The Eds Discuss – European Culture
Post-referendum, the Shiny Eds (all Remainers) are still reeling at the Brexit vote! We thought it timely to explore our experience of European culture on the page and screen. Do…
Post-referendum, the Shiny Eds (all Remainers) are still reeling at the Brexit vote! We thought it timely to explore our experience of European culture on the page and screen. Do…
Written by Victoria In the aftermath of the historic referendum vote on 23rd June, and before we really learn what it means for all of us, what can we read…
Written by Karen Langley If you’re reading Shiny New Books, there’s a good chance that you’re a person who loves books and regards them as having a significant place in…
My Aunt Sybil (sadly not the figure in black bombazine and lorgnette her name might suggest – think Gore Tex® and stout hiking shoes) on a recent visit to my…
Questions by Victoria Has writing been a long-held ambition for you or is this novel something that you happened to fall into? How I wish I were the type of…
The person who gave me the very first idea for this book was Sally Prue, a good writer and a good friend of mine. It was, I think, while my…
Written by Simon Thomas 1.) A.A. Milne had a famous schoolteacher. A.A. Milne’s father John ran a small boys’ school, Henley House, and one of the teachers he employed was a…
Interview by Annabel Annabel: Firstly, congratulations on Hope Farm being shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize. This young literary prize is starting to get some notice in the UK and…
Written by Eleanor Franzén Love Like Salt by Helen Stevenson In February, I read an advance proof copy of Helen Stevenson’s Love Like Salt, and although I’d never seen a…
Compiled by Annabel The story goes that London cabbies won’t go ‘South of the River’ after dark – I have no proof of this, but it’s an enduring myth. Asked…
Asked by HarrietLucy, people always like to know how a writer got started. So can you tell us about your beginnings, and when you realised you were going to be…
I recently met up with a bunch of friends from university for the afternoon. ‘You’re very successful now, aren’t you?’ one guy boomed at me before even saying ‘hello’. I…
Questions by Rebecca Foster 1. Readers learn so few facts about Tess – even her name and where she’s from are not revealed until a long way into the book,…
1. The Forgetting Time is your first novel, and we understand that previously your career has been in the film world. Have you always wanted to write? Pretty much. I first started…
Written by Anna Hollingsworth Finite, enclosed spaces, power relationships, the discovery of independence, and the pursuit of knowledge: university as a backdrop offers perhaps more grand themes for novels than…
By Sharlene Tan The part of the world that is known as Southeast Asia may include the fourth most populous nation in the world but ask the average person to…
As some of the big literary festivals kick off this year’s lit fest season, Annabel, Harriet, Simon and Victoria discuss them: The literary festival has become so omnipresent lately; are…
By Thomas Otto Eighteen years ago, as an American with an inexplicable, but deep-seated Anglophilia, I picked up Anita Brookner’s novel A Friend from England (1987) based on the title alone. I’m…
Selected by Jenny and Memory In each issue of Shiny New Books, Jenny and Memory highlight the most exciting young adult novels of the season. This spring, they’re perhaps a leetle bit…
Questions by Victoria and Harriet Throughout her long and illustrious academic career, Janet Todd has been a pioneer in women’s writing, recovering lost and neglected authors. She has written biographies…
Compiled by Simon Vita Sackville-West is probably best remembered today as the inamorata of Virginia Woolf or the garden designer behind Sissinghurst. Less remembered, on the whole, are her novels –…
Written by Noreen Masud ‘The times will just have to enlarge themselves to make room for me, won’t they, and for everybody else.’ (Stevie Smith, in interview with Peter Orr)…
Q & A with Rupert Heath Will you tell me a little about the genesis of Dean Street Press? What prompted you to start the business? I’ve spent the past fifteen…
By Rob Spence After the recent Budget, the Treasury published a document outlining the government’s plans for regional spending. In among the references to particular cities and regions was a…