Sometimes it’s nice to branch out of your ordinary reading habits. I recently did so myself after finding a poetry anthology in Waterstones Wandsworth. I was heading to the check out when I noticed a stand of books to one side: Staying Alive, Being Alive and Being Human. They are three anthologies, each consisting of […]
I studied To Kill a Mockingbird many years ago for GCSE English. I recall that I applied what was my standard then of close studying, of labouring maybe the themes of the novel with long passages picked out in the relevant luminous highlighter pen. Quotable sections were flagged up with a torrent of post-it notes […]
In someways an article I read recently about the emerging power of fandom states the obvious. When you consider that the fans are those not only consuming content, buying and reading the books or tuning into the shows, but also engaging with the content in a way that brings in further fans, it seems obvious […]
The #ThisBook campaign launched by Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is a great idea. But quite a difficult one. I struggled for about half an hour before finally being able to decide that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was the book that the most impact one me. I struggled, not for mere lack of choice, but for […]
The other week we received copies of Mary Nichols’ new German edition of The Girl on the Beach. The cover that might have been consciously designed with fans of Downton Abbey in mind. After all, she says adopting a Through the Keyhole drawl, who would live in a stately pile like this? The arrival of […]
Museums in this country do a fantastic job. It’s rare, nowadays, that one will be found sitting still and lifeless in the middle of the city, a dusty house for archaic relics and prim museum assistants. Luckily, we’re encouraged to make the most of the excellent museums and galleries all around the country, and they have […]
Murder mystery is most definitely having a ‘moment’. With all the Sherlock mania lately, the nation is fascinated with cracking cases. And now everyone can have a go at sleuthing with UCL’s Museum Murder Mystery night tonight, as part of the Museums at Night programme of events. A murder has taken place in one of […]
Win a year’s membership to the RHS with Writing the Garden
It seems May is a month for misbehaving and crime is all around us! But fear not, it’s organised (in the least Mafioso sense of the word) and under control. No laws will be broken during this month of criminal activities. First up, a trip to Bristol between the 15th -18th May will place you […]
After watching an episode of Monkey Planet recently in which a Bonobos built a fire and toasted marshmallows (the fire was started with a match, granted, but that’s about my level of Bear Grylls skill), you might wonder like what exactly does separate us from our ape cousins. After some thought, I’d argue that storytelling […]
A social book salon with cocktails and canapes? That sounds like a great evening. And that’s just what The Reading Agency are doing. On Sunday 11th May, they are hosting an evening at The Zetter Townhouse with showgirl and author Immodesty Blaize, Richard Kilgarriff, and agent Laetitia Rutherford and more with drinks, canapes and ‘sparkling conversation’. Tickets are […]
I’m very excited to be off on holiday for the next week, and am pleased to have a growing pile of books to take with me for the train, plane and hopefully some lazy afternoons on the beach. Some of the A&B eye-catching titles we’ve had into the office recently are definitely worthy of being […]
There’s nothing quite like running into an old friend you haven’t seen for donkey’s years and re-discovering how much you like and admire them. And for fans of Angela Thirkell, Virago have run even more of her backlist through their Gok Wan-style reissue process and sent them back out into the world to see old […]
Working with the team at A&B these past three weeks has been a great experience. For such a small team they really do amazing things! Yet even in this short amount of time I’ve noticed a few recurring side effects of gaining an editorial publishing placement, and feel that it’s only my duty to make […]
Spring traditionally prompts us to fling wide the windows and scour the dust and previous season from our homes’ nooks and crannies. Foyles, however, is going one better this year with a brand new, shiny, cathedral-like store at 107 Charing Cross Road. Those last two adjectives are speculative I admit, but I’m confident that those […]
Cityread 2014 is now drawing to a close, and we hope that you managed to visit some of the events from the festival, including those appearances from our A&B authors. Check here (but be quick!) for a programme for the last few days’ events… If you have been lucky enough to get involved in Cityread […]
If you had a late one last night or you think there’s a headache creeping up on you, perhaps it would be best to view the rest of this blog post behind the safety of a pair of sunglasses. For it seems right to use the word ‘unleash’ for the cover and book I recently […]
One thing which always impresses me is the ability of some authors to produce book after book at a formidable rate. How strongly must they believe in and desire to share their characters, to be able to return to them again and again, always with fresh ideas and heaps of enthusiasm? Covering an entire decade, […]
Some news stories do nothing but frustrate. And this is one of them: Justice minister Chris Grayling has imposed a ban on books in prisons. I can’t think of anything more idiotic. I understand the need to prevent illegal materials from entering the prison but surely there must be another way instead of banning books. […]
On Wednesday night I was lucky enough to go to Letters Live, one of the many World Book Night events held up and down the UK. The event, inspired by Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note and Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, celebrated the power of correspondence and fitted perfectly The Reading Agency‘s desire to promote […]
While literature can teach us about the world and ourselves, it can always make predictions for the future. Cue the father of science fiction, Isaac Asimov, writer of the classic Foundation and Robot series – one of which became with film I, Robot with Will Smith. In 1964, Asimov published an essay Visit to the […]