Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Where has October gone? Between a trip to Berlin to celebrate the centenary of venerable publishing house Ullstein, an epic stint at the Frankfurt Book Fair and a visit to the Palace, it’s been a whirl. But now that all (OK, both) members of A&U UK are safely docked back in Bloomsbury, it’s time to scoop up the highlights.

Our friends at The Guardian decided to devote an issue of The Spin to Christian Ryan’s superlative Golden Boy. Apparently Off the Ball at Newsradio in Ireland are avid readers of The Spin, for they then got in touch to try to organise an interview with Golden Boy’s elusive subject, Kim Hughes. In an exclusive that Australian radio would have killed for, Kim spoke incredibly frankly about the rough-as-guts treatment he received at the hands of Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh and what it feels like to be remembered as the captain who cried. Listen to it here and you may weep yourself.

The Guardian also decided to make Kate Grenville’s trusty tome The Writing Book the framework for their ‘How to Write Fiction’ guide which was a free liftout in the paper on October 15^th. If you missed it, you can pick it up in e-book format here. 

The Times got excited about former Prime Minister of Australia Paul Keating revealing an extremely frank conversation he held with the Queen while in office: they ran Keating’s piece (drawn from his new collection After Words) in its entirety on October 22^nd. If you’re not a fan of Uncle Rupert’s paywall, you can read Keating’s eloquent, poignant piece here. 

Forthcoming highlights include Tom Keneally discussing his magisterial work of history, Australians, on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week on November 7^th, and a visit from the ever charming Simone Felice, who’ll make music and read from Black Jesus at the Hawley Arms on November 17^th. See you there!

Life after death and the food of love and grief

A busy weekend for A&U UK authors with two amazing personal pieces in the national press.

First up is Black Jesus author Simone Felice opening up on life after death. When he was 12, he flatlined. Twenty years later, his heart failed.  In this emotional piece in Saturday’s Guardian Weekend magazine Simone describes just how it feels to die, twice. Read his story here.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella Magazine ran a piece by Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You, about hiding from grief and the dangerous consequences of avoiding the pain. See how she overcame them here.

Recent releases from A&U

The last few months have seen some fantastic new releases from Allen & Unwin UK. Below is a little run-down of our recent highlights...

July

Following his inspirational 3000 mile Run Across America, ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes was in the UK to help promote his new book, Run!: 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss. Dean was all over the media, including an appearance on the BBC Breakfast couch with Bill and Sian and he went for a run in Hyde Park with the Today programme’s Evan Davis. See here for the video.

Our other July release was the A&U stalwart Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali. This one really is the little book that could, a perennial bestseller in Australia offering calm and wisdom and helping you to find inner peace and harmony at a potentially stressful time. And if you don’t believe us, just take a look at what the Amazon reviews have to say...

August

Caroline Leavitt’s Pictures of You comes with a recommendation from the doyenne of women’s fiction – Jodi Picoult. “A magically written, heartbreakingly honest snapshot of the people we leave behind and those we can’t let go; a portrait of the full spectrum of the human heart. Caroline Leavitt is one of those fabulous, incisive writers you read and then ask yourself, Where has she been all my life?” If we may say so ourselves, we think our jacket is particularly gorgeous, what do you think?

Malcolm Knox was over in August, celebrating the release of his new novel The Life with appearances including the Edinburgh Festival and a reading at the British Museum. Since it’s a book about surfing, it made perfect sense to also take Malcolm down to Cornwall where he was interviewed for BBC Cornwall and did a signing at Truro Waterstones. Here’s a picture of Malcolm reading from The Life in the British Museum’s Australian exhibition:

September

Singer/songwriter Simone Felice of Felice Brothers and Duke and the King fame has written a stunningly lyrical debut novel called Black Jesus. In advance of the September publication, Simone was in the UK for the Latitude Festival, performing with Duke and the King and reading from his novel. Despite the mud the weekend was a fantastic success and we look forward to having Simone back in the UK for the release of his debut solo album, featuring Mumford & Sons, early in 2012.