David Mitchell
@david_mitchell
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@StephenKing Sorry you're having a blue day, Stephen. Here's a joke your fellow American author Tom Barbash told me. It's only a little risqué. The chicken and the egg were enjoying a post-coital cigarette. "Well", said the egg, "I guess we settled that question.".
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@MochiPJAMas @NewStatesman thanks for this tweet – sorry my reply is so late. The rare beauty of the best BTS songs is self-evident. Art doesn't care about high-brow or low-brow, or age or country of origin, or obscurity or hyper-popularity: when it's present, it's present.
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Forgive the self-promoting retweet: I'm only flesh & blood. Growing up in the 1980s, @StephenKing novels circulated like samizdat literature amongst my classmates, even boys who never normally read. Some of life's plot twists make me grateful and glad.
As an old rocker, I have to say I fucking loved David Mitchell's new novel, UTOPIA AVENUE, about the flowering of British rock and roll in the mid- to late-60s. It's a hit on my Billboard list.
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Just emerged from Kazuo Ishiguro's sublime KLARA AND THE SUN @FaberBooks @penguinrandom . Time stopped, language lulled, visions swam. A future world glimpsed thru windows. Every ounce is a pound. This book is a subtly mind-altering substance. Glory Hallelujah.
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Just read LANNY by @maxjohnporter in one 3-hour binge. Superb, living, feral novel. Echoes of Penelope Lively's ASTERCOTE (anyone else read that as a kid?), glints of Gaiman @neilhimself, David Lynch drumbeat, yet wholly, promiscuously original. Regenerates my love of fiction.
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Today I'll let this clip from my editor do the talking. .
We are proud to be @david_mitchell’s publishers here at @SceptreBooks and we had A LOT of fun putting together this stunner of a 20th anniversary edition of CLOUD ATLAS. With a new introduction by Gabrielle Zevin and a new afterword by David himself.
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Thanks to fellow autism dad @johnharris1969 for his opinion piece on the autism narrative & THE REASON I JUMP film: ticketing, trailer & info here:. Retweeters receive my deep gratitude: not a lot matters more to me than this:.
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"Serendipity is the wind that drives bookshops faster and more beautifully than search algorithms. In bookshops we are psychonauts." Martin Latham, THE BOOKSELLER'S TALE, @ParticularBooks. This book is wonderful.
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Forgive the self-promotion, but the scarlet sprayed edges have triggered a rush of blood to the head. Goldsboro have supported me since my first novel and I wish them all the best. This is a beautiful edition.
We are focusing on the good things in life. Look what we have just listed on our website. A new book from the brilliant, David Mitchell. This gorgeous limited edition with ribbon, sprayed edges, exclusive endpapers is only available from Goldsboro.
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The omens are good for Friday evening: I'll soon be in conversation with @neilhimself, courtesy of @PoliticsProse at 6pm ET.
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Just seen the Dutch cover to UTOPIA AVENUE courtesy of @Meulenhoff. How gorgeous? If Doctor Strange had a love-child with Pink Floyd's MEDDLE LP.
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Looking forward to this event at Topping's Edinburgh,.Wed 15th May, 7.30pm – my first time at the store, and my first time in Scotland since pre-pandemic times.
When #CloudAtlas was published, @guardian claimed ‘there won't be a bigger, bolder novel this year'. 20 years on, we welcome @david_mitchell to chat about one the defining texts of the 21st century. 📅Wed 15th May.🕐7:30pm.📍Greenside.🎟️⬇️
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I just re-read this diamond by Max Porter @FaberBooks. To my mind, it's a perfect novella. If you feel like supporting your local indie next week and haven't read GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS, I suspect you'll like it. Whoever you happen to be.
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This will be a highlight of my month. Susanna Clarke's PIRANESI is insanely good, and frankly a little insane. There is no finer or more knowledgeable spelunker to explore the book's creation than @neilhimself.
UNMISSABLE EVENT | Step into the extraordinary and mysterious world of Susanna Clarke as she discusses her spectacular new novel #Piranesi with @neilhimself. 📅 Thursday, September 2nd.🕖 7:30 PM.
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Last week I finally got myself a real job as a book-defacer, courtesy of @SceptreBooks & @HodderBooks. Thanks to Steve N and his team at the frankly astonishing Hely Hutchinson Book Distribution Centre.
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Thank you to Waterstones, my long ago employer, for doing this. I fancy the record player + 10 LPs myself, but it might look suspicious if I won.
The spectacular new novel from @david_mitchell will be with us later this summer, and to mark its release we're offering you the chance to win a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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Just read HOME STRETCH by Graham Norton @grahnort @CoronetBooks in two sittings. A subtle portrait of small-town Ireland; an unblinking study of shame & homophobia; a map of cultural shifts between 1980s & now; a kind, wise, perceptive novel by an author rich in these qualities.
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Just got home after visiting the put-upon wife, daughters and ill-starred son of a certain playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon. Maggie O'Farrell's new novel HAMNET #Hamnet is a thing of shimmering wonder.
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Many thanks to the artists who created this cover for Utopia Avenue. It sings.
We're thrilled to reveal the cover for @david_mitchell's new novel coming 2nd June 2020. #UtopiaAvenue are the most curious band you’ve never heard of – and this is their story. From 60s London and the Summer of Love to something much darker, it's time to take a trip .
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At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. http://t.co/6nVhuSwWPN.
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Just read these superb new stories by Kevin Barry @canongatebooks. Uncanny dialogue. Exquisite language. Funny. Sad. Ah. I loved them all, but there's one – ROMA KID – that I believe I'll remember for the rest of my life. Is there a word for this special category of certainty?
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There's no way I can't retweet this. No-one's ever made me a record before. 33rpm thanks to the artistically-inclined bookseller/s @WaterstonesPicc.
It's here! Our fabulous exclusive edition of Utopia Avenue. This bewitching novel celebrates the power of music to connect across divides, define an era and thrill the soul. Recommended by Brian Eno - recommendations don't come better than that. @HodderBooks .@david_mitchell
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Thanks @domallen1 & @RupertMyers for sharing this. The young man in the clip will never forget this encounter, & neither will I. Can you imagine the incumbent president even saying those words – let alone meaning them?.
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I wolfed down these interlocking stories of cats, Tokyo, loneliness and redemption. Congratulations to Nick Bradley on this vibrant & accomplished debut. @nasubijutsu @AtlanticFiction
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.@SceptreBooks are delighted to present a story written by David for Twitter, serialised twice a day this week. We give you #THERIGHTSORT….
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At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. SLADE HOUSE coming 27th October. http://t.co/8fRYxF2OyB.
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Saw this sculpture at the @nashersculpture garden in Dallas last week, but neglected to note the sculptor's name: if anyone knows, pls tweet me. If you're within striking distance of the Nasher, I highly recommend it.
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We lack a great Faber/Norton-type autism anthology: this may be it. I'm pledging. For writers with autism, here's your chance. It can only be as good as its content. Help support Stim: An Autism Anthology by Lizzie Huxley-Jones at @Unbounders
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Very much looking forward to this event. I've always thought of myself as insular by nature, but I miss people.
Announcing our event Literature Matters: RSL 200 with RSL Fellow @david_mitchell, Monday 5 October at @southbankcentre's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Tickets free for RSL Members, booking now open: #RSL200 #UtopiaAvenue
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Me, mean, moody, mulletty and manspreading, a few (+?) years ago on a rock at Incheydoney in West Cork, moments before a wave filled my boots with Atlantic. Thanks to @Richard_Fitz for an enjoyable interview. @IEArtsShowbiz.
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Cannot wait to catch up with the creator of Dream & Death, Low Key & Mr Nancy, Coraline & the Other Mother, Bod Owens & Lettie Hempstock, Crowley & Aziraphale (w/Terry Pratchett) courtesy of @PoliticsProse and the profoundly inventive @neilhimself. Streams July 24 6pm ET.
Just announced! @david_mitchell discusses UTOPIA AVENUE, the long-awaited new novel from the author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks, with @neilhimself on P&P Live!
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Just read a proof of Kevin Barry's THE HEART IN WINTER from @canongatebooks out in June. Holy Damn it's good. Includes (arguably) THE finest American frontier 'shroom scene in the Western Canon.
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Vinyl #8 of 10 is BLUE by Joni Mitchell. Introspective, poetic, sparse, witty, dark, uplifting, raw, this tweet will run out of characters long before I run out of adjectives. I've been playing BLUE for 40 years, & like a chunk of a labradorite, I still find new gleams & colours.
Looking forward to the new novel from @david_mitchell? Pre-order Utopia Avenue before midnight on 13 July and you'll be in with the chance of winning a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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Greek is one of those languages it feels a *little* bit extra special to be translated into. Thank you to Maria Xilouri here for letting Elf, Dean, Jasper and Griff live and speak in the language of Homer. Translators rock.
Από σήμερα στα βιβλιοπωλεία, το κουαρτέτο Χολογουέι, Μος, Γκρίφιν & Ντε Ζουτ, δηλαδή οι Utopia Avenue του David Mitchell. (Μετάφραση της γιορς τρούλι, επιμέλεια του Χρίστου Κυθρεώτη.) #UtopiaAvenue #DavidMitchell
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Vinyl#3: KIND OF BLUE by Miles Davis. For millions, past present and not yet born, this 1959 session is the magic wardrobe into the Land of Jazz. Spacious, spectral, yearning, effortlessly cool. However turbulent my head, 'Flamenco Sketches' never fails to calm & elevate me.
Looking forward to the new novel from @david_mitchell? Pre-order Utopia Avenue before midnight on 13 July and you'll be in with the chance of winning a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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'When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back.' A lifelong wish is granted on Monday July 20th at 7pm ET by @HarvardBooks when I'll be in conversation with author Susan Cooper whose DARK IS RISING sequence has magicked my narrative imagination from childhood to now.
Darling Book Folk! Come hang out with @david_mitchell & THE Susan Cooper as they chat about David's magnificent new novel, UTOPIA AVENUE. Do yourself a kindness and get your tickets today at .P.S. Signing line tickets are still available!
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@ParsonsFiction Do I count, James? I had a lot of dark fun writing it, which I hope seeps out of the pages like a chilly fog in a dark alley on the last Saturday in October. .
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I'm speaking with Rick O'Shea @rickoshea at 7pm today on his SHELF ANALYSIS FaceBook/YouTube platform about 3 mystery books not by me; one non-mystery book by me; and who knows what else? My pandemic haircut will be unexpurgated. (Quick shout-out to Dublin's @gutterbooks.)
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Vinyl#1, in time for publication day: 🎵🎶"We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope you will enjoy the show."🎹🎼🥁🎸🎤🎶 An unsurprising choice, but it feels right. Thanks2 @Waterstones for arranging the prize draw. Thanks2 all pre-orderers for your act of faith.
Looking forward to the new novel from @david_mitchell? Pre-order Utopia Avenue before midnight on 13 July and you'll be in with the chance of winning a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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@chuckbw63 @paulinaporizkov @neilhimself @nealstephenson @Netflix_Sandman THE SANDMAN was my gateway drug into graphic novels: the first one I read that made me realise, 'Okay, so this really is an art form.' Better late than never. I'm enjoying the smart lush trippy TV adaptation very much.
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Probably the loveliest edition of Kenji Miyazawa's wild unclassifiable tales ever published from @vintagebooks. Cherished by generations of Japanese readers, translated by Alfred Bester, intro'd by Dr Kaori Nagai @UniKent @ArtsHumsUniKent & prefaced by me.
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The Mighty Charles Williams, designer of the UK jacket for UTOPIA AVENUE, has literally added another dimension to his creation. .
@david_mitchell Hi David - thought this might be of interest to you. It's an 'augmented reality' interpretation of the cover I created for Utopia Avenue. Hope you like it. Cheers - Charles
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I finished this exquisite, meticulous, powerful novel by @paullynchwriter this afternoon. A fisherman and a youth adrift on the Pacific in a fishing boat. Nothing & everything happens, often at the same time. And what a stylist.
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One&All, the US @penguinrandom Cloud Atlas 20th anniversary edition is out in time for Black Friday. Signed copies at Barnes&Noble @BNBuzz in store. Open & tilt the book 90 degrees for full Kapowza🙏to designer Will Staehle @unusualcorp & the mighty @gabriellezevin for new intro.
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I'm in conversation with visionary musician Brian Eno @dark_shark this evening @ 7.30pm GMT, courtesy of @RSLiterature. Music, fiction, synaesthesia & sharks. If you're free, join us.
As we count down to our next #RSL200 event, we celebrate the work of tomorrow's speakers. Yesterday we reminisced films featuring Roxy Music, today, we #Take5 with. DAVID MITCHELL NOVELS . Book your ticket to tomorrow's event here:.
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The audiobook of my first novel GHOSTWRITTEN is on (a rather tasty) offer here courtesy of @audibleuk @HodderBooks. (Soberingly, I started its earliest sections half my lifetime ago.).
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@michaelchabon @neilhimself Ah, General Himself, Agent Cavalier. Welcome to our underground organisation HQ. We've been expecting you. You won't want to leave – until you discover you can't. mwah mwah-mwahhh-aah-aaahahahhahaaaa.
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I wish I TALK LIKE A RIVER by @jordanscottpoet & Sydney Smith existed when I was a kid. It refines perceptions about stammering & germinates dignity. Recommended to all who live with disfluency incl. @JoeBiden (you never know!) @stammer. Sumptuously published by @NealPorterBooks
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Hungry to discuss @jeffvandermeer's frankly superb new novel with its author on 14 April thanx2 @Waterstones @4thEstateBooks. Pummelling eco-thriller camouflages true 'under-story' of societal collapse. Like @harikunzru's RED PILL, this glows in the dark with original thinking.
An absolute dream of an event online next week as @jeffvandermeer discusses his new novel, Hummingbird Salamander, with fellow author @david_mitchell. Tickets for this 14 April event are available here:
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I don't have a new novel out this year, but I *did* conclude a lockdown email interview with one of my favourite musicians, Sam Amidon. The interview got wildly out of hand and clocked in at over 50 pages. Here are those pages for fans of Sam's, and the curious.
The Unfinished Ballad is out now ! You can order your copy today: : : : : : : thank you @david_mitchell for this adventure.
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Just finished @tomlamont's fine & spirit-lifting debut novel of friendship, fatherhood, growth and forgiveness. A bluff song of praise to North London, peopled by engaging, fallible characters, and rich in glinting turns of phrase. @SceptreBooks.
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Pre-thanks to all esteemed fellow conversers on my virtual UTOPIA AVENUE book tour for their time & mental voltage; & to @penguinrandom who created this cyber-stage. Each conversation is curated to be a unique event. Tickets & access via sponsoring bookstore/institute/festival.
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As a stammerer & patron of STAMMA @stammer (stammering support/advocacy group I'd like to endorse STAMMERING PRIDE & PREJUDICE: Difference not Defect. A great narrative-shifting book. In the UK:.In the US:.
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This is one exquisite novel by @AmandaSmyth8 @peepaltreepress. Oil, Trinidad, the Gilded Age, the heart, Fate, sweat, danger. Superlative writing.
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@sbo221 @meridithmcgraw @LizStrout @joe_hill On my evening walks I remember the end of Joe Hill's THE FIREMAN, and scan the Atlantic for the survivors' yacht, searching for a safe Irish harbour. Every single time.
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I've been asked about the 10 albums in this @Waterstones prize draw. All are by artists who appear in UTOPIA AVENUE, or in contemporary record collections. Since I can't resist a countdown. in at #10, Van Morrison's glorious, organic, jazz-inflected masterpiece ASTRAL WEEKS. .
The spectacular new novel from @david_mitchell will be with us later this summer, and to mark its release we're offering you the chance to win a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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Buona giornata a tutti i lettori italiani chi camminano lungo il Utopia Avenue, con grazie a @mondadori per questa groovyissima copertina del libro.
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I wrote a short story for the European Review of Books, a nascent publication *tantalisingly* close (93% as of now) to hitting its Crowdfunding target. If you would like the ERB to exist, please consider subscribing. Thanks for any support, and I hope you enjoy the story.
I’ll fall I’ll fall I’ll fall I’ll fall. “By Misadventure” - a story about vertigo. New fiction from David Mitchell (@david_mitchell), now in the European Review of Books.
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UK artist Carl Randall’s portrait of me looks more like me than I do. @carlrandall.com #carlrandallart
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Honoured to announce that the mighty Claire Armitstead @carmitstead of @GuardianBooks and I will be exploring Utopia Avenue, the book, the band & their times. Thematic rabbit-holes extremely likely. July 14th, 7pm.
Can we change the world, or does the world change us? 🌎 In his hotly-anticipated new novel, Utopia Avenue, @david_mitchell explores the kaleidoscopic idealism of "the strangest British band you've ever heard of". See him in convo w/ @carmitstead here 👇.
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I'll be speaking with @AlexClark3 on 10th Nov (almost upon us). As you'd expect from a @arvonfoundation event, our conversation will be framed with aspiring writers in mind. (The photo below looks circa 2010, so tune in and watch me age a decade before your very eyes.).
Join @david_mitchell in conversation with @AlexClark3 on 10 Nov at 19:00 as they discuss the Craft of Writing. Twice shortlisted for the Booker, hear Mitchell dive deeply into his process; learn where his ideas come from and how he crafts his work. Book:
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I'm 'eventing' at the iconic @ParadisoAdam venue in Amsterdam on Saturday 7th May, where Pink Floyd & Utopia Avenue played 54 years ago (& where @sense8 Riley Blue DJ'ed more recently.) (Im)moderated by my partner in crime @TheoHakkert. Doors open 7.30pm.
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And the @randomhouse package for #SladeHouse: linen cover with cutout revealing floor plan of the house http://t.co/lJ0FSgw78G.
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Happy 252nd Birthday, Hodges Figgis. Compliments to the Artist. Take a bow. See you when I'm next in town.
New chalkboard art celebrating the upcoming release of @david_mitchell’s Utopia Avenue. Pre-order your copy today 🤟🏼#utopiaavenue @SceptreBooks
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One with my hat on as a patron of STAMMA, the British Stammering Association. I'll be in a broad-ranging discussion about speech disfluency and writing with fellow patron and novelist Margaret Drabble this evening at 7.30pm. All welcome, whether you stammer or not. Link below.
Join me in conversation with two internationally renowned writers, Margaret Drabble and David Mitchell, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21st Oct. We'll be talking about stammering and the astonishingly powerful effect words have. Register here #findtherightwords
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Vinyl #9 of @Waterstones prize is Nick Drake's FIVE LEAVES LEFT, an exquisite collection of introspective songs from 1969. The album sold only a few hundred copies during Drake's too-brief life: now it's a classic of all eras. Magical guitar. Moonlit voice. Essentially English.
Looking forward to the new novel from @david_mitchell? Pre-order Utopia Avenue before midnight on 13 July and you'll be in with the chance of winning a Crosley Sterling record player and ten vinyls handpicked by the author himself. Full details here: .
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