Sophie, Author at Allison & Busby

Living the Dream

10 April, 2015

A job advert went viral last week that has to be one of the most enviable in the world: a Police Constable on the Isle of Scilly -where the number of crimes last year was twenty-four. Sergeant Colin Taylor wrote that required attributes would be ‘unflinching confidence’ to know what to do when alerted to […]

Letters Live

8 April, 2015

I am lucky enough to be starting my bank holiday weekend with Benedict Cumberbatch. On Friday 3rd April, I’m going to see LETTERS LIVE: inspired by Letters of Note, the bestselling anthology compiled by Shaun Usher, and To the Letter by Simon Garfield, LETTERS LIVE is a series of curated, live events that celebrate the […]

Go Set a Watchman Covers

27 March, 2015

The literary world has been in delightful uproar since the news of Harper Lee’s follow up to To Kill a Mockingbird was released. Ahead of the publication in July, jackets have been unveiled for the UK and US covers of Go Set a Watchman: I’m not sure I’m enamoured with either of them. I think […]

So Your Son is a Centaur

20 March, 2015

The Internet was in hysterics this week when a Reddit user, Obvious Plant, printed a few hilarious fake book jackets and stealthily placed them on existing books in a West Hollywood bookstore. The newly jacketed titles in the self-help section include So Your Son is a Centaur, How to Dress Yourself and my personal favourite, […]

Bibliophilia

13 March, 2015

There’s one creative studio that is always a pleasure to be updated on: Obvious State. Based in New York, Evan and Nicole Robertson, began ‘a small project that used snippets of text as a springboard for an original illustration quickly grew into a creative studio renowned for its wordplay and witty design.’ In short, that means they’ve created beautiful, thought-provoking and […]

Harry Potter Secrets to be Revealed

2 March, 2015

My weekend was considerably lightened once again by bookish revelations: further Harry Potter secrets are to be revealed by Philip Errington in his comprehensive work J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013. As well as providing up-to-date bibliographic details of all of Rowling’s work, the author also includes fascinating behind-the-scenes information, gathered by interviewing staff at Bloomsbury and accessing […]

Breaking News for Sherlock Holmes Fans

23 February, 2015

My weekend was cheered immensely by the news that a long-lost Sherlock Holmes story has been discovered. Found by historian Walter Elliot, it’s the first unseen Sherlock story unearthed in eighty years. The 1,300-word tale starring the famous detective in a collection of short stories written for a local bazaar. The wooden bridge in the Scottish town of […]

Tube Poetry

20 February, 2015

Travel Better London and TFL are partnering up for a poem competition about travel etiquette in London. Passengers who pen the best poem will see their masterpiece and a cartoon of themselves on a poster in a special campaign across the network. The poem must be 4 – 6 lines long and feature any of the […]

The TBR Pile

13 February, 2015

I’ve decided to jump on Guardian Books bandwagon and discuss my To Be Read pile. Mainly because I always look forward to starting something new and because I have a long weekend off work so there’s lots of time to get stuck into something! I’m currently halfway through the masterpiece that is The Little Friend […]

Be a Good SAMaritan

6 February, 2015

Veering off books and all things cultural for one moment – today I came across a brilliant new app that will potentially save thousands of lives. Despite my general dislike of our over-reliance on our smartphones, this new app, called GoodSAM, has proved that technology can save the day. The app lets you flag up […]

The Anatomy of Crime

30 January, 2015

The Wellcome Trust are launching a new exhibition in February, perfect for any crime fans out there: ‘Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime‘. Using real-life case studies, the exhibition ‘travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries and continents, exploring the specialisms of those involved in the delicate processes of collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence. […]

High Rise in Film

23 January, 2015

It’s always a good day when you find out one of your favourite books is being made into a film. This week’s revelation is J. G. Ballard‘s High Rise. The director has already started tweeting cryptic photos of the set and an early teaser poster has been released: Copyright Jay Shaw Starring actor-of-the-moment Tom Hiddleston and Sienna […]

New Favourites

14 January, 2015

Last weekend I went to one of my favourite exhibitions of the year: Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the National History Museum. Now in its 50th year, the exhibition ‘provides a global showcase of the very best nature photograph’. I always find myself astonished by the ‘Young Photographer of the Year’ award as some […]

A Year in Books

7 January, 2015

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg has set himself the challenge of reading a new book every two weeks for the entirety of 2015. The project, called A Year in Books, was shared on Facebook on January 3rd and has since gathered over 180,000 followers. Zuckerburg’s mission statement says ‘Our books will emphasize learning about new cultures, beliefs, histories and […]

Festive Reads

22 December, 2014

As Christmas approaches, I find myself searching bookshops for those cosy holiday reads that I want to curl up on the sofa with. So on my lunch break I popped into Gower Street Waterstones and found a ready-made selection of ‘Festive Reads’. The table was piled high with titles such as Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm and […]

Unfinished Business

12 December, 2014

Technology seems to be getting smarter by the day. Now it seems Kobo can collect data about its users and their reading habits. Interestingly, new data shows that, although The Goldfinch was the 37th bestselling ebook of the year for the retailer, it was completed by just 44.4% of Kobo’s British readers. Perhaps the mammoth 800+ […]

Re-covered Books #2 – Harry Potter

9 December, 2014

Every now and then I revisit The Fox is Black website to take a peak at their re-covered books contest and I am never disappointed. The latest one to impress me was the re-design of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s a much-loved book for both adults (me) and children so I was excited […]

Create your own children’s book!

24 November, 2014

While looking for a Christmas present for my young niece, I came across a brilliant concept at Lostmy.name. By typing in the gender and name of a child, you can create a personalised story book. Each book tells the story of a child who has lost his or her name, and bravely sets off to track down […]

Christmas Wishlist

21 November, 2014

With the John Lewis advert now on our screens and mince pies appearing in every supermarket, it’s safe to say Christmas is on the way. I’ve spent the last week trying to scramble together a Christmas list to circulate with family but, since I am no longer five and in want of new toys, it’s […]

National Novel Writing Month

13 November, 2014

It’s officially National Novel Writing Month! A fun and organised approach to creative writing, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by the end of November and track their progress in NaNoWriMo’s online community. There’s an inspiration section and pep-talks from well-know authors, including New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey, to help […]

Spelling mistakes, typos and howlers

5 November, 2014

This morning an article on the BBC website caught my eye: Why Typos and Spelling Mistakes Really Don’t Matter. Author and FT columnist Lucy Kellaway, a journalist with a self-confessed ‘flair for typos’, believes we should not be overly obsessed with these little mistakes that often crop up in writing. Working in an editorial department in […]