BECOMING BELLE - COVER REVEAL GIVEAWAY

UPDATE - The winner of the proof copy of Becoming Belle is Mary T. Bradford. Congrats, Mary!

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Writing  - and life - busy-ness has kept me from here but I'm back with a cover reveal and a giveaway. These beauties arrived today  - proof copies of Becoming Belle, out August with GP Putnam in NY and Penguin Canada. Aren't they gorgeous?!?

Becoming Belle is described as 'a witty and inherently feminist novel about passion and marriage, based on a true story of an unstoppable woman ahead of her time in Victorian London.'

So, dear readers, if you like the sound of that, I want you to read it asap. Leave a comment to be in the draw - saying that you want to be in the hat - and I will pick one name this day next week, Friday the 12th. Please DO NOT leave comment as 'unknown' - I can't contact an unknown!

Worldwide giveaway. Good luck!

*PLEASE CHECK BACK NEXT FRIDAY FOR WINNER! I WILL DRAW A NEW WINNER IF PRIZE IS NOT CLAIMED BY FRIDAY 19th JAN.*

LONDON RESEARCH TRIP PICS & GIVEAWAY

Between writing my novel-in-progress (NIP), nursing one chickenpoxed child, chasing one renegade mouse (caught and released) and various other shenanigans, I've been neglecting this blog.

I am also just back from London where I spent four days doing research for the NIP, which is set in Victorian London. I got back late last night after a flight delay, but it was a productive trip. There is nothing to match the thrill of going to an archive and being let handle documents that were signed by your characters. Or seeing new photos of them that make you look at them a bit differently. I'm grinning like a loon now thinking about all the valuable stuff I saw and did for the novel while in London. And I ate cake, oodles of it.

I did research here:

And while I was there I visited this pair, in honour of Wolf Hall:

Anne Boleyn

Thomas Cromwell

And these gents:

My main character liked to eat here so, naturally, I had to do the same:

Café Royal - window treats

Valrhona choc orange cake & tea

I also went to Kew to view documents - what an efficient, peaceful, wonder of a place the National Archives is:

 And while in Kew we ate in this lovely pub, where the halloumi on ciabatta was tdf:

Otherwise it was wandering, eating and even accidentally bumping into friend and fellow writer Kathleen Murray and her son across the road from here:

St Paul's Cathedral

Oh, serendipitously, we also stumbled upon the beautiful Royal Courts of Justice which feature in the NIP (which excited me no end):

And I found an Emily quote in the Bishopsgate Hall:

I bought books in Foyles refurbished place on Charing Cross Road:

Saw a grumpy kid off Brick Lane:

And an illusionist on Regent Street:

Plus iconic thingies, like The Gherkin:

I also bought two little essays on book shops, in chapbook form, to give away here, Ann Patchett's The Bookshop Strikes Back and The Unknown Unknown by Mark Forsyth. I'll post to anywhere in the world. Simply leave a comment and say which booklet you would prefer to win.

London was, as always, fab. I love the frenetic pace of it all, the mad Tube queues, the fantastic veggie food, the posh shops like Liberty, the abundant charity shops and markets, the beautiful Victorian square we stayed on, the Londoners who are so Londony they are almost like parodies of themselves. All of it is intoxicating, every time.

But it was equally lovely to be in my own bed last night, surrounded by silence, and to get back to the desk this morning armed with all I had learned about my characters, and their city. It proved a slow writing day (travel always distracts and unsettles me) but I'm hoping tomorrow will be more productive. Onward!

LAUNCH & LONDON AFTERS

I feel like I am on very fast train with just occasional pitstops in Ballinasloe. When I get to Ballinasloe I either a) do housework and mind kids, or b) sit at my laptop and mind kids. Conclusion? The glamour never ends...

So, the launch in The Winding Stair went off beautifully - lots of people, book sold out, warm atmosphere. Among many others, my dear little Auntie Eta came - she has been such a stalwart supporter. Thanks to all who came - it was a lovely night.

These are some of my friend Karen O'Neill's pics (she is available for weddings!).

Me reading - with rather a funny stance :)

Eoin Purcell launching Mother America

Signing with my mushroom pen - a gift from writer and blogger Rachel Fenton

Signing for writer Monica McInerney (who ran to Easons to buy 3 copies when the Winding Stair sold out - sshhh!)

And then it was a hop, skip and a jump to London, to the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith where I received a warm welcome from the Centre's manager, Catherina Casey and assistant manager, Kelly. I read and was interviewed by Catherina, and it was a relaxed, friendly event.

Art work by Fion Gunn at the Cultural Centre, London

After lunch in the Centre, Bernard O'Donoghue and Claire Keegan did the same - they were interviewed by Dorothy Allen, an Irish journalist who lives in London. Both read beautifully and talked very interestingly about their respective childhoods and how that affects their work. Claire talked about being lucky - she got several good breaks early on, meeting David Marcus for example.

Bernard O'Donoghue, me and Claire Keegan by Hammersmith Bridge

After the readings Catherina brought us for food and drinks to a riverside pub near Hammersmith Bridge - it was buzzy and beautiful and we were joined by an Irish couple, based in Oxford, who had attended the readings. All very jolly!

Barges on the Thames at dusk

Next stop Dalkey Book Festival on Saturday where I am reading at The Magpie Inn, Coliemore Road, with Mary Costello, at 7.30pm.

WILLESDEN EVENT PICS & REPORT 2010

BUILDING NEAR SPITALFIELDS

GEORGE ORWELL'S HOUSE, PORTOBELLO RD

TANIA HERSHMAN & JUNO

LEAST CRAZY PIC OF ME READING, AT DICKENS'S DESK

CLAUDIA BOERS, TANIA HERSHMAN, VANESSA GEBBIE

STEPHEN MORAN, COMPETITION ORGANISER

DICKENS'S FAUX CHICKEN!

TOM VOWLER READING IN THE LIBRARY 

 

WENA POON, JUNO & FINBAR

 

JULIA BOHANNA

 

WENA POON & STEPHEN WITH THE COVETED MUG

SUNSET NEAR ATHLONE ON THE WAY HOME

Wena Poon was the winner of the 2010 Willesden Herald Short Story comp with her story 'The Architects'. Huge congrats to her! The joint runners-up were 'Emily Strabnow's Freckles' by Willie Davis and 'Falling' by Henrietta Rose-Innes.

We had a fantastic time - I love, love, love London. We had a ball in Notting Hill and around Regent Street, wandering in the sunshine, happy out of our heads to be out and about.

The Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury, where the event was held, was small and sweet and interesting, with lovely, helpful staff.

It was great to meet writers Tom Vowler, Rob Shearman and Julia Bohanna in the flesh, also Stephen Moran and Lane Ashfeldt, the legends behind The Willesden Herald and Pulp.net respectively. Great people, all. And I was thrilled to re-meet my cyber-pals writers Vanessa Gebbie, Tania Hershman and Adam Marek. Adam was recently shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Award with his stunning story 'Fewer Things'. Seek it out if you haven't already read it. It was in last Sunday's Times mag. (Easter Sunday's.)

It took me bleddy ages to load and caption the pics above so I am not posting links to all the writers mentioned here. They are all google-able! Many of them keep blogs. Go find.

The night, of course, flew, between readings, chatter and prize-giving. We adjourned to Carluccio's for food and more wine and all in all it was a cheerful, friendly event. It was all over far too soon. Did I say I love going to London?!

And finally, if you want to read the stories that won and were shortlisted, New Short Stories 4 is now available with "fourteen of the best short stories of the year 2010 from brilliant new and award-winning authors, seven by men and seven by women. The stories are set in Australia, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, UK, US and more. Contributors: Wena Poon, Toby Litt, Julia Goubert, Willie Davis, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Kevin Spaide, Carys Davies, Jonathan Attrill, Peggy Riley, Tom Vowler, Paul McGuire, Jo Cannon, Jarred McGinnis, Henrietta Rose-Innes."

You can buy it here.

WILLESDEN SHORT STORIES AT DICKENS MUSEUM

A Willesden Mug (not THE Willesden Mug, though...)

I’m reading in Bloomsbury in London on Saturday next, the 10th April, at 5.30pm, for the Willesden Herald Short Story Prize Event. At the Charles Dickens Museum, no less. How very literary!
Four of the shortlisted writers will be reading: myself, Wena Poon, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Tom Vowler.

This event sees the lauch of the anthology New Short Stories 4 which features 14 new stories by new and established authors from around the world. The complete list can be seen here.

Someone will bring home the much coveted Willesden mug. There's a one in ten chance of me winning it, so I'm not holding my breath. But I get to go to London!! That is prize enough. I need a break after the last two weeks which have been very up and down. Meaning mostly down.

According to Amazon (and they know everything, right?) today is publication day for my novel You. So, happy publication day to me! And, no, I do not have copies of the book...