Category Archives: Everyone

Fallowell wins PEN/Ackerley Prize

The £2,500 PEN/Ackerley Prize has been awarded to Duncan Fallowell for How to Disappear published by Ditto Press. He fought off competition from an exceptionally strong and diverse shortlist that included Sherard Cowper-Coles, Brian Sewell, Roger Garfitt and Mirabel Osler. This is Britain’s only literary prize dedicated to memoir and autobiography – established in memory of JR Ackerley, the author and literary editor.

Peter Parker, chair of the judges said: ‘Duncan Fallowell’s How to Disappear is a subtle, beautifully written and often very funny example of autobiography by stealth. The fact that this book, having been turned down by numerous major publishers, was taken up by a small independent company is particularly heartening in the current climate.’

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Can you really do it in 9 days?

Review – 9 Days to Feel Fantastic by John Whiteman

How to create happiness from the inside out

As a born sceptic, as soon as I see anything that promises to change my life, my financial position or my well-being, I reach for a large quantity of salt. We are currently awash with this stuff which is probably why the human race seems to be in a permanent state of flux.

John Whiteman, creator of The Way, was new to me and certainly his ‘Way’ was a complete mystery. Maybe I was feeling melancholy at the time, or the idea of creating internal happiness made me look at his current offering, 9 Days to Feel Fantastic, (published by Hay House) in more detail. What a pleasant surprise.

Download the full text here Review – 9 Days to Feel Fantastic

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The turning point for libel laws?

The Defamation Bill, announced in last week’s Queen’s Speech, has been published. Click here for coverage – http://www.libelreform.org/news/524-libel-reform-is-in-the-queens-speech

The Libel Reform Campaign, consisting of nearly 100 organisations and 60,000 individuals, has been calling for this since December 2009. Now the work begins to examine whether the reforms will do away with the bullying effects of the current laws. The campaign continues to fight for:

  • a public interest defence so people can defend themselves unless the claimant can show they have been malicious or reckless;
  • a strong test of harm that strikes out claims unless the claimant can demonstrate serious and substantial harm and they have a real prospect of vindication;
  • a restriction on corporations’ ability to use the libel laws to silence criticism;
  • provisions for online hosts and intermediaries, who are not authors nor traditional publishers.

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