On Sunday Kathryn (our new Publishing Assistant!) and I were sent to Coventry. No, we weren’t suffering some kind of office ostracism, we went to represent A&B at the annual Gardners Trade Show, part of the Bookseller Association Conference weekend. So for a couple of hours we got to chat to some diverse, clever, book-loving […]
Revered crime-writer Robert Barnard has died, aged 76. He spent over 40 years penning countless crime novels and short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger, in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement in crime writing.
You’ve gone up the London Eye, watched the guards change at Buckingham Palace, popped inside a selection of our many museums, fed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and gone shopping in Covent Garden. Maybe you live here or perhaps you’re a happy visitor, but you know London, perhaps not intimately, but you’ve seen the sights […]
Google search Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Once you’ve scrolled passed IMBD and Amazon, the photos of a rather dashing Leo DiCaprio and the mighty Wikipedia, you’ll come to an area of the internet known and loved by many a student. Starting with Sparknotes, you have come to essay territory – prime ground for feckless scholars […]
This week, Susie brought in a copy of the Man Booker Prize nominated book, A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki , sporting a spineless design. This would have been interesting if I hadn’t already seen this unorthodox packaging on the cookbook Pulpo (see my previous cover story blog). With Pulpo however, aside […]
A little bit of Pinter, a soupçon of Shakespeare or a slice of Shaw: a new poll is on a quest to find the nation’s favourite plays. The English Touring Theatre is behind it, and they will perform the resulting top 21 to celebrate its 21st birthday. A win-win for theatre fans. Because I love […]
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. […]
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 […]
This week I came across the book The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer, which (as far as titles go) sounded, well, yes, you guessed it, interesting. But what I found most interesting (ok, I’ll stop it now) was the cover. I’ve mentioned before that I have a penchant for typographical covers, and I like the designs […]
“London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present … It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books.” Anna Quindlen, Imagined London: A Tour of the World’s Greatest Fictional City I can hear my father’s voice telling me: ‘See that […]
For years I’ve been a fan of Poems on the Underground. Particularly as these poetry snippets take up advertising space that might otherwise be given to yet another advert for travel insurance, but I’ve also enjoyed those that give the poet’s snapshot of London. For instance, Thom Gunn’s ‘The Conversation of Old Men’ below which […]
This week, I had to confess to some family friends that after fourteen years of living in the UK, I had yet to visit the famously stunning Lake District. Considering how much I love hiking and the outdoors there really is no logical reason for this oversight, but the fact remains that the closest I’ve […]
I have just returned from a ten-day break in sunny Madrid. So if you were wondering what had happened to our Wednesday Cover Story yesterday, well, it was having a nice siesta by the pool. However, as I caught up with emails and tweets today, I spotted a tweet from @paddyhoey which has given me […]
Jason scratched his head. “You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, ‘festus’ means ‘happy’? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?” – The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan Searching for the perfect baby name can be hard. For parents and authors alike, choosing the right name is […]
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 […]
I hate to be the first to say it but the nights are beginning to turn. Please don’t throw things at me, as an ardent lover of summer, I’m as annoyed as you that dusk is falling earlier. The only silver lining to this situation is that shortly I will begin knitting a new chunky […]
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 […]
The authors on the longlist for this year’s Man Booker prize were recently asked what their favourite opening lines from literature were. (Read more in the Guardian here…) Intrigued by this idea and being of the technology-crazed generation where the answer is nearly always “look on Google”, I stepped into the realms of the internet […]
As we approach the end of August, the sunshine has become more unreliable, the morning air makes me shiver and darkness is falling earlier in the evenings. The publishing world is reflecting that autumnal feel with some of the covers planned for the next month or two. Take the following similar examples: Paul Torday’s Light […]
For people of my age group the BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a seminal event. The idea of winter but never Christmas truly appalled me. I may have been acting out some Susan fantasies when I took up archery a few years later. And I felt a species of […]
Poetry: archaic or beautiful? Its an ongoing debate on which everyone has their own opinions, but whether you see poetry as an art form to be avoided at all costs or as something of great beauty and meaning, it still plays a part in the modern world. From the Underground to underpasses, lyrical musings surround […]