Our round-up of Midas announcements from the week:
A Surgeon and a Maverick
A Surgeon and a Maverick: The Life and Pioneering Work of Magdi Yacoub by Simon Pearson and Fiona Gorman was published by AUC Press, the incredible life story of legendary cardiac surgeon and scientist Magdi Yacoub, an outsider who succeeded against the odds. Click the link here to purchase your copy today.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh! by Mo Willems
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh!, the wonderful next instalment in this children book series, by Mo Willems was published by Union Square this week. Click the link to get your copy today.
My Autobiography by Carl Frampton
My Autobiography by Carl Frampton published on Thursday 5th October by Merrion Press, with a successful book signing in Waterstones Leadenhall. Click this link to purchase your copy of the book today.
Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho ‘Library Marathon’ reaches final stage
On 7th October – after a final week on the road visiting libraries up and down the UK – Coelho will cycle, on his trademark homemade bamboo bicycle, to the British Library where he will register as a Reader and kick off a spectacular day of books and reading. The celebration falls within National Libraries Week (2nd-8th October 2023), an annual showcase of the innovative and surprising things that libraries are doing to support their communities.
I Am Asking in the Name of God by Pope Francis
Pope Francis’s newest book, I Am Asking in the Name of God, is out today from SPCK publishing. In his most challenging and outward-facing book yet, Pope Francis reflects on ten vital issues the world is facing today. The famously progressive Pope Francis urges everyone to come together to build a better, more sustainable world. An extract from I Am Asking in the Name of God has run in Reader’s Digest here.
Cliveden Literary Festival
A star-studded line-up of writers, thinkers and commentators convened at the Cliveden Literary Festival this weekend, with media coverage across the national press including the Telegraph, The Times and Daily Mail.
The predominant theme that emerged at this year’s festival was the vital role of the humanities in sustaining societies past, present and future. Mary Beard emphasised the importance of the humanities to democracy: “Humanities teach us to argue cogently and responsibly and intelligently and with integrity about a series of questions to which there are no right answers … Democracy is about making serious decisions responsibly and with integrity, to questions which don’t have a right answer. If we throw away humanities we’re at risk of losing democracy.’
Meanwhile, addressing the impact of technology, Zadie Smith said: ‘Writing is an act of defiance … Elon can’t get me when I’m in a novel. It feels like resistance to me. Right now it feels like resistance just to say no and spend my day in my own way.’
Booksellers Association (BA) Annual Conference
Last Sunday & Monday the BA had their annual Conference, their biggest yet and completely sold-out. At the Conference, our Account Director and team member Anna Zanetti held a Skills Lab around PR for Bookshops, which was attended by around 50 booksellers.
