Romesh Gunesekera's Blog, page 5
December 14, 2011
BBC: The Writer’s Dickens
Last week I went to the newly refurbished Broadcasting House to record my essay on Dickens — The Orphan Eye – for Radio 3′s series that kicks off the BBC’s Dickens Season. Although you go through the same reception area as before, the inside of the building has changed since I was last there. Glad to see, between the new minimalist decor, a few bookshelves and several stacks of books lining the corridors to studio 58. Fortified with a BBC decaf mocha, I read trying not to rustle the pages. The result, an essay on Dickens and writing and a ghost or two, will be broadcast on Tuesday 20 December at 1045 pm. The other essayists in the series are: Tessa Hadley, A L Kennedy, Alexander McCall Smith and Justin Cartwright . Read more …
October 21, 2011
The Arrival …
Today a parcel arrived. Inside, the first sight …
first sight of The Prisoner of Paradise
October 17, 2011
A glimpse of the new novel, at last … the cover
The cover is done! Publication in February 2012 by Bloomsbury.
Prisoner of Paradise back cover
Prisoner of Paradise front cover
The inside flaps:
the inside story
biography
September 2, 2011
Happy Day!
photo by Yemisi Blake
My last book was published three years ago. A small book of three stories printed as a limited edition. Then, when I least expected it I heard Granta wanted to reissue my first three books. So while waiting for my next publication, not one but three come along at once. Everything in threes.
Publication day 1 September 2011.
photo by Yemisi Blake
August 31, 2011
Proof Pages
The proof pages came from Bloomsbury on 6 August. Postman didn’t knock. Instead he left the parcel by the recycling bin. Luckily I found it before the collection the next day!
Yesterday, after three weeks of midsummer madness, I had to take the pages in. In a rush, after a misunderstanding of what goes where and what will be printed when. But wait, one more last edit. Page 332 is just not right. Thought about it all along the Piccadilly Line. Stopped at a park bench in Russell Square and inserted: he had a poem. Each line translated from language to language …
Okay, that’ll do. Photo op.
Then, on to Bedford Square: Bloomsbury’s new offices.
A square but a circle. This is where I had my first salaried job, back in the late 70s. A small firm in Bloomsbury Street. I remember the red post box. Posting my poems off with hope and SAEs to magazines, north and south, before going through another red door into work. Months later, they’d all come back.
This time no postman but, with luck, the words will soon be printed.
