Tag: bookblast recommends

Spotlight | François-Henri Désérable, A Ravaged World: Travels Across Iran | Editions Gallimard

François-Henri Désérable travelled from Tehran to the border with Balochistan at the end of 2022, at the height of Iranian Government repression quashing civil unrest and nationwide protests against the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.  At the end of his forty-day journey he was arrested and interrogated by the Revolutionary Guards, who believed his story: instead of being imprisoned he was ordered to immediately leave the country. He returned to Europe with this unique traveller’s tale, recounting his adventures and encounters with a largely pro-Western people brutally subjugated by an anti-Western religious theocracy, in L’usure d’un monde: Une traversée de l’Iran / A Ravaged World: Travels Across Iran.

Désérable’s itinerary starts from a boarding house in Tehran, going on to Qom, Kashan, Ispahan, Shiraz, Persepolis, Yazd, Kerman, Bam, Lut desert, Keshit, Bam, Zahedan, then back to Tehran; and finally Tabriz and Saqqez.

Continue reading Spotlight | François-Henri Désérable, A Ravaged World: Travels Across Iran | Editions Gallimard

Spotlight | Jean Michelin, CEUX QUI RESTENT – THOSE WHO STAY | Éditions Heloïse d’Ormesson

Jean Michelin’s Those Who Stay is a powerful and deeply human novel about the impact of war on soldiers fighting in distant countries, and what these men are like when they return. Wearing a mask of silence to avoid the expression of strong feelings for fear of losing control comes at a high cost. The story centres around a private investigation done by four soldiers when one of their unit is reported missing. Their adherence to the military doctrine based on mutual trust between leaders and those they lead is unshakeable, even when back home on civvy street. Those Who Stay also shows the detrimental effect of their arrivals and departures on the families, girlfriends and wives who stay behind; and the children growing up alone with their mother.

Continue reading Spotlight | Jean Michelin, CEUX QUI RESTENT – THOSE WHO STAY | Éditions Heloïse d’Ormesson

Tours & Series | Top 5 Reads from The Children’s Bookshow 2023 | line-up 3

Although The Children’s Bookshow hits the road in the Autumn, tickets to many shows have already sold out and the remainder are selling fast. All performances include a free book for every child.

Marina Warner, the historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer, forms a persuasive case for fairy tales being a crucial repository of human understanding and culture in her very short introduction published by OUP. After all, they have the same core ingredients as most adult fiction: archetypal characters, conflict, desire, injustice, high octane drama, overcoming challenges, hope and heroism, beauty and blissful immersion in alternative worlds which reignite creativity and inspire new ideas. Their surreal magical quality and captivating illustrations make for a visual feast and offer a form of escapism from the real world around us. Continue reading Tours & Series | Top 5 Reads from The Children’s Bookshow 2023 | line-up 3

Tours & Series | Top 5 Reads from The Children’s Bookshow 2023 | line-up 2

For over twenty years, The Children’s Bookshow has tirelessly worked to promote, up and down the country, not only a love of reading, but also emerging and established children’s authors who are not TV celebrities chatting on a sofa.

In 2022, Michael Rosen, who was children’s laureate from 2007 to 2009, flagged up the problem that the promotion of the children’s book industry is generally celebrity-focused, “We are the Cinderellas of the book business, with very little media attention, so it’s small wonder that some children’s writers feel miffed by the fact that seemingly the only attention given to a children’s book is because the writer is already a star.”

The good news is that children’s books are getting more attention than ever before in the media, and today, The Children’s Bookshow is recognised as being an incredible asset to the book trade and an acknowledged talent-spotter. So we are delighted to share with you our second line up of authors and illustrators and their books on tour this year.

Continue reading Tours & Series | Top 5 Reads from The Children’s Bookshow 2023 | line-up 2

Media Release | Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience (ed.) Onyekachi Wambu | Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 22 June, 2023

In this authoritative anthology, Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience, journalist and writer, Onyekachi Wambu, collates some of the most significant writing to mark seventy-five years since the arrival of Empire Windrush at a critical juncture in modern British history, in June 1948. 

The ship’s name is apt for undertaking the dual tasks of this broad-based and authoritative anthology: first, reflecting on the experience of seventy five years of ‘Windrush’ post-Brexit and the Second Elizabethan Age. Second, meditating on over a millennia of earlier ship arrivals and departures, carrying other human cargo, alongside the troubled intricate business of Empire. Continue reading Media Release | Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience (ed.) Onyekachi Wambu | Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 22 June, 2023

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