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The diary and essays of Brian Eno republished twenty-five years on with a new introduction by the artist in a beautiful new edition. At the end of 1994, musician, producer and artist Brian Eno resolved to keep a diary. His plans to go to the cinema, theatre and galleries fell through quickly. What he did do - and write - however, was astonishing: ruminations on his collaborative work with artists including David Bowie, U2, James and Jah Wobble, interspersed with correspondence and essays dating back to 1978. These 'appendices' covered topics from the generative and ambient music Eno pioneered to what he believed the role of an artist and their art to truly be, alongside razor-sharp commentary on his day-to-day tribulations and happenings around the world. A fascinating, candid and intimate insight into one of the most influential creative artists of our time, A Year with Swollen Appendices is an essential classic, reissued for a new generation of readers. This beautiful 25th anniversary paperback edition has been re-designed in A5, the same size as the diary that eventually became this book. It features two ribbons, pink paper delineating the appendices (matching the original hardback edition) and a two-tone cover that pays homage to the original design. 'One of the seminal books about music... an invaluable insight into the mind and working practices of one of the industry's undeniable geniuses.' GUARDIAN. ISBN 9780571374625 -
For most of human history, death was a common, ever-present possibility. It didn't matter whether you were five or fifty - every day was a roll of the dice. But now, as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become increasingly detached from the reality of being mortal. So here is a book about the modern experience of mortality - about what it's like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn't, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. With his trademark mix of perceptiveness and sensitivity, Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do. Never before has aging been such an important topic. The systems that we have put in place to manage our mortality are manifestly failing; but, as Gawande reveals, it doesn't have to be this way. The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death, but a good life - all the way to the very end. 'GAWANDE'S MOST POWERFUL, AND MOVING, BOOK' MALCOLM GLADWELL 'BEING MORTAL IS NOT ONLY WISE AND DEEPLY MOVING; IT IS AN ESSENTIAL AND INSIGHTFUL BOOK FOR OUR TIMES' OLIVER SACKS ISBN 9781846685828 -
'I'm scared the bad people will hear me talking to you.' I watch him take his notebook and a marker pen from his bag. As he zips the compartment back up I see the tip of our large, serrated kitchen knife, the one that went missing last night... Zach was nineteen when Tanya discovered him re-routing the wires of their landline, sure that the phone was bugged, that his friends were Mafia, that the helicopters swirling above were deployed by spies, that he couldn't trust anyone - her included. That moment upturned and unmoored everything. It would strand them both in a profound and terrifying isolation the way that perhaps only a psychotic break - or loving someone who is experiencing one - can. Zig-Zag Boy is a journey along the tough frontiers of love and madness. As Tanya fights for answers and understanding - coming up against broken healthcare systems in the UK and the US - she is forced to question whether there were warning signs she missed, whether Zach will be able to have a normal life, and what 'normal' really means. 'A moving portrait of a mother's love for her son ... fiercely intelligent, humane and necessary' NATHAN FILER, author of THE SHOCK OF THE FALL. ISBN 9780008382841 -
What does it mean to be a parent in a space where you are the minority? Meandering through a supermarket highway of camembert and baguettes, Priya Joi heard a heart-stopping confession about her daughter's identity that made her entire being implode like a dying star. Confronted with the fact that maybe her daughter was not entirely at peace with her appearance, she suddenly had to grapple not only with motherhood but also how to talk to her kid about race and identity. In M(other)land, Joi writes powerfully about how her personal and cultural identity intersect with motherhood - and how they inform her identity as a (British-Indian) parent and step-parent. The book is her powerful, witty response to the absence of an inclusive, accessible blueprint for navigating life as a multi-faceted mother. By sharing her own story, she writes into this silence and provides a voice of understanding for all those who fall outside of dominant presentations of 'parenthood' and have never seen themselves or their experiences represented. M(other)land is a crucial book for anyone trying to navigate the complexities of race and motherhood, who has ever felt 'other', who has struggled to reconcile their past or cultural upbringing with how they raise the next generation. Joi passes on hard-won knowledge that has taken years to learn: the complexity of your identity is just who you are - it's okay to be both, neither, or multiple things at once - instead of fighting it, feeling 'neither' is a strength and a state of mind that you can revel in. 'A beautifully written memoir and a thought-provoking critical intervention into race and motherhood - we can all learn something from this brilliant must-read book' Julia Samuel. 'This is the kind of book I wish I had access to as a young mum' Nadiya Hussain. ISBN 9780241574317 -
Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's iconic Creative Director for thirty-five years, was a cultural luminary like no other. Larger than life, Lagerfeld was legendary not only for reinventing Chanel but also for his idiosyncratic personal style and captivating life, which featured a cast of the world's most famous, fabulous and fascinating people. Not least his cat, Choupette, who herself became a fashion icon. Journalist and author William Middleton spent years working in Paris for Women's Wear Daily, W, and Harper's Bazaar. During his time there, he interviewed and socialized with Lagerfeld, coming to to see a side the elusive designer kept private from the world. In this deliciously entertaining book, Middleton takes us inside the most exclusive rooms in the fashion industry, behind the catwalk, and into a world of brilliantly talented artists, stylish socialites, and famous stars-some of the most elusive and unforgettable figures of fashion's inner circle for the past four decades. ISBN 9781529910933 -
I looked around at my flat, at the woodchip wallpaper and scuffed furniture, and realised that I did have a life after all. What it didn't have in it was a cat. When Rhiannon fell in love with, and eventually married her flatmate, she imagined they might one day move on. But this is London in the age of generation rent, and so they share their home with a succession of friends and strangers while saving for a life less makeshift. The desire for a baby is never far from the surface, but can she be sure that she will ever be free of the anxiety she has experienced since an attack in the street one night? And after a childhood spent caring for her autistic brother does she really want to devote herself to motherhood?Moving through the seasons over the course of lockdown, The Year of the Cat nimbly charts the way a kitten called Mackerel walked into Rhiannon's home and heart, and taught her to face down her fears and appreciate quite how much love she had to offer. 'A superbly written, special book' Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road 'Beautifully captures that liminal period before any life-changing decision' New Statesman ISBN 9781472290717 -
Sarah Polley's work as an actor, screenwriter and director is celebrated for its honesty, complexity and deep humanity. She brings all those qualities, along with her exquisite storytelling skills, to these six essays. Each one captures a piece of Polley's life as she remembers it, while at the same time examining the fallibility of memory and the embodied reactions of children and women adapting and surviving. The guiding light is the possibility of experiencing the past anew, as the person she is now but was not then. In this extraordinary book, Polley explores what it is to live in one's body, in a constant state of becoming, learning and changing. As she was advised after a catastrophic head injury - if we relinquish our protective crouch and run towards the danger, then life can be reset, reshaped and lived afresh. '[Polley is] a stunningly sophisticated observer of the world and an imperfect witness to the truth.' New York Times 'Fascinating, harrowing, courageous, and deeply felt, these explorations of "dangerous stories", harmful past events and trials of the soul speak to all who've encountered dark waters and have had to navigate them.' Margaret Atwood FROM THE DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER OF WOMEN TALKING ISBN 9781914613296 -
In the early years of the twenty-first century, Seán Quinn was considered to be Ireland’s richest man, with a Midas touch: everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. His company owned Ireland’s only glass producers, and one of its biggest insurance companies. The Quinn Group built the Slieve Russell, one of Ireland’s premier hotels, and owned one of Britain’s most prestigious golf resorts, The Belfry, as well as a number of pubs, hotels, office complexes and shopping centres across Europe and Asia. But between 2007 and 2013, Quinn’s companies went from being a great success to a complete disaster. The Quinn Group became one of Ireland’s biggest ever business failures. Seán Quinn became Ireland’s biggest ever bankruptcy, and in the winter of 2012–2013 he ended up in jail for nine weeks, having been found in contempt of court. Why did his empire collapse so suddenly, and disastrously? The Quinn businesses had invested heavily in ‘contracts for difference’ (CFDs) in Anglo-Irish Bank, a blue-chip company. The failure of the Irish banking system in 2008 eventually led to Quinn’s losses of €3 billion, and to the demise of his business empire, devastating Quinn, his family, and his local community. Now Seán Quinn has decided to tell his life story, and to correct some of the falsehoods that have been propagated over the past decade or more. Many people have already sought to tell the Seán Quinn story, but now, for the first time, Quinn details his side of the story. Seán Quinn: My Story encompasses not just the personal, but also the story of his family and company. In this book, Seán Quinn admits his own mistakes, but also seeks to uncover the wrongs that have been committed by other people – some of whom he trusted too much, and some who wanted to use him as a scapegoat for Ireland’s banking crisis. -
The first definitive biography of basketball legend LeBron James, by the acclaimed author of Tiger Woods. LeBron is unquestionably the greatest basketball player of the 21st century. Off the court, LeBron's political activism, outspoken stance on racism and social injustice have helped build a social media presence that includes 117 million followers on Instagram and 51 million followers on Twitter. He is an international brand worth billions of dollars. He doesn't just have huge endorsement deals with some of the biggest corporations in the world; LeBron sits on boards of directors and has an equity stake in the companies he sponsors. He has forged a close friendship with President Barack Obama and clashed publicly with President Donald Trump. As a child, LeBron was a lost little boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was just sixteen, would disappear for days at a time. Scared and alone, LeBron rarely attended school. He was dirt poor and fatherless. And he had never played organised basketball. Yet he would become the most successful and most popular athlete that the United States has produced this century, bringing success to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. To tell this epic story, Benedict has done exhaustive research, digging through thousands of pages of primary source documents, articles, books and hundreds of hours of video footage. He's also conducted hundreds of interviews with the people who were intimately involved with LeBron from the beginning of his life to the present. He shows the initial slow rise of a star that suddenly transformed into a speeding comet during his senior year of high school. It is a unique and unmissable insight into one of the world's greatest athletes. ISBN 9781398517271 -
When Maureen Sullivan was just twelve years old, she confided in her teacher that she was being physically and sexually abused by her stepfather. Never, in her darkest imaginings, could she have dreamt that she would be the one who would face harrowing punishment. Within twenty-four hours, Maureen was taken from her home and her beloved grandmother, and sent to the Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co. Wexford, run by the Order of the Good Shepherd nuns. She was told that she would receive an education there, but instead she was immediately stripped of her meagre possessions and thrown into forced labour, washing clothes and scrubbing floors in inhumane and unrelenting conditions. Not allowed to speak, barely fed, and often going without water, the child was viciously beaten by the nuns for years, and hidden away in an underground tunnel when government inspectors came. No one must see how cruelly the nuns were treating her. In the heart-breaking Girl in the Tunnel, Maureen bravely recounts her agonising journey from a monstrously violent home to the cold and brutal Magdalene laundry, and her desperate, gruelling fight for freedom and for justice. ISBN 9781785374524 -
Our strength lies in being soft like water. This book is about the power we gain by connecting to water. It's about how we can restore our relationship with the world's different bodies of water, and by doing so, restore both the water and ourselves. By sharing Easkey's own experiences as surfer and marine scientist, as well as those of many of her mentors who are at the forefront of water protection and activism around the world, it guides readers into reimagining the spirituality of water and restoring our innate connection with this lifeblood of the planet. The book also provides the reader with water-inspired strategies to restore calm, reduce stress and soothe anxiety. These range from simple breathing and visualization exercises to undertaking a journey from a water source to the ocean in order to forge a deep connection with the water. The emphasis is as much on the benefit to water as it is to the individual, and on creating a culture of reciprocity and care. By regaining this lost connection with water, we learn to develop an empathic connection with the force of all life and in the process restore our own hearts and minds. ISBN 9781786786463 -
In 2019, Gwen Wilkinson set herself the challenge of building a canoe and paddling it the length of Ireland, along a network of inland waterways. She set out from the shores of Lough Erne and navigated a 400km journey to the tidal waters of the River Barrow in Ireland. More than just a travelogue, The Waters and the Wild explores the interwoven histories of the people and wildlife that shaped Gwen’s journey. As the adventure unfolds, she also shines a light on pioneering women who have left their mark on Ireland’s landscape – both natural and cultural. From wild camping on deserted islands to drifting on lakes in the company of restless lapwings, this book invites the reader to share an intense engagement with the natural world. The charming text is accompanied by the author’s own striking lino and woodcut prints, beautiful and though-provoking interpretations of the flora and fauna she observed on her travels. Gwen Wilkinson paddled to explore, searching for inspiration and a desire to learn more about the island we inhabit, and she was met with experiences rich and illuminating, far beyond her expectations. ISBN 9781785374494 -
Growing up gifted and working-class in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. The girls bonded over a shared love of learning as they navigated the challenges of their declining town and tumultuous family lives - broken marriages, shuttered stores and factories. They pored over the giant map in their classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape. In the end, Monica left Clinton for university and fulfilled her dreams. Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Monica discovered what she already intuitively knew about the women in Arkansas. Their life expectancy had steeply declined - the sharpest such fall in a century. She returned to Clinton to report the story, trying to understand the societal factors driving disturbing trends in the rural south. As she reconnects with Darci, she finds that her once talented and ambitious best friend is now a statistic: a single mother of two, addicted to meth and prescription drugs, jobless and nearly homeless. Deeply aware that Darci's fate could have been hers, she retraces the moments of decision and chance in each of their lives that led such similar women toward such different destinies. Why did Monica make it out while Darci became ensnared in a cycle of poverty and opioid abuse? Poignant and unforgettable, The Forgotten Girls is a story of coming of age as the American dream ends - and a new American classic. ISBN 9780241633519 -
What happens when we are brave enough to speak our truths to the ones we love the most? Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane's doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. Their conversations along the way began to break down the traditional barriers between mothers and daughters. They discussed the most personal topics: love, sex, marriage, divorce, art, ambition, and legacy. In Honey, Baby, Mine, Laura and Diane share these conversations, as well as reflections and anecdotes, taking readers on an intimate tour of their lives. Complementing these candid exchanges, they have included photos, family recipes, and other mementos. The result is a celebration of the power of leaving nothing unsaid that will make you want to call the people you love the most and start talking. ISBN 9781399718295 -
Uncover the inspiring stories of bravery and activism in the face of war with this powerful collection of essays and poems. Written by the front-line protestors at the Russian Embassy in Dublin, this book takes you on a journey of hope and courage as fifty determined individuals come together to stand against Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. They show their unwavering commitment to a better world through peaceful protests and daily pickets. Dive into their personal stories as they open up their hearts and share their experiences, illuminating the true meaning of human solidarity and the importance of taking action. Be moved and inspired by their bravery, and discover the power of the human spirit to make a difference in the world. All royalties from the sale of the Anthology will be donated to Ukrainian Action, a not-for-profit organisation registered in Ireland (CRO #718898), whose aim is to help Ukrainians in need and foster Irish-Ukrainian friendship. 'I recommend this Anthology to anyone interested in or concerned about democracy, justice, and the right to demonstrate and protest.'Gerasko Larysa - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Ireland 'This is a beautiful and moving collection bursting with solidarity and compassion for the people of Ukraine.' Roisin Ingle ISBN 9781781178355 -
In 1999 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology made the remarkable admission that it discriminated against women on its faculty, setting off a discussion about the need for more women at the top levels of science. The Exceptions is the untold story of the sixteen highly accomplished female scientists whose work convinced the university to acknowledge the problem and institute changes. Written by the journalist who broke the story in 1999 for The Boston Globe, it is an intimate narrative which centres on Nancy Hopkins, the leader of the group and a reluctant feminist who became a hero to two generations of women in science. Hopkins began her career in science in a lab as a Radcliffe undergraduate in 1963, the year Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was published. She found a powerful mentor in the lab director, James Watson, who had shared a Nobel Prize with Francis Crick for the discovery of the structure of DNA. Under his tutelage she completed her Ph.D. at Harvard. She and the other women scientists entered the work force in the 1970s during a push for affirmative action. When they were hired for positions in labs at prestigious universities, including MIT, they embarked on their careers thinking that discrimination against women was a thing of the past and that science was a pure meritocracy. For years they explained away the discrimination they experienced as the exception not the rule. Only when these few women came together after two decades did they recognize the relentless pattern: women were marginalized and minimized, especially as they grew older, their contributions stolen and erased. Meanwhile, men of similar or lesser ability had their way paved. This is a story that will ring true for all professional women who experience what those at MIT came to call '21st century discrimination': a subtle and stubborn bias, often unconscious but still damaging. Readers will learn about scientists whose work has often been overlooked, and also about the history of women's push for fair treatment and how they were viewed - by themselves and others - as they struggled to be taken seriously. 'Outstanding' Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry. ISBN 9781398520011 -
"I'm Fats/Fatima. I'm a comedian. I make jokes and videos. Sometimes I go on news programmes and tell men with bad tans what life is like for little people. I do this because I am a little person, in case you were wondering. It would be an odd thing to do if I wasn't. My life hasn't always been easy, but through the good and the bad times I've learned a few lessons which have made me fearless - how to be the hero that my story needs. Now, I want to share those lessons with you. So you can be the main character in your life, no matter what your challenges may be. So come on in. My story, like yours, is ready to begin." Love, Fats x Ten commandments, ten chapters, ten ways to change your life. ISBN 9781788708500 -
Brendan Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in the Irish Press. The articles reveal a serious writer capable of great comic set pieces and amusing yarns as well as thoughtful reflections on cultural and historical issues. They reflect his passion for working-class Dublin life and the history and folklore of the city, as well as his travels in Ireland and Europe. This edition gathers all the articles and essays that Behan published in newspapers from 1951 to his death in 1964. Selections of Behan's articles have been published since his death (Hold Your Hour and Have Another, 1965; After the Wake, 1981; The Dubbalin Man, 1997). However, there has been no complete edition of Behan's prose, and no edition has provided a detailed biographical and literary introduction, explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading. ISBN 9781843518594
