In the age of Corbyn, is the time right for another Road to Wigan Pier?

It’s no surprise that the Left Book Club is being relaunched now, with the imprimatur of the Labour leader and Ken Livingstone. It began in the anxious 1930s, a decade that has all too many parallels with the current oneAiming to “set the agenda for a new age of political debate”, the Left Book Club was re-launched this week at a meeting at the Conway Hall in London. The Left Book Club last published a book in 1948. Jeremy Corbyn had yet to be born. Nevertheless the Labour leader has generously endorsed the revival as “a terrific and timely idea” that will give “intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate”. He added that he had a large collection of Left Book Club titles, some bought new by his parents and others that he acquired second hand. I speculate that the memory of these books in their plain red or orange covers – their flash upon his inward eye – must have provided Corbyn with a rare pleasurable moment in the past few weeks: the thought of them on his shelves having same kind of heart-filling effect that the daffodils had on Wordsworth.My own collection isn’t so large. In fact, it runs to just one book, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and I didn’t inherit it. I bought it 20 or 30 years ago because I liked the idea of having such a fine book in its cheap and original form – seeing the words and photographs as its first readers must have seen them. Published in 1937, the year after... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Noho options Moggach's 'timely' The Carer

Deborah Moggach’s The Carer (Tinder Press) been optioned by Noho Films & TV. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-07 00:55:29 UTC ]
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Now is the time for publishers to show their real value

As an industry, we are uniquely positioned to meet many of these needs and support the nation right now. After all we are in the business of informing, educating and entertaining people. And our industry has responded in many ways, with authors leading the charge. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-06 15:37:20 UTC ]
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Vampires Through the Ages: the Comics Anthology We Need

What would a comics anthology following the progression of vampire lore from the ancient world to modern takes look like? Find out here. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-05-06 10:35:39 UTC ]
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It's time to face the data

April 2020 found the publishing industry entering a period of unexpected change as bookshops closed and the focus turned to digital sales. The COVID-19 lockdown has forced writers to re-evaluate the future in this difficult time. As a narrative psychologist and fiction writer, I am interested... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-05 04:49:45 UTC ]
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Debut author Jacqueline Rohen dies suddenly, aged 40

Author and conservationist Jacqueline Rohen, whose debut novel How to Marry Your Husband is published by Arrow this month, has died suddenly at her home in Uganda. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-04 07:16:06 UTC ]
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Doyle and O'Neill on Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award longlist

Roddy Doyle and Joseph O'Neill have been longlisted for the £30,000 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-02 23:49:24 UTC ]
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In Q1, Sales Rose 26% at Amazon as It Works to Improve Shipping Times

Sales increased to $75.5 billion in the second quarter at Amazon, even as it acknowledged that the surge in demand forced it to prioritize essential items such as household staples and "dampened demand" for non-essential products. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Community Cookbook Is Reborn for a Time of Scarcity and Sharing

Cobbled-together home recipe collections were once the province of church groups and Scout troops, but now they’re uniting Americans of all stripes. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-28 09:00:19 UTC ]
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John Grisham Returns to Camino Island, This Time in Hurricane Season

In “Camino Winds,” a bookstore owner and two other characters team up to solve a murder and the mystery behind it. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-04-28 01:32:18 UTC ]
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Global Connectedness in Trying Times: Spotlight on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.

The SZBA celebrates literary and cultural achievements in the Arab world. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus commissions spoof guide for our 'new normal' times

Quercus has acquired Instructions for the British People During the Emergency, authored by Jason Hazeley, who co-wrote the Ladybird Books for Grown-ups series, and comedy writer and actor Nico Tatarowicz. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-27 03:59:00 UTC ]
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Lisa Williamson | 'Every idea I have is about teenagers. It’s such an interesting time'

Waterstones Children's Book Prize winner Lisa Williamson returns with her fourth novel for teens, centring on three friends- and a kidnapped baby Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-24 08:01:36 UTC ]
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'Station Eleven' author Emily St. John Mandel joins the L.A. Times Book Club May 19

Emily St. John Mandel chronicles a global pandemic and financial crisis in her novels, 'Station Eleven' and 'The Glass Hotel.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-23 22:16:10 UTC ]
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Watch the L.A. Times Book Club's virtual meet-up with author Fanny Singer and chef Alice Waters

'Always Home' author Fanny Singer worries more about running out of garlic than toilet paper. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-04-22 22:32:48 UTC ]
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Ad Age 20-Minute Take: Proving out performance

Watch the live broadcast here on April 28 at 3 p.m. EDT. RSVP here—and join the conversation on Facebook, Periscope, LinkedIn and Twitter. Ad Age 20-Minute Takes is a virtual event series tackling how marketers and buyers can, or should, adjust their strategies in the current climate. Leading... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-04-22 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Now is the time to 'focus on achievements', Healy tells #Bookchat

Vintage Books is prioritising different methods of measuring success during the pandemic, its marketing director Chloe Healy has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-21 20:41:25 UTC ]
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RH's Bob Loomis Dies at Age 93

Bob Loomis, who began his career as an editor at Random House when company founders Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer were still running the publisher, died April 19 at age 93. Loomis retired from Random House in 2011. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder wins watchmaker's history of time in seven-way auction

Hodder has acquired the rights to "a history of time" from watchmaker and historian Rebecca Struthers following a "fiercely fought", seven-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-21 00:29:45 UTC ]
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Madeleine L’Engle’s early short stories presage ‘A Wrinkle in Time’

A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
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