The BBC’s Fergal Keane: ‘The breakdowns get harder to recover from each time’

The former BBC war reporter, now special correspondent, on the terror of PTSD, his tips for living with it day to day, and the people and poets he admiresDuring a career spanning more than 30 years, BBC special correspondent Fergal Keane has covered brutal conflicts in South Africa, Rwanda and Bosnia. It’s taken a lasting toll on his mental health, and in 2020 he stepped back from frontline reporting, revealing that he’s suffering from acute PTSD. In his memoir The Madness, newly published in paperback, he goes into greater detail, powerfully describing multiple breakdowns, alcoholism, and the inherited trauma that shaped his Irish childhood, as well as the resilience he’s found in himself. He will be talking at the Edinburgh International book festival on 17 August.What part of The Madness was hardest to write?Most difficult was what it was like to be in a psychiatric hospital. People talk about going mad and it conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images, but it’s terrifying, it’s this implosion. I’ve never been so afraid in my life. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-06 08:30:06 UTC ]

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Morrissey's first novel, List of the Lost, to be published in September

Fansite True to You announces that the book will be published by PenguinMorrissey may have had a troubled couple of years, with health issues forcing the cancellation of gigs, but as he pointed out on the Smiths’ third single, “the devil will find work for idle hands to do” – and in this case,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales rise but profits hit at CUP

Cambridge University Press saw sales rise 5% year-on-year at constant currency rates to £269m in the year ended April 2015, according to its latest annual report. The increase reflected "significant" expansion in its Education division, which was offset by lower increases in Academic. However... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Throwback Thursday: Scientology Goes Racing

Racing ain't cheap, and teams are seldom in a position to turn down money. This leads to some off-the-wall sponsorship deals. Crypto-currencies. Taylor Swift. Jesus. And, for a few glorious years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, "Dianetics," in a campaign bankrolled by the Church of... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leopold Blue wins children's book prize

Leopold Blue, a coming-of-age story set in South Africa, wins the 2015 Branford Boase Award for an outstanding debut children's novel. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2015-07-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vie acquires psychiatrist Gask

Summersdale's recently-launched health imprint Vie will publish a memoir by British psychiatrist Linda Gask this September. The Other Side of Silence: A Psychiatrist's Memoir of Depression chronicles Gask's own experiences of depression. Despite spending her career helping other people's mental... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Agent Isobel Dixon’s Passions Span Africa and Beyond

Isobel Dixon of the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency has helped bring a wide array of authors to a global audience, including many from South Africa. The post Literary Agent Isobel Dixon’s Passions Span Africa and Beyond appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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South Africa's PRAESA Wins Astrid Lindgren Award

The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) is the recipient of the 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award – the largest award for children’s literature, with a prize of five million Swedish crowns (more than $575,000). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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OUP sponsors African literacy conference

Oxford University Press (OUP) is sponsoring an African literacy conference in South Africa this September. The conference is organised by the Reading Association of South Africa (RASA), a literacy group, in association with the International Literacy Association (ILA) and the International... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Tough conditions" for Pearson in 2014

Academic publisher Pearson faced “tough market conditions in 2014” in North America and the UK, according to a trading update released today (21st January). The company said policy and cyclical pressures affected its two biggest markets, while a smaller school textbook update in South Africa... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dawson pens mental health guide

YA author James Dawson is writing a guide to mental health for young people with clinical psychologist Olivia Hewitt. Mind Your Head, which will be published by Hot Key Books in 2016, will give tips on managing emotional wellbeing and finding support for mental health issues. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Parragon signs Matt Hatter licensing deal

Parragon is publishing a series of books based on the "Matt Hatter Chronicles" brand, after signing a licensing deal with Platinum Films. Under the terms of the deal, Parragon will publish colouring, sticker, activity and story books in the UK, Australia and South Africa in 2015. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Management buy-out for Lovell Johns

Mapping company Lovell Johns has been bought out by its management, with plans to develop its publishing business, Maps International. David Stephens and Liz Murray, the management team at the company, bought it out from Times Media Group, one of South Africa's largest newspaper and magazine... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joan Bunting obituary

My friend and colleague Joan Bunting, who has died aged 88, was in charge of overseas sales at Cambridge University Press (CUP) for many years. A woman of pioneering spirit and great business acumen, she was instrumental in opening up the Japanese market and in setting up CUP's Australian... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Job Moves: March 13, 2014

Penguin Random House has appointed Steve Connolly as the new managing director for its operations in South Africa. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Film buy for Tom Rob Smith's The Farm

The film rights to Tom Rob Smith’s newly published The Farm (Simon & Schuster) have... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Charlie Chaplin's only novel published for the first time

Footlights, the screen legend's unseen prequel in prose to the film Limelight, reflects his sadness at declining stardomRead an extract from Footlights by Charlie ChaplinThe only work of prose fiction ever written by Charlie Chaplin, a dark, nostalgic novella which was the root of his great... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Global media mission arrives to investigate press freedom in Britain

Delegation from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers will investigate press regulationAn "unprecedented" press freedom mission to Britain by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) begins today.Representatives of the organisation are holding a series... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Skyhorse Moves Up Mandela Book

In light of Nelson Mandela's passing, Skyhose Publishing has moved up the publication schedule for Bob Crew's biography of the former South African president, Mandela: His Life and Legacy for South Africa and the World. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AUDIO: Roeg reflects on 60-year career

Veteran filmmaker Nicolas Roeg has published a book of memoirs, featuring insights from a career spanning six decades. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Distribution: RH and Beacon Press Renew

Beacon will continue to utilize the full portfolio of Random House's sales and distribution services for both their newly published and backlist physical and digital titles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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