Jamie Byng: ‘Listening to letters being read out is quite something’

The Canongate Books boss on the success of Letters Live, performances of notable correspondence by leading lights of stage and screenJamie Byng, 46, son of the 8th Earl of Strafford, grew up in Hampshire and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he joined Canongate Books as an intern and bought out the struggling Edinburgh publishing house two years later, aged just 25. His successes include the UK publication of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker prize in 2002 and sold more than 3m copies. In 2013 he set up Letters Live, “a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence” based in part on Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note books. Letters Live returns to London’s Freemasons’ Hall on Thursday 10 March.How did Letters Live come about?In 2013 we published two books about letters on the same day. One was Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, which is a history of letter-writing. The other, Letters of Note, grew out of Shaun Usher’s website, which compiles great correspondence throughout history. We decided to promote both books by getting people to read out letters in a live setting. Nick Cave had a letter in Shaun’s book and he’s a good friend, so it was very straightforward to call him up and say “How’s about it?” Gillian Anderson went totally nuts for a Katharine Hepburn letter to Spencer Tracy. Everyone I asked who was around – Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Berry, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Robinson – said yes. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Jamie Byng: ‘Listening to letters being read out is quite something’

The Canongate Books boss on the success of Letters Live, performances of notable correspondence by leading lights of stage and screenJamie Byng, 46, son of the 8th Earl of Strafford, grew up in Hampshire and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he joined Canongate Books as an... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Neil Gaiman to release non-fiction title this year

Neil Gaiman is set to release two books this year – a selection of non-fiction writings and a special edition of his first novel Neverwhere, illustrated by Children’s laureate Chris Riddell. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Religion and Spirituality News From Around the Web: February 24, 2016

Today’s religion and spirituality news roundup includes a new book from Christian publishers on Queen Elizabeth’s faith and details about a self-help book with “spiritual tools” by Gillian Anderson. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors lead support for My Library By Right campaign

Authors Ali Smith, Neil Gaiman and Joanna Trollope have led a wave of “tremendous support” for CILIP’s legal fight for libraries as its campaign petition tops 7,000 signatures. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW Picks: Books of the Week, September 21, 2015

New books from Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, A.S. King and more. Plus, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets into Sherlockia. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Neil Gaiman: 'my parents didn’t have any kind of rules about what I couldn’t read'

Neil Gaiman is no stranger to having his books banned. Here the author of Coraline and The Graveyard Book talks about controversial books in libraries, censorship threats to graphic novels and why freedom of speech is not the freedom to harassDo you remember reading any books as a child that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three wins for Gaiman's 'Graveyard' at Audie Awards

The audio adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book won three awards at the US Audie Awards, which recognise achievements in audiobooks. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2015: 'Mandela An Audio History' Takes Top Honors at 2015 Audie Awards

Mandela: An Audio History won the award for Audiobook of the Year, and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book took home the prize for Distinguished Achievement in Production Thursday night at the 20th annual Audie Awards Gala in New York City. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gaiman, Rankin and Waters join SoA council

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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ABA Announces 2015 Indies Choice & E.B. White Award Winners

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'War and Peace' BBC adaptation will star Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson

The adaptation will also star actors Paul Dano and Lily James. It's being directed by Tom Harper of 'Peaky Blinders.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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True crime for Canongate

Canongate has signed a bestselling US true crime book, which has been adapted for the screen with Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch. Black Mass, by journalists Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, exposes an FBI corruption case centred around John "Whitey" Bulger, the head of the Boston Irish mob,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Neil Gaiman, Daniel Handler team up to distribute books in New York City

The two handed out National Book Award nominees as well as their own books in advance of the NBAs ceremony. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ursula K. Le Guin to Receive NBF Lifetime Achievement Award

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gaiman novels adapted for TV

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[ The Bookseller | 2014-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cumberbatch, Gaiman and Cave in star-studded Canongate event

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[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big names back Authors for the Philippines campaign

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[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Humble Comedy Bundle lets you pay what you want for laughs, big spenders get Louis CK

The Humble business model can apply to anything. Now, you can pay what you want for stand-up comedy in addition to ebooks, music and video games. For the next two weeks, you can get comedy specials from Maria Bamford, Tig Notaro, Hannibal Buress and Jim Norton for as little or as much as you... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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