‘Whatever route the new Grub Street takes in this digital world, if we lose the curmudgeon who remembered the ‘good old times’ or the ancient irritating gnome who says that’s not how things were done, the book trade will lose its soul.’
Part memoir, self-help manual and polemic, this assortment of pieces mostly written by three ancient practitioners of the literary trade, whose professional lives all started when typewriters were scarcely electrified, posits a belief that publishing is more than just part of a global media division in massive entertainment conglomerates.
With a combined age of over two hundred years and with more than fifty books written between them, three toilers in the literary furrows reflect on the ‘literary life’: anecdotes; memories; short fictions; reminiscences; critiques of feminist writing – even a list of Dos and Don’ts for Future Writers – create a perfect companion for those who still consider books have covers and live on shelves and is essential reading for all graduates on creative writing courses or in media study groups.
‘…he made half a success; that is to say, the publishers brought out a second edition of the book’ George Gissing, New Grub Street