Chris Cleave's Blog: Human Again with Dr Chris Cleave, page 8

US & Canada – October tour dates

I’m on the road in North America this October. If you live near one of these events, do come along – I promise an entertaining, unconventional and perhaps even surprising evening. Be there, or be forced to lie for years afterwards that you were.

Tues Oct 2 – BALTIMORE, MD

7.00 PM – Enoch Pratt Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Talk/Q&A/signing WITH SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS
Full details

 

Wed Oct 3 – WASHINGTON, DC

7.00 PM – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20001
Onstage conversation with NYT bestselling author Vaddey Ratner, followed by signing
Full details

 

Thurs Oct 4 – COLUMBUS, OH

7.30 PM – Thurber House event @ Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St, Columbus, OH 43215
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Fri Oct 5 – MADISON, WI

6.30 PM – A Room of One’s Own Bookstore, W. Gorham Street, Madison, WI 53703
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Sat Oct 6 – ATLANTA, GA

2.00 PM – Georgia Center for the Book at DeKalb County Public Library, Toco Hill – Avis G. Williams Library, 1282 McConnell Drive, Decatur, GA 30033
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 
7.00 PM – Barnes & Noble, 2900 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Mon Oct 8 – MIAMI, FL

8.00 PM – Books and Books Coral Gables, 265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Tues, Oct 9 – DALLAS, TX

7.30 PM – Arts & Letters Live at Dallas Museum of Art, Horchow Auditorium, 717 North Harwood Street, Dallas, TX 75201
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details



 

Wed, Oct 10 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA

7.00 PM – Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Thurs, Oct 11 – PORTLAND, OR

7.00 PM – Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Fri, Oct 12 – SPOKANE, WA

1.00 PM – Spokane is Reading Program at The Garland Theater, 924 W Garland Ave, Spokane, WA 99201
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 
7.00 PM – Spokane is Reading Program at The Lincoln Center, Monroe Ballroom, 1316 North Lincoln Street, Spokane, WA 99201
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Sat, Oct 13 – GRAND RAPIDS, MI

7.00 PM – Schuler Books & Music, 2660 28th Street SE, Rapids, MI 49512
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Mon, Oct 15 – Ann Arbor, MI

7.00 PM – Nicola’s Books, 2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Talk/Q&A/signing
Full details

 

Wed, Oct 17 – Vancouver International Writers Festival

6.00 PM – ‘Happy Birthday, Doubleday’ at the Improv Centre
Reading & signing
Full details

 

Thur, Oct 18 – Vancouver International Writers Festival

8.00 PM – ‘An Intimate Evening (!) with Chris Cleave’ at Studio 1398
Talk, Q&A, signing
Full details

 

Fri, Oct 19 – Vancouver International Writers Festival

1.00 PM – ‘The Interviews’ at the Waterfront Theatre
On-stage interview, signing
Full details

 

Tues, Oct 23 – Toronto, International Festival Of Authors, Harbourfront Centre

8.00 PM – Fleck Dance Theatre
Reading & signing
Full details

 

Wed, Oct 24 – Toronto, International Festival Of Authors, Harbourfront Centre

8.00 PM – Fleck Dance Theatre
Reading & signing
Full details

 

Sat, Oct 27 – Montreal

2.00 PM, Westmount Public Library
Reading & signing
Full details

NZ tour dates

I’m delighted to be returning to New Zealand next week!

As well as the Christchurch Writers’ Festival (see their website for more details), I’ll be doing a number of events around the country, details as below.

Hope to see you there!

Tuesday August 28 – AUCKLAND

Time: 5.30pm – 7pm

Location: Arcadia Bookshop, 26 Osborne Street, Newmarket

Free event (bookings essential) wine and nibbles

For more information contact Doris Mousdale on 09 522 5211 or email: hello@arcadiabookshop.co.nz

Wednesday August 29 – NELSON

Time: 12pm – 1pm

Location: Elma Turner Library, 27 Halifax Street, Nelson

Gold coin donation to Child Cancer Foundation

For more information contact Stella Chrysostomou on 03 548 9992 or email info@pageandblackmore.co.nz

Wednesday August 29 – WELLINGTON

Time: 5.30pm – 7.30pm

Location: Marsden Bookshop, 159 Karori Road, Karori

Free event (bookings essential) wine and nibbles

For more information contact Anna Hunt 04 476 8066 or email marsdenb@kauri.co.nz

Thursday August 30 – WELLINGTON

Win lunch with Chris Cleave customer competition

Time: 12pm – 2pm

For more information contact Tilly Lloyd 04 499 4245 or email books@unitybooks.co.nz

Friday 30 & Saturday 31 August – CHRISTCHURCH

Christchurch Writers’ Festival – various events – see details at chchwritersfest.co.nz/chris-cleave/

Q&A for NEXT Magazine

Why did you choose to set this novel in the world of professional sprint cycling?



I’m compelled to tell the hidden stories of people who live at the extremes of life, and there are few lives more extreme than those of professional athletes. I chose sprint cycling in particular for three reasons: One, because sprint cyclists have an irresistible psychology – in addition to being extremely explosive athletes they tend to be very smart and tactically aware, which makes them thrilling to write about. Two, because track cycling is such an aesthetically beautiful sport: the athletes are so honed and the velodrome is such a sculpted gladiatorial arena that the race scenes have a built-in poetry. And finally, because for so many of us the bicycle gave us our first taste of independence when we were little, which means that cycling stands for something free and exciting in a deep part of our psyche.

You live in London. What do you think hosting the Olympics will do for/to the city?



I think the Olympics will hold up a mirror to the people of London. Misanthropes will see in the traffic jams and the price tag a confirmation of their own frustrations and preoccupations. Happier souls will find inspiration in the achievements of the competitors, and excitement in being part of such a huge event. Like any sufficiently big and complex story, the Olympic ideal – or a novel about the Olympic ideal – is a Rorschach ink blot in which people see aspects of themselves.

As a father of three did you struggle writing about a little girl with leukemia? 



Yes, it was hard. I spent time at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children to research the novel, and it’s a cliché but you do come home from it every evening and hug your own kids that bit more. I talked with some very sick children, and of course your heart goes out to them and their parents. I try to keep two things in mind: one, that 90% of the children diagnosed with leukaemia will recover, so it is really a story of hope and progress. Two, that there is a value in trying to honestly capture on the page the struggles and occasional joys of a family coping with leukaemia, because there is a hidden strength there that deserves to be brought into the light and celebrated.

You write from the female perspective very well — how do you manage that trick?



Well, thanks. I think it’s because I’m pretty quiet and small and unthreatening, and because I approach my research interviews with men and women without any agenda. I just ask open questions and let people talk. I enjoy people’s company and I’m genuinely interested in listening to them – to how they speak as well as what they say, or don’t say. I’m lucky in that people seem to open up to me, which means I can study character carefully. I just observe people intently, the way I imagine a painter must watch for a long time before they actually pick up a brush.

Your books are both literary and commercially successful, building on real, topical events. Is that mix intentional, and how do you choose your subjects?





My novels always form themselves around a question. In ‘Incendiary’ it is “Why do the rich get more protection from the state than the poor do?” In ‘The Other Hand’ it is “Should we step out of our comfort zone in order to help someone else into it?” In ‘Gold’ the question is: “What is the greater force – ambition, or love?” I don’t go looking for these questions – they tend to be the ones that happen to be eating me at the time I’m writing. For each novel I choose a theme and characters that will help me examine the question that’s on my mind, and I try to set it against events that will be contemporary at the time of publication. I hope that my novels have the trick of making a timeless question timely.

What’s next for you?

I’m writing about an injured soldier coming home from Afghanistan, and the carer who looks after him. It’s a small story about a big war.

Long live World Book Night

World Book Night is on Monday! In the UK I’m giving away Kazuo Ishiguro’s sublime ‘The Remains of the Day‘ and in the US, my own novel ‘Little Bee‘ is among the thirty titles being given away by a huge number of volunteers in every state.

World Book Night’s legion of volunteer givers put books into the hands of people who might not usually read all that much. The organisers were kind enough to share some of the comments of people who have volunteered to give Little Bee, and I’m listing them below because they are moving, inspiring and sometimes pretty funny. They paint a picture of a compassionate and engaged reading community in every part of America.

I’m thrilled and humbled that ‘Little Bee’ is going to be given away in locations as diverse as AA groups and the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I’m thankful to my wonderful publishers, Simon & Schuster, for donating tens of thousands of copies of my novel. Most of all, I will be grateful to my dying breath to the volunteers who have chosen to give away ‘Little Bee’. Thank you. It means so much to me that you think the book might mean something to others.

Here is where the volunteers are giving away ‘Little Bee’:

Louisville, KY: If I get Little Bee as my book, I will give it away outside the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office at the U.S. courthouse at 601 Broadway in Louisville. If I get Bel Canto or The Namesake I will give books away at the Louisville Bats baseball game.

Delran, NJ: I plan to walk my neighborhood, to spread the word of Little Bee. I will focus on nonreaders and light readers. I feel this is the perfect book to get the nonreading public reading!

Boardman, OH: I would give Little Bee to the Beatitude House, a transitional program in inner-city Youngstown, Ohio for underprivileged women that helps them continue their educations, find employment and become self sufficient.

Greenfield, MA: I intend to give my books to young people who reside at a youth program called DIAL/SELF which serves older teens and young adults here in Franklin County in Massachusetts. These youth are usually “runaways” or “throwaways” who have been on their own since their middle teens. DIAL/SELF gives them housing and support services which allows them to seek further education and/or employment. The young people here often have been so consumed by their efforts to survive that they have not thought about the issues beyond their immediate situation. The three books that I have chosen are all about young people who are dealing with difficult situations and respond to them in creative and sometimes surprising ways.

North Little Rock, AR: We have a homeless shelter in town called “Our House”. I’ve done volunteer work there from time to time, and know their needs. There is also a women’s shelter that I would like be better involved with and this a great opportunity.

Pine Bluff, AR: The detention center and prisons. We have four prisons surrounding our area.

Carmichael, CA: at a local coffee shop and in the neighborhood (Peets, Bella Bru)

Oakland, CA: I live in downtown Oakland and am a volunteer at the East Bay Children’s Book Project. We get donations of books (children’s books through high school) and give them away at no cost to teachers, social workers, and other professionals who work with children. There are so many children in Oakland who will not grow up to readers; some people don’t realize that you can become a reader at any age.

Richmond, CA: I plan to give books away at 3 different locations.1. One is at my job Bayview Hunter’s Point Foundation-Youth Services located in San Francisco, CA. This is a drug and alcohol prevention and treatment center where youth come to get assistance in many areas. I am a counselor and a few of my youth are reading below grade level. I would give them books as well as offter a time once a week where we can read together.2. Hiram Hall located in Oakland, CA. I would give them to the cornett girls which meet at this facility. As a member of the Eastern Stars we have a daughter group that we assist with educational and life skills.3. I would distribute books to the school at my church which is Acts Full Gospel Church Church of God in Christ which is located in Oakland, CA.

Fort Bragg, CA: I will give my books away at the Fort Bragg Food Bank located at 910 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, California. Every year during the holiday season, our bookstore sponsors a bookraiser to benefit the families supported by the food bank. In the past two years we have given over 300 books to families who may not be able to afford books or even have books in their homes

Los Angeles, CA: My son goes to a Head Start Program. I find that many of the parents that go there are single mothers that have a desire to return to school, but at time don’t have the means nor the time. The average age of these women are in their early twenties.

Aakland,CA: Women’s Ministry of the Bay Area Christian Connection

Redondo Beach, CA: I plan to deliver the books to women in a residential treatment center. The center is operated by Behavioral Health Services, Inc. a not for profit organization.

San Jose, CA: Taking a Johnny Appleseed approach, I plan to distribute at various venues such as the local bus / train station, a city park, a museum, hot dog stand, outdoor produce stand, senior citizen home and other random places. One copy I will send to an English crazed Chinese friend who lives in Shanghai.

Carlsbad, CA: The Amtrak train station in Encinitas, California. Every morning and every evening, the station is clogged with people of all kinds, from CEOs to Disneyland-bound families to college age kids, all waiting to hop on the train to make their long and tedious commute. The Amtrak is a dreary place, filled with litter and grafitti and dusty old benches that haven’t been cleaned in years. Could anything possibly brighten up this place?A book!

Denver, CO: One of the easiest places for me to distribute the book would be at the church I attend, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Aurora, CO. On my way there, I could also stop by at least 2 Starbucks in Aurora and Denver to pass them out too. Many Denver University students study in these coffee shops-so they might like a lighter read compared to a textbook!

Castle Rock, CO: I plan to give my books to Rocky Mountain Rollergirls and their families at Roller Derby Practice in Denver, CO.

Denver, CO: Our congregation has developed a partnership with Place Bridge Academy, a language magnet school for refugee and immigrant children in Denver. Place Bridge Academy serves children who range in age from preschool to middle school. We have collected and organized school supplies and clothing for the students. Many of our members have volunteered to help with the literacy program for the students, the ESL program for the parents, assisted in the library and helped with job placement for the parents. Place Bridge Academy has a staff of approximately 175, and many of their staff members are refugees who have limited means to obtain books. We would like to distribute these books at a staff appreciation event.

Littleton, CO: I attend to give these books away to our local teachers at Roxborough Elemantary in Littleton Colorado.

Arvada, CO: I intend to give away the books at the Arvada Community Food Bank, 8555 W. 57th Avenue, Arvada, CO 80002 (303-424-6685)The food bank tries to keep a small give-away library to encourage the clients to read. It is very popular with the clients.

Boulder, CO: Attention Homes – local halfway house for runaway teensWomen’s group at our local homeless shelterAfter school program for teensWomen’s shelterAround Boulder to people that I identify thru conversatoin as light or non reader..and interested in reading

Denver, CO: Florence Crittenton, a non-profit organization which helps struggling teen parents to be successful. The facility is located in the Westwood neighborhood of Denver Colorado at 55 S Zuni.Secondly, we would also choose Haven Mother’s House, a residential treatment facility for pregnant women or new mothers with substance abuse problems.

Parker, CO: I intend to give my books away on the lightrail going downtown where I attended college. If I have anyleft I will go to my favorite places around town to give them away.

Edwards, CO: I intend to give my books away at the Eagle County Correctional Facility, located in Eagle, Colorado.

Guilford, CT: I work at a research laboratory that is on a submarine base. Most of my coworkers don’t read at all or very little for pleasure. I would love to give them a really good book and ask them to read it and have a book group style discussion during lunch one day.

Washington, DC: Potomac Gardens community center (subsidized housing project in SE Washington, DC).

Washington, DC: At the Silver Spring Metro Station

Ft. Myers, FL: I will give a way my books at the bean coffee shop in Sanibel, FL

Deland, FL: I would like to offer these books to the health care workers in my organization. The hospice nurses, especially the CNA’s, and staff.I would also like to distribute the books to the CNA’s I know at the various nursing homes in the Deland area that I am familiar with through work.

Gainesville, FL: I would like to give my books to young women, ask risk-teens, or organizations like Peaceful Paths, young people at the local hospital, and nursing homes.

Sarasota, FL: Salvation Army building for homeless, 17 St., Sarasota, FL

Lady Lake, FL: At my mother’s nursing home that she has lived in for the last 10 years. Lady Lake Specialty Care, Lady Lake FL

Daytona Beach, FL: I belong to an Alcoholics Anonymous Group in my hometown where I meet with recovering women on a daily basis…..many of these women have missed out on their education and exposure to books due to their lack of education or because of their family background. I will be able to give the books out at several meetings I go to!!

Athens, GA: Fourth Street VillageICCProject Safe

Nicholson, GA: I intend to give away these books at Interfaith Hospitality Network, which serves homeless families in our area. Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens serves many homeless families every year. While the families stay at local churches, there is a Day Center where they work with their social worker and the books would be given to the Day Center.

Clinton, IA: A small town high school in a town that has lost jobs and population over the past few decades.

Eldridge, IA: The Friends of the Library group intends to take the books to the local grocery store and a few of the nursing homes in the area that don’t have transportation available to their patients.

Payette, ID: At work to people who spend their lunch times playing games on their cell phone

Decatur, IL: I volunteer regularly at the Old King’s Orchard After School Program in the poorest neighborhood in Decatur, IL. Many of the youth are happy just to have a safe place to stay after school for a few hours and to get some help with their homework. Many of the youth are behind grade level, but when you work one-on-one with them, you see that all they need is attention and someone to help them out when they get lost.

Schaumburg, IL: I am a manager of a video store. The only reason I work here is because if I worked at a bookstore *my first choice, I wouldn’t have a paycheck. (my dtr works at Barnes and Noble though) I would give the books away there to younger people. Instead of watching movies, they should be reading to increase their vocabulary and experience all that literature has to offer! We currently work with an elementary school where they have a reading program. They have to read so many books a year in order to bring in a certificate for a free rental. The company I work for also rewards excellence in grades by giving those who have A’s as a final grade in a course a free movie or game rental at the end of the year. Tomorrow when I go into work I am going to email the regional manager about this program to see how many of our 790 stores we can get on board.

East Alton, IL: I am a member of the organization MOPS (Mother’s Of Preschoolers). We try to help our local Teen MOPS organization as much as possible. It is a group specifically for teen mothers. These girls are struggling as new Moms and rarely have the time or money to devote to purchasing a new book for themselves. I would love to be able to give the gift of reading to some of these young women. The Teen MOPS group I would like to give to is out of Troy, IL.

Fishers, IL: Dress for SuccessIndianapolis, IN

Oak Park, IL: I live in Oak Park, IL which borders the West Side of Chicago. There is a family health clinic that services many low income families on Madison Ave. called PCC Wellness Center. Either there or at the local YMCA on the West Side.

Chicago, IL: I would give the books away at Perspectives High School of Technology. This school is on the south side of Chicago in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

Chicago, IL: I ride the train to and from work on Downtown Chicago every day. I take two train lines: the Red Line and the Brown Line. I intend to distribute the books during the morning commute to make people’s days a little brighter.

Chicago, IL: I plan to give away these books at my office in Chicago, IL. I work for Aetna and have over 100 people that work in the office. Many of these people are light readers that need their eyes open to great books.I also plan to give away books to the local gym I work-out at, The Bar Method. Most of the women are working full-time and find time to work out afterwords. Many are light or non-readers and a book is the perfect thing to pair with a sandwich at lunch.

Gary, IN: I teach 7th and 8th grade English in Gary, IN at a high-poverty, charter school. My all African-American adolescent students will unabashedly tell you that they much prefer books that “look like me.” They are thirsty for all things Africa and will forgo the usual appeal of the Xbox for a good book that gives them any glimpse, fictional or non-fiction, about their heritage. Little Bee would be an outstanding, tantalizing literary tidbit to tease them away from Grand Theft Auto, at least for awhile.Additionally, I’ve been amazingly lucky to get multiple book sets from DonorsChoose.org. My students are perpetually dazzled by the idea that people they’ve never met are so enthusiastic about reading and about their potential that they are willing to send us free books. Participating in World Book Night would be another opportunity to show them how special they are and how a love of literacy can bring together strangers.

Freeport, KS: It’s my intention to give away the books at a local pharmacy because it is 1 of the 2 in our county and it even services people in the town in Oklahoma (12 miles to the south) which is a small rural area with no local library.

Louisville, KY: I would like to give the 20 books away at the Southeast Y, located on Six Mile Lane in Louisville, KY.

Luling, LA: I plan to ask permission from our locally owned grocery store, where many food stamp people shop, to set up in their vestible where people go out the door.This store caters to local shoppers. It is in a nice strip mall. The store is well respected. Majoria’s Grocery in Boutte, LA

Concord, MA: Coffe shop where people sit to read. I will approach those with no book in hand

Plymouth, MA: At Plymouth South High School

Waltham,MA: At the local High School library: I live in a town with a large immigrant population, with many low-income families (a blue-collar town). Since I used to work in the High School library till my retirement, I am well aware of the need of books for many of our students: many will buy computers, but not books because with limited means you have to buy what you cannot do without. For some of these students to own a book would be a great gift. Moreover, I think it is important to make students see the library as a welcoming place, a place that might actually be fun to go to!

Worcester, MA: South High

Andover, MA: I am a Storyteller and frequent schools, libraries, coffee shops to tell and en route to these locations pass through malls, train stations, restaurants … I plan to hand them out at the hair salon I go to, the nail place … at Starbucks … in schools and daycare centers. While I do my errands I will try to hand them out at grocery stores, drug stores, hardware stores.

Kittery, ME: navy housing in Kittery Maine

Lansing, MI: I work at St. Vincent’s Catholic Charities Home for Children in Lansing, MI. I work specifically on the long-term teenager girls unit and would love the opportunity to dispute the books to the girls as well as my co-workers.

Ramsey, MN: My plan is to give away my books at a community meal at Mount Olive Church or at the Food Shelf though Mt. Olive Church in Anoka, MN.

Minneapolis, MN: I live in Minneapolis near Wild Rumpus bookstore. There is a wonderful business node there which gets a lot of foot traffic. It is on the corner of 42nd and Upton Avenue. There are restaurants, coffee shops, hardware stores, toy stores, all independently owned and operated. It’s also very close to a local free book drop box which is the idea of a local group, to provide free gently used books to any passerby. This location would be an ideal way to lift all these independent businesses, the free book drop box, our fabulous and historic local library and Wild Rumpus. It’s the literary centerpoint to our neighborhood.

Rochester, MN: I have two options…1) Although I live in Rochester, Minnesota, I still own my previous home 90 miles away in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Specifically north minneapolis, which is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. The neighborhood is overwhelmingly people of color and our level of unemployment is horrible. Perhaps more specifically, we have a large number of unemployed or underemployed young people who hang out on the street at night. Even worse, we were hit by a significant tornado last spring and are still deep in recovery mode as residents with limited resources fight to get insurance companies to follow their contracts and repair properties properly. My intention would be spend the evening walking the neighborhood, perhaps with one of the organized outreach groups like Mad Dads.OR2) In Rochester, there are three youth oriented mentoring programs. I am involved with one as a mentor and tutor, as well as supporting a mentor recruitment committee. All three program locations have regular, daily events I would go to these locations and give these books to mentored youth (accompanied by their mentors).

Plymouth, MN: I’m thinking of taking them to a residential treatment center for young adults in alcohol and chemical dependency treatment. There is a fair amount of downtown for these residents, and it is vital that they learn new ways to fill their discretionery time in more productive and ‘healthy’ ways. Developing a love for reading could be inspired by World Book Night and the book they might receive that night! I love the idea of having a lasting impact on a young person’s new future! I would have to get approval from the faciltiy in advance…..

Saint Louis, MO: I was thinking of the Starbucks near my home, Tesson Ferry, in South St. Louis county.

Maryland Heights, MO: St Louis County Juvenile Detention Center

Lees Summit, MO: Hope House is a local shelter for victims of domestic abuse that serves 10,000 women and children annually.

Tupelo, MS: I would love to setup at a locally owned & operated coffee shop downtown during their lunch hour or pair with a community outreach group.

Missoula, MT: I am a college student, and so am frequently in contact with young adults who are in the perfect environment to become voracious readers, but haven’t yet discovered a book that calls to them. I am taking a Women’s History class in which ‘Little Bee’ would be perfect to distribute, and a Research Portfolio Seminar that has a few scientists who could benefit from the joys of literature. I also am an Advocate with the YWCA in my town, and some of the women I work with would be perfect recipients of any of these books.

Durham NC I plan to give away the books on the Bull City Connector, a free bus service that runs through downtown Durham, NC. The route is very popular one, with a variety of riders. I’d like to ride it twice that day–once around lunch time and once in the evening.

Montclair, NJ: I am currently involved in a volunteer afterschool program in East Orange, New Jersey. The “Second Grade Book Club” at Louverture School. We have wonderful support from our parents. I would like to celebrate their support by giving them a book. The boys in the club are provided books by generous volunteers. (They are taken care of and are come faithfully every week. We know it is because of the support of these hard working parents who believe in the education of their children. I would like to say “thank you” with the generosity of your program.Thank you!

Hawthorne, NJ: I work in the construction industry. I would give the books out at places I’ve been purchasing at for the last twenty years the lumer yard at Kuiken Brothers, Godwin tools a hardware store, Fisher tile. Waldwick paints.

West Orange, NJ: I would like to give out my books at my old high school, West Orange High School in West Orange, New Jersey.

Sparta, NJ: I will be pairing up with my local Independent restaurant and showing up with 3 other ‘book givers’ to give a book to each unassuming diner at the restaurant that night!!! What a great surprise to ‘give’ my favorite read to a stranger. I hope they will always remember the ‘NIGHT’ a book lover showed up unexpectedly to give me their favorite book!!

Las Vegas, NV: I will give out copies of a book to members of my military family — veterans, co-workers, military spouses and kids. I will hand-deliver copies of the book in the places where we usually meet: houses, the Commissary, the park, the gym, the base hospital and church.

New York, NY: at my local dive bar where most of the clientele is there for the juke box and the sports

New York, NY: If i had my way, I would give books away at my favorite place in New York City – the top of the Empire State Building. There is no view, in my opinion, more breathtaking than that of NYC from the top of its most iconic structure. Thousands of people visit the observatory daily, from all over the world, making this location a great choice for our purpose. I would love to inspire others to read with such an inspiring landscape below. I’d perch up there, strike up conversations with wide-eyed tourists, and gladly gush about any of the three books I’ve listed.

Binghamton, NY: I intend to give my books away at Chenango Forks High School and the library, if possible. I will use the help of several English teachers to hand out the books to students. If I have any left over, I will go to the library and request their assistance, although I think I can hand them all out at my school.

Brockport, NY: I’d like to give the set of books to my daughter, Amanda’s, 9th grade ELA class. I believe they could all read it and discuss it in a Book Talk format. They could relate to the characters’ compassion and ability to make good choices.

Brooklyn, NY: at the corner of Malcolm X Blvd. and 135th St. in Harlem, where the Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture and Harlem Hospital are located. These are busy street corners with subway entrances.

New York, NY: Rockefeller Center

Rochester, NY: I intend to go (with a friend who will help me) into downtown Rochester, specifically the less wealthy areas to give away the books. I also plan on, books permitting, stopping by some of the homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other places of that nature.

Ridgewood, NY: On the NYC subway

Solon, OH: I intend to give away my books in downtown cleveland. There is a lot of poverty throughout the city including many people living on the streets. Although I will be targeting Cleveland I am planning on keeping my distance from the more inner city areas for safety reasons. If I do not find new homes for all of my books I would make my way back towards Solon and go into some of the more rundown parts such as the group homes on Aurora Road near the high school.

Portland, OR: I ride the local mass transit train every day from the suburb where I teach to my home across town. I am daily delighted by the number of people who read on the train, and puzzled by the people who just sit and do nothing while on the train. I think the train would be a terrific site to give away free books: there is a captive audience who cannot flee; I think other readers might chime in and corroborate reviews of great books; once people have accepted a book they have little choice but to dip into it and once in may just keep reading.

Campbelltown, PA: Bingo night at our local volunteer fire company. Approximately 100 people average in attendance weekly.

Camp HIll, PA: My daughter’s school has 25% students whom are considered to be at risk; thus are on scholarship. The school library is all to which many of these students will be exposed, and it is marginal at best, as it is a collection of donated and earned books. I would like to have at least 10 Because of Winn Dixie books to give to young readers at her school. I also know of at least two families who, while the parents are well educated, the children do not read and the parents do not either. I would like to give two of the Winn Dixie to those children. The adult books, I will take to the local YWCA and donate to ladies living there.

Morrisville, PA: I have a bowling league that is held Monday nights and I feel this is the perfect opportunity to get a large number of people involved in reading. It is held at Laurel Lanes in Mount Laurel, NJ. It is a very large bowling ally that young people come to from several surrounding counties.

Lyman, SC: I intend to give away the books at Church, Community Center (food bank and other services for less fortunate).

Nashville, TN: I am volunteer with the Junior League of Nashville. We have 10 partner agencies that focus on the health and wellness of women and children. Specifically, we partner with Book Em’ and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and supply volunteers for their events and needs. I would give my books to these agencies to enrich the lives of the young people they serve.

NASHVILLE, TN: V.A. HOSPITAL-NASHVILLE,TN

Salt Lake City, UT: I plan to give away my books right in my community, 15th&15th section of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Norfolk, VA: I propose to give the books away at the Park Place Multipurpose Center, which is a building that houses an elementary school, library, Health Department, Social Services Department and Recreation Center, located in an impoverished, inner city, predominately African American, medically underserved census tract.

Berryville, VA: I will walk them across the street to the Rose Hill Nursing Home on Chalmers Ct in Berryville, Va 22611

Anacortes, WA: I would give he books away at a bar that I go to some nights after work. It’s a great little local spot attached to a pizza parlor, and lots of people go there to hang out and watch sporting events on TV. It’s a friendly, social place where nobody ever talks about books.

Edmond, WA: I will take them to a hospital waiting room, maybe an ICU area. Unfortunately, hospitals involve a lot of reading, so I think it would be a perfect opportunity to touch those w/ the gift of a good book.

Port Angeles, WA: Books will go out at First Step Family Support Center.

Milwaukee, WI: I intend to give books out at laundromats and recovery drop-in centers. If I receive Little Bee I will do this in Milwaukee’s North side, which is predominantly African American. The recovery centers I have in mind are the Friendship Club, the 12 Step Club and Gateway to Change.

Oconomowoc, WI: In our small, downtown area there are several hang-out places that people of various ages and backgrounds hang out. The two coffee shops, the gelato store, the ice cream shop.

Denmark, WI: I want to give away my books at our local DVD rental store which is also a gas station.I am a librarian in a combination public/school library in a small town near Green Bay WI.As a librarian, I am not pleased that libraries need to offer movies for patrons to check out and I am very upset to see so many people who used to check out books now check out movies instead.

Tour dates for GOLD

I’m delighted to announce live events for GOLD all over the world this summer. I love the live events & get a huge kick out of the Q&A and the discussions in the signing line, and if you can make it to one of the events I will look forward to meeting you & can promise an entertaining show.

There will be events at 30 cities in the USA – click here for details.

There will be a UK tour – click here for details.
There will also be events in Norway & Denmark and festivals in Canada, UK, Australia and NZ that I will announce here as soon as the festivals reveal their programs.

Hope to see you there!

London looking grim & determined today. It knows what it has to do & it knows it’s going to hurt.

First reactions to GOLD

A few booksellers have now seen a proof copy of my new novel, GOLD, which is coming out in the spring. Here are their first reactions…

“As with Little Bee, Chris Cleave has written a novel that encompasses love, compassion, and tragedy through which emerges the goodness of mankind and the importance of friendship. One reads the pages of Gold like they were racing Kate and Zoe on the track of the velodrome—fast, unstopping, breathing hard until the next page where you have to hold your breath to see who wins the heat….Emotionally stunning, brilliantly written…You will hold on for the ride.”

—Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT

“I do not how Chris does it—he makes you feel every little nuance and detail…You feel as if you have known [the characters] all your life… I loved this book and cannot wait to pass it around to all of my colleagues at work. Gold medal to Chris Cleave for writing an amazing book!”

—Toni Ness, Barnes & Noble, Grand Rapids, MI

“Gold is about parenthood, relationships, priorities, and the sacrifices that are made for love, or fear. It’s about celebrity and intimacy, the trials of competition on your head and heart, and about figuring out who you are and remaining true to that….Gold runs through a gauntlet of emotions that will not leave that reader untouched. More simply, this is a marvelous and enveloping read.”

—Jackie Belm, Tattered Cover, Denver, CO

“Chris Cleave has scored another ‘gold’ with his latest novel….Like Little Bee and Incendiary, it is impossible to describe; rather, it is one of those rare books you can’t wait to put into the hands of the reader and say, ‘Trust me on this one.’”

—Beth Black, The Bookworm, Omaha, NE

“Chris Cleave is a wonderful storyteller and Gold is as compelling a read as Little Bee….You will love these characters who are struggling to understand what is the right choice to make….I became so engaged with both Zoe and Kate that I didn’t know what to hope for.”

—Jeanne Costello, Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, CO

“I truly loved and enjoyed Gold! Chris Cleave has written another terrific story that will not disappoint his Little Bee fans and will only broaden his fan base. And how could you not love Sophie?”

—Susan Barthold, Barnes & Noble #2782, Willow Grove, PA

“Chris Cleave is already one of the luminaries of modern fiction and his talent shines just as brightly as the title in Gold. In a novel centered on the world of competitive cycling, he gives all of the work and trauma of that elite society but, more importantly, shows us the same work and trauma involved in the ordinary lives of his characters, particularly eight-year-old Sophie, who suffers from leukemia and demonstrates the same determination and courage of the world class riders. This is a novel that inspires, informs, provides sadness and exhilaration and shows empathy for the human condition that is rare. It is a reading experience not to be missed.”

—Bill Cusumano, Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, MI

“Gold vibrates and rattles the psyche—and made me gasp, smile and cheer. Chris Cleave has done it again!”

—Ed Conklin, Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara, CA

“Using the microcosm of Olympic level biking and all the sacrifice that the athletes make for one shining moment, juxtaposed with the very real threat of losing a child, Cleave has ripped my heart out again with a family story where the lines are blurred and at the end there is only life left for us to ponder.”

—Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX

“Gold by Chris Cleave is as riveting as an Olympic race for a gold medal.”

—Patricia Sanders, Barnes & Noble #2940, Towson, MD

“Gold is a heartbreakingly wonderful novel. Cleave has written a breathtaking, multi-layered tale that has everything a good book needs: love, friendship, suspense, heart-pounding races, twists, turns, humor and of course, Star Wars references. I found myself holding my breath in anticipation of the next page wondering where the story would go and unable to put the book down until I read just one more page. Cleave has an unbelievable talent for writing about characters you fall in love with and want to keep reading about. I don’t know which character I love the most, but I didn’t want their stories to end…And how can you not fall in love with Sophie? Gold is destined to be a bestseller. Like Little Bee, when you finish the book, you want to talk about it…you want to tell someone they HAVE to read this amazing book.”

—Eric Sample, Barnes & Noble #2305, Cedar Hill, TX

In support of UK public sector workers

This is a short post to express my solidarity with the estimated 2 million public sector workers who are taking strike action in the UK today.

I’m writing this because I feel that the strikes will be more effective if people like myself, who are not in the public sector, add their voices to the action.

I don’t take this position out of any ideological conviction. I simply support the people in the public sector because the people in the public sector have supported me. They are hardworking people who know their own circumstances better than I do, and if they have voted for strike action, then I trust them to know that that is their best option.

The public sector includes the state school teachers who taught me & who teach my children. It includes the librarians who regularly host my community events and who promote reading in cities throughout the UK. It includes the NHS doctors and nurses who recently saved the lives of my sister-in-law and niece. It includes a lot of other extremely hard-working people who keep me safe and take away my mess and generally give me the space and time to write novels and blog posts.

They are the best of our society and it breaks my heart to see them taking the brunt of this government’s budget cuts. I quite understand that we live in straitened times. Nor am I convinced that punishing the rich would magically make everything okay. What I am certain of, however, is that there are many budgets that should be cut – not least our seemingly infinite budget for procuring arms and prosecuting foreign wars – before we start cutting basic public services.

The public sector is the trunk of the tree. It enables all the rest of us monkeys to do our stuff in the branches. If you are a public sector worker out on the picket lines today, then you are doing it on behalf of all of us. Thank you for your work and thank you for your voice.

Pep Talk for Writers

Here is a message I wrote to all the 250,000 writers who are part of the NaNoWriMo writing community this November.

Dear fellow writer,

Delivering a novel in a month must be the most extreme challenge in writing.

I can’t claim to have done it in a month, but I once drafted a novel in six weeks. That draft eventually became my first published book, Incendiary. There are three things you need to know about that. One, that the first draft was unpublishable. Two, that the obsession and the sleep deprivation drove me to a place of dubious mental stability which, in retrospect, we can all laugh about. And three, that I am more proud of those six weeks than of any other period in my life. It changed me. I was working in an attic room in Paris, living on coffee and nerves. I say “living” – in truth I was mutating. I crossed a Rubicon that they will have to drag my cold dead body back across.

That’s what you’re doing, if you’re doing NaNoWriMo. You could have chosen to write a short story this month. You could have redecorated. You could have lounged on your couch and absorbed reality TV, formulating opinions about which of the nice young people ought to be your nation’s brand new idol. Instead you have crossed a line of no return. You have chosen to engage – and in many cases reengage – with a dangerous process that changes you.

We live in an age when the war for hearts and minds is considered just as vital as the war for territory on the battlefield. In a world where ideas hold so much power, a writer is on civilization’s front line. To become a writer, therefore, is a serious business. It requires a commitment to move from passively absorbing your cultural tradition to informing it. That’s a significant transformation, and like all major works it won’t happen overnight. In your case, you’ve scheduled it for the month of November.

The good news is, if you’re committed, a month is enough time. Unless you have more natural talent than I do, then it’s not necessarily enough time to produce a perfected novel. But if you write out of your skin every day then it is enough time to learn your own mental geography and to make the jump to a new way of writing.

It doesn’t matter what genre you write in. All literature is transformative. To make people laugh; to tell a light-hearted romantic story; to let intelligent readers forget their troubles for an hour in the absence of the politicians and the money men who make our lives hell – these are some of the hardest feats to accomplish as a writer, and some of the most serious political acts you can perform. You don’t have to be a Serious Writer to be a serious writer. I once read a beautiful paragraph about teenage vampires – teenage vampires, for goodness’ sake – that moved me more than all of Hemingway. You don’t need to be trying to change the world in order to change someone’s world. What you need is to be seriously committed to your work.

That commitment comes from you and it isn’t my business to tell you what form it should take. I just wanted to use this opportunity to let you know how much I respect you for what you are doing, to wish you well, and to offer some practical suggestions from my experience.

To this end I asked my followers on Twitter if they were doing NaNoWriMo this year and, if so, whether they had any practical questions or concerns that they would like me to address in this pep talk. I got a lot of questions and found that they fell into three main categories, of which the following are representative:

@LizUK asked: How much do you think planning / structuring your #NaNoWriMo project counts towards completing it?

Not much, I think. A novel is a living thing and it resists containment within the structures we erect for it. Even worse, the novel has intelligence and it will inevitably turn against its creator. Think of it like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The problem is that a good character in a novel will reach a point of maturity where he or she is not necessarily biddable.

For example, I might plan that in Chapter 6, Samantha will succumb to the advances of the amorous Dave, thus neatly setting up Chapter 7, in which they build a delightful house together, in Minnesota, in the Prairie style. But it might turn out, once I get into the detail of the dialogue of Ch 6, that Dave turns out to be something of a pompous ass and that Samantha decides she’d rather be with Dave’s funnier younger brother Pete (even though she still can’t decide whether he’s strikingly handsome or slightly weird-looking).

So now I have a choice as a writer. Either I can make Chapter 6 conform to my original plan by forcing Samantha to be with Dave, somewhat against her will, or I can let Chapter 6 be what it needs to be – probably feeling more alive and real than it did in my original structure – and I can change my mind about what happens in Chapter 7. Maybe Samantha builds the house with Pete, and Dave comes and bangs against the windows on a cold, snowy night. Maybe they ignore him, and forget about it all through the drunken, passionate winter, only to find his perfectly-preserved body down by the brook, when the spring thaw comes and the first crocuses are breaking surface, on the morning when Samantha is starting to think that maybe she doesn’t want to be with Pete after all.

My point is that the job of a novelist is to explore human emotion and motivation. You learn more about your protagonists as you write them. If you are not very often forced by your characters to bin your masterplan, then you are a wooden and a formulaic writer indeed. So, better than having a planned structure is to begin with a character or two, and a theme you intend to explore, and an initial direction you plan to start exploring in. Don’t be alarmed when, on arriving at what you thought was your summit, you realise you’ve climbed up the wrong mountain. That’s why novelists go through drafts – because plans go brilliantly awry.

@vpeanuts asked: How do you remain motivated? #NaNoWriMo

The answer to this question is always changing for me. When I started writing as a child I just loved the work of making good sentences and paragraphs – of playing with language. Later I was motivated by provoking strong reactions in the people I showed my work to. Then there was a bad time of several years when I was motivated by a desire for a certain kind of glory or glamour, without thinking too hard about what that meant. I think you need to get through that stage pretty quickly.

After my first novel was published I was motivated to bring injustices to light with my work, and to help people concussed by bad TV to find real life interesting again. That had a kind of grandiosity to it, though, and I found that my writing improved when I learned a little bit more humility. Then, after my second novel did well, I was motivated for a long time by fear – the fear of not being able to do it again. What cured me of that was rediscovering my very first motivation – the love of working with language and character.

I’d say that is what motivates me now. I simply enjoy sitting down in front of my screen and exploring my characters. I like the mental work of solving the problems of plot and structure. I like exercising my freedom to write as I please, for readers who have the freedom to read as they please. I like not needing anyone’s permission. I try to remember how lucky we all are to live like this. I see it as a temporary state of grace and I find that very motivating.

@myplatypus asked: What to do when you want to abandon it and start again? How to keep going when you think you’ve just written a page of rubbish?

Something I’ve learned is that it’s very hard to tell, at the end of your writing day, whether you’ve done great work or bad work. The quality of the writing is hard to judge until you’ve had some sleep and got some perspective on it. Often sheer euphoria at your own brilliance will keep you writing late into the night, and you can hardly sleep because what you’ve written is so damned good. Then you wake up the next day and read it, and you realise it’s a pile of self-indulgent crap. This happens to me two days out of five. Then you get the opposite case, where you beat yourself up because the ideas are coming so slowly and all your dialogue seems timid and pedestrian. A week later you might look back on that day as a pretty solid performance, where your characters were honest with each other and maybe even created a couple of touching moments.

The more I learn about the writing process, the more I suspect that there is no such thing as a bad day at the keyboard. Sometimes you need slow days where you work through a dozen ideas that aren’t destined to fly. It creates a kind of intensity that eventually goads your brain into giving you a good day. Or sometimes, if you keep having slow days, then perhaps the novel really is asking you a deeper question about whether your plot, or your characterisation, or your theory about the human heart really is up to scratch. Experience is knowing when you’re having a slow day, versus when you’re having a slow novel.

The good days are when you perform; the slow days are when you learn to perform better. The only bad days as a writer are the ones when you are too cowardly or too lazy to sit down at the keyboard and give it everything you have.

If you can sit down at the keyboard every day in November and give it everything you have, then there is no writer on earth who is better than you. I hope that it will be an exciting, frightening, weird, joyful, unpredictable, transformative month for you, and I hope that you will produce fantastic work that you are proud of.

With all good wishes,

Chris Cleave

You can follow Chris on Twitter @chriscleave, and learn more about his work at www.chriscleave.com.

Pro Bono Week event in Leeds, UK – 8th November 2011

As part of the legal profession’s pro bono week in the UK, I’ll be doing a speaking & signing event in Leeds aimed at giving lawyers information about what’s involved in working with refugees and asylum seekers.

The event is organised by the Manuel Bravo Project. The true story of Manuel Bravo was a key inspiration for my novel Little Bee / The Other Hand.

Please see the details of the event here and my personal invitation to lawyers here. If you’re a lawyer or working in a related capacity, please come along. If you know a lawyer who may be interested in working with refugees in a pro bono capacity, please let them know about the event.

Many thanks!

Chris Cleave