This book began life as an article in the New York Times, recalls women’s lives in the Soviet bloc between the end of the war and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Their labour was needed, so the state enabled them to work by paying for the work that women do: creches, holiday care and…
Economist Raghuram Rajan’s The Third Pillar, describes an ongoing struggle for balance between the three building blocks of a good society Market, State and Community. Rajan tells us what’s needed to shift our prospects in favour of technological progress that empowers and enriches the many, away from political anger and estrangement. Rajan was awarded the Director’s…
Why young people join terrorist organisations like Isis? Bhutto reveals the plight of poor and downtrodden in Pakistan and England. How does it feel to be told you’re worthless by society and locked out of the opportunities afforded to a privileged few? Her topical novel released amid the controversy surrounding Shamima Begum, the teenager…
The creative code examines the nature of creativity, and provide essential guide into how algorithms work with the underpinning mathematical rules and looks at our emotional response to art is a product of our brains reacting to pattern and structure. Computer have already become far smarter than us at crunching big numbers, spotting patterns in…
The Christians that inspire Jamie Quatro’s debut collection of short stories – set in the modern day Georgia-Tennessee border town would expect final option if lost in desert and turning to prayer many believers expect to be ignored and turned into stone. Quatro’s hypnotically revealing stories range from the traditional to the fabulist as they…
Actors and Writers London, also known as AWL, hold professional rehearsed play readings on the 4th floor of the Polish Centre, Hammersmith on alternate Mondays. As well as providing a platform for play readings for all kinds of writers, with seated viewing for maybe 100 people with a bar in the same space, it holds…
Memphis, along with Atlanta, central to story of black America, located on the Mississippi River, a starting point for refugees from the Deep South where they can engage with its vibrant African-American culture and heritage. The city produced music and art and also black empowerment WDIA, “ the mother station of Negroes” – Although…
In Graceland, Bethan Roberts’s fictionalised recreation of the early life of Elvis Presley, and his close relationship with his mother Gladys. At 22, 1957, Elvis already a huge star is called up for his military service, the novel looks into the performer’s chaotic childhood with several chapters filled with grownup dilemas concerning show business,…
In Nine Crises, William Keegan examines a series of turning points , starting with the devaluation crisis of 1967 and ending with post Brexit turmoil fifty years later. This book explains how key participants viewed each crisis as it unfolded and what they hoped to achieve. The British economic policy and its policymakers have…
Merchant of Truth breaks the ultimate news story of our times. What happens when Jill Abramson was fired from the executive editorship of The New York Times in May 2014, she thought she had enough freedom to figure out what she wanted to do. And wanted to start a long-form journalism site which failed. Instead…