It's been an eventful weekend for our authors. Here's everything they've been up to...
1) Titanic remembered
This weekend saw the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Hugh Brewster, author of Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First Class Passengers And Their World, was at the forefront of the coverage, appearing on an Up All Night special on BBC Radio 5 Live. The New York Times said that that Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage ‘introduces us to a plutocracy frolicking in the sunset of England’s Edwardian era and America’s Gilded Age. He (Brewster) pushes past stereotypes to vividly describe the elite realm on deck’.
2) Kerri Sackville on anxiety
Kerri Sackville featured in an article in the Sunday Times’ Style magazine, talking about her experience with anxiety. Kerri’s follow up to When My Husband Does The Dishes (He usually wants sex!), The Little Book of Anxiety, is published later this year and details her struggle in full.
3) Bram Stoker remembered
As well as the Titanic, another centenary approaches, with April 20th marking 100 years since the death of Dracula author, Bram Stoker. Bram has been remembered in the medium of a new portrait, by Aidan Hickey. Bram’s great grand-nephew, Dacre Stoker, co-editor of The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker, was pleased with the portrait, saying ‘what I love about it is the look Aidan has captured in Bram's eyes. It's the Stoker look which is a family trait’.
4) Paul Flynn goes for lunch with Total Politics
Total Politics’ Caroline Crampton took Newport West MP, Paul Flynn, author of How To Be an MP, out for lunch. Amongst other subjects, they discussed mistakes, most notably Paul’s regret over unleashing Monmouth MP David Davies on parliament…
5) Mark Seddon in The National
Mark Seddon, author of Standing For Something, wrote in The National on the effect of the Muslim community on British voting behaviour. He argues that ‘the established political parties in Britain are particularly vulnerable in areas with a high ethnic minority population, essentially because they tend to vote. This often provides a sharp contrast to a low turnout in elections amongst white working class voters’.
6) The Meat Fix reviewed
John Nicholson’s The Meat Fix: How A Lifetime of Healthy Eating Nearly Killed Me, was reviewed in the Irish Independent, who said ‘it's a book of humour, some exquisite writing and, most importantly, a terrible burning anger’.
7) The election expertise of Rallings and Thrasher
As the local elections draw closer, Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, authors of British Electoral Facts, Election 2010 and the Local Elections Handbook 2010 and 2011, are being looked to as a central port of analysis. Political Betting asked if Labour would be able to meet the ‘2012 Rallings local election target’ and the Local Government Chronicle were buoyed by the fact that ‘fortunately, we have the expertise of leading psephologists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher to draw upon’.
8) James Delingpole in Australia
James Delingpole, author of Watermelons, is in Australia, where there has been a rise in the number of shark attacks. It's all humanity's fault, of course, as he explains over at The Telegraph...