A curse, a workshop, a novel

     Some bookish bits and pieces you may want to note for future reference.

    Firstly, since we have the Slightly Foxed tea towel over on the other site today, how about their A Curse Against Book Stealers Postcards here? I've lost several books through having lent them to people, but would I dare slip one of these (the text is here) into a volume I was going to let someone read? Maybe I would ...

  
   Next, meet the authors:

    If you've read posts from earlier in the week you'll know that two of my novels of the year were A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson and The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie. In London on 28th. February, Suzy and Vanessa will be leading a workshop on how to get started as a writer, and it looks as though it will be full of practical advice and very worthwhile for anyone with literary aspirations. Related to that, you may find much of what Suzy had to say about the craft of writing, when I interviewed her a few months ago, very interesting and helpful.

 

    Lastly, something from the recent arrivals pile: Amy Sackville's first novel The Still Point was very much on my radar as one to look out for, well she has a new book out soon, and a brief description of Orkney was enough to grab me straightaway:

    "On a remote island in Orkney, a curiously matched couple arrive on their honeymoon. He is an eminent literature professor; she was his pale, enigmatic star pupil. Alone beneath the shifting skies of this untethered landscape, the professor realises how little he knows about his new bride and yet, as the days go by and his mind turns obsessively upon the creature who has so beguiled him, she seems to slip ever further from his yearning grasp. Where does she come from? Why did she ask him to bring her north? What is it that constantly draws her to the sea?"

    By the way, click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better view of the beautiful jacket, designed by Kanitta Meechubot.