Calendar: Adult

CrimeFest 2010 - Free Posters and Flyers

Deadline: 1pm, Friday 5 March 2010

CrimeFest is an international convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fans who read the genre exclusively. The convention draws top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world and gives delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in an informal atmosphere. The weekend includes interviews with the Featured Guest Authors, panels, a Gala Dinner with award presentations, as well as one or two surprises. All Full Pass and Day Ticket holders receive a convention bag, a programme, and a selection of books.

We have teamed up with CrimeFest to offer a limited number of flyers and A4 posters about the festival, for you to display and distribute in your libraries. If you would like to receive some free poster and flyer packs, please fill out this form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KVCWJFK

More information about the crime convention can be viewed here: http://www.crimefest.com/

Continue reading CrimeFest 2010 - Free Posters and Flyers

Rachel Caine and The Morganville Vampires

27th May - 25th June 2010

Rachel Caine will be touring the UK to promote the latest in her YA series The Morganville Vampires during the month of June 2010 and is available for library events.

Claire Danvers thought that Morganville, Texas was a sleepy college town, until she discovered it was run by vampires hungry for fresh blood. The series will be eight-strong in May with the release of Kiss of Death. You can read more about the books, Rachel and view extracts by going to: http://www.allisonandbusby.com/book/glass-houses

Continue reading Rachel Caine and The Morganville Vampires

Join Markus Zusak in our online chat on 24th February!

24th February, 5.30-6.30pm

Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, will log in from Sydney to talk about his book Fighting Ruben Wolfe. Sign up to take part: http://www.markuszusak.co.uk/

Continue reading Join Markus Zusak in our online chat on 24th February!

Oxford Literary Festival

The young people's programme at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, 20-28 March 2010, includes the chance to meet Anthony Horowitz, Louise Rennison, Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman, Geraldine McCaughrean, Philip Reeve, Steve Cole, Zizou Corder, Cressida Cowell, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, William Nicholson, Andrew Lane (the author of a new series about Young Sherlock Holmes), star illustrators including Chris Riddell and Axel Scheffler (of The Gruffalo) as well as teen circumnavigator Mike Perham and the captain of the England women's cricket team, and more. Most events take place in Christ Church or Corpus Christi College, or in the Sheldonian.

Highlights of the 270 events on the adult programme include John le Carre, P D James, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Victoria Hislop, Anthony Beevor and Jung Chang. Events for young people are £5 or £6

Continue reading Oxford Literary Festival

Karen Campbell available for events

All year round

Karen Campbell is a police officer turned crime writer and is available for library events, reading group sessions and readers' days. She is happy to give solo talks, or take part in a panel event. She lives in Glasgow and joined the Strathclyde Police in 1987, but after a career break to have her family, she applied to Glasgow University's Creative Writing programme. In 2003, Karen was awarded a Scottish Arts Council New Writer's Bursary. Her debut novel, The Twilight Time, was published in 2008 to great acclaim and was followed last year by After the Fire. Her third novel, Shadowplay, will be published in May 2010.
Visit Karen's website www.karencampbell.co.uk

Continue reading Karen Campbell available for events

Jane Austen in the 21st Century

During 2010

Juliet Archer is a 19th-century mind in a 21st-century body. Actually, some days it's the other way round. She is on a mission to modernise all six of Jane Austen's completed novels, as a series called 'Jane Austen in the 21st Century'. Her first novel, 'The Importance of Being Emma', was shortlisted for the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. She offers a 45-minute talk, with readings from her work, on why and how she is updating Jane Austen.

Continue reading Jane Austen in the 21st Century

Proofs and Bookmarks available - THE VICE SOCIETY

Feb and March 2010

The Vice Society - James McCreet

An ingenious gothic mystery from the brightest - and darkest - new star in historical crime fiction.

'Full of vividly depicted squalor and grotesquery... Well worth reading' Guardian

'Evoking gaslit streets and alleys where danger lurks, this is Victorian melodrama at its best'
Choice magazine

Continue reading Proofs and Bookmarks available - THE VICE SOCIETY

Win a Sony e-reader pre-loaded with dozens of books!

Deadline: 30th April 2010

When William Kamkwamba, a young Malawian, stumbled across a picture of a wind turbine in a book in his local library, he decided to build one himself despite having little resources or technical knowledge. Now, his windmill has brought electricity to his community and he's sharing his incredible true story around the world in his book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

If, like William, a book has inspired a new idea or taken your life in a new direction, tell us your story and you could win a Sony e-reader.

To enter we want to know which book has inspired you and how. Please submit your answer here -
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=UcT6dUX9Trx7Ugu9jpyn1Q_3d_3d

Continue reading Win a Sony e-reader pre-loaded with dozens of books!

Reading Group Events for The Return of Captain John Emmett

During the First World War, over 300 young British and Commonwealth soldiers were court marshalled and executed for 'crimes' such as cowardice and desertion. It was a peculiarly British feature of military discipline, given the number of executed German soldiers was only 48. And it was class-ridden; out of all of those shot, only 3 were officers.

Inspired by this fact and by the tragedy of those left behind - mothers, fathers, wives - who were left not knowing, and often had to cover up what had happened to avoid the public shame, Elizabeth Speller presents us with her first novel, The Return of Captain John Emmett.

Continue reading Reading Group Events for The Return of Captain John Emmett

WIN a new £25 National Book Tokens Gift Card!

Deadline: 1st March 2010

National Book Tokens has launched its new Gift Card which is more flexible and convenient than ever. Sold and accepted in bookshops across the UK, these Gift Cards are the new way to share your passion for reading. For more information, visit www.nationalbooktokens.co.uk/newgiftcard

For your chance to win a new £25 National Book Tokens Gift Card, simply answer the following question:

Name the five presenters of the new TV Book Club.

Please email your answers to sandeep.mahal@readingagency.org.uk

Continue reading WIN a new £25 National Book Tokens Gift Card!

Cara Black on Murder in the Latin Quarter

26th April to the 7th May

Murder in the Latin Quarter is the latest in Cara Black's highly regarded Aimee Leduc Parisian crime series.

A Haitian woman arrives at the office of Leduc Detective and announces that she is Aimee's sister, her father's illegitimate daughter. Aimee is thrilled. A virtual orphan since her mother's disappearance and her father's death, she has always wanted a sister. Her partner, Rene, is wary of this stranger, but Aimee embraces her and soon finds herself involved in murky Haitian politics, which leads to murder in Paris's bohemian Latin quarter.

Cara Black lives in Noe Valley, San Francisco with her bookseller husband, Jun. She's a San Francisco Library Laureate, Macavity and three time Anthony award-nominee for her series, Aimee Leduc Investigations, set in Paris. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Crime Writers and the Marais Historique Society in Paris.

Continue reading Cara Black on Murder in the Latin Quarter

How to Make Your Vote Count, X Marks the Box, Daniel Blythe

Danile Blythe is giving away free copies of the e-book edition of his new book, How to Make Your Vote Count, X Marks the Box, from 11 February until the publication of the print edition. It will be available from www.xmarksthebox.co.uk for three weeks.

Recipients of the ebook will be required to submit a valid email address and their full name to be given a link to download it. The ebook will be provided in PDF format which can be read on screen or on any current e-readers.

Icon Books will publish the print edition [ISBN 978-184831-051-3] on 4th March 2010 in paperback at £7.99, which will be available from all good bookshops

About the book . . .

What is politics? And why does it matter? Self-confessed 'born-again voter' Daniel Blythe presents a popular, forceful argument designed to shake up anyone's apathy.

Politics sets the agenda. Climate change, education, crime, housing - these are political issues, but for many, party politics is still a turn-off.

Continue reading How to Make Your Vote Count, X Marks the Box, Daniel Blythe

Dorothy Koomson: THE ICE CREAM GIRLS: Proofs Available

DOROTHY KOOMSON The Ice Cream Girls

Two sets of eight proofs available for reading groups.

Dorothy's stunning new novel covers thought provoking subjects including domestic abuse and the impact of a crime on family life. A page-turning read guaranteed to spark lively discussion.

Continue reading Dorothy Koomson: THE ICE CREAM GIRLS: Proofs Available

Books for Reading Groups: Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb

HENRY'S SISTERS by Cathy Lamb.

Allison & Busby are delighted to offer 40 copies of HENRY'S SISTERS by Cathy Lamb to reading groups. Henry's Sisters is Cathy's first book to be published in the UK, following the three very different Bommarito sisters during various events, illnesses, giant cupcakes and, oh, a grandmother who believes she's Amelia Earhart. Read more about the book and Cathy here: http://www.allisonandbusby.com/book/henrys-sisters

Don't miss out on this opportunity to discover a wonderful new author! As a special incentive, groups who review Henry's Sisters will be in with the chance of winning sets of other Allison & Busby reading group favourites. For more information, please contact Lesley Crooks lesley@allisonandbusby.com.

Continue reading Books for Reading Groups: Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb

National Conference in London: Generating Delight in Learning

The new Primary Curriculum, announced in the Queen's speech to Parliament, recognises the role of English and communication as the vehicle for developing the capacity for creativity, imagination and thought. The richness and variety of literature is valued for its role in helping children see the world through the eyes of others and to develop lifelong pleasure in reading and writing.

Themes:
•Creating philosophical play
•Dance into words
•Improving literacy through book making
•Approaching literacy through drama and theatre
•Reading and responding with music, song and dance
•Playful approaches to writing
•Generating delight with picturebooks
•Love football; love reading
•The role of humour and delight in learning

Speakers:
•Philip Ardagh, Author
•Diane Baker Deputy Head Teacher, Basildon
•Patrice Baldwin, Norfolk LA, D4LC
•Nikki Gamble, Write Away; London Institute of Education
•Prue Goodwin, University of Reading
•Mini Grey, Author, Illustrator
•Jim Helmore, Author
•Pete Higgin, Enrichment Director, Punchdrunk Theatre
•Chantal Joseph, Dancer
•Allison Judge, Project Manager Everybody Writes, Booktrust
•Pam Lewis, University of Brighton
•Miranda McKearney, Reading Agency
•Tom Palmer, Author
•David Reedy, President UKLA
•Marcus Sedgwick, Author
•Sara Stanley, Head of Foundation and Early Years and Philosophy with Children educator
•Karen Wall, Illustrator
•Lynda Waterhouse, Author, Teacher

Further details www.writeaway.org.uk

Continue reading National Conference in London: Generating Delight in Learning

Proofs available - The Cobras of Calcutta by Grant Sutherland

MACMILLAN'S HISTORICAL FICTION LAUNCH OF 2010 - an 18th century military adventure that introduces series hero Alistair Douglas and the elite corps of decipherers.

Please contact proofs@macmillan.co.uk

Continue reading Proofs available - The Cobras of Calcutta by Grant Sutherland

History Panel - Law & Disorder: How to Make an Impression throughout History

Three talented historical fiction authors discuss Law and Disorder on a panel event. Viking historian Giles Kristian with his Raven series, M.C.Scott has the Romans covered with The Emperor's Spy and Ariana Franklin talks Henry 2nd's England in Relics of the Dead.

Three eras, three novelists, three times the value! Press releases can be found at http://bit.ly/56Qxak

Continue reading History Panel - Law & Disorder: How to Make an Impression throughout History

Author Available: ANDREW KAY: Pretty Boys All In A Row

Summer 1981 and hedonism rules on the sun-baked island of Ibiza. The streets and bars are overflowing and on the beaches there's a seemingly endless parade of beautiful bronzed adonises. Philip, though, is pasty and pale and plain to boot. Why on earth, he wonders, has he come to this gay paradise when he can barely pluck up the courage even to uncover his body?

Then Philip meets Terry and everything changes. Terry is sixty-something, with a shocking predilection for orange shell suits and plastic flip-flops, but also a bottomless purse and a generous heart. Under Terry's tutelage, Philip begins to discover a whole new self and his transformation from ugly duckling to gorgeous butterfly begins. But Terry, too, has his own demons to face...

In this charming, witty and entertaining novel, Andrew Kay evokes a long-gone and surprisingly innocent world of casual encounters and guilt-free sex, but in the background is a darker theme - the difficulties of ageing, especially in a gay culture obsessed with youth and sexual conquest.

Continue reading Author Available: ANDREW KAY: Pretty Boys All In A Row

Proofs available: Aatish Taseer's The Temple-Goers

We have advanced copies available of Aatish Taseer's searing fiction debut The Temple-Goers. Heralded as the 'Indian Brett Easton Ellis' by The Bookseller and as a 'writer to watch' by V.S. Naipaul, Aatish Taseer is a stunning new voice in fiction, exposing the ruthless heart of India's modern elite: a world of drink and designer labels, literature and laptops, politics and sex. Please get in touch if you would like to read one of the most exciting debuts of the year.

A young man returns home to Delhi after several years abroad and resumes his place among the city's cosmopolitan elite - a world of fashion designers, media moguls and the idle rich. But everything around him has changed - new roads, new restaurants, new money, new crime - everything, that is, except for the people, who are the same, only maybe slightly worse.

Then he meets Aakash, a charismatic and unpredictable young man, who introduces him to the squalid underside of this sprawling city. Together they get drunk and work out, visit temples and a prostitute, and our narrator finds himself disturbingly attracted to Aakash's world. But when Aakash is arrested for murder, the two of them are suddenly swept up in a politically sensitive investigation that exposes the true corruption at the heart of this new and ruthless society.

In a voice that is both cruel and tender, The Temple-Goers brings to life the dazzling story of a city quietly burning with rage.

Continue reading Proofs available: Aatish Taseer's The Temple-Goers

Proofs available: Sarah Blake: The Postmistress

We have 10 advanced copies available of Sarah Blake's sweeping, romantic and unforgettable novel of love and war, The Postmistress. Please get in touch if you would like to read what is set to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

The wireless crackles with news of blitzed-out London and of the war that courses through Europe, leaving destruction in its wake. Listening intently on the other side of the Atlantic, newly-wed Emma considers the fragility of her peaceful married life as America edges closer to the brink of war. As the reporter's distant voice fills the room, she sits convincing herself that the sleepy town of Franklin must be far beyond the war's reach.

But the life of American journalist Frankie, whose voice seems so remote, will soon be deeply entangled with her own. With the delivery of a letter into the hands of postmistress Iris, the fates of these three women become irrevocably linked. But while it remains unopened, can Iris keep its truth at bay?

Continue reading Proofs available: Sarah Blake: The Postmistress

Diane Janes on The Pull of the Moon

Diane Janes is a full-time writer of crime novels and investigative non-fiction. Her novel Moonshadow was highly commended in the 2006 CWA Debut Daggers Award for unpublished works. She is available for library events and to speak to reading groups.

The Pull of the Moon is a gripping novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Frances Fyfield and Barbara Vine.

When Kate Mayfield receives a letter from Mrs Ivanisovic, she realises that the secret she has kept for more than thirty years is not so safe as she imagined. Haunted by the echoes of a vanished summer which changed her life for ever, Kate is forced to confront memories she would rather forget... a dead white face in a flickering beam, not flinching when the soil hit it...

Mrs Ivanisovic is dying and demands to be told the truth, but is Kate's story of love, lies and murder really what Mrs Ivanisovic wants to hear? And how much does she herself already know?

http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=the_pull_of_the_moon_9781849010467_paperback

Continue reading Diane Janes on The Pull of the Moon

Alison Bruce on Kimberly's Song

Alison Bruce is a scriptwriter, DJ and author of two non-fiction crime books. She is available for library events and to speak to reading groups. Following her stunning debut Cambridge Blue, this is the second DC Gary Goodhew mystery.

Kimberly Guyver and Rachel Golinski had always hoped their old life wouldn't catch up with them, they'd hoped they could leave it all behind but within hours, Rachel's home is burning and Kimberly's young son, Riley, is missing.

DC Gary Goodhew begins to sift through their lives and starts to uncover an unsettling picture of deceit, murder and accelerating danger. Kimberly seems distraught but also defensive and uncooperative. Is it fear and mistrust of the police which are putting her son at risk or is it darker motivations? With Riley's life in peril, Goodhew needs Kimberly to make choices, but she has to understand, the one thing she cannot afford is another mistake.

http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=authors&author=alison_bruce&dir=asc&imprint=

Continue reading Alison Bruce on Kimberly's Song

D.J. Taylor on At the Chime of a City Clock

D.J. Taylor is available for library events and to speak to reading groups. For more information, click on continue reading.

Set against a backdrop of the 1931 financial crisis and acted out in shabby bed-sitters and Lyons tea shops, At the Chime of a City Clock is a brilliantly evoked slice of Thirties' noir.

D.J. Taylor is married to the novelist Rachel Hore and lives in Norwich. He is the author of two acclaimed biographies, Thackerary, and Orwell: The Life, which won the Whitbread Biography Prize in 2003. He has written six novels, the most recent being Kept: A Victorian Mystery. He is also well known as a critic and reviewer, and his other books include A Vain Conceit: British Fiction in the 1980s and After the War: the Novel and England since 1945.

For more information see:
http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=at_the_chime_of_a_city_clock_9781849010245_hardback

Continue reading D.J. Taylor on At the Chime of a City Clock

Cath Staincliffe on The Kindest Thing

Cath Staincliffe is available for library events and to speak to reading groups. For more information, click on continue reading.

A fictional account looking at the fiercely contested topic of assisted suicide, The Kindest Thing is a love story, a modern nightmare and an honest and incisive portrayal of a woman who honours her husband's wish to die and finds herself in the dock for murder.

A finely written page-turner that charts the life of a marriage and all the joys and stresses of bringing up a family and contrasts this with the terrifying experience of being imprisoned and at the mercy of the full weight of the criminal justice system. The Kindest Thing tackles a controversial topic with skill and sensitivity. A book that begs the question: what would you do?

Cath Staincliffe is part of Murder Squad, a collective of seven crime writers from the North of England. She is the author of the acclaimed Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the creator of ITV's hit police series, Blue Murder, which recently returned to TV with three new episodes featuring DCI Janine Lewis, played by Caroline Quentin. Cath's first novel, Looking for Trouble, shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's best first novel award, was serialized on Woman's Hour.

For more information see:
http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=the_kindest_thing_9781849012737_hardback

Continue reading Cath Staincliffe on The Kindest Thing

THE ROAD film posters

We have a limited number of film posters to give away for Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD.
THE ROAD is a global bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winning book by Cormac McCarthy, and now a major film starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall.

For more film and book information go to www.panmacmillan.com/road

Continue reading THE ROAD film posters

Celebrity Shopper by Carmen Reid

March 2010

Carmen Reid is a wonderful author of the Personal Shopper series starring the incorrigible Annie Valentine. The fifth book in the series - Celebrity Shopper - is published on 4th March.

In 2009 we undertook some fantastic events with Carmen in various libraries across Scotland and the North. These events were incredibly popular with mothers and daughters as Carmen is also the author of a young adult series of books about a boarding school called St Jude's.

More of the same event style would be fantastic but it would also be fabulous to get Carmen doing some solo events or joint events with other adult authors, possibly with input from local businesses such as boutiques and salons to make it a true Girls Night In.

For further information about Carmen please visit her website - www.carmenreid.com

Continue reading Celebrity Shopper by Carmen Reid

Village Teacher by Jack Sheffield

February 2010 onwards

Jack Sheffield is the extremely charasmatic author of the Teacher series, the fourth book of the series - Village Teacher - will be published in January. The books are very much in the style of Gervase Phinn, Heartbeat and The Royal and are perfect fun, anecdotal stories that will make you laugh and spill your tea! Jack used to be a Headmaster in Yorkshire from the 1970s onwards and many of his stories are based on true accounts from his own experiences!

Being an ex-Headmaster Jack is exceptional at commanding an audience and people always come away from Jack's events well entertained. The books are perfect for Reading Groups and I'd like to suggest an "Afternoon Tea with Jack Sheffield" style event.

Continue reading Village Teacher by Jack Sheffield

Rosie Alison talks on The Very Thought of You

All year round (2010)

Rosie is available for library events.

A story of love, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You has been longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2010 and shortlisted for Amazon Rising Star.

For more information, see
http://www.almabooks.co.uk/the-very-thought-of-you-p-320-book.html

Continue reading Rosie Alison talks on The Very Thought of You

World Book Day

Thursday 4th March 2010

Jason Donald will read his specially commissioned short story, followed by a discussion.

Continue reading World Book Day

Poetry Party with Raman Mundair, our Poet Partner, and local poets

Monday 18th January at 2.30pm

A celebration of poetry with our Poet Partner and several local poets. Refreshments available. Free but ticketed.

Continue reading Poetry Party with Raman Mundair, our Poet Partner, and local poets

'Chapter and Verse' Literature Festival, Shropshire

7-13 June 2010

Following on from a successful festival in 2009, Shropshire Libraries are currently organising the second 'Chapter and Verse' literature festival, to take place in June 2010. We are looking for authors to take part in reader events at a variety of venues. Average audience size expected to be 30+, but larger venues are also being arranged for 100+.

Continue reading 'Chapter and Verse' Literature Festival, Shropshire

Catrine Clay on Trautmann's Journey

March - April 2010

Catrine Clay is available for library events.

Trautmann's Journey is an astounding story of war and football - the first biography of Manchester City goalkeeper and former Hitler Youth star Bert Trautmann.

Continue reading Catrine Clay on Trautmann's Journey

Tom English on The Grudge

March - April 2010

Tom English is available for library events.

The Grudge is a gripping inside story of the 1990 Calcutta Cup, when an England Scotland rugby match became more than just a game.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224082760

Continue reading Tom English on The Grudge

Gene Kerrigan on Dark Time in the City

Mid April - Mid June 2010

Gene Kerrigan is available for library events.

Dark Times in the City is a thoroughly absorbing page-turner thriller set among the Dublin underworld.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1846552559

Continue reading Gene Kerrigan on Dark Time in the City

Sadie Jones on Small Wars

Mid April - Mid June 2010

Sadie Jones is available for library events.

The prizewinning and bestselling author of The Outcast returns with an emotionally powerful portrait of a marriage in extremis and a world-view in question. Sadie Jones has produced a passionate, gut-wrenching and brilliantly researched depiction of a 'small war' with devastating consequences; and in doing so, raises important questions that resonate profoundly today.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701184558

Continue reading Sadie Jones on Small Wars

Ben Okri on The Famished Road

April - May 2010

Ben Okri is available for library events.

Azaro is a spirit child who is born only to live for a short while before returning to the idyllic world of his spirit companions. Now he has chosen to stay in the world of the living. This is his story. Winner of the 1991 Booker Prize and the first book in Okri's acclaimed trilogy.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099929309

Continue reading Ben Okri on The Famished Road

Marina Hyde on Celebrity

April - May 2010

Marina Hyde is available for library events.

Celebrity is a brilliant, hilarious thinking person's guide to a world obsessed to the point of lunacy by celebrity: a guide to our times and a classic piece of comic writing.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1846552591

Continue reading Marina Hyde on Celebrity

D.J. Taylor on Ask Alice

April - May 2010

D. J. Taylor is available for library events.

Ask Alice is a wonderful novel of concealment and subterfuge, sweeping from Kansas to London, from 1904 to 1936, by the author of Kept. The story is about a woman's rise and fall, the chances she takes the secret which will undo her.

Continue reading D.J. Taylor on Ask Alice

Brian Chikwava on Harare North

April - May 2010

Brian Chikwava is available for library events.

Harare North is a shocking, powerful and hugely acclaimed first novel about life as a refugee.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1409076458

Continue reading Brian Chikwava on Harare North

Archie Brown on The Rise and Fall of Communism

April - May 2010

Archie Brown is available for library events.

The Rise and Fall of Communism is a definitive and groundbreaking account of the revolutionary ideology that changed the modern world.

For more information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1845950674

Continue reading Archie Brown on The Rise and Fall of Communism

Mark Griffiths on The Lotus Quest

April to May 2010

Mark is available for library events.

The Lotus Quest is a magical botanical adventure: a writer's journey in search of the mystery of the Lotus, sacred flower of religions from Egypt to Japan.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=184595100X

Continue reading Mark Griffiths on The Lotus Quest

Alison Weir on Traitors of the Tower

March - April 2010

Alison Weir is available for library events.

More than four hundred years ago, seven people - five of them women - were beheaded in the Tower of London. Three had been queens of England. The others were found guilty of treason. Why were such important people put to death? Alison Weir's gripping book tells their stories: from the former friend betrayed by a man set on being king, to the young girl killed after just nine days on the throne. Alison Weir is a wonderful storyteller. Through her vivid writing, history comes alive.

For further information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099542285

Continue reading Alison Weir on Traitors of the Tower

Ruth Dudley Edwards on Aftermath

March - April 2010

Ruth is available for library events.

Aftermath is a remarkable human, political, and legal story: an insider's account of the landmark attempt to bring the Omagh bombers to justice.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099472171

Continue reading Ruth Dudley Edwards on Aftermath

Caroline Moorehead on Dancing to the Precipice

March - April 2010

Caroline Moorehead is available for library events.

Lucie de la Tour du Pan was the Pepys of her generation: her diaries provide a vivid picture of Versailles, the French Recolution and Napoleon. This richly textured, highly enjoyable biography shows us an extraodinary woman in the midst of her extraodinary times.

For fuirther information, please seehttp://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099490528

Continue reading Caroline Moorehead on Dancing to the Precipice

Jed Mercurio on American Adulterer

March - April 2010

Jed Mercurio is available for library events.

The subject of this novel is a habitual womaniser. He regards his high libido as physiologically normal; if he goes without a woman for three days, he suffers headaches. He embarks on affairs with Hollywood starlets, with mob molls and numerous female employees, despite debilitating ailments and a persistent fear of losing his beloved wife and children. And this particular philanderer must choose his partners with care and employ painstaking calculation in their seduction. He must go to extraordinary lengths to conceal his affairs from his political rivals - and with good reason. He is the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099515873

Continue reading Jed Mercurio on American Adulterer

Paul Collier on Wars, Guns and Votes

March - April 2010

Paul Collier is available for library events.

Wars, Guns, and Votes is a timely, powerful and provocative study of the tensions between democracy and violence in the world's poorest countries, by one of the world's leading development economists.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099523515

Continue reading Paul Collier on Wars, Guns and Votes

Philip Sington on The Einstein Girl

March - April 2010

Philip Sington is available for library events.

The Einstein Girl is a gripping and atmospheric historical thriller set in Berlin in 1932, inspired by documents recently discovered concerning Einstein's family.

For more information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099535793

Continue reading Philip Sington on The Einstein Girl

James Fleming on Cold Blood

March - April 2010

James Fleming is available for library events.

In Fleming's exciting historical adventure, the Russian Revolution is breaking out around him, but Charlie Doig has a private war to fight. He is determined to track down and kill Prokhor Glebov, the Bolshevik who raped and tortured his wife, Elizaveta. Convinced that Glebov will sooner or later turn up at Lenin's side, he and Kobi, his Mongolian henchman, make their way to St. Petersburg. There, amidst the chaos of the Revolution, they discover that Glebov has been put in charge of the political re-education of the Tsar and his family. The chase begins...

For more information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099529521

Continue reading James Fleming on Cold Blood

Tim Thornton on The Alternative Hero

March - April 2010

Tim Thornton is available for library events.

One unremarkable Saturday morning Clive sees the biggest alternative-pop star of them all walking down the high street with his dry-cleaning: Lance Webster, disgraced ex-singer of Thieving Magpies ('the biggest British band to emerge from the late-eighties indie-boom' Rolling Stone). Clive hatches a ramshackle plan to befriend his idol and grab the scoop of a lifetime - why did Webster burn out?

For more information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=009953178X

Continue reading Tim Thornton on The Alternative Hero

Anthony Quinn on The Rescue Man

February - March 2010

Anthony Quinn is available for library events.

In a Liverpool torn apart by the Second World War, the 'Rescue Man' takes to saving the wounded from bombed buildings. But can he stop his own life from unravelling?

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099531933

Continue reading Anthony Quinn on The Rescue Man

Samantha Harvey on The Wilderness

February - March 2010

Samantha Harvey is available for library events.

It's Jake's birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life - his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his early sixties, and he isn't quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer's. Harvey displays a compelling new voice in her debut novel.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099526530

Continue reading Samantha Harvey on The Wilderness

Hephzibah Anderson on Chastened

February - March 2010

Hephzibah Anderson is available for library events.

'I'd had enough sex without love, maybe it was time to look for love without sex?': a witty look at twenty-first-century sex as Hephzibah Anderson seeks to resurrext romance during a year-long adventure in chastity.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099532158

Continue reading Hephzibah Anderson on Chastened

James Scudamore on Heliopolis

February - March 2010

James Scudamore is available for library events.

As a child Ludo is plucked out of the shantytown where he was born and transported to a world of languid, cosseted luxury. Now twenty-seven, he works high above the sprawling metropolis of São Paulo for a vacuous 'communications company'. But this is not his world, and this is not a simple rags-to-riches story: Ludo's destiny moves him around like a chess piece, showing him both extremities of opulent excess and abject poverty, taking him to the brink of madness and brutality.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099523841

Continue reading James Scudamore on Heliopolis

Gabriel Weston on Direct Red

February - March 2010

Gabriel Weston is available for library events.

Gabriel Weston worked in the big-city hospitals of the twenty-first century; a woman in a world dominated by Alpha males. Her world was one of disease, suffering and extraordinary pressure where a certain moral ambiguity and clinical detachment were necessary tools for survival. Startling and honest, her account combines a fierce sense of human dignity with compassion and insight, illuminating scenes of life and death the rest of us rarely glimpse.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099520699

Continue reading Gabriel Weston on Direct Red

Paul Strathern on The Artist, The Philosopher and the Warrior

February - March 2010

Paul Strathern is available for library events.

In his extraordinary new book acclaimed historian Paul Strathern ingeniously focuses on this improbable collusion of three iconic figures of the Italian Renaissance to unite three mighty strands of the period - war, politics and art. As each man's life unfolds, so does the Italian Renaissance.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1845951212

Continue reading Paul Strathern on The Artist, The Philosopher and the Warrior

Sian Rees on Sweet Water and Bitter

Late January - Late March 2010

Sian Rees is available for library events.

The vivid, action-packed and moving story of the Royal Naval squadron that patrolled the West African coast to stop the slave ships after Britain passed the Abolition Act.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1845951174

Continue reading Sian Rees on Sweet Water and Bitter

Because I am a Girl - various authors

Mid January - Mid March 2010

Tim Butcher, Xiaolu Guo, Joanne Harris, Kathy Lette, Deborah Moggach, Marie Phillips, and Irvine Welsh are available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

Seven authors have visited seven different countries and spoken to young women and girls about their lives, struggles and hopes. The result is an extraordinary collection of writings about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience and changing attitudes.
Proceeds from sales of this book will go to PLAN, one of the world's largest child-centered community development organisations.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099535920

Continue reading Because I am a Girl - various authors

Druin Burch on Taking the Medicine

January - February 2010

Druin Burch is available for library events.

For years patients have placed their trust in doctors and the drugs they prescribe. Yet as Druin Burch's thought-provoking history of medicine demonstrates, our trust has often been misplaced. Only with the development of antibiotics after the Second World War did doctors begin to cure more than they killed but even in this supposedly advanced age patients feel victim to tragedies such as the Thalidomide scandal.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1845951506

Continue reading Druin Burch on Taking the Medicine

Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew on Maths for Mums and Dads

January - February 2010

Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew are available for library events.

Guiding parents through the basics of the maths their children are learning today at school, MATHS FOR MUMS AND DADS will cover the dilemmas and problems you are likely to be confronted with up to your child leaving primary school.

For more information, see: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224086359

Continue reading Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew on Maths for Mums and Dads

Robert Crawford on The Bard

January to February 2010

Robert Crawford is available for library events.

The Bard is a major, brilliantly written new biography of poet Robert Burns, by a leading scholar of Scottish Poetry.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1844139301

Continue reading Robert Crawford on The Bard

Justine Kilkerr on Advice for Strays

January - February 2010

Justine Kilkerr is available for library events.

An utterly original and hugely imaginative debut, Advice for Strays is a novel about love, loss, family and a very unusual friendship. It marks the arrival of a stunning new voice in contemporary fiction.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224087665

Continue reading Justine Kilkerr on Advice for Strays

Adrian Tinniswood on Pirates of Barbary

March - April 2010

Adrian Tinniswood is available for library events.

Pirates of Barbary recounts the secret history of Barbary Coast piracy in the 17th century.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224085263

Continue reading Adrian Tinniswood on Pirates of Barbary

Matthew Kelly on Finding Poland

Mid February to Mid April 2010

Matthew Kelly is available for library events.

Finding Poland is an expansive, insightful and moving history of the Polish experience during World War Two, and its lasting legacy.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224081675

Continue reading Matthew Kelly on Finding Poland

Panos Karnezis on The Convent

January - February 2010

Panos Karnezis is available for library events.

The Convent is a major new novel from one of our finest young writers, author of Little Infamies and The Maze.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224079344

Continue reading Panos Karnezis on The Convent

John Burnside on Waking Up in Toytown

January - February 2010

John Burnside is available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

The sequel to his haunting, celebrated account of a troubled childhood, A Lie About My Father, John Burnside's startling new memoir follows his hopeless quest for peace and mental security as the ghosts and terrors close in and the illusion of Surbiton falls apart. Unsettling, touching, oddly romantic and unflinchingly honest, this is the story of one man's search for sanity - but it is also, in its own way, the true story of an impossible, unmanageable love.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224080733

Continue reading John Burnside on Waking Up in Toytown

Clare Clark on Savage Lands

Mid March to Mid May 2010

Clare Clark is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about her book. For more information, click on continue reading.

Rich in tactile detail, heart-wrenching in its portrayal of people clinging on to their humanity against the brutality of nature and commerce, this is historical fiction at its best. So absorbing is Clare Clark's recreation of eighteenth-century Louisiana that the reader won't want to leave it, even though the unstable ground on which New Orleans is putting down its first foundations proves far from hospitable.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1846553512

Continue reading Clare Clark on Savage Lands

Henry Sutton on Get Me Out of Here

Late January to Late March 2010

Henry Sutton is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about his book.

Get Me Out of Here is a novel of comic anger, of success and failure, commerce and culture - and, fundamentally, belief - in a busted city.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1846552842

Continue reading Henry Sutton on Get Me Out of Here

John Fuller on Pebble & I

April - May 2010

John Fuller is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about his book.

Pebble & I is an enquiring and elegiac new collection from one of Britain's most respected and accomplished poets.

Continue reading John Fuller on Pebble & I

Wendy Law-Yone on The Road to Wanting

April to May 2010

Wendy Law-Yone is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about her book. For more information, click on continue reading.

In The Road to Wanting, a distinguised Burmese novelist tells the story of a startlingly original homecoming.

Continue reading Wendy Law-Yone on The Road to Wanting

Stephen Anderton on Christopher Lloyd

March to May 2010

Stephen Anderton is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about his book. For more information, click on continue reading.

Christopher Lloyd: His Life at Great Dixter is an enjoyable and revealing biography of the gloriously eccentric and opinionated gardener and writer Christopher Lloyd ('Christo'), who created the garden at Dixter in East Sussex. One of the greatest English gardeners of the 20th century, Christo was probably the finest plantsman of all time.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701181133

Continue reading Stephen Anderton on Christopher Lloyd

Andela Thirlwell on Into the Frame

Mid February to Mid April 2010

Angela Thirlwell is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about her book. For more information, click on continue reading.

Into The Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown is a vivid account of the public art and private demons of Ford Madox Brown, the finest but least understood of Pre-Raphaelite artists and the four central women in his life: his two wives and models and his two secret loves.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701179023

Continue reading Andela Thirlwell on Into the Frame

Anna Lawrence Pietroni on Ruby's Spoon

1 - 10 February and June 2010

Anna Lawrence Pietroni is available for library events.

Ruby's Spoon is a bold and bewitching debut set in the industrial Black Country of the 1930s. Anna Lawrence Pietroni's fiercely charismatic heroine blazes the arrival of a mesmerising new literary talent.

For more information, see: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701184361

Continue reading Anna Lawrence Pietroni on Ruby's Spoon

Sarah Bakewell on How to Live

Mid January - Mid March 2010

Sarah Bakewell is available for library events.

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer is a spirited and singular biography (and the first full life of Montaigne in English for nearly fifty years), relating the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored. It traces his bizarre upbringing (made to speak only Latin), youthful career and sexual adventures, his travels, and his friendships with the scholar and poet Etienne de La Boétie and with his adopted 'daughter', Marie de Gournay.

For more information, see: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701178922

Continue reading Sarah Bakewell on How to Live

Nick Bunker on Making Haste From Babylon

July - August 2010

Nick Bunker is available for library events.

Making Haste from Babylon is a vivid and strikingly original account of the Mayflower Project as well as the Pilgrims' first decade in the New Plymouth colony.

For more information, see: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224081381

Continue reading Nick Bunker on Making Haste From Babylon

Edward Pearce on Pitt the Elder

January - February 2010

Edward Pearce is available for library events.

Pitt the Elder is a masterful portrait of arguably the most powerful minister ever to guide Britain's foreign policy and of an age which marked a new epoch in history, when the balance of power in Europe and the world was set for almost two centuries.

For more information, see: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/results.htm

Continue reading Edward Pearce on Pitt the Elder

Black Country Big Book Fortnight

Big Book Fortnight aims to raise the profile of libraries, books, reading and storytelling, and to promote reading as an experience, by presenting a Book Festival through partnership between the four Black Country library authorities (Sandwell, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Walsall). We are currently planning the event for 2010 and are looking for authors who are promoting their books during this period.

Continue reading Black Country Big Book Fortnight

Martin Edwards - The Lake District Mysteries

Martin Edwards, author of three previous novels in The Lake District Mysteries series (The Coffin Trail, The Cipher Garden, The Arsenic Labyrinth and coming Feb 2010 The Serpent Pool) is available for library events within reasonable travelling distance of mid Cheshire.

Martin's Lake District novels centre around historian Daniel Kind, newly moved to the area, and DCI Hannah Scarlett who heads up the Cold Case Review team.

As well as speaking to groups of varying sizes about his books, Martin is happy to talk on the following topics: forensics; true crime cases; detective fiction and its history and Agatha Christie. He has also run popular interactive Victorian murder mystery events.

Continue reading Martin Edwards - The Lake District Mysteries

Jeffrey Lewis - author events and book signings for Adam the King and Meritocracy: A Love Story

2010 marks the publication of two exciting new titles by Jeffrey Lewis:

1) Adam the King (March 2010)
- "Lewis catches the thrill of proximity to America's eastern WASP aristocracy to an uncomfortable degree: their studied vagueness, their heartiness, the aloofness that cannot be copied." - Los Angeles Times - This first book of the quartet won both the Independent Publishers Book Award for General Fiction and the ForeWord Book of the Year Silver Award for Fiction.

2). Meritocracy: A Love Story (May 2010)
- "Meritocracy is a dramatic, riveting novel of our times." - New York Review of Books

Jeffrey Lewis won two Emmys as a writer and producer of Hill Street Blues. He lives in Los Angeles and Castine, Maine.

Continue reading Jeffrey Lewis - author events and book signings for Adam the King and Meritocracy: A Love Story

Author talk by MC Beaton

www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk

Continue reading Author talk by MC Beaton

A reading and talk of 'Call The Hands' by Roger Paine

CALLTHE HANDS
A Collection of My Naval Yarns

Have you ever used ink as colouring when icing a cake? Do you know where the expression 'grog' comes from or what happened when the admiral's parrot was seasick or why a general in the Philippines distributed medals from a Freeman, Hardy and Willis shoebox? Have you tried to take three gerbils and a mouse to Hong Kong as pets for your children? Do you know why a distinguished royal visitor had difficulty in flushing the ship's toilet after the independence ceremonies in Antigua or why Invergordon was referred to as 'dump'? Have you heard the story of a cat called Oscar who was sunk with the Bismarck in World War II but survived to be sunk twice more in the ships which rescued him?

The answers to these questions, and many more true salty stories, some worthy of the 'Navy Lark', are contained in "Call the Hands - A Collection of My Naval Yarns" by Roger Paine.

Continue reading A reading and talk of 'Call The Hands' by Roger Paine

Author Available

December 2009, January and February 2010

Tim Jackson is available for library events and reading groups. His book, Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, is published by leading environmental publisher Earthscan. www.earthscan.co.uk/pwg

The book links economic growth to our environmental and economic crises, and argues that the consumerism that drives economic growth has started to undermine wellbeing in the advanced economies. He calls for a new definition of prosperity - based on wellbeing rather than GDP.

Continue reading Author Available

Victoria Connelly on Molly's Millions

November 2009 - March 2010

Victoria Connelly, author of Molly's Millions, is available for library events within the London area.

Molly's Millions is about hard-up florist Molly Bailey who has just won a fortune in the National Lottery. And she wants to get rid of it - fast!

Perfect for women's reading groups, Victoria has also spoken at a number of library writers groups previously.

Continue reading Victoria Connelly on Molly's Millions

Author and poet wanted - Knaresborough

Knaresborough Library and Customer Service Centre is looking for an author and a poet to take part in feva 2010. feva is Knaresborough's annual festival of entertainment and visual arts and will be celebrating its 10th year in 2010. See www.feva.info for more information about the festival. The library hosts events with a maximum capacity of 50 people and feva events at the library are always popular and oversubscribed. We have had very positive feedback from authors who have participated in previous years.

Continue reading Author and poet wanted - Knaresborough

Film posters available - THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

We have a limited number of film posters to give away for THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS.

'Goats' is a bestselling book by Jon Ronson, and now a major film starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.

Please contact proofs@macmillan.co.uk

Continue reading Film posters available - THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Reading Festival of Crime Writing

17, 18, 19 September 2010 (Deadline for programme 1 February 2010)

Over 2,000 crime fans attended the 2009 festival at Reading's magnificent Grade II listed Town Hall and saw Colin Dexter, Mark Billingham, Mo Hayder, Peter Robinson and many more. Our third year promises to be even bigger. Why not be part of it? We are currently looking for authors with average audiences of 80+.

For more information www.readingfestivalofcrimewriting.org.uk

Continue reading Reading Festival of Crime Writing

Janet Skeslien Charles on Moonlight in Odessa

February 2010

Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles, is a wry and sparkling debut novel - a cross between A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and Desperate Housewives. Originally from Montana, Janet Skeslien Charles now lives in Paris where she teaches creative writing at Shakespeare & Co. Moonlight in Odessa was inspired by her two years in Odessa as a Soros Fellow. Janet would be happy to come and talk to reading groups or talk on a panel alongside other writers.

Continue reading Janet Skeslien Charles on Moonlight in Odessa

Angela Huth on Land Girls

February – October 2010

Angela Huth is available for library events and to speak to reading groups. For more information, click on continue reading.

Angela Huth is the author of Land Girls which became a feature film starring Anna Friel and Rachel Weisz. Her new book, Once a Land Girl is the brilliant and moving sequel. The war is over, but life goes on for Prue, Stella and Ag. While two of the girls are married, Prue, the incorrigible flirt, has no one and is engaged in a quest for a man to provide her with security and gold taps. Yet, in the puzzling world beyond the fields, Prue, in her indomitable way, open as ever to each chance encounter, remains buoyant, optimistic and quite sure that the life she imagines is just round yet another corner.

Angela Huth has written eleven novels and four short-story collections as well as TV, radio and stage plays. Two of her novels - Virginia Fly is Drowning and Sun Child - she adapted for the BBC. She is an established freelance journalist, critic and broadcaster.

For more information see:
http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=once_a_land_girl_9781849012751_paperback

Continue reading Angela Huth on Land Girls

Bookmarks for Carole Matthews

I have beautiful bookmarks to offer libraries featuring the ever-popular Carole Matthews' two new books - The Loving Feeling and The Difference a Day Makes.

Continue reading Bookmarks for Carole Matthews

Sleuths! Torbay's Festival of Crime Writing

21 - 24 April 2010

Following the success of last year's inaugural festival, Sleuths! returns with a variety of crime writer talks, panel discussions, workshops and other events. Interested publishers / authors should contact Sleuths via the details below.

Continue reading Sleuths! Torbay's Festival of Crime Writing

Win Claire Letemendia's The Best of Men and discuss the book with the author live online!

Win free copies of Claire Letemendia's The Best of Men on CompletelyNovel.com, the social reading and publishing hub, and discuss the book live online with the author who will be joining the ReadersPlace chat forum from Toronto on 10 December, 7pm GMT!

"A completely gripping, brilliantly researched, unputdownable novel of conspiracy, passion and treason, set during the English Civil War."

Enter the competition:
http://www.completelynovel.com/reader_competitions/2#

Read a free sample:
http://rhwidget.randomhouse.co.uk/flash-widget/widget_lg.do?isbn=9780224089371&menu=0&mode=1&cf=336699&cb=FFFFFF

Continue reading Win Claire Letemendia's The Best of Men and discuss the book with the author live online!

Go Dutch! (Authors and samplers available)

Go Dutch is a promotion of new Dutch writing published in English. It features eight writers, many of whom will be available for events in the UK (with most costs being covered by the promotion). We also have quantities of a sampler of New Dutch Writing to make available at no cost to library authorities and readers groups. More details are on www.nlpvf.nl/godutch. The Go Dutch promotion runs until June 2010.

Continue reading Go Dutch! (Authors and samplers available)

Science & Engineering Week - Derby

Derby City Libraries are seeking science/forensics and crime novel writers for a series of talks linked to Science & Engineering week.

Continue reading Science & Engineering Week - Derby

Proofs available - THE DISAPPEARED

Proofs available for THE DISAPPEARED by M.R. Hall. This is the second in the stunning new series featuring coroner Jenny Cooper. The first in the series, The Coroner has been shortlisted for the 2009 CWA crime and thriller awards, and been widely acclaimed by both critics and readers.

'M.R.Hall has created a wonderful heroine in a genre we haven't seen before' - Lynda La Plante

Please contact proofs@macmillan.co.uk

Continue reading Proofs available - THE DISAPPEARED

Reading groups newsletter

Pan Macmillan are in the process of updating the reading group area of our website, and will now be sending out newsletters via email. If your reading group/library would like to be added to the mailing list, please sign up at http://bit.ly/48vHSO

Continue reading Reading groups newsletter

Nick Jones on No. 1 Chesterfield Square

October 2009 onwards

Author Nick Jones would be delighted to come to your library for his talk 'Life either side of the green baize door', from his family saga novel - No. 1 Chesterfield Square.

From the glittering Belle Epoch to the roaring twenties, this is Upstairs Downstairs meets Gosford Park.

http://www.bookguild.co.uk/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Continue reading Nick Jones on No. 1 Chesterfield Square

Paw Tracks In The Moonlight Launch

Please come and celebrate the mesmerising story of the incomparable feline Toby Jug and his owner Denis O' Connor. Set in Northumberland this self-published book has been a huge local bestseller and is now being published nationwide by Constable. This is a book every cat lover must read.

Continue reading Paw Tracks In The Moonlight Launch

Arthur Lawrence on Suicide in Mind

Arthur Lawrence would be delighted to give a talk from his new book 'Suicide in Mind'. Eight well-known, brilliant writers all committed suicide - why? The usual suspects of drink, drugs and depression play their part - but discover more under the surface. Virgina Woolf to Hunter S Thompson...

http://www.bookguild.co.uk/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Continue reading Arthur Lawrence on Suicide in Mind

Norfolk Great Big Read

Norfolk Libraries would like to hear of any authors who would be interested in visiting to celebrate great reads in February 2010.

Continue reading Norfolk Great Big Read

Posters available - THE CORONER

We have a limited number of A2 posters available for THE CORONER by M.R. Hall.

'A brilliant, original and gripping first novel' - Sophie Hannah

'M.R. Hall has created a wonderful heroine in a genre we haven't seen before' - Lynda La Plante

'A fast-paced debut thriller' - The Times

'An outstandingly interesting first novel' - Literary Review

Contact proofs@macmillan.co.uk

Continue reading Posters available - THE CORONER

Hallie Rubenhold on Lady Worsley's Whim

Up to March 2010

Hallie Rubenhold is available for library events.

Continue reading Hallie Rubenhold on Lady Worsley's Whim

Author Wanted

September onwards

We are looking for an author who writes books around the paranormal/psychic theme that will come to Margate Gateway. We have had a successful event with Mia Dolan earlier on in the year and would like to follow that up with another author event.

Continue reading Author Wanted

Lin Anderson - author talk

28 October 2009 3pm

Lin Anderson will talk about her latest novel in the Rhona MacLeod series, "Final Cut", at Lennoxtown Library

Continue reading Lin Anderson - author talk

Tall Ships Literary Programme

August 2010

We are putting together a programme of events in the build up to the Tall Ships Race, hitting hartlepool in Aug 2010. We a looking for authors writing on a seafaring theme to do talks and reading group events.....

Continue reading Tall Ships Literary Programme

Martin Bell - A Very British Revolution

Oct 2009 - May 2010

I'm organising a book tour across the country for Martin Bell's new book - in October, November and December, as well as Spring 2010. For more information, click on continue reading.

Continue reading Martin Bell - A Very British Revolution

Emily Gravett's Rabbits

Join award-winning author and illustrator Emily Gravett as she signs copies of her fantastic new picture book THE RABBIT PROBLEM at Waterstone's Brighton.

Emily is the author and illustrator of nine stunning books for children including MONKEY AND ME, DOGS and LITTLE MOUSE'S BIG BOOK OF FEARS.

For more information on Emily and her books visit www.emilygravett.com

Continue reading Emily Gravett's Rabbits

Greetings, Earthlings!

Join top performance poets James Carter and Brian Moses as they wow you with some out-of-this-world poems from their brand new book Greetings, Earthlings! From spaceships to supernovas, black holes to little green men, this collection is packed full of funny and exciting space poems for all the family to enjoy.

This event is free!

The performances will be from 2-2.30pm followed by a book signing and from 4-4.30pm, followed by a book signing.

Continue reading Greetings, Earthlings!

M.C. Beaton on Agatha Raisin/Hamish MacBeth

July 2009 - March 2010

M.C. Beaton is the author behind the two much loved and bestselling crime fiction series featuring Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth.

She is available for library events for audiences of 40+ and to speak to reading groups about her books. For more information, click on continue reading.

Continue reading M.C. Beaton on Agatha Raisin/Hamish MacBeth

Colin Challen MP - TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: THE POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

Passionate about climate change? Colin Challen is the guy to talk to . . .

Colin is available for library events and talks to reading groups. Click on continue reading for more information.

Continue reading Colin Challen MP - TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: THE POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Autumn events in Hammersmith & Fulham

21st Sept to end of October

Authors wanted!
If you are promoting a book in the autumn, I would love to hear from you.
Locations are Hammersmith Library and Fulham Library and also the new Shepherds Bush Library in the Westfields shopping centre. For the latter, I am looking to have some of the events confirmed by early July, for external publicity.

Continue reading Autumn events in Hammersmith & Fulham

Russell Miller on The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle

Sept 2009 - March 2010

The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle is the definitive biography of an enduringly fascinating figure, told with panache and full of new material unavailable to any previous biographers.http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=1844139220

Russell is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

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Ian Mortimer on The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England is an original, entertaining and illuminating guide to a 'completely different world': England in the Middle Ages.
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224079948

Ian is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

Continue reading Ian Mortimer on The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

Michael Holroyd on A Strange Eventful History

Sept 2009 - March 2010

A major literary event from 'one of the greatest biographers of our age'. http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0099497182

Michael is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

Continue reading Michael Holroyd on A Strange Eventful History

Christopher Kelly on Attila The Hun

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

Known to the Romans as 'the Scourge of God', Attila himself and his crucial role in the fall of Rome are vividly recreated in this brilliant and compelling account.
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=1844139158

Christopher is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

Continue reading Christopher Kelly on Attila The Hun

Nicky Haslam on Redeeming Features

Oct 2009 - Jan 2010

Redeeming Features is a dazzling and witty account of his frenetic life - from the '50s to the present - in London, the souht of France, New York, Arizona and Los Angeles, in a crowd of friends and acquaintances that includes virtually all of the cultural icons of our time.

Nicky is available for library events and talks to reading groups. For more information go to
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224089714

Continue reading Nicky Haslam on Redeeming Features

Helen Simpson on In-Flight Entertainment

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

'A masterful contemporary exponent of the genre. Simpson now deserves to be compared with Flannery O'Connor and Alice Munro.' - Observer

Helen is available for library events and talks to reading groups. For more information go to
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224089641

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Bryan Talbot on Grandville

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

Inspired by the work of nineteenth-century French illustrator Gérard (who worked under the pseudonym 'Grandville') this steampunk masterpiece tells ths story of detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he stalks a gang of murderers through the heart of Belle Epoque Paris.

Bryan is available for library events and talks to reading groups. For more information go to http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224084887

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Alison Weir on The Lady in the Tower

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

A compelling story of the last days of one of history's most charismatic, controversial and tragic heroines - Anne Boleyn.

Alison is available for library events and talks to reading groups. For more information go to
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224063197

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Tim Dee on The Running Sky

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

The Running Sky is an extraordinary and inspiring book about a lifetime of observing birds.

Tim is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

Continue reading Tim Dee on The Running Sky

Sara Wheeler on The Magnetic North

Sept 2009 - Feb 2010

Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers, Sara Wheeler uncovers the brutal reality of the Arctic in The Magnetic North.

Sara is available for library events and talks to reading groups.

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Havering Book Festival

12th Oct - 24th Oct

Havering, East London, are hosting a Book Festival 12th Oct - 24th Oct. We are looking to put on a number of events for all ages. We have recently hosted a very successful event with Jo Brand and Liza Tarbuck, pulling in an audience of 300. If you want to follow in Jo Brand's footsteps please contact us - we will amke you very welcome!!

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New James Kelman paperback available

First come, first served early copies of James Kelman's new paperback Kieron Smith, boy available to reading groups. The book The Times called 'a vibrant, beautiful portrait of childhood'.

Read more on http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141014890,00.html?strSrchSql=james+kelman/Kieron_Smith,_boy_James_Kelman

Continue reading New James Kelman paperback available

Yaba Badoe on True Murder

August 2009 - January 2010

Yaba is available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

'True Murder' is an entrancing debut by an accomplished film-maker.

For more information, see:
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0099523329

Continue reading Yaba Badoe on True Murder

Tom Payne on Fame

August 2009 - January 2010

Tom is available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

'Fame' is a fascinating and enlightening account of our relationship with famous people and how it has evolved throughout the ages

Continue reading Tom Payne on Fame

Raphael Honigstein on Englischer Fussball

August 2009 - January 2010

Raphael is available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

'Englischer Fussball' is a German's-eye view on our national obsession.

For more information, see:
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=022408013X

Continue reading Raphael Honigstein on Englischer Fussball

Paul O'Keeffe on A Genius for Failure

August 2009 - January 2010

Paul is available for library events. For more information, click on continue reading.

A Genius for Failure is a vivid and compelling biography of Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786 - 1846) - historical painter and polemicist, diarist, friend of the famous - and genius.

For more information, see:
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0224062476

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Exclusive KATE MORTON Author Video

Limited number of copies available of this exclusive author video

Kate Morton is the bestselling author of THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON and THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN

Contact proofs@macmillan.co.uk

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Find out more about your favourite authors on AuthorsPlace.co.uk!

Welcome to AuthorsPlace, a new website from The Random House Group. We've invited our authors to create their own unique profile pages on AuthorsPlace, the first of which are now live. Find out more about the authors and their books, read interviews, watch videos, browse picture galleries, and talk to them on their blogs and message board.
There will be more authors signing up with AuthorsPlace every week, so check here regularly to see who's new on the site!

Continue reading Find out more about your favourite authors on AuthorsPlace.co.uk!

Thomas Wright on Oscar's Books

Depends on availability

Thomas Wright is available for library events and to speak to reading groups about his book.

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701180617

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