“This is a lament for a lost London, one which used to be much wilder, darker and poorer … This book will help you see it through new eyes. It is a delight.
Nicholas Lezard
Evening Standard
“Sitting static, miles from the sea, reading Runcie’s account of childbirth during one of my son’s post-lunch naps had me in tears. It was as visceral and as heroic as any Homeric epic. I may not know Runcie, not live on a coast, have nothing fishy in my background, but hearing her story of pain and broken waters made me feel true affinity. I felt, as she describes in relation to the lives of fishermen’s wives, like a woman standing on the shore, looking at the drama unfolding far out at sea. I felt like someone with salt on my face and air in my lungs; a piece of something greater and more magnificent, enacted by women everywhere.”
Nell Frizzell
Caught by the River
The Heart of Beyond
“Because this, after all, is what fiction is supposed to do. For the few hours or days or weeks that we are held by a book, it should lead us towards other places and other lives. It should un-centre us, and reorient our imaginations.” A brilliant essay by Malachy Tallack (author of The Valley at the Centre of the World) on how fiction can force us to reconsider ‘remoteness’.
Malachy Tallack
Boundless
A rather brilliant trailer for the rather brilliant Making Evil: The science behind humanity’s dark side.
Narration by Dr. Julia Shaw. Direction/Animation: Jocie Juritz. Colouring: Anjuna Harper & Natasha Pollack. Sound/Music: Thomas Williams.
“This is a very fine novel indeed … Anybody who seeks to understand the world as it is today will find enlightenment here.”
Allan Massie
Scotsman
“I definitely don’t judge people who become passionately involved in a political struggle, even to the point of taking up weapons in the service of that struggle, in the way that I would have before beginning the book.”
John Wray interviewed in the Guardian about his novel, Godsend, and the intriguing – and maybe risky – political ground it treads.
Guardian
“We looked at suburbia and wanted to burn it down”
An extract from Tracey Thorn’s Another Planet in the Observer.
Observer
‘This is laugh-out-loud, delightful comedic writing. It captures a mood of escapism and nostalgia that I found incredibly reassuring and cheering. More Keggie, please.’
Viv Groskop
Observer
“A significant literary performance … Godsend builds to a shattering, balefully vivid ending.”
Dwight Garner
New York Times
Letters Live is a series of events where remarkable letters are read by a diverse array of outstanding performers. On 4th December 201 an incredible line up took to the newly opened Alexandra Palace Theatre stage: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joely Richardson, Alison Steadman, Louise Brealey, Celia Imrie, Clarke Peters, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jordan Stephens, Simon Callow and Paul Ryan, with musical performances from Tom Odell. The night was in aid of Crisis at Christmas, ensuring homeless people across the country have a place to go and a meal to eat this Christmas.
We made a little pal who prints you a present. Giftbot dispenses prose, poetry, comics and art at the push of a button. If you’re near The Edinburgh Bookshop any time during December drop in and it might give you something by David Shrigley, Lemn Sissay, Jeanette Winterson, Matt Haig, Rebecca Solnit, Richard Holloway, Tom Gauld, or even a SPECIALLY WRITTEN Jess Kidd short story!
The Valley at the Centre of the World
“Tallack shows us the past and future colliding in the present, and illustrates the difficulty of maintaining a culture in a world that is shrinking. The Valley at the Centre of the World is a thoughtful, engaging and valuable addition to the literature of islands. It’s difficult to read it and not think of Britain as a whole, an island currently engaged in an ugly push and pull between those who look inwards and those with their telescopes trained beyond the horizon.”
Ben Myers
New Statesman