Bookhugger.co.uk » News http://bookhugger.co.uk Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:00:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The Booker Prize longlist is announced http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/07/the-booker-prize-longlist-is-announced/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/07/the-booker-prize-longlist-is-announced/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:37:57 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=6882 The exciting longlist, chosen from possible 138 titles, includes:

  • Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)
  • Emma Donoghue Room (Pan MacMillan – Picador)
  • Helen Dunmore The Betrayal (Penguin – Fig Tree)
  • Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Books)
  • Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)
  • Andrea Levy The Long Song (Headline Publishing Group – Headline Review)
  • Tom McCarthy C (Random House – Jonathan Cape)
  • David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Hodder & Stoughton – Sceptre)
  • Lisa Moore February (Random House – Chatto & Windus)
  • Paul Murray Skippy Dies (Penguin – Hamish Hamilton)
  • Rose Tremain Trespass (Random House – Chatto & Windus)
  • Christos Tsiolkas The Slap (Grove Atlantic – Tuskar Rock)
  • Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky (Random House – Jonathan Cape)

The 2010 shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 7 September. The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction will receive £50,000 and can look forward to greatly increased sales and worldwide recognition. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their shortlisted book.

Chaired by Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, the 2010 judges are Rosie Blau, Literary Editor of the Financial Times; Deborah Bull, formerly a dancer, now Creative Director of the Royal Opera House as well as a writer and broadcaster; Tom Sutcliffe, journalist, broadcaster and author and Frances Wilson, biographer and critic.

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/07/the-booker-prize-longlist-is-announced/feed/ 0 Barbara Kingsolver wins the Orange Prize for Fiction http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/06/barbara-kingsolver-wins-the-orange-prize-for-fiction/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/06/barbara-kingsolver-wins-the-orange-prize-for-fiction/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:25:08 +0000 Faber http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=6335 The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver won this year's Orange Prize, the result of which was announced on Wednesday night. Read the first chapter here on Bookhugger.]]> The Lacuna is the story of a man’s search for safety in the grinding jaws of two nations, at a moment when the entire world seemed bent on reinventing itself at any cost.

Born in the US, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is mostly a liability to his social-climbing flapper mother, Salomé. From a coastal island jungle to the unpaved neighbourhoods of 1930s Mexico City, through a disastrous stint at a military school in Virginia and back again, his fortunes never steady as Salomé finds her rich men-friends always on the losing side of the Mexican Revolution. Sometimes she gives her son cigarettes instead of supper.

He aims for invisibility, observing his world and recording everything with a peculiar selfless irony in his notebooks. Life is whatever he learns from servants putting him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Making himself useful in the household of the muralist, his wife Frida Kahlo, and exiled Bolshevik leader Lev Trotsky, young Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, and the howling gossip and reportage that dictate public opinion.

A violent upheaval sends him north to a nation newly caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. In the mountain city of Asheville, North Carolina, he remakes himself in America’s hopeful image. Under the watch of his peerless stenographer, Violet Brown, he finds an extraordinary use for his talents of observation. But political winds continue to push him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach – the lacuna – between truth and public presumption.

This is a gripping story of identity, connection with our past, and the power of words to create or devastate. Like no other novel yet written, it illuminates an era when bold internationalism gave way to a post-war landscape of narrowly defined ‘Americanism’. Crossing two decades, from the vibrant revolutionary murals of Mexico City to the halls of a Congress bent on eradicating the colour red, The Lacuna is as deep and rich as the New World itself.

Read the extract (PDF)

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/06/barbara-kingsolver-wins-the-orange-prize-for-fiction/feed/ 0 Take the kids on a visit to Grubtown http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/05/take-the-kids-on-a-visit-to-grubtown/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/05/take-the-kids-on-a-visit-to-grubtown/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 14:00:38 +0000 Faber http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=5913 Here’s how ‘Beardy’ Ardagh described the event’s significance for Grubtown’s denizens:

Excitement ensued earlier today with the official launch of the Grubtown Tourist Board’s new website www.visitgrubtown.com. Grubtown Tourist Board Manager, Flighty Bitpart, unveiled the site at the official launch party this morning at the Tourist Board Offices. The launch suffered a delayed start due to the theft of the Tourist Board’s only computer. Luckily, Police Chief Grabby Hanson was quickly able to establish that he had stolen the computer himself and returned it, having first arrested himself and then let himself off with a caution.

‘This is a significant day for Grubtown,’ said Mr Bitpart, ‘too long overlooked as a tourist destination, due largely to our unfounded reputation for grubbiness, we can now show the world that Grubtown is a force to be reckoned with as a holiday destination.’ Responding to criticism that the positioning of buildings and other areas or interest on the site bore no relation to where they are located in reality Mr Bitpart said, ‘People should be grateful – until now we haven’t had a website at all. The fact that it may not represent in any way the actual layout of Grubtown seems a petty complaint. I am proud to say that now, anyone with internet access is able to get a very vague idea of what our town in like.’

The launch was attended by Mr Bitpart, his assistant Fergal Twine and two ducks. It is believed all the other guests got lost on the way having attempted to find the Tourist Board by using the map on www.visitgrubtown.com. I was there by chance having popped in to ask Fergal Twine for some money he owes me.

Visitgrubtown.com features six distinct Grubtown locations – including the fan favourites: the Daily Herald newspaper office, the Duckhouse/Museum and Smoky’s cinema. From April 29 until June 3, a new location unlocks each week, treating users to a special Grubtown story, delivered in instalments. Readers are encouraged to interact with characters and objects, and can discover exclusive downloads. The site incorporates fun audio and video, and drives users back to other books in the series.

The Daily Herald location will offer children a unique and entertaining way to apply their creativity by writing and submitting Grubtown news articles through the site. Using a bespoke Grubtown silly name generator to obtain a ‘press pass’, and assisted by a set of helpful writing tips, sample articles and Philip Ardagh’s own blog entries, their submitted stories will be published online.

Faber are teaming up with Newspaper Club (www.newspaperclub.co.uk) to give children the fantastic chance of having their work published in a limited edition of 500, 16-page printed copies of the Daily Herald, which will gather the best stories from the five weeks, as selected by Philip Ardagh.

The newspaper also presents a great educational opportunity. Faber aims to motivate school classes to participate and has developed classroom activities for teachers and resources for libraries. One of the authors of the selected stories will also be chosen to win a special class visit from the hilarious Philip himself who will rewrite their story as a special mini Grubtown Tale!

As well as a pioneering online accompaniment to a book series, visitgrubtown.com offers a safe, fun and educational environment for children online that can be enjoyed on their own or with a parent and aims to encourage reading and creative writing.

Visit Grubtown today

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/05/take-the-kids-on-a-visit-to-grubtown/feed/ 0 Make Live Art! http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/make-live-art/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/make-live-art/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:00:37 +0000 Sceptre http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=5818 Each audience member will have the opportunity to personalise a house and become part of a perfectly formed, eclectic cardboard world, or simply relax and enjoy the installation.

David Mitchell is ‘one of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or any county’ – Independent – and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is his electrifying new novel. It is set in 1799 on the artificial island of Dejima; a Dutch trading post attached by a guarded bridge to mainland Japan, which for two hundred years formed the only gateway between the xenophobic Shogunate and the West – a window into a hidden world, through which revolutionary ideas could slip. With foreigners forbidden from crossing Japan’s borders, and the Japanese forbidden from leaving on pain of death, Dejima is a purpose-built microcosm accommodating those who vainly strove to trade with Japan.

Come along and create and explore your very own Dejima at the CANDID ARTS TRUST (3 Torrens St, London, EC1V 1NQ ) on Tuesday 4th May 2010. Open from 12 – 5pm

Tickets are £5 and provide you with all necessary materials. Click here to buy tickets.

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/make-live-art/feed/ 0 Get the White Queen on your iPhone http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/get-the-white-queen-on-your-iphone/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/get-the-white-queen-on-your-iphone/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:00:49 +0000 Simon & Schuster UK http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=5440 The White Queen out next week, readers can download a free iPhone app to get loads of additional information behind the book.]]> The app features behind-the-scenes videos, an interview with Gregory, image galleries, family trees and a history quiz. It will also be updated when Gregory’s The Red Queen is published in August 2010 (look out for that here on Bookhugger later in the year).

Download the app from iTunes

It’s available to download on iTunes for the iPhone and the iTouch. The app contains loads of video content and therefore requires a WiFi connection to download (you can download on 3G by adjusting your settings, but this is not advised). Once the app is downloaded you will not need an Internet connection to access any of the content.

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/04/get-the-white-queen-on-your-iphone/feed/ 0 Welcome to Windmill Books http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/welcome-to-windmill-books/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/welcome-to-windmill-books/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:00:48 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=4840 Windmill is a shiny new publisher releasing all manner of quality fiction in paperback format, with some quirky reference works thrown into the mix.

Next week we’re kicking off Windmill’s presence on Bookhugger with a great competition, so make sure you visit us on Wednesday 24th March for your chance to win some cracking crime fiction.

In the meantime, why not get yourself aquainted with Windmill’s titles and authors by visiting their excellent (and shiny) new website and blog at http://www.windmill-books.co.uk/

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/welcome-to-windmill-books/feed/ 0 100 Stories for Haiti: From Concept to Book in Six Weeks! http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/100-stories-for-haiti-from-concept-to-book-in-six-weeks/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/100-stories-for-haiti-from-concept-to-book-in-six-weeks/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:00:13 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=4841 Within hours of Greg’s first announcement, news spread throughout microblogging website, Twitter, and story submissions began arriving. By the submission deadline a week later, the project had received over 400 submissions — whittled down to one hundred during the following week, and the full 80,000 word manuscript was published and made available through retailers within six weeks of Greg’s initial blog.

Best-selling author Nick Harkaway contributed a story and penned the book’s introduction. Tania Hershman, author of The White Road and Other Stories, and prize-winning author, Vanessa Gebbie, are also featured in the book, along with other published authors and first-timers, never published before.

100 Stories for Haiti, published by Bridge House Publishing, is available as an ebook from Smashwords.com and as a paperback costing £11.99 through bookshops and online retailers.

The following extract is from a story by Danny Gillan entitled, Going, Going … Still Going. Danny’s award-winning novel, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, was described by newspaper The Daily Record as, “One of the best debut novels of 2008.”

Going, Going … Still Going

By Danny Gillan
The day before you’re planning to do something monumentally stupid is always a bit odd. The plan is made, the time is set – in twenty hours his life would be irrevocably changed, in the most final of ways. Should he just go for a pint, in the meantime? Maybe catch a film?
Carson Campbell decided to visit his aunty.
‘Come on away in out the cold, son. Your arse cheeks must be freezing.’
‘Cheers, Aunty Jean. It is a bit nippy.’
Carson shuffled through Jean’s tiny hall into the living room. He took off his jacket and sat in one of the two ancient armchairs that faced the electric bar fire.
‘Tea? ’ Jean asked, going into the scullery and filling the kettle.
‘Ta. ’ Carson didn’t want tea but he loved Jean’s kettle. She was the only person he knew who still had one that whistled.
‘So, ’ Jean said, handing Carson a mug with a picture of Mao Tse-Tung on the side. ‘What’s wrong this time?’
Carson smiled. ‘Do I really only come here when I’m in trouble?’
Jean’s lips pursed. ‘Yes you do, son. Don’t worry, I know all I’m good for is digging you out of the holes you keep jumping into. It’s fine, makes me feel needed. Besides, I told your dad I would. What’s happened?’
Carson drank some tea, burning his tongue on the super-heated brew.
‘I’ve made a decision.’
Jean nodded. ‘Thought as much. You’ve thought it through?’
‘I think so …’
‘Seriously, Carson, ’ Jean said. ‘I know things have been … difficult, recently, but this is drastic, even for you. ’
‘I know that. Christ. Of course I know that.’
‘Yes, you do know that. But has it occurred to you that doing … this thing … might make it … easier for you, but it’s going to hurt a lot of other people. People who care about you.’
Carson bowed his head, unable to meet his aunt’s eye. ‘What the hell else can I do? I’ve got nothing left, Jean. Nothing. ’
‘Sorry, son, but that’s a pile of bollocks and you know it. There’s always something can be done; there’s always hope. Even in the darkest darkness, there’s the chance that someone will come looking, that someone will find you and lift you out of the pit. Do you really want to give up on that?’
Carson laughed. ‘I’ve been waiting for a fair while, Jean. No one’s come to rescue me yet.’
‘Aye, cheers for that, son. I’m just your daft aunty with the funny kettle, then?’
‘You know what I mean.’
Jean stood up as quickly as her hips would allow and snatched the mug from Carson. She looked directly at him, daring him to meet her gaze, not speaking till he did.
‘No, son. I don’t, anymore. I used to think I could help you, but if you do this, you’ll really be alone. Far more alone than you seem to think you are now. Do you even understand how final this is going to be?’
‘I might be mental but I’m not stupid, Jean. Of course I know.’
‘Aye, well. I wonder about that, sometimes.’
The kettle whistled. Carson sat in the threadbare chair. Jean made more tea. Carson wished the wee telly on top of the sideboard was on. David Dickinson would have been a friendly presence, just at the minute.
‘Here. ’ Jean thrust Chairman Mao back into Carson’s wilting hand.
‘So, ’ Carson said, without much hope.
‘Is this life actually so bad, son? ’ Jean’s mug sported the famous Che Guevara photo.
‘You tell me, ’ Carson said. ‘How much fun have you had recently?’
‘Maybe not as much as I used to, ’ Jean admitted. ‘But a shit of a lot more than you, apparently. I’m not for giving up, just yet. ’
‘Aye, fair enough. But you know what I’m facing, Aunty Jean. No offence, but you’ve already had your future, and you enjoyed yours.’
‘You know how to endear yourself to people, don’t you?’
‘Sorry, but you know what I mean. What’s the point of me going on, the way things are? You can talk all you want about hope, but sometimes you have to accept there isn’t any left. I’ve tried; I’ve tried everything I can thing of. ’
Jean placed her tea on the mahogany-effect laminate mantelpiece and leaned towards her nephew. ‘You told me. You told me they said you could last a couple of years at least. How do you know what’s going to come up? How can you say there’s no hope? Things could change, Carson. They could change.’
‘Hah! Nothing changes, Jean, nothing. You know that better than anyone. ’ Carson looked round the damp-ridden room. ‘What’s changed for you, eh? You’ve been in this shithole for twelve years, what’s changed for you?’
Jean took a breath, smiled, and slapped Carson sharply across the cheek.
Carson sat back in his chair, shocked.
‘You’re my nephew and I love you dearly, son. Do us both a favour and don’t bring me into this particular argument, eh? I’m an old, feeble woman and I know exactly what my future holds, as you so kindly pointed out. I’d imagine, though, that you getting your arse kicked by an OAP would be an added humiliation you’re not really after, given your plans. Wouldn’t be the image you’re hoping to leave behind for posterity, so behave yourself.’
Carson nodded. ‘Sorry.’
‘Fair enough. ’ Jean lifted her tea from the mantelpiece and sat back, taking a swallow. ‘Don’t mistake caring for weakness, son. That’s dangerous.’
Carson took a breath and sent his eyes to his thighs. He’d hoped not to cry today, but he knew how unreliable hope was.
‘I can’t think what else to do, Aunty Jean,’ he said.
‘I know, son. I know.’
‘I’ve been living with the news, living alone with this news for six weeks.’
‘I know, son.’
‘Two years, tops? That’s it, that’s all I’ve got. Two fucking years? Getting progressively more miserable; the pain getting progressively worse. Can you imagine me at the end of those two years? Cos I can, I can, and it’s horrible.’

100 Stories for Haiti is the brainchild of Greg McQueen, an author from the UK living in Aarhus, Denmark with his wife and three year old daughter. He’s written for children’s television in the UK and is currently working on his debut novel for teens, Roadkill. He described 100 Stories for Haiti recently in an article on Publishing Perspectives: “It is no wonder that the Internet is nominated for a 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Projects like 100 Stories for Haiti wouldn’t exist without it. Without the endless web of people passionate about digital culture, people who “get” the Internet, people part of a global conversation. People who saw images from a disaster-stricken country and answered an online appeal to make a book.”

For more information about 100 Stories for Haiti visit the project’s website: http://www.100storiesforhaiti.org

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/100-stories-for-haiti-from-concept-to-book-in-six-weeks/feed/ 0 Today is World Book Day http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/today-is-world-book-day/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/today-is-world-book-day/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:00:54 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=4689 World Book Day includes a new series of low-priced Quick Reads, and the ‘Buy One, Give One Free’ promotion in association with the Times and the Sun newspapers: celebrate the joy of reading and the pleasure of sharing or giving a good book. Buy a paperback and get a second free to give to charity or as a gift, to celebrate World Book Day 2010.

For information about promotions and events, go to www.worldbookday.com.

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/03/today-is-world-book-day/feed/ 0 World Book Day is approaching http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/world-book-day-is-approaching/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/world-book-day-is-approaching/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:00:25 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=4637 World Book Day 2010 in the UK and Ireland will take place on Thursday 4th March. Please note that this date applies to the UK and Ireland only. The initiative is so well established in schools here that we want to make sure that the Day happens in term time to really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading. Most other countries hold World Book Day on 23rd April every year.

World Book Day is a partnership of publishers, booksellers and interested parties who work together to promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all.

A main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. To support this aim, a Schools’ Pack full of ideas and activities, display material and more information about how to get involved in World Book Day will be mailed to schools (including those secondary schools that have specially registered to participate) from mid-January 2010. Registered pre-schools will also receive material around the same time. In the Events section you can see the range of activities and events organised by thousands of people around the country, many of which you can attend. Over the years our activity has been extended to cover both avid and emergent adult readers.

Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd and numerous participating booksellers, school children are entitled to receive a World Book Day £1 Book Token (or equivalent €1.50 Book Token in Ireland). The Book Token can be exchanged for one of the six specially published World Book Day £1 Books (where stocked and while stocks last), or is redeemable against any book or audiobook of their choice at a participating bookshop or book club (terms and conditions apply).

Find out more at www.worldbookday.com

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. The origins of the day we now celebrate in the UK and Ireland come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day – a tradition started over 80 years ago. For international information about World Book Day, please visit www.unesco.org.

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/world-book-day-is-approaching/feed/ 0 Festival preview: Jewish Book Week, 27 February to 7 March http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/festival-preview-jewish-book-week-27-february-to-7-march/ http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/festival-preview-jewish-book-week-27-february-to-7-march/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:00:53 +0000 The Bookhugger Crew http://bookhugger.co.uk/?p=4730 Highlights:

Saturday 27 February, 8.30 pm: Sex, Lies and Regal Japes: The story of Esther, the sex-crazed king and his evil counsellor: A modern and irreverent twist on a traditional story with Iranian beats and a stellar cast which includes Anita Diamant, Kathy Lette, Simon Schama and David Schneider.

Sunday 28 February: a varied range of talks from 11.00 am to 10.00 pm

Businessman Gerald Ronson, poets Bernard Kops, George Szirtes, Michelene Wandor, novelists Anita Diamant, Norman Lebrecht, Simon Mawer, thriller writers Philip Sington and Frank Tallis, polemicists Adam Thirlwell and Will Self, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, footballers and writers, last but not least, historian of money Niall Ferguson.

Monday 1 March

7.00 pm: Extremely Bad and Incredibly Cruel: Etgar Keret and Jonathan Safran Foer on eating animals

8.30 pm: Defining a Moral Compass: philosopher Susan Neiman in conversation with the Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Tuesday 2 March

7.00 pm David Aaronovitch and Francis Wheen on conspiracy theories

8.30 pm: French intellectual Helene Cixous on death, time and history.

Wednesday 3 March

7.00 pm Robert Winston on the dangers and fascination of science and technology.

8.30 pm What we have learnt (if anything) from the economic crisis with Oliver James, Adam LeBor, Gillian Tett and James Harding

Thursday 4 March

7.00 pm Democracy at Risk with John Kampfner, Eric Kauffman and Dominique Moisi

8.30 pm Justice Albie Sachs and Helena Kennedy

Friday 5 March

1.00pm: Agnes Desarthe and Claudia Roden on food, love and happiness.

Saturday 6 March

7.30 pm: Novelist Rebecca Goldstein discusses her hilarious novel about the existence (or not) of God, a 6 year old genius and a greedy academic with husband cognitive theorist Steven Pinker.

9.00 pm: Story telling with a difference: listen to homespun yarns by Jon Canter, Esther David, Rachel Holmes, Irma Kurtz while sipping a glass of wine and vote on whether the story you’ve heard was true or fiction.

Sunday 7 March

Events from 11.00 am to 10.00 pm: Fiction with Michael Arditti, Amanda Craig, Amy Bloom and Lionel Shriver, the Bible through queer theory and psychoanalysis, Polska!, celebrating Irene Nemirovsky and Israel, human rights and dialogue with the diaspora.

Children’s events with Justin Somper, Meg Rosoff, Anne Fine and many more.

Tickets are £5 to £15 with free events on week-day afternoons. To book, go to www.jewishbookweek.com or call 0844 847 2274

]]> http://bookhugger.co.uk/2010/02/festival-preview-jewish-book-week-27-february-to-7-march/feed/ 0