More publication news

Before I Go to Sleep will be published in Italian on January 3rd, a day after the UK paperback publication. The jacket is here...

End of Year Round-ups

I'm incredibly happy that Before I Go to Sleep has been mentioned in lots of the 'books for Christmas' and  'books of the year' lists that invariably pop up around this time of year. In particular, it's been featured in The Independent, the Sunday Express, The Sunday Times, The Observer and Amazon's lists.

What's also particularly nice for me is when writers choose it as a recommended read. Howard Blum has chosen the book in this list, and Lee Child has given it a fantastic mention in the Wall Street Journal.

Truly I am honoured and delighted!

Now, to get back to Christmas shopping...

Birmingham Big City Read

I'll be in Birmingham today (December 7th) to help launch an exciting project! Before I Go to Sleep has been chosen as the Birmingham Big City Read!

From now until February 2012, Birmingham Libraries are setting free 1,000 copies of the book  for people to read, review and pass on to a friend.

Take a look here on "Reading Groups for Everyone" - where  readers, reading groups and book clubs can be  part of the project by posting their reviews of the book. They've put together lots of information, which will hopefully inspire you to get reading and to get reviewing.

Some photos

 I just thought I'd share a few photos. Here I am being filmed for the Galaxy Book Awards, at this point still unaware that Before I Go to Sleep had won Crime/Thriller of the year. A pretty bizarre experience, particularly as we then headed off to the streets of Shoreditch to film some outdoor shots. 'Just look at the trees,' they said. 'As if seeking inspiration.' I did my best...

Actually it was much less painful than I might have imagined, thanks mostly to the great team who were filming me. I used to hate having my photo taken, and liked being on 'video' (does anyone still call it that?) even less. So this is a photo I never dreamt I'd see...

And then here's me in Hampstead Waterstones with Decca Aitkenhead. We did an interview together in front of a small audience of Grazia readers, for their book club. It was a huge amount of fun.

 And here I am at the literary salon in Shoretich, hosted by the wonderful Damian Barr. I was sharing the stage with Liz Hoggard and DBC Pierre, who read a new story, so was pretty nervous. But it was a great crowd and I enjoyed the evening hugely. As you can see in the particularly flattering photo on the left.

So that's (some of) what I've been up to...

An interesting comment

So, someone has just posted this comment on the blog. Anonymously, of course. I'm really intrigued by this point of view.

"Anonymous said...

The content of the book is sexist, homophobic, ableist and racist.

To you and whoever is like you goes the following.

YOU'RE SWINE!!! I WISH YOU'D DIE!!!

ANY REPLY TO THIS COMMENT WILL BE SYSTEMATICALLY DELETED AND IGNORED."

Crossing Border and Polari

So, it's been a busy time lately. Things are gearing up for the UK publication of Before I Go to Sleep (or #B4IGTS, as we've christened it for the purposes of Twitter. BIGTS looked a little bit too much like BIGOTS for comfort, and "B4" has a nice, hip, urban feel, doesn't it? It almost feels like it could be a Prince song, now...) which is set for January 5th, 2012. I've not had to do that much, to be honest, but I know Transworld have been very busy - making sure that the book looks stunning (it will!) and everything is set for release. I can't say too much (anything, in fact), but there are exciting things on the horizon.

What else? I did an event for Grazia in Hampstead, at the Waterstones there. I really enjoyed it, and got to meet, and be interviewed by, Decca Aitkenhead, who was fantastic. It was a lovely audience, too, and we got to chatting about the book, about my writing tips (which seemed to boil down to 'Write badly if necessary, every day') and how I'd come to the concept of Before I Go to Sleep. Afterwards, in the pub, I learned all about TOWIE, which I hadn't realised existed...

Then, last weekend, I was at Crossing Border in Den Haag (Saturday) and Antwerp (Sunday). Such a great festival - a really eclectic mix of music, and it was lovely that the authors were sharing the same stage as the musicians, rather than being in a different venue, as seems to happen at some festivals that purport to mix music and literature. It was a busy time for me, but thoroughly enjoyable. Amongst others, I caught Gavin Friday's set, and also Low Anthem, and I particularly enjoyed sitting at the back of the bus that took us all from Holland to Belgium with the musicians, listening to them talking about snare sounds and drugs.

Listening to people talk about drugs. How rock and roll am I?

Anyway, no sooner was I back from Crossing Border than it was time for Polari. I was particularly looking forward to this as it was the fourth birthday, and also the announcement of the winner of the Polari Prize. Another great evening, with a fantastic, enthusiastic crowd, and I was blown away by the other writers and performers, in particular Neil Alexander's poetry and Karen Mcleod who read a hilarious story about falling in, and then out of, love with Julie Andrews.

Book, anyone?

So, I'm here at Crossing Border festival in Den Haag, and having a great time. I just thought you might like to see the rather interesting way they have of making sure that books are constantly available to festival goers. Voor ik ga Slapen, anyone? Not as tasty as an ice-cream, but hopefully just as nourishing...

So now it's off to Antwerp, for Crossing Border part 2. I'll be onstage at 20.45...

More soon.