Here’s the first chapter of John Lanchester’s new novel The Wall. His last was the international bestseller Capital, and like that book The Wall takes its cue from pressing issues of the day. Kavanagh begins his life patrolling the Wall. If he’s lucky, if nothing goes wrong, he only has two years of this,…
Latest
Faber Members launches an exciting Spring programme and new logo design for the 90th anniversary year
2019 marks Faber & Faber’s ninetieth anniversary as publishers of distinctive literature. To celebrate, Faber Members is delighted to launch a rich Spring programme of events which showcases our remarkable authors and their work, past and present. Man Booker Prize-winner Anna Burns will be in conversation with Editorial Director Louisa Joyner, and will read from…
Disposable Diaries: Willy Vlautin
Our latest ‘Disposable Diaries’ comes from Willy Vlautin, author of The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete and The Free. His writing is often praised for giving a voice to unexpected characters with Los Angeles Review of Books calling him ‘the patron saint of the underdog’. The Portland-based author has the ability to capture the essence of…
Extract: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
Read an essay from Samantha Irby’s New York Times Bestselling collection We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. In this painfully funny collection, Samantha Irby captures powerful emotional truths while chronicling the rubbish bin she calls her life. From an ill-fated pilgrimage to Nashville to scatter her estranged father’s ashes to awkward sexual encounters…
Gwendoline Riley wins the
Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 2017 for fiction
Gwendoline Riley’s First Love has won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 2017 for fiction. This year’s judges were Lorien Kite, Susie Nicklin and Evie Wyld. Evie Wyld, on behalf of the judges, said: ’First Love was our unanimous winner. It’s a book of nerve endings and often brutal truthfulness. It’s slim but has a powerful gravitational field,…
Christmas Gift Guide
Fill your home with happy readers this Christmas . . . We’ve selected the best books of the year, from critically acclaimed novels and the finest poetry, to gifts for adventurers and fierce feminists. For the adventurers in your life, we recommend The Madonna of the Mountains, set in Northern Italy, and Craig Thompson’s graphic travel…
Faber Poetry Podcast at Crossing Border Festival *LIVE EPISODE*
We recently took the Faber Poetry Podcast to The Hague for a special event at the Crossing Border Festival. In this live recording, Rachael Allen and Jack Underwood are joined by fellow poets Anthony Anaxagorou, Momtaza Mehri and Hannah Sullivan for an evening of readings and (brief) discussion. Show notes Guest poets ANTHONY…
Disposable Diaries: Sara Gran
Our latest ‘Disposable Diaries’ comes from Sara Gran, author of the novels Dope, Come Closer, Saturn’s Return to New York and three novels about Claire DeWitt, a talented but troubled private detective. The third and most recent instalment in the series, The Infinite Blacktop, is set partly in Los Angeles, and through a series of photographs taken in…
Extract: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Read an extract from Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed novel Normal People. Charting the on-off relationship between two millennials in Ireland, this exquisite love story explores first love, friendship and how we change one another. Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from…
Christmas Reading List
All I want for Christmas . . . From eccentric memoirs and epic novels to beautiful books and powerful poetry. Here’s what we’re reading, recommending and gifting this winter. Ruby Bamber, Senior Sales Operations Executive The book you can’t wait to read this Christmas I’m going to treat myself to The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver…
Faber announces The Rise of the Ultra Runners
Guardian Faber is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance by award-winning author Adharanand Finn. Guardian Faber acquired UK & Commonwealth rights plus Canada and EU from Oli Munson at A.M. Heath and will publish in May 2019. The Rise of the Ultra Runners is an electrifying and inspiring account of one of the toughest sports…
Pebble spotting with The Pebbles on the Beach
KEY TO IMAGES: 1 Ovoid pebble of grey granite 2 Grey granite with one surface cut and polished 3 Pebble of schist with one surface cut and polished. The laminations are more clearly seen on an uncut surface 4 Flattened ovoid pebble of crystalline limestone [unpolished] 5 Fragment of whitish chert. Its angularities show that…
Celebrating W. S. Graham
To mark 100 years since the birth of the poet W. S. Graham, here is a selection of images and quotations to celebrate his life and work.
All quotes, unless otherwise stated, are taken from W. S. Graham’s New Selected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2018). Cover image: W. S. Graham, with his painting on glass, in the Old Coastguard Cottage, Gurnard’s Head, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
Read the poem ‘To Alexander Graham’, a poem that W. S. Graham wrote addressed to his father, in full here.
GOLDEN CHILD to be Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime
Claire Adam’s debut novel Golden Child is to be serialized on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime for two weeks from 25th February. A deeply affecting debut novel set in Trinidad, it follows the lives of a family as they navigate impossible choices about scarcity, loyalty, and love. ‘In Claire’s spare and elegant prose, the remote…
