My friend Paul Westlake, who has died of cancer aged 65, was a pillar of the radical publishing world from the mid-1970s onwards. He was an advocate of workers' co-operatives and gained much experience in ensuring that the output of independent publishers reached the bookshops.In autumn 1976, after months of planning, we became co-founders, with three others, of a distributor for small radical and feminist publishers, including periodicals. Paul, who had a few years' experience in managing a bookshop, took on the key role of handling the finances, which was a big challenge, particularly for someone without an accounting background.At the beginning, Paul organised the building of an office and warehouse in Clerkenwell Workshops, central London, putting up the internal walls block by block. The Workshops were also home to the magazines Spare Rib and Undercurrents.In 1979 Paul co-founded Zed Books, where he met his partner, Anne. He took on a role in finance and rights administration and in 1983 persuaded the company and its owners to convert to a workers' co-operative. He supported the Industrial Common Ownership Movement for nearly a decade. Always ready to help out in the running of the organisation, he personally introduced the staff to spreadsheets. He also played a leading role in Hackney Co-operative Developments and chaired its trust, which today has a solid property base in Dalston.Paul spent more than 20 years fostering southern African publishing. He founded the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
"I had a physical reaction. It literally made the hairs on my arm stand up.” Phil Earle is talking about the moment he heard the true story which inspired his new children’s book When the Sky Falls. The story was “gifted” to him by a family member, whose father was part of the Manchester home... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-19 20:44:59 UTC ]
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Tom Maschler Born 16th August 1933 Died 15th October 2020 Rogers, Coleridge & White managing director Peter Straus remembers the late, acclaimed publisher Like many of the impressive publishers to emerge after the Second World War, Tom Maschler was a Jewish émigré from Europe. He was... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-30 04:38:04 UTC ]
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Virago has acquired a new book from Sonia Purnell, telling the "explosive" story of Pamela Harriman, Winston and Clementine Churchill’s beloved daughter-in-law, and "secret weapon" during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-22 04:52:06 UTC ]
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Faber is publishing Lou Kuenzler's latest middle-grade novel, inspired by the stories of the female footballers who rose to fame following the First World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-07 17:42:25 UTC ]
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Mirror Books will publish new memoir about the only living sisters to have signed the Official Secrets Act during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-04 12:36:25 UTC ]
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Walker Books will publish Michael Rosen’s The Missing; The True Story of my Family in World War Two in January 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-26 17:56:29 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has snapped up The Kingfisher Patrol, a new novel from Hazel Gaynor set in Japanese-occupied China during the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-06 00:37:34 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has snapped up a World War Two novel "full of friendship and hope" by Christopher de Vinck, that was inspired by the essayist's family. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-24 00:58:20 UTC ]
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My friend George Richardson, who has died aged 94, spent most of his working life at Oxford University, including as chief executive of Oxford University Press (OUP) from the mid-1970s to the late 80s.He was born in Cricklewood, north London, to Christina, a homemaker, and George, a businessman.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-09-26 16:53:02 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker has picked up an "astonishing" novel from Ciarán McMenamin set in Ireland after the First World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-25 12:14:24 UTC ]
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As the world verges on World War I, the battle of the sexes rages in “Kopp Sisters on the March.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-09-16 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Matthew Stanley describes an international effort during World War I to support his most famous theory. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-06-20 18:39:41 UTC ]
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Imperial War Museums will launch a new classic fiction series this September to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, the Imperial War Museums Wartime Classics series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury UK and US have both pre-empted on the first novel by award-winning short fiction writer L Annette Binder, inspired by her own family’s experience under the Third Reich. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Collection of short pieces, which has been in the works for more than a decade, takes stock of The Snowman author’s lifeRaymond Briggs is one of the UK’s most beloved children’s authors, the creator of characters from The Snowman to Fungus the Bogeyman. But in his forthcoming book Time for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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University lecturer Claire Gradidge has won the Richard and Judy ‘Search for a Bestseller’ competition for her World War Two crime novel The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bart van Es wrote about a Jewish girl who was sheltered by his grandparents during World War Two. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2019-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A painting provided the inspiration for Lucy Strange’s second children’s book, about a family struggling with the outbreak of the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Old Barn Books has acquired a picture book by playwright Alan Pollock about a real bear who fought in the Second World War. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, the bestelling novelist’s latest work grapples with the elusive nature of ‘truth’. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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