Monday 25 February 2013

ARREST MACHIAVELLI!


Why did we miss this one? Stephen Milner, professor of Italian at the University of Manchester, has discovered an arrest warrant for the Prince of Darkness himself, Niccolò Machiavelli.

The Prof found the document by accident while researching town criers of Florence. Macca, as he wasn't known to his friends, was done for conspiring against the the Medici., thrown in prison and tortured.  This (above) is the warrant for that arrest in 1513. After release, Machiavelli legged it to small village outside Florence to write The Prince.

It just shows what you can find if you have a bit of a tidy... More on the Telegraph website.

Monday 11 February 2013

THE ALMOST LIZARD LAUNCH: JAMES HIGGERSON, SAM MILLS, RODGE GLASS, CHRIS KILLEN


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An exciting new novelist will launch his debut in Blackwell's in March alongside a stellar line-up of authors.

James Higgerson is a cat-owning Manchester PhD student who was runner-up in the Luke Bitmead Bursary Award. The Almost Lizard (Legend Press 2013) is his debut and is a story of modern mental illness in a media-obsessed society. Our event on Friday 15 March will be the book's official launch.

Support will come from three massively exciting authors:

Sam Mills' debut novel The Quiddity of Will Self was longlisted for Not the Booker prize and is an "ingenious, energetic read" (Sunday Times). Sam is a former chess journalist and has contributed to 3am and The Guardian. As one of the founding members of the Will Self Club, Sam rose to the position of Sovereign Grand Quiddity Inspector General. Naturally. At the launch event, we'll have copies of an absolutely brand new paperback edition of Quiddity

Rodge Glass wrote two novels for Faber, Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs (Tindal Street Press 2012), won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2009 and co-authored the award-nominated graphic novel Dougie’s War: A Soldier’s Story (Freight, 2010). He is also Associate Editor at Cargo Publishing. As a special treat for event attendees, we hope to have preview copies of his not-yet-released short story collection LoveSexTravelMusik available on the night.

Chris Killen is an author whose much-vaunted novel The Bird Room showed "exuberant brio" (Guardian) and was "so fresh it practically pings with energy" (Independent). When he's not making podcasts about pizza and working on his new novel In Real Life, Chris is part of Metal Man, whose film Wizard's Way won the London Comedy Festival Discovery Award 2013.

Join Blackwell's, James, Sam, Rodge and Chris for a fantastic evening of fiction.

Date: Friday 15 March 2013
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Blackwell's bookshop, The Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RN
Admission: free