. Yes, plural. I am talking about these: These are the Penguin Drop Caps – a series of twenty-six collectible hardcover editions of fine works of literature, each featuring on its cover a specially […]

The End of a Popular Era

18 June, 2013

I recently read in The Bookseller that Penguin will be dropping their Popular Classics list and couldn’t help but feel a little sad. As a child my parents house was littered with them; I remember my mother’s beloved copy of Pride and Prejudice and taking the popular classics edition of Macbeth to school for English […]

A crime-filled holiday

13 June, 2013

I’ve just returned from sunny Mykonos where I indulged in questionable amounts of feta cheese and devoured several wonderful books. While lounging on the beach I was kept entertained by Germans and their bumbags, people’s faces when they ventured into the unexpectedly cold sea and two great authors, master of the art Gillian Flynn and […]

A Different Kind of Trip

31 May, 2013

On Monday evening I was having a nice run around Tooting Bec common; the sun was shining, the weather was warm-ish, and people were basking in the lush green surroundings. All was going well until I tripped up. Not a little scuffle, but a full blown arms splayed and landing spread-eagled on the ground kind […]

The Next Big Thing

24 May, 2013

I had a very excited email last week from a friend telling me she’d finished her novel. I paused for a second and thought, what an astonishing sentence. We studied literature and creative writing together at university and she went on to do a Masters in the latter at Oxford. Now at the young age […]