July 2007 Noticeboard stories

102 year old actress launches Hardy County Read!

The rain held off on a blustery midsummer’s day for the launch of the Hardy County Read at Hardy’s Cottage Upper Brockhampton, near Dorchester, Dorset.

Norrie Woodhall, an 102 year old actress who knew Thomas Hardy and acted under his direction,  was photographed outside the cottage with Alistair Chisholme, the Dorchester Town Crier in Hardy costume,  Marcella Edwards, Senior Commissioning Editor of Penguin Classics and Josie Hicken, Literature Development Officer for Dorset Libraries.

Much to the interest of the many tourists visiting the Cottage, Alistair read some of Hardy’s poetry from the new Penguin edition of his poems. Norrie reminisced about the writer – how he was a very shy man, because of his remote and rural upbringing, and how unfortunate he was in both his marriages.

When asked why he was so popular she replied:  ‘He describes nature, and nature becomes more important the more I know about it.’

On the Hardy County Read, an initiative to get the whole county of Dorset reading Hardy, she said: ‘I’ve lived all my life in Dorset and I want to put it where it should be. Thomas Hardy made Dorset, and I’ve struggled for years to tell people how wonderful he is. I’m delighted to see his work being celebrated so much this summer.’

The Hardy County Read is a partnership between Penguin Books and Dorset Libraries. It is an initiative to get the whole county reading Hardy’s novels and is launched to coincide with the paperback publication of Claire Tomalin’s highly acclaimed biography Thomas Hardy - The Time Torn Man. Launched on June 21st it will run until the end of July. A huge variety of talks, lectures, Poetry Days (Booklore bookshop, Sherborne), Family days (at Hardy’s Cottage), walks and reading group sessions on the author will be taking place. Claire Tomalin herself will be talking at Cerne Abbas Village Hall on July 2nd, and film director Julian Fellowes will be interviewing Norrie Woodhall on Monday July 16th at Dorset County Museum.

Posters and leaflets giving details of the above are available in all Dorset bookshops and libraries or log on to www.dorsetforyou.com/libraries or www.penguin.co.uk/readers.

American first novel gets picked as a 'summer read' by the Richard and Judy team

Kim Edwards’s novel The Memory Keeper's Daughter has been picked to be a Summer Read by the Richard and Judy Show. This book has already been on the US Bestseller lists for 30 weeks and is hitting British shores now. Read what The Times had to say about the list.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter was our Author and Book of the Month in June. Here are some comments from some reading groups:

Quotes for The Memory Keeper's Daughter from UK Reading Groups.  You can find the full reviews on the Group of the Month page.

Goldthorpe Readers Group, Yorkshire: ‘The verdict was unanimous. This book was well written, very moving, and a real page-turner. A readers’ group dream of a book. Pass the word on!

Every member of the group loved the book. A treat to review it.’

Canterbury NWR Reading Group, Kent: ‘We had the longest book group discussion that anyone could remember.   Overall, the majority of our group thought they would recommend it for a ‘Good Holiday Read.’

Castleford Reading Group, Yorkshire: ‘A fascinating story, from beginning to end. There were layers upon layers of feelings cleverly woven into a plot with plenty of unexpected turns. All of the characters came alive in the book. You felt that you knew someone just like them. A compelling read – I had to know how it ended.’

It was certainly a coincidence. On the day my monthly reading group was scheduled to discuss Marina Lewycka’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, an article by the author appeared in The Guardian. In it she described her visit to the group who had won this year’s Penguin/Orange reading group prize.

On the face of it, the article suggested a study in contrasts. The Goadby Marwood group that Lewycka visited is an all-women gathering who met in an idyllic rural setting, complete with a blazing log fire and a table ‘loaded with sandwiches, quiches, salads, cakes and several bottles of wine’. My group are male prisoners at Bullingdon Prison outside Oxford. I am not allowed to take in even a packet of biscuits, for fear of possible drug smuggling. The irony made me smile as my book bags were x-rayed at the main gate and as I made my way through the dozen doors to the library, each one having to be unlocked and locked again behind me.

But what is really striking are not the differences but what the two groups share: an enjoyment of reading and talking about books. The Bullingdon group has been going since 2002. An initial grant from the Millennium Commission and now one from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation allows the men to keep the books we read. Some display them proudly in their cells and even create in-cell lending libraries; others recommend them to visiting family. In either case, the books stay in circulation and continue to be talked about around the prison and beyond, an example of what one of the women that Lewycka writes about calls the ‘ripple effect’ of reading groups.

Membership changes as men are transferred or released but the group itself is now an established presence in the prison. Spaces are readily filled and the group seems able to accommodate a wide range of readers, from the very experienced to those who are just developing the habit. As in most groups, choosing what we read next is a central part of our meetings. And for prisoners, it is one of the important benefits of a reading group. Ideas come from newspaper reviews; booksellers’ magazines and word of mouth, all of which help the men feel connected with a larger culture outside prison. Anyone can make a suggestion but he has to be able to persuade others that they want to read it too. Sometimes the choice emerges from discussion, sometimes we vote. What everyone agrees is that the group encourages members to read books they might otherwise not have chosen. And for many of the men this brings a real sense of achievement. Like the group visited by Marina Lewycka, we have read both A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and Andrea Levy’s Small Island. Other recent choices include The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini’s book about a childhood in Afghanistan, and John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a novel about Auschwitz seen through the eyes of the Commandant’s son and his growing friendship with a Jewish boy in the camp.

The 8 or so men in the Bullingdon group are as varied as those Lewycka describes both in their backgrounds and in their responses to what we read. Reactions to A Short History were no exception and the debate was lively and engaged. When I produced the Guardian article, the group was so taken with it that we decided to send an account of our discussion to the author. Everyone wrote something during the meeting and one member agreed to type up the comments and get them ready to send. What they reveal is the way books can make us think - about ourselves, our circumstances and our culture:
“…my grandfather had Nicolai’s attitude on certain subjects, which was sometimes both funny and pathetic”
“…Being a headstrong man myself, I felt that Pappa had got through life with a lot of lies”
“…Cultures which you thought would be so far apart, I realised are really so alike”.

The men also wondered what the women of the Goadby Marwood reading group had thought about the book. Had they liked Valentina or thought she was a heartless schemer? Did they feel sorry for Pappa or think he got what he deserved? And what did they make of Nadezhda, the narrator? Was she right to try to protect her father or was she bossy and interfering?

One of the courses that many prisoners are encouraged to take while inside is called ‘Enhanced Thinking Skills’. A central part of it is learning to recognise and respect other people and other points of view. The discovery of the Goadby Marwood reading group did exactly this for the men in Bullingdon: it made them feel connected to and curious about a group of apparently very different readers and their responses to a book. This is what reading groups can do.

Sarah Turvey
October 2006

Sarah Turvey is Senior Lecturer in English at Roehampton University. She also provides advice and training for volunteers interested in prison reading groups. Contact s.turvey@roehampton.ac.uk

This article was first published in newbooks magazine May/June 2007 issue

Chinua Achebe wins International Man Booker Prize

Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe won the International Man Booker Prize in June this year. The 76 year old who has been hailed as ‘the father of all African writing’ has written several books, but his most favourite is Things Fall Apart, his first novel, written in 1958 and published by Penguin.

In 2006 THINGS FALL APART was part of a Penguin nationwide libraries promotion. We asked reading groups to choose 6 novels they thought would appeal to reading groups.

Here is what some reading groups had to say about it: Frank, The Clarkston Bookies (Clarkston Reading Group, Glasgow: ‘A beautiful tale, simply but well told. The use of English was exquisite in its economy without being sparse. It gave a good picture of the Nigerians' own lifestyle, manners and culture described by someone obviously proud of his own background - warts and all! A fascinating read.’

Jo Middleton, Bracknell Library Evening Reading Group:  “A very readable classic.”

Sleaford Reading Group, Lincolnshire:  'Thought provoking and this book remains in the mind long after it has been read! Good for reading groups.'
 
If you would like more information or would like to look at the winning Press Release, follow this link

The Year the Gypsies Came by Linzi Glass

Linzi Glass' stunning debut novel The Year the Gypsies Came was published to huge acclaim in 2006.  ‘This outstanding first novel arcs beautifully to its terrible climax and is deeply moving’ The Observer, ‘A beautifully evoked, exquisitely written novel’ Sunday Telegraph, ‘Wonderful … this is a new book with an old and wise heart. It may very well have the makings of a classic’ - Guardian.

Linzi writes about the inspiration behind The Year the Gypsies Came:

Although I left South Africa as a young adult, the images and memories of what it had been like to grown up during the harsh reign of Apartheid always stayed with me. I somehow knew that there was a story to tell, but what that story was only came to me many years later. I was living in the United States by then and had been writing and working in the entertainment industry. I was also married and had a little daughter.

One night I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. I lay in bed and started thinking about the land of my birth. Something inside me tugged at me to get out of bed and start writing. The original words of my book tumbled out of me in a thirteen-page short story that I finished by daybreak. It was, for all intents and purposes, the outline and story arc of what was to become my novel, The Year the Gypsies Came. I just didn’t know it at the time.

I was a participant in a writers program at UCLA in Los Angeles and my writing teacher enjoyed the short story that I had hurriedly written and suggested that I turn it into a much longer story. I wrote the novel over a period of a year - the story of a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional society.  I then anxiously sent it out through an agent in New York to publishers. It was, perhaps, not the right time for such a book to be published and so I sadly put the manuscript in the back of a drawer and there it sat for more than ten years!

On the night of my birthday a few years ago I found myself with just my animals to keep me company at midnight. I started thinking about what was important to me and the things that I wanted to accomplish in my life. My mind went immediately to the manuscript that was still collecting dust in the back of my desk drawer. I rummaged around for it and held it in my hands and made a promise to myself that I would not give up on it this time. I felt that the story had something important to say about both life in South Africa and the struggles of a young girl to find a way to feel whole and complete. I worked on the manuscript very diligently and then sent it out through my new agents. I was absolutely thrilled when Penguin U.K. said that they wanted to publish the book!

Getting The Year the Gypsies Came published taught me that if you put your passion, belief and determination into something, you really can make it happen. Just don’t give up! One of my lifelong dreams was to be a published author and now it is a reality for me.

June 2007 Noticeboard stories

The Hardy County Read

The whole county of Dorset will be reading Thomas Hardy novels this summer to celebrate the publication of Claire Tomalin’s biography – Thomas Hardy: A Time Torn Man. Over 30 events have been organized by Dorset Libraries – reading groups, theatrical presentations, Hardy walks and much more. For a full listing of events pick up a leaflet at any library or bookshop or log on to www.dorsetforyou.com/libraries. Claire will be speaking at Cerne Abbas Village Hall on July 2nd at 7.30pm.  

For tickets please ring 01300 341 085




The Penguin/Orange Broadband Readers’ Group Prize

Would you like to win a visit from a Penguin author to your reading group?  Author Nicci Gerrard is pictured here with the Colchester 88 Reading Group.

How about a set of the entire Orange Prize shortlist or a trip to Penguin’s offices for your group? Last chance to enter! Closing date 29th June. Download an entry form from www.readersgroupprize.com or pick up one in your local library or branch of Waterstones.










Penguin Readers Book of the Month
Reading groups all over the UK were asked to vote for six Penguin books they would like to see promoted to other readers in libraries.  This year, to tie in with the Reaching Readers Initiative, all the writers on the original list were of black, minority or ethnic origin. The thinking behind this was to celebrate the rich and varied mix of writers in this genre on the Penguin list and to introduce readers to new writers they had not read before.   Penguin will be producing full colour posters and leaflets to support the promotion, which will run from May to November in all of the UK’s 208 library authorities, 4200 libraries in all.

Quotes from libraries who took part:  ‘Every single person has said that the books they've read are not ones they would normally pick up, and most of them couldn't praise the titles enough’
Bedfordshire Libraries Reading Group.  The final list of six books is listed below. They include a Penguin Modern Classic, a memoir, and the current Man Booker Prize winner.

Sam Selvon - THE LONELY LONDONERS, Penguin Modern Classic
Hari Kunzru - THE IMPRESSIONIST
Rageh Omaar - ONLY HALF OF ME
Hisham Matar - IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN
Kiran Desai -THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS
Helon Habila - WAITING FOR AN ANGEL

Helen Dunmore at Warwickshire Libraries Family Readers & Writers Weekend

An afternoon with Helen Dunmore' at 2.30 pm on Sunday 16th September. Novelist Helen Dunmore will be reading from and talking about her latest novel House of Orphans and writing generally at Compton Verney, Warwickshire.  Tickets are included in the price of admission to the Family Reader and Writers Weekend.  Adults £4.00, Children Free.  This event is part of Warwickshire Libraries Family Readers & Writers Weekend at Compton Verney, which is a long weekend of family activities, inspired by books, reading and writing.

 May 2007 Noticeboard stories

The Richard and Judy Book Club recently selected one of Penguin's new novels for discussion on the show. The book is The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. We thought it would be fun to ask reading groups round the country to read the novel and see if they agreed with the Richard and Judy selectors. Here are thoughts from the Heanor Book Group in Derbyshire and the Bramley Library Group in Surrey. The programme was aired on March 21^st.

The Heanor Book Group in Derbyshire, discuss The Testament of Gideon Mack


Alison Betteridge writes:

The Heanor Book Group was set up approximately 8 years ago by Elaine, who is both enthusiastic and knowledgeable about good reads. We meet at Heanor library and the Derbyshire library service provides the books for us. We can either get them from the County's book-group book list or choose titles of our own.  There are about 18 of us, both men and women in the group but the men were very slow to join, though they have stayed with us!  We all thought The Testament of Gideon Mack was a great read and I think it is one that is worthy of a re-read. Perhaps a re-read is essential in fact.

Some individual reader reactions:

A very easy read despite its heavyweight themes of religion and belief - compelling!

It is a real page-turner but at the same time examines the nature of faith and belief. This is suitable for people to read on a personal level but we also thought it a perfect Reader Group book, as there is so much to debate. It is books such as this that give us the best discussions. The characterisation is good and the group found that they had to keep reading to find out what happened.

I'm really enjoying reading the book. It raises a lot of issues that would be good discussion points for a reading group. It's very well written and I like the way the author describes the everyday interactions between people, giving an insight into their relationships. I would certainly recommend it to other readers.

The story gives food for thought on God, the devil, love, what to believe - truth or myth.  A fascinating story, well worth exploring.

I found the book gripping, highly entertaining and hard to put down.

The book is superbly written, the main characters are well-drawn and believable and Gideon himself evokes considerable empathy. However, the book is far more than just an enjoyable story - it presents a challenge to the reader's beliefs (or lack of them) and the issues raised stay in your mind long after you've finished the book.

  The Bramley Library Reading Group, Surrey tell us what they thought about The Testament of Gideon Mack

We are an enthusiastic, welcoming and sociable group of people who are avid readers and love to talk about the books we have read.   The group was formed just over 12 months ago and we meet once a month in a small community library in Bramley in Surrey. Coffee and biscuits are always available and we read one book a month selected from sets of books provided by Surrey Libraries.

We have read a wide range of books since we started and voted Nigel Slater's Toast as our read of the year 2006.  We celebrated our first year with a Christmas party with special guest author Simon Brett performing his Lines of Enquiry which everyone enjoyed hugely and which has subsequently been featured on the Surrey libraries web site.  We aim to do bigger and better in the year 2007 and are looking for more authors to visit us and possibly a trip out to a literary venue or two as well as continuing our reading.

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

Bramley Library Reading Group reactions:

This is a book that I would not have picked off the shelf and read of my own accord. The memoir of a Scottish Minister, Gideon Mack who struggles with his faith and who eventually meets with the Devil! This is a human story of someone trying to find their way through life intertwined with folk lore, legend and history.  A strange tale unusually presented this makes for fascinating reading. A good reading group book.

I would definitely recommend it to a friend; definitely holiday reading material. I liked the way he wrote the book and descriptions that he used.

From the first page, I found this book hard to put down, and, surprisingly for a somewhat impatient reader, I read almost every word!

'An intricate tale, attractively told, with strong language in parts, but compulsive reading! Very strange!'

  Bath's Prior Park College Reading Group meets Meg Rosoff

My Reading Group, 'The Gleaners', has been asked by Penguin to review Meg Rosoff's second novel  Just In Case, ahead of its paperback publication in June. When we received this lovely invitation, we were already aware that the novelist was scheduled to talk at the Literary Festival in Bath, just half a mile from Prior Park College, where all our members work. We were absolutely delighted that our offer to invite Meg to meet with us before her public appearance was accepted. And so it was that we gathered late on a Sunday morning in March in the College Library, looking out on what is reputed to be one of the finest views in England, of the Prior Park Landscape Garden, with its beautiful Palladian Bridge and the magnificent Georgian city in the background, to discuss the book we had all read with such anticipation, sharing a brunch of homemade muffins, cookies, quiche and cake.

Meg was particularly interested in the fact that ours is a boarding school, as this is the setting of the next book she is writing. She was also quite taken that one of our group was born and brought up in Luton, the setting of 'Just In Case'. She told us that she had intended to fictionalise the actual locality, but had been persuaded to be as precise as she has and we were fascinated to listen to Meg talk about her own upbringing in the suburbs and how she was constantly struck by the peculiarity of those in families, raised in exactly the same circumstances, who exhibit such radically differing needs later in life, in terms of living one's life in the area in which you were born or desperately needing to escape that environment. It is this concept of what one might call 'fate' that is at the heart of this wonderful book, which also explores our struggle to come to terms with the enormous consequences of seemingly insignificant actions, like being in a place at the wrong time or just being in the right place just in time.

We asked Meg about the protagonists being teenagers, as they had been in the much celebrated first novel How I Live Now and that we felt she was not writing for teenagers per se, as her writing clearly has such widespread appeal. She told us that she really felt that there was a great deal of herself in her hero Justin and that the existential angst she was interested in exploring best suited that time of life when the world does seem not only full of possibilities, but full of seemingly irreconcilable contradictions. As a strange case of life imitating art, she also told us that she had so loved writing about the  Greyhound dog called 'Boy' who is seen only by a select few characters in the story that she subsequently acquired two lurchers!

We all thoroughly enjoyed reading Just In Case and know that other reading groups like ours will find. as we did, that there simply wasn't enough time to cover all the many and varied issues raised in the writing, but we will always remember with happy memories and much gratitude, the opportunity to share such responses with the very person whose extraordinary imagination gave us such food for thought. 

Live Lambeth Book Group video link with Ghana Reading Group, 3rd May
Three perspectives on the Slave Trade: Lambeth, Accra, Mandeville. Linking readers across the triangle.  Date: March - May (Final link up 3rd May)Venue: Brixton Library.

Lambeth library readers are linking up with readers in Accra, Ghana and Mandeville, Jamaica to discuss one of the key texts of the abolition movement. In 1789 Olaudah Equiano wrote his own story - The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Born in Nigeria he grew up a slave from an early age and travelled the world as the slave of a Naval Captain. He finally managed to buy his freedom and travelled to England.  His story of abuse and degradation and ultimately pride and dignity pierced the heart of the British conscience. Equiano toured Britain speaking at meetings for abolition. He married, had two daughters and eventually died in London at the age of 52, a wealthy man.

On 3rd May, Lambeth book group members will get together with readers in Ghana and Jamaica, via live video link-up on a big screen at Brixton Library, to discuss Equiano's book and its resonance today across slavery's dreadful tri-angle.  To register for the Lambeth readers live link-up with Ghana and Jamaica contact Tim O'Dell on abolition@lambeth.gov.uk. Event in association with: British Council and Readwide, Ghana, and Northern Caribbean University, Jamaica.


 

 
April 2007 Noticeboard stories

Bath Big Read

Citizens of Bath all read Helen Dunmore's new novel The House of Orphans as part of the city’s latest city wide read. Helen visited  the Festival on March 5th, to a sell out audience of 250 – the biggest audience she has had  for a solus event in the UK. One lucky reading group, Mrs Ann May’s reading group from Saltford, got to meet her beforehand.

Mrs Ann May’s reading group from Saltford with Helen Dunmore

Ali Smith visits Shropshire Reading Group
The Independent Bookseller of the Year Wenlock Books in Shropshire were the lucky recipients of a visit by Ali Smith as part of the Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize.

The evening with Ali Smith was my first 'meet the author' experience.  I feared that it would involve a solemn academic discussion, deconstructing her writing until the pleasure of reading her works would be lost.  I was wrong.

Ali Smith's warmth and expressed preference for informality started a lively question and answer session: Anna and the audience asking wide-ranging and interesting questions.  The answers were thoughtful and considered and had no ring of well-practised, routine responses.

We heard about Ali's love of words for their power and beauty, the motivations and mechanics of her writing, her businesslike approach to work and some of her writing 'heroes'.  She described how she approaches the process of writing.  She doesn't start with any clear idea of where the book is going to go nor even necessarily whether it is going to be a novel or a short story.  Her starting point is character, and from their development and continuous, rigorous editing, the story and plot emerge.  Everything she writes helps her with this development even though much of it may not be used.  Each edit gives her direction as to where she goes next.  Ali is keen to encourage others to write, perhaps calling on her previous experience as a lecturer in Cambridge, not necessarily to attempt a novel but to write about the small things in life purely for enjoyment and satisfaction.

She then read the prologue of her novel The Accidental, continuing by request into the first chapter.  It was fascinating to see how the power of reading aloud clarified the character and renewed interest in the story, particularly for a fellow participant who had initially found it rather inaccessible.  This led to discussion about whether readers needed to find 'a voice' for a character to properly engage with them.

We moved on to discussion of short stories, a loved genre for Ali, whose latest collection has just been published.  Ali finished the more formal part of the evening by reading one of her stories Writ, written for the 2006 Oundle Literary Festival.  The story is the complex and engaging narration of a mother's experiences reflected through what she anticipates and fears for her fourteen year old daughter.

During coffee, Ali wandered around talking to smaller groups and willingly signing books with personalised messages.  This gave people the chance for further individual discussion.  She was in no hurry to get away but all good things have to come to an end.  She had been very generous with her time, as were our hosts Clare, Richard and Harriet, who were too kind to throw us out.

By the end of the evening I had the clear impression that everyone had really enjoyed meeting Ali and that she, in turn, had enjoyed meeting us!

Written by Diane Jones, with additional input from Lorna Taylor.

Helen Dunmore visit to Thornhill and Bitterne Townswomen's Guild Reading Group

This reading group was one of three lucky groups to be picked by the judges of the Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize to be visited by a bestselling Penguin author. The Thornhill and Bitterne Reading Group have been meeting for 8 years. They read a huge variety of books and often have themes for their discussions. They have re-read childrens books, experimented with romantic fiction and even had one meeting on football books. Helen Dunmore visited them on a wet and windy November night and was accompanied by Louisa Symington from Penguin:

I met Helen at Southampton Central station and we got a taxi straight out to Bitterne, on the outskirts of Southampton. We were given a very warm welcome by Marge Moffat, our host, and were ushered in to her sitting room where all the members were assembled. Helen talked about her writing career  - how she started as a poet and childrens writer and then moved into adult fiction. She read from  The Siege, the chosen book for the evening, and then the group asked her some questions. Many members could remember the Siege of Leningrad, and were fascinated by Helen's research. The evening was rounded off with a photo of Helen with the group and then after a hasty book signing, we were whisked back to the station.

Helen Dunmore with the Thornhill and Bitterne Townswomen's Guild Reading Group, Southhampton

 

Kiran Desai is the youngest ever woman to win the Man Booker Prize at the age of 35.

Kiran Desai has been named the winner of the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The Inheritance of Loss, published by Hamish Hamilton.

The Indian-born writer has a strong family tie with the prize as her mother Anita Desai has been shortlisted three times since 1980 but has never won. This year however, Kiran has won the acclaimed literary prize.

Desai is the first woman to win the Man Booker since 2000 when Margaret Atwood scooped the prize with The Blind Assassin. Her winning book, The Inheritance of Loss, is a radiant, funny and moving family saga and has been described by reviewers as 'the best, sweetest, most delightful novel'.

Chair of the judges, Hermione Lee, made the announcement at the awards dinner at the Guildhall, London, which was broadcast live on the BBC 10 O' Clock News. Harvey McGrath, Chairman of Man Group plc, presented Kiran Desai with a cheque for £50,000.

Hermione Lee commented,

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2006 is Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss, a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness. The winner was chosen, after a long, passionate and generous debate, from a shortlist of five other strong and original voices.

Over and above her prize of £50,000, Kiran Desai is guaranteed a huge increase in sales and recognition worldwide. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer-bound edition of their book. Commiserations to Hisham Matar, Penguin's other shortlisted author with In the Country of Men - his achievement all the more astounding as it was his debut novel.

This has been an astonishing year for the Hamish Hamilton team. They have now won the Whitbread, the Orange and the Booker - the first time ever one imprint has won all three of the big literary prizes in one year.

For more information about the prize, visit the official The Man Booker website at www.themanbookerprize.com

The launch of Cardiff City Read!

Congratulations to the 300 lucky school children who got to meet Lucy Dahl in Cardiff on the first ever Dahl Day, held on the 13th September.

Dahl Day was started this year as a way of celebrating Roald Dahl's birthday. He would have been 90 this year and schools all over the country took part in various Dahl Day activities. Lucy Dahl, Roald's daughter came over from California to be part of the celebrations. She started the day by seeing a specially designed train that will travel from London to Great Missenden where her father lived. She then travelled to Cardiff where a production of Danny the Champion of the World was to be staged. Dahl was brought up and lived in Cardiff and so the city was always going to be a key part in the celebrations on Dahl Day. Lucy was interviewed at the New Theatre by Phil Clark the producer of the show, and then answered questions from 300 lucky school children.

Also launched on the 13th September at the New Theatre was the Cardiff City Read, Penguin and the local libraries are all encouraging children to read Danny the Champion of the World by Cardiff's most famous writer. There are posters up all over the city advertising this and there are readers notes on the book on www.roalddahlday.info.

Left to right back row: Adele Minchin, Puffin Publicity Director, Peter Finch of Academi, Phil Clark, producer of Danny the Champion of the World.
Middle row: A boy from the school Roald Dahl attended. Seated: Lucy Dahl

Would your children like to get together to talk about the books they love. There may be a Chatterbooks reading group at your local library. Macmillan publishers have produced a webcast about Chatterbooks, which describes how the project works. Find more at www.i-newsmacmillan.com

May 2006 Noticeboard Stories

Penguin author Richard Benson pays a visit on the Sprotborough Reading Group

Earlier this year, we contacted the Sprotborough Reading Goup from Derbyshire to ask them to ask if they would review The Farm for Richard & Judy. They gave it such a rave review that Richard Benson got in touch with them and suggested a visit. He went there recently and here is the picture below. "He had expressed his wish to come and see the group after the Richard & Judy show, basically to thank everybody and this was truly appreciated. We had a lovely evening and as always when you meet an author, it was wonderful to discover the person behind the book." Marylise, Sprotborough Reading Group .



 
Richard Benson, author of The Farm visiting the Sprotbrough Reading Group, from Derbyshire, shortlisted for last year's Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize.

Launched on May 4th, the Huge Hampshire Read of Jane Austen's Persuasion really took off around Hampshire Libraries. Lots of Reading Groups got involved and some lucky reading group members went to Persuasion reading group sessions at Chawton House, home to Jane Austen's brother, where after enjoying a lively discussion they were able to tour the house and gardens.

The visually impaired reading groups also enjoyed discussion of Persuasion at Jane Austen's house, chaired by Penguin author Elizabeth Buchan. Kim Hicks' one woman Jane Austen show has visited local libraries to capacity audiences, and Phoenix Theatre's dramatized readings have really brought Persuasion to life. Guided literary walks around Chawton and Alton have attracted capacity crowds, despite the occasional downpour!
100 copies of Persuasion were released for book crossing and reports have been coming in of people finding them in pubs, cafes, bird hides(!) ferries and airports, with promises to read and re-release them in Cornwall and France!

Some Background Information on the Huge Hampshire Read

The whole of Hampshire read Persuasion this Spring to celebrate 60 years of Penguin Classics. Last Spring, Hampshire Libraries in partnership with Penguin Books, encouraged the whole county of Hampshire to read Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Penguin has worked with many cities up and down the country encouraging them to read one book. Last year, for our 70th we encouraged 7 cities to read 7 books.

Over 30 events were organised for the Huge Hampshire Read, including talks and reading groups at Chawton House, Jane Austen walks, talks about Regency dress and even a Jane Austen themed Dinner - 'From Soup to Syllabub'.

The Huge Hampshire Read launched on 4th May at Chawton House, and finished on Sat 15th July, when BBC Script Writer Andrew Davies gave a talk at Winchester Festival. There are 300 reading groups in Hampshire, plus over 30 bookshops and 54 libraries. All were  encouraged to get involved. Local author Anne-Marie Edwards, author of In the Steps of Jane Austen, gave a talk about the relevance of Jane Austen today.

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Getting the Most out of Your Penguin

With updates being made to the main Penguin website around the clock, we thought we'd include a list of links to useful online resources that could add that extra spark to your readers' group:

Penguin Authors In Conversation: A mini-site dedicated to bringing you both transcripts and recordings (audio and video) of author interviews.

Penguin Live: Alerts and Schedules for upcoming author events and signings so you can ask them that burning question face to face!

The Penguin Podcast: A regularly updated audio recording featuring interviews, extracts and more from our favourite authors and recent releases, which you can download to your computer or mp3 player.

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April 2006 Noticeboard stories

Dublin: One City One Read Promotion Sees Sales Rocket!

In early April, Dublin was in the grips of Beckett mania, for the centenary of his birth. It's no exaggeration to say that the city was coated in Beckett: huge banners at close intervals down O'Connell St, window displays in all the city centre bookshops, and endless discussions on both the television and radio.

All this to say that soon after, Flann O'Brien took over where Beckett left off -- banners of At-Swim-Two-Birds replaced Beckett's, the bookstores were piled high with copies, there was a really strong media buzz behind it, and promotions ran thick and fast. Dublin's One City One Book was always going to be a phenomenon, not least because authorities are throwing everything into it in an attempt to forget the drunken stag nights in Temple Bar for which the city has become notorious, and re-promote Dublin as Ireland's cultural epicentre, in their pitch to become Unesco's city of culture in 2008.

Dublin Council have bought copies to hand out to their staff and Dublin City Libraries are organising book crossing. Penguin Ireland pulled out all the stops - even heading up and down the Liffey with a group of journalists and an actor declaiming O'Brien's work - as shown by the terrific increase in sales: in 2005, the total for the UK and Ireland was 2500 copies, yet so far this year in the UK and Ireland we have sold 7725. Of these we have sold 6400 in Ireland since we announced the Dublin One City One Read promotion. Now that's good craic!

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March 2006 Noticeboard stories

The Great Bath Read!

An Update on Blockbusting Boyd in Bath

Following on from last year's 70th birthday campaign - 7 cities read 7 books - this Spring we worked with Bath Literary Festival to encourage the city to read William Boyd's Brazzaville Beach. William went to the city in January to launch the project, doing a day of radio and press interviews, and posters were put up all over the city. He went back during the Festival at the end of March, and talked about the book to an audience of 200.There was a prize draw for reading groups to meet William for a drink beforehand, which was won by the Cava Book Club (see picture below).

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