‘I began taking notes for the book I had been struggling to write for some time. It was mainly about my adolescence in Paris, growing up with artistic parents: the painter Avigdor Arikha and the poet Anne Atik, who had both emigrated to Paris in the 1950s – my mother from the US, my father from Israel via Bukovina, a German speaking part of Romania. I described their high-minded friends, my father’s low tolerance of pop culture, my mother who strove to make herself heard – not always successfully.’
Alba Arikha writes a piece on tracing personal relations with Samuel Beckett for The TLS. You can read the full piece here and get your copy of Major/Minor here.
Quartet author Paola Diana launches her show Unleashed: The Game Changers. You can watch the show below. We published Saving the World by Paola Diana in 2018. You can get your copy of her book here today.
Oggy Boytchev will be speaking at Belsize Community Library on Thursday 17th May at 7.30pm. You can get your copy of The Unbeliever here.
You can watch Remi Kapo, author of A Savage Culture and Reap the Forgotten Harvest speak at a Google Talk here.
Sally Emerson was asked some questions by Portobello Book Blog and here are the answers. Get your copy of Separation and Second Sight today!
‘There are good and bad practices in immigration control. Judges must be fair and compassionate, but not stupid and ignorant on the bench. Judges are not in the business of “kicking them all out”, but applying the law fairly and accurately. But lack of enforcement does undermine both the courts and the administration of justice generally.’
There’s an extract from The Making of an Immigration Judge by James Hanratty in today’s Times. Get your copy of the book here today!
Wanderlust Magazine reviews Far to Go and Many to Love by Lesley Blanch. Get your copy of the book here.
‘The title, with its musical connotations, is felt through the prose, which changes key, sometimes aggressively major, sometimes sadly minor as the author struggles to come to terms with her family’s past and her own present. The narrative switches between her life and the story of theirs. The trauma of the past is lightened by the present as the father pauses his account of unspeakable horror to make tea, call someone, or go on an errand.’ Book Munch reviews Major/Minor by Alba Arikha, Read the full review here today.
‘This is a Greek tragedy in more than one sense. If this sounds bleak at times it really is but there is something in the story and also in Welby’s writing that makes this a powerful debut set against the backdrop of Soho. A clever and brilliant debut.’
The Last Word Review reviews Mother of Darkness by Venetia Welby, you can read the full review here.
Venetia Welby will be discussing her new title Mother of Darkness with Anna Maconie at Brick Lane Bookshop on 15th June at 7.30pm. If you want to read more about Mother of Darkness and get a copy of the book, please go here.