News

The printmaker, artist and author Angela Harding has spoken to us many times in Suffolk, and I've been delighted to interview her on stage and for print on several occasions. She tells some great stories and is always warm, engaging and entertaining. And so she made a perfect guest for today's Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio Four.

Her story is familiar to many of us now but it's always a pleasure to be in her company and to hear her speak, and there were some revelations in the programme for me today. I didn't know, for example, that at school, Angela sat next to Anthea Turner! And I loved the description of her 'leap up and down moments' marking the milestones, the achievements in her career. 

It was also interesting and surprising to hear Angela's choices of music, of discs. And how she wanted to celebrate her love of poetry on the island. She chose a piece by the poet laureate Simon Armitage with his band Lyr, in the form of 'Skeleton Tree' which features in the book she illustrated for him, 'Blossomise'. But she also included spoken word with the former poet laureate Ted Hughes reading his poem 'The Thought Fox'. This is a favourite of mine. A deeply significant poem about words, writing and creativity which I was introduced to at a reading by Ted Hughes at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. A very powerful memory. I hadn't thought of it as one of my Desert Island Discs though. Perhaps it will be now.

And while Angela's choice of book was in some ways predictable - a bird book by Adam Nicolson, called 'Bird School' - she wanted it noted for its front cover by Clive Hicks-Jenkins. She also wasn't satisfied with the 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' - she wanted a separate edition of 'Twelfth Night' illustrated by Eric Ravilious. Great choices! What book would you want to take on a Desert Island?!
 
Thank you for reading.

I promise there won't be any more Penny headings but had to remind you of the news announced in last week's email that the TV personality Penny Lancaster will be with us in Woodbridge in a couple of months' time.

Her book, a memoir called 'Someone Like Me', was released on Thursday and she has featured in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes to talk about it (in fact my interview with Penny should be appearing in 'Woman' magazine this coming week). 

You can read more details of our event at The Riverside by scrolling down, and I hope you'll consider joining me for what promises to be a fun, uplifting and inspiring event.

Penny is such a warm, friendly and positive person and seems incredibly grounded, generous and, actually, quite wise. How rare is that these days? And I can't help but be impressed that, after signing up for a TV show to spend time 'fighting crime', Penny has remained a Special Constable in London and volunteers each week. She was on policing duties for the Queen's funeral and the King's Coronation. 

I've read her book, 'Someone Like Me', and found it to be honest, revealing, insightful and inspiring. A real tonic actually so a signed copy would make a very special Christmas gift for yourself or for family and friends! And what a lovely way to spend a winter evening. 

Thank you for reading.

This week I started my diary for 2026. It feels wrong to be wishing time away like this but with magazines and also book releases planned many months ahead, I feel reassured that I can record my potential commitments carefully despite this year not yet nearing its end. And a new diary always feels full of promise and excitement!

But there's plenty going on in the next few weeks so I'd like to share with you some dates about upcoming events, if I may.

First of all, on Tuesday the Booker Prize judges reveal their shortlist of six. I'm sure everyone who attended our discussion of the longlist will be eager to learn of this decision and I believe some members of our book group are actually attending the event in London, so it will be good to hear their reports of that experience.

On Wednesday evening it's the first night of a new stage play of 'Akenfield', the book written by Ronald Blythe and the film directed by Sir Peter Hall. You can read my article about the production here, and take a look at the dates and venues here if you'd like to go along.

The following Monday it's our next book group meeting where we'll be talking about 'The Things That We Lost' by Jyoti Patel. Scroll down for details and reply to this email to let me know if you're coming along.

And finally... just confirmed...

TV personality, special constable and wife of Sir Rod Stewart - Penny Lancaster will be coming to The Riverside Woodbridge to talk to me about her memoir called 'Someone Like Me'.

There will be more details here next week but I hope you'll put the date in your diary now: Thursday 4 December, 7.30pm.

The book will be included in the ticket to the event as usual. Please take a look at The Riverside later in the week to reserve your place.

I've spoken to Penny on the phone after having read her book and I can assure you that this will be the perfect event in the lead up to Christmas. Penny is a warm, friendly, uplifting and inspiring individual with much to share about facing the ups and downs of life with courage, resilience and positivity.

Thank you for reading.

It's funny which book prizes grab our attention, isn't it? There are quite a few of them now and it's good to be made aware of titles and authors we might otherwise have missed. But not all lists excite or inspire me and I've been wondering why that is. 

Naturally there's the subject matter - fiction, non-fiction, nature writing, history, biography, children's - only some of these will appeal, at certain times. 

But it might also be a sense of endorsement - if I know the books and have enjoyed them and see them recognised by 'expert' judges, perhaps that makes me feel I'm making the 'right' choices in the books I'm selecting?! 

This week I was interested to read of the winners in the various categories of the Wainwright Prize. This recognises excellence in nature writing and this year introduced categories regarding children's books.

There were a number of books here that I'd read - 'The Lie of the Land', 'Flower Block', 'Wildlands', 'Secrets of Bees' - but of course a couple I've been meaning to read, including the winner 'Raising Hare'. I wonder how long it will be now before I manage to read this. 

The winner of the Women's Prize last year was 'The Safekeep' by Yael van der Wouden. It was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and I heard lots of good things about it but never managed to read it for myself. Until recently.

We chose it for this month's book at the Ottie and the Bea Book Group in Framlingham. And what a great read! We're sure to have lots to discuss at our meeting on Wednesday. If you've read it this month, or last year, do think about coming along to share your thoughts on it. Scroll down for details of the meeting. 

And if you're looking for some more dates for your diary, next weekend it's the Leiston Book Festival. I'll be there to interview Tom Heap about his book 'Landsmart' on Saturday afternoon but there are many great speakers throughout the day. 

And the following Saturday, 27 September, it's the Flipside Festival taking place in Framlingham where the day's speakers, drawn from literature, media and culture, will be discussing their books and artistic endeavours under a common theme of how art and the imagination help us make sense of a rapidly changing world.

Lots going on. Thank you for reading.

This week we gathered together in Woodbridge to share our thoughts on this year's Booker Prize Longlist.

We've been meeting to do this each summer, though I'm not sure when we started - there were remote meetings during Covid so it's been the past five years at least. And it's always proved a fascinating and entertaining evening with this year being no exception. Thank you to everyone who's got involved.

Members of our Woodbridge Book Group volunteered to read at least one of the 13 titles listed by the judges and to deliver a presentation on the book based on their reading experience.

We were able to source every book on the list, even the new Kiran Desai which isn't published until later this month. I was fortunate to receive a proof copy and the fact that I read all 670 pages in 10 days is an indication that 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny' was an enjoyable, engrossing, epic novel, which has been 20 years in the making.

This year there didn't seem to be any book which provoked any strong negative reactions though Benjamin Wood's 'Seascraper' was disappointing for our reader, mainly for the sense of stagnation and rotting, and ingrown toenails! And 'One Boat' by Jonathan Buckley was declared 'a weird book' although, having read it twice, our reader declared it to be beautifully written with more to appreciate and understand in the second approach.

A number of books had very enthusiastic reviews - 'Love Forms' by Claire Adam was declared as gripping as any thriller, 'The Land in Winter' by Andrew Miller was powerfully atmospheric and 'Misinterpretation' by Ledia Xhoga was lyrical and expressive, with humour and heartbreak.

There were several slim volumes in the list, so not too daunting. 'Audition' by Katie Kitamura explored the roles we play in life, the truth and lies, in two parts, with an unreliable narrator - and no speech marks. 'The Rest of Our Lives' by Ben Markovitz could have developed more of its themes of a mid-life crisis and road trip if it was a longer novel, one reader said, though another reader found that the book was long enough for them!

'The South' by Tash Aw was an engaging story set in the financial crash in Malaysia in the 1990s, and the first in a promised quartet of novels. 'Universality' by Natasha Brown was considered funny and thought-provoking in its take on current affairs and existential crisis. And 'Flashlight' by Susan Choi was a multi-layered mystery set in 1950s Korea. 

There were two novels which appeared to be the strongest contendors for the Booker crown, just because they were a little 'on the edge' for different reasons - they were 'Endling' by Maria Reva (set in the Ukraine, saving snails from extinction) and 'Flesh' by David Szalay (hedonism, mortality and bodily functions, and jumping back and forth in time). 

It was felt that, from past experience, the books we most enjoyed reading were not likely to make the shortlist. There needed to be something different, outstanding, new or 'odd' for it to be a true Booker book, we felt. 

With this criteria, it didn't take us much soul-searching to nominate our shortlist of six titles. And their plotlines were rather nicely summed up by the group, as follows:

- Endling - the snail one
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - the long one
- The Land in Winter - the cold one
- Audition - the 'sliding doors' one
- Flesh - the sex one
- Flashlight - the Korean one

The Booker judges will announce their shortlist on Tuesday 23 September and, for the first time this year, it will be a public event. The South Bank Centre in London is the venue for author interviews and readings before the big reveal of the six shortlisted titles. Tickets are available, though 'prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.' Looks like that's a thing now.

Thank you for reading.