Reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, alone in a damp student dorm with single-glazed, rattling windows on a Newcastle winter evening, is a thrill I’ll never forget and will soon be reliving (in London this time but still with single-glazing). I’m so excited to hear author and comedian […]
A&B receive constant reminders of how lucky we are to work in beautiful Fitzrovia. Highlights for us include the miniature ice cream van in Fitzroy Square on summer afternoons (it’s really got to be the smallest in the world), working within very close proximity to some of the best restaurants and cocktails bars in the […]
Earlier this month, Susie shared the A&B story, as well as tips for those just starting out in the industry, in Google Play’s Partner Newsletter. Have a read through the interview below! How did your publishing experience start? I joined William Collins (later HarperCollins) in the late 1980s as the secretary to a sales manager […]
It seems some things really do translate across the ages. Both the Michael Bond Paddington series and his brilliant Monsieur Pamplemousse adult books, published by A&B, have ended up with very similar covers… Paddington Bear Series Monsieur Pamplemousse Series We’d be very happy to have both sets side by side on our shelves. And not […]
While looking for a Christmas present for my young niece, I came across a brilliant concept at Lostmy.name. By typing in the gender and name of a child, you can create a personalised story book. Each book tells the story of a child who has lost his or her name, and bravely sets off to track down […]
With the John Lewis advert now on our screens and mince pies appearing in every supermarket, it’s safe to say Christmas is on the way. I’ve spent the last week trying to scramble together a Christmas list to circulate with family but, since I am no longer five and in want of new toys, it’s […]
Helen Cadbury is a York based writer whose debut novel, To Catch a Rabbit, was joint winner of the Northern Crime Award. A&B are thrilled to be republishing this title in January, with a brand new, second Sean Denton book to follow in the summer. If you haven’t seen it already at the cover for […]
Last week, Underwire Film Festival was underway in Hackney, showcasing some of the best emerging female talent in the film industry. Underwire was curated based on awards – best director, best composer, etc – which meant a good variety of shorts for each night. I went along for two of the evenings and was lucky […]
It’s officially National Novel Writing Month! A fun and organised approach to creative writing, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by the end of November and track their progress in NaNoWriMo’s online community. There’s an inspiration section and pep-talks from well-know authors, including New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey, to help […]
A few months ago we gave you a sneak peak of the cover for L C Tyler’s Crooked Herring, released in September. With great reviews coming in for the first book, we knew you’d be interested to see the beautiful covers for the rest of the series. We can’t wait to see them in the flesh… […]
Grayson Perry’s stunning ceramics and loud, colourful tapestries have always been a favourite of mine. And fourteen of his portraits of individuals, families and groups are currently on display at the London Portrait Gallery in an exhibition that asks Who Are You? I don’t want to give too much away but one of the many […]
Here at A&B we love reading about great female characters and have been inspired by the likes of Freya Stark, Shifting Colours‘ Miriam, and Charlotte-Rose de la Force, of Bitter Greens. So we were interested to hear of the Bechdel Test– a three-step rule to see if a film has two named female characters who have a […]
This morning an article on the BBC website caught my eye: Why Typos and Spelling Mistakes Really Don’t Matter. Author and FT columnist Lucy Kellaway, a journalist with a self-confessed ‘flair for typos’, believes we should not be overly obsessed with these little mistakes that often crop up in writing. Working in an editorial department in […]
Julian Stockwin plus family, friends and the whole A&B team, greatly enjoyed the launch of his new book The Silk Tree last Thursday night. It’s always fun to celebrate an exciting new venture and, as both Julian and Susie said on the night, we hope there are many more A&B/Stockwin books to come! The book’s official […]
WIN: Morganville Goodies Plus a Kindle
Please note that this competition is now closed To celebrate Rachel Caine’s visit to the UK and the launch of the Morganville Digital Series, we’re running a spooky competition… Two runners up will win a special edition signed copy of Daylighters and some Halloween goodies, plus one lucky winner will also receive the latest Kindle, with a cover signed by the author and […]
It’s that time of year again where pumpkins and fake blood start to appear in supermarkets – Halloween. And what better time to ponder our favourite scary reads? For an especially frightening read, I always return to Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Nothing is quite as terrifying as the short story ‘The Ten o’clock People‘ […]
Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it? However, an early manuscript of A Study in Scarlet shows its author still sketching out the names for what became the infamous duo, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson . This weekend I stepped behind the wall of books and into the world of Sherlock Holmes […]
If you haven’t stepped out on one already, why not try a literary stroll around London this month? Every year (usually in October) Footprints of London hosts a Literary Festival. Highlights include a literary history of Covent Garden- a walk following Mrs Dalloway as she goes to buy flowers for her party, a walk around literary […]
Fairytales with a new twist are still very much in vogue, heightened by the success of blockbusters such as Snow White and the Huntsman and Maleficent. Authors such as Neil Gaiman and Russell Brand are reinventing the fairytale with gangsta rats, werewolves and warrior queens. If you’re looking for an utterly captivating reinvention, check out […]
After an American tourist got locked in one of their bookshops, Waterstones have invited ten lucky people to join them for a sleepover in their flagship Piccadilly store. (Their marketing team must be looking pretty smug right now!) But what a brilliant idea! Perhaps more bookshops around the country could get involved. We could gather round […]