London Fictions at The Londonists (we like this one)

The introduction to this new book immediately got our attention: “We asked a selection of contemporary Londonists — the term is coming once more into fashion but is originally Marcus Fall’s from 1880…”. Well, blimey.

The 26 contemporary ‘Londonists’ — and most do have strong London connections — were each asked to critique a London-based novel. Their choices certainly intrigue. Dickens is missed entirely, and the list also steers clear of “that quartet of modern sages and visionaries of the city, J.G. Ballard, Michael Moorcock, Peter Ackroyd and Iain Sinclair”. Also absent are Conrad, Amis, Carter, Gaiman and Self. As the Afterword says, the editors make no claims to comprehensiveness, instead relying on the individual enthusiasms of the contributors.

The resulting list, then, is far more interesting than another slog through the usual suspects. A few old favourites do reel us in (Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, Patrick Hamilton), but then we’re drawn to a dozen less-familiar authors such as Pamela Hansford Johnson and Thomas Burke. We begin with George Gissing’s The Nether World and end with what seems to be its abbreviation, NW by Zadie Smith.

The contributors are also well chosen. Sarah Wise tackles A Child of the Jago, Rachel Lichtenstein analyses Simon Blumenfeld’s Jew Boy, Cathi Unsworth takes on The L-Shaped Room… Some writers really tubthump their choice, others are more critical. Andrew Lane’s appraisal of The Sign of Four, for example, imagines Conan Doyle piecing the action together from a London gazetteer, rather than drawing on any first-hand knowledge of the capital’s streets.

All in all, this is a surprising and approachable collection, which can be enjoyed by a general audience as well as literary types. The mix of familiar and not-so-familiar sets it apart from the numerous other London anthologies from recent years. Our reading list just got several novels longer, and the application of the word ‘Londonist’ just got broader.

Huddersfield Town in an away match

 London Fictions was launched last night at the Phoenix Artist Club in the West End, just off Charing Cross Road, once the heart, and still important in London's book land. An intrepid team of authors from the book had already done events at Housmans and at the Bishopsgate Institute and there are plenty more to follow, but this was the launch and quite a few of the contributors read from the books that inspired their chapters in London Fictions.
In introducing the evening I commented that although Five Leaves was based in Nottingham, and I hail from the land of the (vegetarian) haggis, we have a long interest in London fiction, London culture, London history, particularly of the old Jewish East End. I don't really know how to explain this interest, but I was followed by Andrew Whitehead - still a strong supporter of Huddersfield Town football club - who described how he came to London and fell in love with the place. If you check out his www.londonfictions.com and his own personal website www.andrewwhitehead.net you will see how this comes out. In the book, if you have not seen it, each chapter talks about one important London novel but is followed by a description of the setting now. Some are written by the chapter contributor, but many are written by Andrew, who dragged his teenage son round some unfamiliar streets of London to familiarise himself with the setting.
Others followed - fellow editor Jerry White, now living in the London suburb of Leamington Spa, Susie Thomas in London-on-sea ie Brighton and others who live in the city but all of whom find inspiration in the streets around them, and the literature of that most multi-cultural of cities.
Of course 26 books are not enough to fully give the flavour of the city. There are more essays on www.londonfictions.com and I think we will have a "More London Fictions" in due course.
Apart from contributors, the launch was attended by people from Housmans (which carries perhaps the best chosen London section of any bookshop) and Joseph's Bookstore, a couple of London fiction reading groups, people from History Workshop and www.eastendwalks.com.
Our New London Editions series and this book has tapped into a discrete group of readers and writers who know their city and know their literature. We'll continue to do this. Not dissing Nottingham, but I do so wish we could move Five Leaves to London.

London Fictions book launch

You would be very welcome, but even if you can't come, check out the venue...http://www.phoenixartistclub.com/, because we will have other launches there.

New from Five Leaves, London Fictions

This is our lead title for the spring. Print now, ebook shortly. See www.fiveleaves.co.uk events and readings page for London Fictions events at Housmans, Bishopsgate Institute, Broadway Bookshop... with more to follow

London Fictions, advance notice

Well, this item is not due out until 1st April but the text is in, as are most of the illustrations and we are rather proud of this one. It's an important book for us. And we do like the cover. Well done editors Andrew Whitehead and Jerry White. More later. The biggest debate was whether to publish it as Five Leaves or under our New London Editions imprint. We went for the former. The book is orderable already, though I'm not expecting much interest until next year. Just showing off, really. But if London fiction is your interest, keep following Andrew's www.londonfictions.com. We do have permission to use the cover painting, from Tower Hamlets Council which owns the work, but we would very much like to contact the artist Belinda Davies, who painted this in the mid-70s and used to live in Stepney. There is a younger artist by the same name, who appears in all the searches. Any ideas?