Sorry about the absence of Compass Points last week
– a bit of a computer meltdown here at Compass Towers! Which gives me the
perfect opportunity to mention We All Have our
Moments: An Antidote to Life’s Frustrations
by Liz Cowley (hb, 978 1783341009, £9.99) which is published by
Gibson Square in March – the illustration on the front cover showing a
woman taking to her computer with a hatchet pretty much sums up my position
this time last week! No-one manages to take such delightful snapshots of everyday
life quite like Liz Cowley; her wry,
astute verse amuses many, she has the rare gift of making you smile – in more
ways than one; her poetry collections have now sold over 10,000 copies! Her two
previous humorous poetry collections about gardening Outside in My Dressing Gown and
Gardening in Slippers have both done very well indeed. We all have our
moments so instead of reaching for the axe, reach for Liz's new book. All those
times at work, in love, friendship, family and anywhere else where life seems
to be getting the upper hand are put in perspective in these delightful
humorous vignettes. Order
We All have our Moments here
Well, the whole book trade is buzzing over the news that a
hardback edition of Harry Potter and
the Cursed Child - Parts I & II will be released on 31 July, the day
after the play has debuted on stage in London. The script from the forthcoming Harry
Potter play has unsurprisingly leapt to the top of bestseller lists -
following Wednesday's news, pre-orders have propelled it to number one on the Amazon
and Waterstones book
charts. We do love a bit of Harry Potter news – and we also love that
Buzz Feed have made a whole new page for those of us that have done far too
many HP quizzes – and time and time again have come out as a little bit
Slytherin – AND a little bit Hufflepuff! Have a
look here to find out what it means to be both naughty and nice!
Congratulations to us and also to Carcanet, for
nominations in this year’s IPG Awards!
Compass have been shortlisted for the Services to Independent Publishers
Award (along with Graham Bell, EDItEUR, Firsty Group and Stison) while Carcanet
have been shortlisted for the IPG Alison Morrison Diversity Award. This is a
great endorsement for Carcanet’s continued support for diverse writers from all
corners of the globe and different backgrounds, Carcanet Press won this
Award last year for the huge ethnic and cultural breadth of its poetry list,
and it deepened its commitment to diversity again in 2015. The judges said “Carcanet
has had another great year championing a form of publishing and writers that do
not get as much attention as they deserve.” IPG chief executive Bridget
Shine said: “Competition for the IPG Independent Publishing Awards gets
tougher every year—but the strength of this year’s nominations was remarkable.
Every company and individual on these lists should feel very proud, and those
who did not make the final cut from such an excellent range of entrants should
not be discouraged. It is fitting that our 10th anniversary Awards should have
such an exceptional range of finalists, and we are really looking forward to
celebrating the outstanding achievements of the independent publishing sector
on 3rd March.” You can see the full list of awards list
of awards here. Fingers crossed that both Compass and Carcanet pick
up a gong on 3 March!
Tons of great publicity and good reviews for Comrade Corbyn! (hb, £20, 9781849549967) In
this week’s Independent,
Andy McSmith springs to Rosa Prince’s defence saying that “She has been
denounced for her "spiteful analysis" and had her personal integrity
called into question by the JeremyCorbyn4PM Twitter feed, so I assume she is
off the Corbyn Christmas card list, but – with all due respect to Corbyn-loving
acolytes – this is not a hatchet job. It is an affectionate portrait of a man
she obviously thinks has landed himself in the wrong job…when the Corbyn era is
over, and students looking back on how it impacted on the fortunes of the
Labour Party consult this book, I doubt if its author will be accused of being
"spiteful". I think the verdict will be that she was rather kind.”
Yesterday’s Evening
Standard, was also positive, saying that “(Prince) has described in
extraordinarily close detail exactly how, methodologically, it happened that
Corbyn became leader.” Pretty much all of the national media have featured
this book; the Telegraph called it “explosive” – and we’re expecting
more; including the Times and Sunday Times both running this weekend. You can
order Comrade
Corbyn here
Valentines’ Day
coming upon Sunday of course – thanks to Scottish Book Trust for this
great list of The 14 Worst Break Up Scenes in Literature! And if a
bit of literary vulgarity is more your type of thing, then I think you will
enjoy this hilarious list
of Literary Valentines from those jesters over at Buzz Feed. E.g. ARE
YOU A BANNED BOOK? BECAUSE BABY YOU’RE ON FIRE, Love Ray Bradbury or HOW
ABOUT WE SKIP CRIME AND GET RIGHT TO PUNISHMENT, Love Fyodor Dostoevsky.
I’m sure you can’t wait to see what Herman Melville has to say…
Who’s excited for the film of Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies? Watch a trailer
here! And if literary mash ups are your thing (and they look like a very
rapidly growing genre to me) then how about: Sense and Sensibility and Sea
Monsters, Android Karenina, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Little Women and
Werewolves, Henry VIII Wolfman, Jane Slayre or The Late Gatsby - all
genuine books! Meanwhile, have a look a
look here for 20 Lessons that Jane Austen Has Taught Us about Love!
A great Guardian review for R.F. Langley’s Complete Poems (pb, £12.99, 978 1 784100 64 3) which has been
described as “one of the secret treasures of modern poetry” The Guardian
wrote: “Langley does so much to elucidate, as he put it, ‘not things/but
seeing things. And with / such care, it would be like / being shown what was
not there” and “he brings to wrens, moths and teasels, to English pub
interiors and Venetian edifices, the same kind of scrutiny that art historians
bring to real brush strokes.”. Thanks to the Writer’s Centre in Norwich
for hosting a great sell-out event this week: an evening of readings by writers
who admired R.F.Langley’s work, published by Carcanet of course.
More awards news – this time some it’s The Romantic Novelists' Association who has revealed the shortlists for its six
awards, where Choc Lit are more than well represented – many congrats to
them and all their authors.
In the Contemporary
Romantic Novel category Melanie
Hudson’s The Wedding Cake Tree, is shortlisted, while the Historical Romantic Novel category,
includes The Secret Kiss of Darkness by
Christina Courtenay.
The RNA Rose
Award, which recognises the best in category or series and shorter
romances; includes The Wedding Reject Table by
Angela Britnell and also Cora's Christmas Kiss by Alison May. Chairman,
Eileen Ramsay, said: “The announcement of the shortlist is always an
occasion for celebration, when we reveal the best in romantic fiction from the
last year.”
Previous years’ winners have included Joanna Trollope, Freya
North, Rosie Thomas, JoJo Moyes and Rosamunde Pilcher so these awards do have
pretty good form when it comes to spotting talent! Fern Britton will host this
year’s award ceremony at Gladstone Library in London on 7th March and you can
find the shortlist in full on the
RNA website here.
Look out for The Goddess
Revolution by Melissa Wells (pb,
978 1781807125, £10.99) which is coming from Hay House in June. There is
lots of publicity for this glamorous soap star and her battles with eating
disorders already – have a look at this
huge feature from the Express last week, which gives you more info –
and credits the book. Following this piece ITV’s Lorraine have expressed
serious interest in having Mel on the sofa in June just before her book is out.
She is also awaiting a date from Loose Women to go on their show as a
guest in due course. Melissa Wells is also part of a massive new campaign coming
from the BBC this year called Body Positive – you can see her in a promo
videos for it here –
alongside the like of Rebecca Adlington. The debate about women’s shapes and
sizes, and promoting healthy body images to young women is already a hot topic
for 2016 – and it looks as if The Goddess
Revolution by Melissa Wells is
going to be perfectly placed to capitalise on this. You can find put more and order
it here.
Who’s your favourite Beatle? For many, it’s gotta be
George, and George Harrison: Behind the Locked
Door by Graeme Thomson explores
Harrison’s work both within and without the Beatles and at the same time
examining in detail his private and public passions, from Eastern spiritualism
to horticulture, from comedy to film-making, from fast cars to working with
UNICEF and his career renaissance in the 80s with the Travelling Wilburys. The
hardback edition of this book published in 2013 has achieved sales of over
10,000 copies, and great acclaim – MOJO called it "An excellent
biography" and The National: "An insightful, rigorous
and beautifully written atomisation of the youngest Beatle's life."
Graeme Thomson is one of Britain’s leading music writers. As the author of
critically acclaimed and definitive biographies of Elvis Costello (Complicated
Shadows) and Kate Bush (Under The Ivy) and this new paperback, beautifully
illustrated with black and white photos is certain to find many fans. George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door (pb, £16.99, 9781785582691) is published by Omnibus
Press in April
Find
out more and order it here.
Compass is on Twitter! Follow us
@CompassIPS. Here are some of our favourite tweets from this week...
Sandra Foy @Monkbythesea Leaves: John Simmonds - This
is SUCH a good book!
Hay House @HayHouseUK Great to see - @juliemontagu's
#EatRealFood is on @voguemagazine's Healthy Reading List!
Chaucer Doth Tweet@LeVostreGC Bookes, Bookes,Pyles of
bookes, Left arounde the hous,Toweres high of mirth and lore, Skyscrapers ye
kan browse.
Guardian Books @GuardianBooks · Booky things to do this half
term with kids! Ideas via @GdnChildrensBks
Emma Draude @ed_pr · 'It captures the essence of
Proust beautifully' say @TheEconomist #Proust #GraphicNovel @gallicbooks
Cora Linn @Corazzz · Really needed my @ChocLituk
Friday Treat today! So intriguing from @ClareChase_
NBN International @nbnibooks Massive congrats to all
nominated for @ipghq awards, esp. our good friends @carcanet and @CompassIPS
That’s all for now folks! More
next week!
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