I only know about reviews if somebody tells me, so there may have been others in the US too shocking to mention, or something, but if nothing else Publisher’s Weekly must be among the first and very nice it is too. And educational. Anapests cut through with iambs, eh?

 

Have a look at this sermon given at Matins on 24th July in Westminster Abbey, which takes Addlands as its starting point. I did, I admit, have to read it two or three times to appreciate it properly – the idea of Addlands being discussed from any pulpit, and then that pulpit, took me a while to get used to – but David Stanton gives a very generous and considered reflection on the book, and his views on the role of the church within a community are deeply felt and, for me, very refreshing.

 

Well, yes, not the Booker Prize… But then Not the Booker Prize too. If you are feeling public spirited, please vote for Addlands in the Guardian Not the Booker Prize. Deadline is August 14th.

It’s a question of writing something in a comments box at the bottom, by the way. There seems to be some confusion about that.

Thank you!

A couple of events in the next couple of weeks:

August 3rd, 11am- 1pm: Ar Yr Ymylon/ On the Edge – Christopher Meredith and I will be discussing borders and books and such things in the Cabin of Curiosities, 15 Nevill Street, Abergavenny, NP7 5AA.

August 7th, 11:45am-12:30pm: Wilderness Festival – Lorna Gibb, Sarah Moss and I will be talking about… whatever we’re talking about. I’ll be on about Addlands anyway…

Hope to see you there.

 

With beneath it a draft of something new, including the words “of”, “ground”, “intermingling” and “Valley”. This is the trouble with writing the same passages long-hand, over and over and over, making minute changes each time – handwriting becomes a sort of personal code, of no use at all when suddenly you’re called upon to use it in reality.

 

Here‘s an interview I did with Sean Rocks for RTE Arena on Friday. He was in Dublin. I was in a Stasi-era cupboard in Cardiff.

Actually that link seems unwilling to comply. Easiest probably to put “Addlands” in the RTE Radio search bar.

 

Should you be around I’ll be doing some signings in the next couple of weeks. Viz,

Friday 15th July – Waterstones Cardiff (2A The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1WB)

Saturday 16th July – Waterstones Abergavenny (4 High St, Abergavenny NP7 5RY)

Saturday 23rd July – Waterstones Carmarthen (14-15 Guildhall Square, Carmarthen SA31 1PR)

All at 12 noon. It’d be lovely to see you…

Here are some things from today:

1. Open Book – lovely session in Cardiff with Gwen Davies, Jon Gower and Lleucu Siencyn. And Mariella Frostrup, who is ultra as you would expect…
2. 3 a.m. review from James Tookey, which points out things I hadn’t noticed, which is saying something given how many thousands of times I must have read it.
3. And Addlands is August choice in The Bookseller, which is great though I don’t have a link for that so I can’t pass it on. It would be nice if there were a picture in this post. I’ll look for one now.

There we are

Thanks so much to everyone at Open Book. Lovely recording today down in Cardiff Central Library, with Jon Gower, Lleucu Siencyn, Mariella Frostrup and Gwen Davies. The program goes out on Radio 4 at 4pm on Sunday and again on Thursday at 3:30pm. If I didn’t completely muck it up. We looked a bit like this:

Stephanie Cross on Addlands in the Observer today. Very nice indeed of her – though where they found that photograph of me I’ve no idea. That jacket has been stuffed for years.