Ludlow Market

We have taken a stall at Ludlow Market for the summer months – Mondays only. It’s a delight to spend time in one of the most beautiful towns in England in the company of our wonderfully various fellow stall-holders. Writers of all sorts have called by for a chat, do come and join us if you’re in the area.

The second of our series of interviews with writers is now available on our blog. Nicholas Murray is an author and journalist based in Wales and London. He will be leading the morning session of our Creative Non-Fiction Workshop on 28 April.  Nick is the author of several literary biographies including lives of Franz Kafka, Aldous Huxley, Bruce Chatwin, Andrew Marvell and Matthew Arnold, two collections of poems, and two novels.  His biography of Matthew Arnold was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1997 and his biography of Aldous Huxley was shortlisted for the Marsh Biography Prize in 2003. His comments addressed to aspiring writers may be of particular inerest.

We come across a certain amount of elegant variation in texts which we are preparing for publication. Bob has written a short piece on it on our blog.

Paul Binding

The first of our interviews withwriters known to YouCaxton is now on our blog. It has been a great pleasure to be able to start the series with Paul Binding (the link is to Debrett’s People of Today). His advice for those who have a passion for writing will be of particular interest to visitors to YouCaxton, including those who are considering self-publication or who may have written a memoir, autobiography or local or family history.

George Gordon Byron, 1788-1824, the world's first media superstar

We’re starting a series of interviews with writers over the coming weeks. Paul Binding, author of a number of critically aclaimed books and a frequent contributor to the Independent, will be first. He will be talking about his life and about writing and literature. Further writers and editors will follow, including some whom we have helped to self-publish. The idea comes from Liz Broomfield of LibroEditing who was kind enough to include an interview with Bob on her website the other day.

We will shortly be publishing Spain, an amazingly short history by Bob Fowke as a Kindle book. The reviews for this book were complimentary and sales through Spanish supermarkets have ensured that the first edition has almost sold out. The books in this series were designed to be read on the plane so they would seem to be ideal material for e-publishing. We’ll see.

Reviews:
‘This splendid little book should be read by every expat … the perfect flight companion,’ Everything Spain.
‘Read them on the plane for all you need to know’, Sunday Times.
‘The ideal entry point for young (or old) minds,’ Everything France.
‘Great for both kids and adults.’ Sunday Times Travel Magazine.

Almost a rocket

Thank you to all who attended our self-publishers’ launch which took place at the Morris Hall, Shrewsbury, last Thursday 8 December. If self-publishing companies could travel at the speed of rockets, we’re already on our way to Mars or Venus. Writers with books on local and family history, philosophy, religion and fiction attended, and discussion flowed easily from Bob Fowke’s talk – of which our blog contains a condensed version. Unfortunately, we’re unable to declare a winner to the Potential Book Raffle – plenty of books for us to work on, but no raffle synopses. Maybe there’s a sanctuary for potential books on Venus, when we get there.

Why Darwin matters to Christians by Rev. Adrian Bailey, chaplain at the orthopedic hospital in Oswestry, is now published, there will be a launch in Shrewsbury next Friday 24 February.

We’re holding our launch at the Morris Hall, Bellstone, Shrewsbury on Thursday 8th December, 6.00-8.30pm. After the welcoming biscuit (and all that that implies) and ceremony with raffle there’s going to be a discussion/seminar – about publishing and self-publishing and how the new technologies are changinging the book industry. We particularly want to explore how writers of local and family histories, autobiographies and memoirs can take advantage, but all writers and interested parties are very welcome. Send us an email at info@youcaxton.co.uk if you think you can make it. We need an idea of numbers.

As a bit of fun, there’ll be a ‘potential book raffle’. More on that later.

Potential winner of potential book raffle?

Probably not Gerald

The other day, Gerald Mothershaw, author of local history The Parish of Hodnet, told Steve an anecdote about his army years in the 1950s. Gerald told how he was leaving camp in Aldershot on his bicycle when a man hailed him from a window and asked him to post a letter. It was addressed to a Wendy Cave of Wem (Shropshire, home town of William Hazlitt). Steve rang his aunt Wendy who happens to be a Cave and, yes, it was her, probably from his Uncle John. Steve says it’s a lovely coincidence but perhaps it’s something weirder, see the birthday problem. Although it is a small world – if you live in Shropshire.