Now that Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour Party, I very much hope that included in his government policies-to-oppose tray, is a memo to crank up the protests against the closures of public libraries. Following a short imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs in 1981, the institution where I managed to educate myself and…
Posted on 2nd October 2015
Posted by joanna
Tags: Alex Wheatle, Brenton Brown, Brixton Bard, Brixton Rock, Catherine Doyle, guest editor, Irenosen Okojie, Jacaranda Books, Libraries, Library Closures, Stephen Thompson
Posted on 25th September 2015
Posted by joanna
Tags: Alex Wheatle, Brenton Brown, Brixton Bard, Brixton Rock, Edinburgh International Book Festival, guest editor, literary events
We’re in the Entertainment Business
Devising ways to publicise my debut novel, Brixton Rock, the ever-inventive, Rosemarie Hudson, publisher of BlackAmber Books, came up with the idea of giving away a free stick of Brixton Rock with every purchase of the novel. Local bookstores and their staff loved the notion (and tasted it during tea-break) and had enough enthusiasm to…
Posted on 11th September 2015
Posted by joanna
Tags: Alex Wheatle, Brixton Bard, guest editor, Hay Festival, Jerwood Fiction Uncoverd Prize 2015
THE BARD-ON-HAY
In the Writing The Future Report, an analysis of Black and Asian writers and publishers in the UK market place commissioned by Spread The Word, it found that just 23 homegrown Black and Asian literary novelists (discounting celebrity, sports and cookery writers) were invited to the Big Three literary festivals (Cheltenham, Hay & Edinburgh) of 2014. For the first…
