LONDON BOOKS
 flying the flag for free-thinking literature
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LONDON BOOKS is an independent publisher which aims to bring old and new fiction together in a tradition that is original in its subject matter, style and social concerns. We believe that the marginalised fiction of the past can be as relevant and exciting today as when it was first published, and our classic reprints will reflect the language and politics of tougher eras, while our new fiction will focus on emerging writers with something to say and a novel way of getting their messages across.

Arthur La Bern
This Islington-born author may well have been a hard-up wide boy in his teenage years, but he would go on to become a prolific, high-profile, widely respected author of both fiction and non-fiction as an adult. Several of his novels were adapted for the screen. MORE>>

Blueblagger
A maverick character who shuns the spotlight, Blueblagger edits his own fanzine, has contributed to a number of books under different names, and has long been a part of the alternative music and publishing scenes in London. MORE>>

Simon Blumenfeld
Born and bred in the East End of London, Blumenfeld worked its markets before emerging as a writer of radical fiction with Jew Boy and three subsequent books before the outbreak of the Second World War. In its aftermath he enjoyed a long career as a respected columnist on Stage magazine. MORE>>

James Curtis
James Curtis wrote most of his fiction in the 1930s and revelled in the use of slang and the vernacular. A dedicated socialist, he added themes of equality and justice to the lowlife genre, his novels vibrant slices of London life that remains as alive today as when they were written.
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Paul Duncan
Paul Duncan is the author of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, both published by Taschen, and editor of over 100 books. He is preparing a biography on Gerald Kersh.

Pete Haynes
Pete Haynes is the author of two non-fiction works, God’s Lonely Men and An Unlikely Fooligan, and Malayan Swing is his debut novel.  
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Paolo Hewitt
Paolo Hewitt grew up in care devouring books, listening to music and dreaming of becoming a writer. Today, he is the author of many publications, including landmark works on Oasis, The Small Faces, David Bowie, The Beatles and the footballer Robin Friday. His autobiography, The Looked After Kid, about his time in care, is regarded by many as a classic.

Gerald Kersh
Gerald Kersh’s life reads like a flamboyant, outrageous novel. He was a wrestler and soldier, roamed the tough Soho nightlife of the Thirties and Forties, slept rough, wasn’t afraid of a fight, and even managed a cinema. He was also an adventurous, brilliant writer. MORE >>

John King
John King is the author of seven novels - The Football Factory, Headhunters, England Away, Human Punk, White Trash, The Prison House and Skinheads. He lives in London. MORE >>

Martin Knight
Having debuted with Hoolifan, his work includes Ossie: King Of Stamford Bridge, Grass and On The Cobbles. He first novel was Common People, and he is working on a follow-up, Barry Desmond Is A Wanker, which he insists is non-autobiographical. MORE >>

Alan Sillitoe
First published nearly fifty years ago, Alan Sillitoe is as prolific today as when he first started, his most recent novel A Man Of His Time arguably his greatest work to date. He remains one of England’s most important novelists and has done as much as anyone to persuade ordinary people both to write and to recognise the value of their lives. MORE >>

Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair is a prolific author who has made the streets of London his
own. Soaked in the memories and mythologies of the city, his fiction, poetry and travelogues are major part of a defiant, ongoing tradition. MORE >>

John Sommerfield
Optimist, idealist, realist – John Sommerfield was a practical man who worked at a number of jobs before becoming an author. He fought in an International Brigade machine-gun unit during the Spanish Civil War and served in the RAF as an armour-fitter for a Spitfire squadron during the Second World War. As well as novels such as May Day and North West Five, he also wrote short stories for the likes of New Writing and non-fiction for the Mass Observation movement. MORE >>

DJ Taylor
DJ Taylor is the author of six novels, including English Settlement (1996) and Kept: A Victorian Mystery (2006). He is also known as a critic and reviewer, and his non-fiction includes After The War: The Novel and England Since 1945 (1993), Orwell: The Life, which won the Whitbread biography prize fo 2003, and Bright Young People: The Rise And Fall of A Generation 1918-1940 (2007).

Cathi Unsworth
Regarded as ‘The Queen Of London Noir’ by her fans, Cathi Unsworth is a former music journalist who turned to a life of crime fiction. She has authored five pop-cultural novels and edited a prize-winning short story compendium. MORE>>

Robert Westerby
From the mean streets of his early London fiction to the boulevards of
Los Angeles, Hackney-born Robert Westerby was a man whose writing skills mean he can today be remembered as both a cult novelist and a respected Hollywood screenwriter. MORE >>

Paul Willetts
Author of North Soho 999 and Fear And Loathing In Fitzrovia, the acclaimed biography of Julian Maclaren-Ross, Paul has also edited several collections of Maclaren-Ross’s memoirs, stories and letters.
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Ken Worpole
Ken Worpole is the author of many works on architecture, landscape and social history. His book Dockers And Detectives was one of the first to reawaken interest in the work of Jewish writers from London’s East End. MORE>>

LONDON CLASSICS

Prelude To A Certain Midnight
Gerald Kersh

Mord Em’ly
William Pett Ridge