On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a book launch with a difference. At least it was a difference for me as the book in question was an anthology of plays, released by a small company. It was in London but my personified sort-of-theatrical background knocked the lid of its dusty box and requested I go. I couldn’t argue with that – to Shepherd’s Bush I went.

The launch and later performance took place at the aptly named Bush Theatre. It’s a small building and entering finds you in a stylish bar, the sort of place that suggests attendance by a loyal following. The room next to it, where I found the launch in full swing (I was a little late) is a lovely library. Sparse in bookshelves given the label, yet absolutely packed with material, I can imagine a drama student would be in their element here.

I missed the introduction, but met Alicia, who had invited me, and she informed me of everything I needed to know. I bought a book, stole sips of orange juice from my boyfriend’s glass, and got my copy of the anthology signed. I did take photographs of the writers but they didn’t come out well.

The Launch

There are five short plays included in the book, and the concept behind the project is the pairing in each case of a writer and director. Named Courting Drama, these are plays about emotions, realistic in both the topics (the news you read everyday in the papers) and, as I would later find out, the acting.

As an example, there is ‘Bangin’ Wolves’ by Phoebe Eclair-Powell, in which a group of students are on holiday, presumably somewhere like Ibiza. They’re in a club, and one of them, an outsider who somehow managed to get an invite, does something inappropriate whilst trying to be funny. He’s at the end of what he can take, literally, and the play ends on a particularly sour note. Then there is ‘Scarlet’, in which four actors play the same person, all taking turns to talk. What’s interesting about this is that not only is it a usual story – a girl dumped by her boyfriend meeting another man and then leaving quickly when the wife she didn’t know he had comes home – but the writer, Sam H. Freeman, doesn’t end the story with any lesson or darkness. This means that what you take away with you is the concept, the question of why Scarlet had four voices, and simply the awareness of how such situations happen. The dialogue in these plays is of course important, but not so much as the subtext.

The Performance

After the launch everyone headed upstairs to The Bush’s attic, a small white room, empty except for the few rows of chairs that lined two sides of the wall. The set-up meant that the plays would be in a half-round (‘In The Round’ is a theatrical term referring to performances in which the audience surrounds the stage on all sides) and the overall atmosphere reminded me of the low-key productions I had seen as a student; the ones that were understated and took your breath away far more than a rich display.

Now here I must say that the plays we saw were not the ones in the book. The plays in the book had been performed on previous occasions and this current performance was for the next batch. It was a surprise, but at the same time it was nice to know that we’d be leaving with a more thorough idea of the fare to be expected from the company. The plays were excellent; the actors were brilliant and they showed how set design just wasn’t necessary.

The last play was my favourite; a scene in which an ill-suited couple have an anniversary dinner at home. From the start it was obvious that this wasn’t a nice occasion (indeed each play sported this subtext) and you were just waiting for things to turn dark. The husband was lingering on the verge of being abusive – that he had been so before was suggested but not confirmed – and it was a constant clash of words as the wife, from a different background to her husband, sort to correct the mistakes he was making about the way she felt. This play was called ‘A Deafening Silence’ (by Ella Carmen Greenhill), and even now I know I’m ignorant of some of the layers in it. The title had so many itself – the constant silences that occurred after a shouting match, the silence promised by the husband at the end when he forced his wife outside, and the silence of the audience. This last one was particularly powerful. The tension on stage was broken up by humorous dialogue at first, and even though you knew you shouldn’t, laughing helped to ease the tension. By the end it was impossible to laugh any more. I felt very uncomfortable at the end; my boyfriend’s hands were shaking. The entire production had achieved what it set out to do and there was much to speak about on the drive home.

The plays in the book can be performed with permission, and in the case of Eclair-Powell’s there is the expectation that the stage directions are changed to suit the group. Theatre Renegade do not perform often – their next production is next spring – but if you are in London at that time and like your stage filled with powerful material I recommend you find out if your trip coincides with a performance. At this rate, and with this experience behind me, you might see me there too.

Do you like theatre? If so, what sort?

Please note: I was invited to this launch, but the decision to write about it was entirely my own.

Please note there are several images in this post and most people’s faces have been obscured to protect their privacy.

The London Book Fair happens every year in April at the Earls Court exhibition centre. The purpose being to allow publishers to discuss rights, translations, and sales, the main features are meetings. This means that bloggers aren’t really in the best place; nevertheless there are a few seminars that are of general literary interest and if publishing staff have a free moment there is the potential of introducing yourself.

At least as far as the English-speaking world goes, the fair involves most publishers you can think of. There are also internationals, and the emphasis this year was on Turkey. Backed by Kobo, the event also hosts a number of digital companies associated with publishing, such as Overdrive.

I’ve spotlighted Overdrive because theirs was the seminar I attended that was the most interesting. Based around reader discovery of books, the speech focused on libraries, a welcome change when everything recently has been against free books. Despite the fact that Overdrive’s work with libraries lead much of the speech to be a marketing exercise (understandably), there was interesting information to hear, such as the ALA‘s statistic that females with high income jobs are the biggest user group (I’m a little sceptical of that, myself), and that they buy 36 books per year (less sceptical).

I wasn’t able to talk to many publishers, given the general busy-ness (that said, Meike of Peirene Press talked of the possibility of arranging meetings in advance) but I did collect a couple of catalogs of upcoming releases. Naturally with so many publishers, going to each stand would have left me with the need to hire a porter, so I aimed for those I have worked with in the past. The bigger houses said they had no print catalogs, but the smaller ones did. Picking a few, because there are so many books and so little time, I’m happy to tell you the following:

• Alma Books will shortly be publishing a new translation of Machiavelli’s The Prince, as well as Erasmus’s Praise Of Folly.
• Quercus have the UK rights to Michelle Moran’s soon-to-be-published Empress Of India and a book called Soho 4 A.M. that is set in the 24 hours between London’s successful Olympics bid and 7/7.
• The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth sounds fantastic (a sample from Allison & Busby was available).

So, having given the Fair two visits (I also went there in 2011), I cannot recommend it for bloggers, however I wouldn’t rule it out as it’s the nearest we have to Book Expo America. There is interest here due to the sheer number of publishers and the fact of a massive centre dedicated to books for three days, but launches and parties are definitely better events for us.

Wednesday night saw the launch of, as the title says, A Virtual Love by Andrew Blackman. As well as writing books, Andrew is a book blogger in his own right; likely quite a few of you read his blog. There seems a slight tendency with bloggers to forget to take photographs at events, and I have to join those ranks for a third period. Hopefully my write-up and photograph of the book will suffice this time.

My boyfriend and I were late getting into London but we managed to catch a good portion of Andrew’s reading. The extract chosen gave a basic introduction to the book by way of its content (discussing being a blogger) – the story is about how multiple identities on the Internet can cause issues.

The launch was held at The Bowler in central London, a pub with a space for functions that leads directly into the main area. This effectively meant that anyone going to the pub for a drink could easily join those of us at the launch, and indeed I heard a couple of people asking about it, interested in what was going on. Having no knowledge of book launches previously, I believed they took place at a publisher’s HQ. Whilst I think this idea may not be wrong, this particular book launch was informal, a very good evening to attend.

After the reading, Andrew signed books, and also on sale was his previous release, On The Holloway Road. It feels odd going to get a book signed when you are not a “fan” as such.

Having met Andrew and leaving the line of people, it was time for drinks and greeting the authors who I recognised. And had reviewed – this is where you do a double check in your mind that you did give good ratings to their books, even though you already know you liked them a great deal. Book Blogger Anxiety.

So I met Roelof Bakker, the photographer and editor of Still, a book I reviewed last year that I know a few of you have, too. I also greeted J R Crook, writer of a book that made both my ‘best of’ lists last year, Sleeping Patterns. And of course there was conversation with Andrew and his wife.

There weren’t many books left on the table by the end. The premise of A Virtual Love, taken from the back of the book, is thus:

For Jeff Brennan, juggling multiple identities is a way of life. Online he has dozens of different personalities and switches easily between them. Offline, he shows different faces to different people: the caring grandson, the angry eco-protester, the bored IT consultant.

So when the beautiful Marie mistakes him for a famous blogger, he thinks nothing of adding this new identity to his repertoire. But as they fall in love and start building a life together, Jeff is gradually forced into more and more desperate measures to maintain his new identity, and the boundaries between his carefully segregated personas begin to fray.

In a world where truth is a matter of perspective and identities are interchangeable, Jeff finds himself trapped in his own web of lies. How far will he go to maintain his secrets? And even if he wanted to turn back, would he be able to?

I think in our world today, we can all relate to that somewhat. And most appealing it is when you consider that Andrew is in a fair position to bring such a story to life.

It’s safe to assume I’ll be reviewing it soon, but what about you – does the premise pique your interest?

Please note: I was invited to this launch, but the decision to write about it was entirely my own.