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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AASL 2017: So Many Sessions, So Little Time

We’ve zeroed in on some of the programming highlights of the upcoming AASL National Conference in Phoenix. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Welsh-language novels 'enjoying golden age' despite reported sales decline

Despite news this week that sales had fallen dramatically, the Welsh Books Council’s chief says that the sector is showing real growthThe head of the Welsh Books Council (WBC) has hailed a “golden age for the Welsh-language novel” despite reports of a dramatic decline in sales.BBC Cymru Fyw... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #sarah waters #proposed cuts #distribution centre #golden age


Get 'Microsoft Office 365 For Dummies, 2nd Edition' ($13 value) FREE for a limited time

If you want to get your head in the cloud and get up to speed on the features in Office 365, you've come to the right place. Inside Microsoft Office 365 For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you'll learn step by step how to use email, take advantage of SharePoint Online for collaboration, communicate with... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2017-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #latest version #team members #limited time


The corrosion of truth in these strange times is terrifying | Richard Flanagan

Lies have become alternative facts and truth irrelevant in the face of power, while we all give up our privacyIn Book 8 of The Odyssey we read that the gods weave misfortune so that later generations have something to sing about. It wasn’t a god but a conman who now leads me to describe how –... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Sunday Times Prize Jury Names Five Young Writers to Shortlist

Two Faber & Faber releases are among the expanded shortlist announced this weekend (October 29) for the Irish and UK author 35 or younger. The post The Sunday Times Prize Jury Names Five Young Writers to Shortlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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OpenBook’s China Bestseller Lists for September: The Road to Shanghai

With Shanghai International Children's Book Fair ahead, it's interesting to see young authors rocking China's bestseller charts. The post OpenBook’s China Bestseller Lists for September: The Road to Shanghai appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I bought my first magazine aged six – and I’ve never looked back

Our pop culture columnist on a life reading glossies I think the first magazine I bought with my “own” money was an official Sindy doll magazine. Clearly my budding hipsterism is what attracted me to small-batch, locally grown produce over an overpriced foreign competitor, but that’s a column... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Wonderstruck' spins a visually captivating and fully engrossing tale of wonder for movie fans of all ages

With its intricate structure and 600-plus page length, Brian Selznick's "Wonderstruck" is not the easiest Young Adult novel to bring to the screen, and filmmaker Todd Haynes is not the likeliest director to take on any YA book, easy or not. Yet, working beautifully together with a major assist... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With consent from Brazil, AT&T has only one regulatory hurdle left before it can gobble Time Warner

Telecommunications giant AT&T has secured the blessing of Brazilian regulators for its $85-billion takeover of Time Warner Inc., moving the blockbuster deal closer to the finish line. The Dallas phone company on Wednesday said Brazil’s antitrust authority, the Conselho Administrativo de... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frankfurt Book Fair 2017: It’s Time to Fix Fair Dealing in Canada

Demand for Canadian educational content remains high, however the ongoing supply of Canadian learning resources remains uncertain after a 2012 change to copyright law. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Returns in the Digital Age

Technology may have changed the book business, but it doesn't offer any magic solution to help booksellers reduce returns. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tuesday at Frankfurter Buchmesse: The Markets in Time of Change

Tackling what agent Andrew Wylie calls "a profound moral question" for world publishing and more, The Markets is an issues-driven conference for a sharply relevant business in world dynamics. The post Tuesday at Frankfurter Buchmesse: The Markets in Time of Change appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why serious literary fiction like Ishiguro’s is vital in times like these | Alice O’Keeffe

In our digital age, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nobel prize is a reminder that it is still novels that ask the biggest questionsIt’s always entertaining to observe the interaction between the news media and a writer who has just won the Nobel prize. The all-time best was obviously Doris Lessing, who when... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Akala's 'powerful' memoir to Two Roads

John Murray Press imprint Two Roads has signed a personal memoir by BAFTA and MOBO-award winning artist Akala which is also a political book about race and class. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Company spotlight: Dialogue Books taking the road less travelled

In three months at Little, Brown, Sharmaine Lovegrove has got off to a flying start, as Sarah Shaffi discovers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder wins 'digital age' business book by podcaster Gannon

Hodder & Stoughton has won rights to publish a new business book "for the digital age" by podcaster Emma Gannon, called The Multi-Hyphen Method.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Get 'Coding for Dummies' ($16 value) FREE for a limited time

No coding experience is required for Coding For Dummies, your one-stop guide to building a foundation of knowledge in writing computer code for web, application, and software development. Using foundational web development languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it explains in plain English... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2017-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sceptre to translate Wells' German bestseller into English for first time

Sceptre is publishing Benedict Wells' German bestseller The End of Loneliness in March 2018, marking his English-language debut. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book Sales Up in in May, for First Time in Two Years

E-book sales at trade houses rose 2.4% in May 2017 for the first time since 2015, according to new figures released by the Association of American Publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sylvia Plath's bikini shot: it's time to stop sexualising a serious author to sell books | Cathleen Allyn Conway

The UK cover of a new collection of letters is only the latest to show the acclaimed poet as blond, beaming and in a skimpy outfit. But presenting female writers as mere sex symbols diminishes their literary achievementsOn the US cover of Sylvia Plath’s Collected Letters, a volume out this week... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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