I Never Lie review: psychological thriller bursting with local colour and fizz
Jody Sabral’s third novel is also a moving portrayal of the ravages wrought by alcoholism
Books
Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey – review
From his houseboat on the Lea, it takes Weymouth three days to reach McNeil Lake, the salmon spawning ground most distant from the Bering Sea where the Yukon eventually emerges
The Lido, Libby Page, book review: perfect poolside prose
Two women with a sixty-year age gap bond together to save their local lido, in this feel-good dip into ‘unexpected pockets of genuine community amidst the urban sprawl’
The World was an Avocado: Hoxton children produce audio story anthology with Penguin and Ministry of Stories
The 35-strong team of youngsters each penned a tale, all available on a CD released this week – listen to the first 10 now
The Chameleon, Sam Fisher, book review: pacy time-traveller shows off bookshop founder’s genre knowledge
Fittingly for the co-founder of Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston, his début novel is actually narrated by a book – albeit an 800-year-old one called John…
‘Quiet integrity’: folk icon Shirley Collins to break silence and discuss new memoir for Pages of Hackney
Sussex singer – who lost her voice for decades – will spend an evening at Homerton’s Sutton House reading extracts from All in the Downs and chatting about her experiences of a folk revival career spanning over 60 years
Float on: ‘swim-lit’ authors to unite at Pages of Hackney and discuss mental health benefits of a chilly dip
Joe Minihane and Jessica J. Lee have both written about the anti-anxiety effects they felt when exploring the world of outdoor, wild swimming, and will chat about it at an event at the Clapton bookshop on 12 April
Republic of Consciousness Prize and £5k cash Influx awarded to Stoke Newington independent publisher
Influx Press’ release of Eley Williams’ Attrib. and Other Stories has seen them honoured with this award for small presses
Penguin Random House marks World Book Day by volunteering in Hackney’s most ‘literacy-vulnerable’ area
As new data reveals Hackney South and Shoreditch’s serious literacy issues, staff at the country’s leading publisher are lending their time to several of the borough’s schools
Takeaway, Tommy Hazard, book review: funny and disturbing semi-fiction from Hackney’s NHS frontline
This hard-hitting yet pocket-sized volume, set all around Hackney, finds humour and brutality in the work of a relatably flawed ambulance driver
Wonky books: Hoxton Mini Press turn printing error into free giveaway for ‘most depressing day of the year’
1,500 copies of their photobook ‘I’ve Lived in East London for 86 ½ Years’ turned up with marks on the back, so the East London publisher is bringing joy to ‘Blue Monday’ by distributing them in the capital for free
The Lower Clapton Tales, Carolyn Clark, book review: plus ça change…
Think you know ‘Clop Ton’? We wager you’ll glean something new from this “charming book of memories, photographs and historical artefacts”
Hackney: portrait of a community 1967 – 2017, book review: Pillar of Society
The Hackney Society is celebrating 50 eventful years with a new book full of fascinating essays, from a broad church of Hackney citizens
East End Vernacular, book review: ‘striking vistas, rather than despair’
Harvested from the 1930s to the present day, Spitalfields Life’s gorgeous collection of East End paintings is more knees-up than misery-fest
Turn up for the books: we look forward to an eventful October for Hackney’s independent bookshops
The borough’s bookshops are increasingly staging events to get readers off Amazon, out of their houses and through their doors. We preview a few such bashes in this look at the lay of the literary land
A Hoxton Childhood and The Years After by A.S. Jasper, book review: it’s a hard Hox life
A.S. Jasper was better known as Stan in early twentieth-century Hoxton, where he struggled through a hungry upbringing. Our review looks at his two volumes of “first-person insight into a time when the welfare state was but a twinkle in the labour movement’s eye…”