Leeds Jewish Historical Society Essay Prize

Five Leaves is pleased to have been one of the sponsors for the essay prize inaugurated by our friends at the Leeds branch of the Jewish Historical Society. The winning entries covered: The Jews of Leeds; The Synagogues of Huddersfield; The York Massacre of 1190; and The Jewish and Yorkshire Identities of William Rothenstein. The overall winner was Dr Samuel Shaw, recently-conferred with his PhD for his essay 'An Uneasy Adherent: The Jewish and Yorkshire Identities of Sir William Rothenstein'. Four entrants will receive books from our backlist.

The Liberation of Maw Broon

Years of reading American crime fiction leads me to think of the early morning flight from Glasgow to the East Midlands as being "the red-eye", when really it should be the "shiny suit and laptop case" - bunches of tired looking business people heading south to do what business people do. Save for the shiny suit I was not out of place coming back from our Glasgow book launch (see last posting). J. David Simons' The Liberation of Celia Kahn was duly launched, with 143 people being made very welcome by Debbie and her staff at Sauchiehall Street Waterstone's. Following a talk and a reading, David was interviewed by Rodge Glass before we decamped to The Tearoom at The Butterfly and Pig. Oh, and we'd had music before the launch too.

There were a fair amount of writers present, including Michael J Malone who's joining our list next year. There were also others from the industry - from Saraband, Cargo and Waverley to name three. The Waverley people told me how many copies of Maw Broon's Cookbook they'd sold in the last five years. It did make me think it was time to explore the Robin Hood Gourmet Venison Cookbook, but no - these Scottish-based publishers have a great advantage in cultural icons like the Broons known better by every Scot than they know their own family.

I was glad to see Eleanor Logan at the launch, especially as we were in Waterstone's which has just made her redundant after a long spell as Scottish manager, which followed her time as Scottish manager of Ottakars. I'd have thought with so many branches in that increasingly different country the chain would need a national manager, but what do I know. I hope she gets another job in the trade soon.

I picked up the programme for Aye Write (http://www.ayewrite.com/) which includes our Zoe Wicomb discussing her/our new book The One that Got Away with Louise Welsh. I have to say that this year's festival looks like the most interesting programme of any book festival I've seen.

The Liberation of Sauchiehall Street Waterstone's

I can exclusively reveal that this blog has had 120 page views by people in South Korea since it started. Brazilians are also showing an interest in Five Leaves that can only be termed healthy. Our Scottish readers will, however, only be logged separately when independence is finally achieved. But assuming there are some, I was hoping to announce a rave review for J. David Simons' The Liberation of Celia Kahn in today's Herald, but no show. Of any review of the book, let alone a rave one. Maybe next week. On the other hand, over at Gutter magazine there's a great review, and in a recent Tribune and Edinburgh's The Skinny, and this one in the interestingly named blog Vulpes Libris where you have the rest of the evening to put your name into a draw for a free copy. Sorry about the lack of notice on that: http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/the-liberation-of-celia-kahn-by-j-david-simons-giveaway.

J. David Simons' book is about socialism, contraception, Jews and Scotland, which combination throws up some interest when plonked into google.

Anyone footloose in Glasgow on Wednesday is welcome to come to Sauchiehall Street Waterstone's at 6.30pm to hear David talking about the book.

I can also exclusively reveal that to sort out some editorial queries an embarrassed male author had to explain to an embarrassed male editor exactly how a Dutch Cap worked. How was I supposed to know that?

East Midlands Book Award shortlist announced

The shortlist has now been announced for the first East Midlands Book Award for the best book published in 2010 by an East Midlands' writer. The Trustees (in an individual capacity) comprise Ross Bradshaw from Five Leaves, Jane Streeter from Lowdham Book Festival (jointly organised by Five Leaves), fellow publisher John Lucas of Shoestring (whose two latest books are published by Five Leaves) and David Belbin (a Five Leaves' regular). Despite that, no Five Leaves books made the shortlist, and only one Nottinghamshire writer. Bloomin' judges. You tell them to act independently and then they do. What sort of world do we live in?

We are very pleased to announce that the shortlist comprises Adrian Magson with Death on the Marais (Allison & Busby), Ann Featherstone with The Newgate Jig (John Murray), Anne Zouroudi with The Lady of Sorrows (Bloomsbury), Judith Allnatt with The Poet's Wife, Maria Allen with Before the Earthquake, Mark Goodwin with Shod (Nine Arches), Rosie Garner with The Rain Diaries (Salt) and Stephen Baker with Hemispheres (Atlantic).

The shortlist will be promoted to bookshops, libraries and book groups with the winner being announced on Monday 20 June at an event at Lowdham Book Festival where the winner will receive a cheque for £1000.

This year's judges are John Holmes (BBC), Jaci Brumwell (Derbyshire Libraries) and Ian McMillan (poet and broadcaster). Nominations for 2011 will shortly open and we are pleased to announce the judges will include the modern classical composer Gavin Bryars. More information will appear on http://www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk/awards/

States of Independence II

We are pleased to announce the second States of Independence, to be held in Leicester on March 19. States is a celebration of the work of independent presses and those who write for them. Features this year include sessions on speculative fiction, the Moomins and philosophy, sex and sensibility, as well as an agent surgery and the first public outing of the East Midlands Book Award. Six of the eight shortlisted writers are from indie presses and five will be at States. This year we'll also have some stars from the performance scene, from Word! and Short Fuse.
The whole day is free, and last year was attended by 300-500 people including editors, writers, publishers and the public. Jointly organised by Five Leaves and the Creative Writing Team at De Montfort University. Come for an hour or the whole day. See www.statesofindependence.co.uk

The song of the book of the strike of the 80s

We're really excited that the Liverpool songwriter Alun Parry has turned David Bell's The Dirty Thirty into song. The Dirty Thirty were the Leicestershire miners who struck in 84/85, out of a coalfield of 2,500. Alun successfully manages to capture the book, which in turn captured the experience of the men and their families. The first link is the song, the second is the book - which in this case can be ordered from our friends at News from Nowhere, in Liverpool. Alun's local shop. The lyrics are printed on the song link too
http://parrysongs.co.uk/go/2011/02/new-song-the-dirty-thirty/
http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/books/DisplayBookInfo.php?ISBN=9781905512676

Simcha! with Mike Gerber

... and a few other friends of Five Leaves