YouCaxton are conducting a self-publishing workshop on Saturday 2 February 11 am to 1 pm at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery as part of the Wolverhampton Literature Festival. Admission is free and all are welcome. The workshop will provide an opportunity to learn about all aspects of self-publishing from completing the manuscript, to decisions about design and layout, through to the final print-ready files and publication. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions.
Richard Hawkins joins the YouCaxton Team
Screenwriting
Writer Richard Hawkins has joined YouCaxton to provide a new service of advice and editing for screenplays. The service includes an honest and objective professional critique of the work, editorial support, script development and formatting, so that presentations are up to a professional standard and maximise their chance of going forward to production.
Richard has worked as a writer and producer since the late 1980s with several critically acclaimed productions to his name, including on Broadway. His first screenplay, the internationally successful The Theory of Flight, was co-produced by both the BBC and Miramax and directed by Paul Greengrass (Bourne Ultimatum, Captain Philips). It starred Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter. Richard has also worked closely alongside the acclaimed Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love, Aida).
His own directorial debut came with the enormously well received Everything, starring Ray Winstone, which quickly became a cause celebre on the festival circuit, heralded by the Sydney Film festival as ‘The perfect model for budget feature making’ – and went on to win several international awards and a prestigious BAFTA nomination for Richard himself.
‘Everything is boldly conceived and executed, the kind of film British cinema needs more of.’ The Daily Telegraph
‘A highly promising feature debut … truthful, perceptive and moving.’ The Observer
Richard has worked recently as a creative adviser for China’s emerging film industry, playing a critical role in the establishment of several on-going, long-term relationships between American and Chinese studios. He also gives support as a specialist acting coach, taking both new and established stars and working them through various castings and/or preparing them for particular film roles. Actors worked with include Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomi Harris, Domonic Cooper, Stephen Mangan, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Ed Skrein, Danny Dyer, to name but a few.
The Box of Beautiful Letters:A wartime love story revealed from 1939-1941 correspondence
Cheryl Underhill
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The Box of Beautiful Letters A wartime love story revealed from the 1939-1941 correspondence between Lily Smith and RAF pilot Martyn Allies Lily and Martyn met in London and fell in love at the beginning of World War II, before the bombs had started to fall. Shortly after, Lily, then aged nineteen, was evacuated to work in Torquay and Martyn was called up to train as an RAF pilot. As their feelings for one another deepened and their affectionate letters became ever more passionate, circumstances forced them to live further apart. The war intensified and Lily moved back to Woodford Green in London. The couple kept up each other’s spirits through their prolific letters, Martyn describing his alarming flying experiences, and Lily painting a colourful picture of everyday life amidst air-raid sirens and bombing raids. Was marriage ever going to be within their reach? Their letters give a rare insight into life in war-torn Britain and into the experiences of a fledgling RAF pilot advancing to the status of a Coastal Command pilot operating from Iceland. |
Available on Amazon | ||||||||
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This treasure-trove of letters might have remained hidden forever had not Cheryl Underhill found them in a battered cardboard box at the back of a cupboard. Painstaking work has knitted them together to form this remarkable book. Cheryl Underhill, a former primary school teacher, discovered many new interests in retirement and one of these, encouraged by her membership of the u3a, was historical research. Once she had set about reading the wartime letters that she’d discovered, and appreciated how well-written they were, she embarked on producing a book to tell the writers’ story, in the context of its era. This, she hoped, would be a tribute to Lily Smith and Martyn Allies’ love for each other, and the love felt for them by their family and the many others with whom their lives had been entwined. |
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Midlife: Problems and Solutions – A Jungian Perspective on the Midlife Crisis
Renata Symonds
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This book is the distillation of the professional wisdom of Renata Symonds (1913 – 2007), a London-based Jungian psychotherapist. She deals with the perennial problems of humankind that may particularly become evident at the threshold of the second half of life: finding meaning in one’s existence; facing conflicts in work and marriage; dealing with depression, loneliness, and sexuality; and fear of death. These great themes are explored from the perspective of the writer’s experience in helping people become aware of the unconscious aspects of their problems, especially through dream analysis. Many cases are described of how clients in this way – rather than by resorting to medical drugs to suppress symptoms – make real progress not only in resolving their difficulties but also in achieving inner growth as well. No dry treatise or self-help book – how to recognise if you’re going through a midlife crisis and what to do about it – Renata Symonds speaks with warmth and enthusiasm of her approach to her clients’ difficulties. The text is enriched by references to Jung and Freud and contains many literary and mythological allusions. This book will be of interest to the general reader with a basic knowledge of Jung’s ideas, as well as those undergoing or contemplating psychotherapy. |
£20.00 (+ £2 postage) Available on Amazon | ||||||||
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Reviews... |
Dianne Carrington, talk
26th January 2019
Dianne Carrington will be speaking in Pulverbatch Village Hall on the evening of Saturday 26 January about her new book Atlantic Lady, published by YouCaxton, the story of her record-breaking row across the Atlantic. She is the oldest woman ever to undertake this extraordinary feat.
The Goddess
Viv Martin
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In many ways I should say ‘with’ her, because she kept surprising and challenging me like an imp on my shoulder, questioning and commenting as each image developed. As an artist, this experience was thrilling. The series began with a sketch I made of a small ‘Venus’ figure. This image was at the heart of my work for most of a year, during which I made 36 monotype paintings on paper and four larger oil paintings on canvas. |
£10.00 (+ £2 postage) Number of copies: Also available from Amazon |
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| This book tells the story of the development of my relationship with the image of this tiny Goddess and the development of the series. There is information at the back of the book about the monotype ‘printmaking to painting’ techniques used to make these multimedia works. | ||||||||||||
Ludlow Book Launch
Fran Norton will be launching her new book, Isolde, Lady de Audley, published by YouCaxton, at the Castle Bookshop, Ludlow, betweeen 5.00 and 7.00 pm on Friday 23rd November. The image is of Isolde’s tomb in St Bartholomew’s churchyard, Much Marcle, Herefordshire.
Lady Clive and Her Friends
In the eighteenth century some remarkable young women crossed the ocean to seek their fortunes. Margaret Maskelyne who married Clive of India and was sister to Nevil Masquelyne, Astronomer Royal, was one of the cleverest – and funniest. Bob Fowke, YouCaxton’s Managing Editor, will be speaking on Margaret Clive and her friends at Hyssington Village Hall, 7.30 Thursday 22nd November.