What have the Romans ever done for us?

Some years ago, by dint of a chance conversation, Five Leaves planned to publish a book called Roman Nottinghamshire. Rather outside our usual fare of Jewish culture, social history, fiction and poetry. I suppose it could be described as social history, at a push. Anyway, the book never appeared, for reasons that need not detain you. There was a lot of interest in it though. Last night I got the first draft of Roman Nottinghamshire by Mark Patterson, an entirely different text. There was so much interest the first time that I was determined to find another author I could commission. Mark Patterson is a freelance journalist whose work I knew well from his days at Nottingham Evening Post and he has a deeper interest in Roman times than is probably healthy. I have to say his draft is excellent. He uses his journalistic skills to make a potentially dry subject entertaining, and informative, and brings in the voices of academics, local historians, or odd blokes he meets in fields to add colour. Although the nearest thing to Roman Nottinghamshire in situ is one bump in a field Mark has found lots to say and lots to show. His book be out next spring, email me at info@fiveleaves.co.uk if you want further information meantime as it is not yet orderable.

Not forgotten after all

Anyone reading this tempted to go to the Five Leaves/Newham Bookshop event on 21st October at the Bishopsgate Institute about "Forgotten London Writers" need to know that the writers in question - Alexander Baron, Roland Camberton, John Henry Mackay and George Gissing - are less than forgotten, as the event is sold out already. Or it might be the attractive line up of speakers, Iain Sinclair, Andrew Whitehead, Sarah Wise and Ken Worpole. Either way a sell out is a sell out and we are pleased with that. As people are still trying to book - my copy of the Bishopsgate programme only arrived this morning - we are trying to persuade the speakers to go for a rerun. We'll post information on that if it goes ahead, but meantime you might want to put your name on a list at Bishopsgate or better still get on their mailing list for their excellent programme of events, www.bishopsgate.org.uk

We the people

I've never quite got the hang of the People's Book Prize (www.peoplesbookprize.com) however many emails they send me. It is a "national competition aimed at discovering new writers with no panel of judges except you, the public!". We, the public get to vote on their shortlist of submitted entries and the winners go forward to an annual award. The Prize is organised by Delancey Press, whose name does seem to crop up on the shortlist from time to time, though their presence is but nothing compared to that of Local Legend whose website (www.local-legend.co.uk) indicates that they are a vanity publisher. Sometimes books from some of my favourite publishers crop up, including a book by one of our writers published by another publisher, so there is a mixture of sorts. Strangely, publishers seeking to enter are forbidden to submit books that are "religious, political or controversial" so tough luck if you want to enter your brand new James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Melvin Burgess or New Testament then. Translated works are also out, so hard luck Stieg Larsson. But controversial is a very loose word. One of the four overall winners for 2009 (published, um, by Delancey Press) is The 3 Plus 1 Plan, which tells you how to make lots of money on buy to let. That seems pretty controversial to me. Political even.

Back in the Borders # 3

Having just seen Rory Bremner award the winner's rosette to a snail in the miscellaneous section of the children's pet competition at the Borders Union Agricultural Show, followed by a sheep shearing demonstration (though not by Bremner), I began to remember the differences between inner city life and the Scottish Borders. But developments in the book business continue here apace. In the two previous blogs I talked about the newish bookshops, Mainstreet and Latimers, which have joined the existing shops The Forest Bookstore (Selkirk) and Talisman Books (Melrose). Now Jedburgh is getting in on the act with the Abbey View Cafe and Bookshop. No website, but the Abbey in Jedburgh is kinda hard to ignore so the attractive Cafe is easy to find, not least because of the wonderful floral decorations outside. The book section comprises one wall of well chosen popular books (I didn't even try selling them Five Leaves' titles) in keeping with the well chosen and popular food. It's not Foyles but a great addition to the town for locals and visitors.
There is an existing Borders Book Festival, which is very big, and which I have criticised elsewhere for its cost and its lack of relationship with the Borders and local bookselling, but I am very pleased to see the programme for the "Books, Borders and Bikes" two day literary festival in Traquair House near Innerleithen, to be held over the weekend of 14-15 August. The theme is "Small Nations, Big Cultures". The event features writers from Palestine, Zimbabwe, Kurdistan and elsewhere. Scottish PEN is involved. I hope it succeeds, as it is a serious and exciting initiative - see http://www.beyondborders2010.com/. I wish I'd known about it earlier.
Back to Nottingham tomorrow...

Back in the Borders #2

Tucked away down the Mill Wynd off the attractive cobbled market square in Kelso is Latimer Books, one of the other recently opened Border bookshops (see last posting). If I knew how to use the word eponymous it might fit here as the shop is run by Jane and Norman Latimer. And the tucked away point is important, with Norman's blog on http://www.latimerbooks.co.uk/ noting that they are looking for more noticeable premises. But if you are within striking distance of Kelso it is worth a call. Again no Tartan tourist tat on offer, which does not mean the absence of local or Scottish history. Indeed, my purchase was the Spirit of Jura anthology published by Polygon, nestling close on its shelf to one of my favourite books, Findings by Kathleen Jamie (Sort of Books). The shop is well stocked and I noticed our local writer Eve Makis on the shelves. Like so many small shops Latimer offers a fast order service, with Jane Latimer mentioning that on Mondays people pour in with clippings from the weekend broadsheets. This is a busy weekend for them, with a big stall at the Borders Union Agricultural Show, such is the nature of rural bookselling. A good opportunity to buy a new combine harvester and the new Helen Dunmore.

Back in the Borders # 1

Probably not many publishers turn up on the bus to flog their wares at bookshops, after an hour and a half country walk in the rain, but that was the quickest way from where I am on holiday to reach the exquisite bookshop in St Boswells in the Scottish Borders. As I trudged along I was needing it be a good shop, and it was, with an excellent in store cafe. The shop was started a couple of years ago by Rosamund and Bill de la Hay. Rosamund used to work for Bloomsbury, but opening a very large shop in a very small town that is not even on a train line must have seemed like madness to some people. The name, The Mainstreet Trading Company, suggests more than a bookshop, which is the case, but books are at the heart of the business. The stock is excellent with no concessions to that dreadful Tartan tourism which so many small Scottish indies find so attractive. Lots of hardbacks, lots of the books currently under review in the broadsheets, lots of face out on tables, lots and lots of children's books. To use the jargon, Mainstreet is a "destination bookshop". In fact the shop publicity brochure uses the phrase in case we don't get it. And the shop has become, according to Rosamund, a destination for people from Northumberland to Edinburgh and from across the Borders. Mainstreet is one of four bookshops in the Scottish Borders, of which more anon, three opening in the last few years, the fourth had a recent change of management. Having grown up in the Borders, this leaves me in a state of shock. 100% recommended. My own purchase was The Bookman's Tale by Ronald Blythe (Canterbury Press), two scones and two coffees. You'll find a few Five Leaves' books there soon too. www.mainstreetbooks.co.uk.

Back in the USSR

Andy Croft, a Five Leaves' regular, is also a publisher. Over at Smokestack he publishes thin volumes of verse by lefties from this country, from Eastern Europe and "the other America". Now we have a thick volume, 312 pages of poetry and a 313th page listing leftie poets and the like who made it possible. The volume is Common Cause by Francis Combes, ably translated from French by Alan Dent of Penniless Press. Massive in size, massive in scope, a study of communism the idea, over two millennia, and Communism in practice. Among those listed on page 313 is the Northern Region of the Communist Party of Britain which is nice of them as the book does not hold back in criticising what went wrong. Just as Rabbi Hillel could shorten the Torah to something like don't do to others what you find hateful for people to do to you, Rabbi Bradshaw could shorten this book to the slogan painted on a statue of Marx in Berlin after the Wall came down "We'll do better next time". The slogan appears in the poem "Berlin '89". As a set of very short essays on ideas, people, places and events the book works wonderfully. Some purists might argue with the work as poetry, but some purists wouldn't know a trade union banner if it came up and bit them. Anyone who likes Bert Brecht (who makes a cameo appearance) will like this book. You can order copies from www.inpressbooks.co.uk/common_cause_francis_combes_i022000.aspx