Here is the shiny new cover for "What Becomes" - image created by the excellent gentleman and photographer, Kevin Low. You may wish to order a copy from the splendid WORDPOWER bookshop. Or feel free to make your own arrangements for purchase and delighted posession. Reviews have been good - although you know how seriously we take them - and will be posted soon elsewhere. Below you can read an extract of the cover blurb, kindly provided by Jonathan Cape.
"Always attuned to the moment of epiphany, these twelve stories are profound, intimate observations of men and women whose lives ache with possibility - each story a dramatisation of the instant in a life that exposes it all; love and the lack of love, hope and the lack of hope.
These men and women are perfectly ordinary people - whose marriages founder, who sit on their own in a cinema watching a film with no soundtrack; whos risk sex in a hotel with an anonymous stranger. They conceal tenderness and disappointment, vulnerability and longing, griefs and wonders...
A.L.Kennedy's fifth remarkable collection of short stories shows us exactly what becomes of the broken-hearted. She reveals the sadness, violence, hurt and terror, but also the redemption of love - and she does so with the enormous human compassion, wild leaps of humour, and the brilliantly orginal linguistic skill that distinguishes her as one of Britain's finest writers."
Listen to a reading of one of the stories given at the 2008 Edinburgh International Book Festival here>>. Recording courtesy of the fine folks at the EIBF.
WORDS - whose excellent but slightly tired after it all Stage Manager and Lighting man, Thomas Velluet-Draper, is in the photo here - is up and running again. (Thomas is sadly obscuring the full number of stars we got from various places and the pillar is obscuring the full extent of Edinburgh's roadworks.) We had what can only be described as fun at the Cheltenham Festival and in Toronto and plans are afoot to replace the cancelled Roundhouse gig with something else in London next year. There will also be more of Canada and the US next year... Closer dates are in the 2010 Events section.
Several film and theatre projects are in the offing at the moment and as soon as we have any firm details we will post them here.
The essays you may have been expecting to hear on your BBC wireless receiver in September, 2009 will now be emerging Tues - Thurs 16th - 18th February, 2010.
A radio drama by ALK "Confessions of a Medium" will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four on 13th March at 14.30. We have Bill Nighy and Robert Glenister, Jonathan Keeble, Fiona Clark, Andrew Westfield, Daryl Fishwick and Daniel Browell for that. Which makes us happy. Lovely, lovely cast and they did a splendid job.
The Stories From Latitude offering seems to be getting unreasonable numbers of repeats, so listen out for that - and the banjo-playing one may emerge again...
Well done to those of you who spotted ALK in the recent BBC Four show on Calvin, or on an STV daytime telly sofa. Unlikely, but true. Channel Four interstitials are about, too.
We have had enquiries regarding the general availability of posters for the WORDS show and if this turns out to be something that more than 8 of you want, we shall take special steps... so let us know.
