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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Literary San Diego: A Reading List That May or May Not Include Ron Burgundy

What place does San Diego have in the cultural imagination? Because this is where I grew up, it’s hard for me to see it clearly. San Diego can seem like a joke—always trying to be something more than what it is, never measuring up, the overlooked younger sibling of LA and San Francisco. Our... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-05 08:48:04 UTC ]
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Things ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Characters Do with Books Besides Reading Them

Books are important to the texture of everyday life in Orange Is the New Black, which is based on a memoir ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-08-04 10:31:09 UTC ]
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If You Haven’t Yet Had Time to Read Moby-Dick Here’s a Pop-Up Book

Two hundred years ago, Herman Melville was born and the course of American literary history changed forever. In celebration of the author’s bicentennial, Chronicle Books published Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book from the Novel by Herman Melville, which shows ten key moments from the story in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-01 08:48:17 UTC ]
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Melville House Wants New York to Read 'The Mueller Report'

In an effort to promote more widespread reading of the document, the publisher will send staffers around the city with a video camera, asking people on the street to read segments of the report for broadcast on social media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Ashenden’: the perfect late summer escape read, and a classic

W. Somerset Maugham’s 1928 novel is thought to be the first modern espionage novel. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-31 17:07:29 UTC ]
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Manson Girls: A Reading List for ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

The Manson girls drift their way through the new movie ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. These books help provide more context on who they really were. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-07-31 10:37:36 UTC ]
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The 10 books to read in August

Traditionally a “dead month” in publishing, August is delivering plenty of worthwhile titles. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-30 16:35:43 UTC ]
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Jenny Eclair and Kit de Waal champion Listening Books

Authors Jenny Eclair, Kit de Waal, Sally Gardner and Bali Rai have been made ambassadors for national audiobook charity Listening Books as it marks its 60th anniversary. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-29 18:56:21 UTC ]
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Publishers call on Sajid Javid to ditch 'reading tax'

The Publishers Association and leading members of the trade have written a letter to Sajid Javid calling for the new Chancellor of the Exchequer to end the VAT charge on digital publications in the next Budget. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-28 14:28:43 UTC ]
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The Best Short Stories about Christmas Everyone Should Read

The best Christmas stories This is a somewhat unseasonal post for us, appearing in July as it is. But we’ve recently turned our thoughts towards Christmas literature for a whole host of reasons, so thought we’d offer ten of the greatest short stories about Christmas. These are stories set around […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2019-07-27 14:00:59 UTC ]
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Why Don’t I Read All My Books?

I own a book called Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures, itself a small object with a haunting image on the cover: a tiny 19th-century portrait of a dead teenage girl. The book came out in 2000, to accompany an exhibition of miniatures at Yale University Art Gallery, and I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-26 08:50:03 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House and Kellogg’s Renew ‘Feeding Reading’ Promotion

Having distributed more than 400,000 children's books last year, the PRH-Kellogg's partnership, Feeding Reading, is back this year with 125 titles on offer. The post Penguin Random House and Kellogg’s Renew ‘Feeding Reading’ Promotion appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-07-25 05:30:50 UTC ]
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The Best Book You've Never Read is 'Pieces for the Left Hand' by J. Robert Lennon

"Retelling these stories—which are not much longer in the summary than in the original—I feel the same charge I experience when some strange little thing happens to me, a coincidence or mix-up, that I’m eager to share with someone." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Spain’s Publishers’ Federation Pledges a New Pact for Reading and International Outreach

Spain’s publishers’ federation, in a series of meetings with government, educational, and cultural leadership, hammer out an approach to invigorate reading domestically and promote Spanish literature internationally. By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson Toward a ‘State Pact’... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-07-24 01:16:59 UTC ]
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A summer reading list for fans of ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’

The latest YA rom-coms include and affirm a broader range of experiences than ever before. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-07-23 16:05:15 UTC ]
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Boris Johnson urged to support creative industries in open letter

Boris Johnson has been urged to support a second EU referendum rather than a no-deal Brexit in order to support the UK's creative industries and protect the sector's public investment, just hours after he was elected leader of the Conservative Party.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 11:05:44 UTC ]
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Moran and James make Richard and Judy Book Club summer reading list

Caitlin Moran and Peter James are among the authors on Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan's latest Book Club summer selections.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-21 17:20:56 UTC ]
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50 of the Best Amazon Prime Books Available Through Prime Reading

You don't need Kindle Unlimited to get free ebooks on Amazon — all you need is a Prime subscription. Here are the best Amazon Prime books on Prime Reading. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-07-18 10:35:34 UTC ]
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Powell’s employees protested a reading by the author of The Red Pill.

Powell’s employees were among a group on Monday night that protested a reading at the bookstore by Blake Nelson, a Portland author whose recent work and public statements have drawn on extremist right-wing rhetoric. Nelson’s newest book, The Red Pill—published by Bombardier Books in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-17 18:00:11 UTC ]
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The ultimate summer reading list for hipsters is here

A new data viz surfaces the forgotten literature of public libraries. There’s no feeling more deflating than asking someone what they’re reading, only to have never heard of any of the three books they readily rattle off. But what if that academic smugness could be yours? What if you were the... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2019-07-15 10:20:19 UTC ]
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