Up North Books

Hello all! We hope you're well.  We had a lovely conversation with Northern rom-com author Danielle Owen Jones about her latest novel, Stuck with Him, and we were joined by her wonderful publicist from Bookouture, Jess Readett! Both Danielle and Jess are from the North and we had a great chat about author-publicist relationships, BookTok, and romance fiction! Grab a cuppa and snuggle up for this wholesome chat.  Stuck With Him is available to buy now! Mentioned in the episode: Jessica Andrews Sarah Moss Wild Water Women by Ellie Wood  Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw After Everything You Did by Stephanie Sowden 

Hellooo! Wow, do we have an exciting one for you guys today, because we had the absolute pleasure of chatting with THE Lara Williams about her stellar new novel, The Odyssey (!!!), which is out now. Tune in to hear Lara chat about her writing process, the themes she wanted to explore in the novel, and (of course) some northern book recs! Mentioned in this episode: High Rise by J.G. Ballard The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan  American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis Something Happened by Joseph Heller  Microserfs by Douglas Coupland Jessica Andrews Eliza Clarke Naomi Booth Test Signal 

Hello lovely listeners! We're back again with another episode, and this one is a chatty one where we sit down and talk about the books (and more) that we've been loving recently. We hope you enjoy listening, and that you discover some new recommendations! Books mentioned: Fossils by Alison Armstrong Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu Hands by Lauren Brown The Odyssey by Lara Williams Milk Teeth by Jessica Andrews True Crime Story by Joseph Knox  Mania by LJ Ross Bamburgh by LJ Ross 

WELCOME BACK!  At the end of last year, we took a bit of time away from the podcast to get some much-needed rest and relaxation. Now we're back and kicking the new season off with a wonderful author interview with Karen Powell, author of The River Within. This incredible novel is a must-read that will get all of your emotions flowing. It's set in post-war Yorkshire and the story is inspired by Hamlet, but of course with a northern English twist.  Shop The River Within here, now available in paperback. Books recommended by Karen: Boy Parts by Eliza Clark Everything Jenn Ashworth has ever written Muslim, Actually by Tawseef Khan The Brontës

Welcome back, loyal listeners! This week we've got another brilliant author interview to treat your ears, this time with Anna Glendenning. As the author of the much-celebrated An Experiment in Leisure, we were eager to get Anna's thoughts on the publishing process while getting the gossip on her debut novel. 

Hello, hello folks, you're in for a treat with this episode because we had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Jenn Ashworth about her new novel Ghosted: A Love Story, published by Sceptre in June 2021.  Listen to hear Jenn read from the novel, tell us about her inspirations and craft, and, of course, give you guys (and us!) some fantastic northern recommendations! Grab a warm cuppa and a biscuit or two, we think you'll love this one.  Mentioned in this episode:  Jenn's previous books The Missing by Andrew O'Hagan  Seaside Special - postcards From the Edge  The Woodcock by Richard Smyth  I Belong Here by Anita Sethi  Jenn's Twitter We encourage our listeners to, if they can, seek out an independent bookshop to purchase Ghosted: A Love Story from. You can also buy the book, available in hardback, from Bookshop Org here. 

Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of Up North Books! In May, we had the privilege of chatting with Jennifer Saint, author of the hugely popular Ariadne. Jennifer is from Yorkshire and Ariadne is her debut novel, so it was really exciting to delve into how this book came to be.  Mentioned in the episode: Ariadne, published by Headline and written by Jennifer Saint. Jennifer's Twitter thread of Northern authors with upcoming books Ovid's Heroides  Stacey Halls' Mrs England  Jennifer's next book

Hello everyone! Have you missed us? After a brief hiatus throughout April, we are back and better than ever (hooray!). In this episode, we update each other (and you lot) on our lives and chat about the books we've read recently. So, grab a cuppa and join in the conversation like the old pals we are -  we really hope you enjoy listening! Life update links: Dark Skies Publishing Inspired Copy Beth’s Nrth Lass Column  SYP North  Books mentioned: LJ Ross’ DCI Ryan series The Rock by LJ Ross I Belong Here by Anita Sethi Sisters by Daisy Johnson Girl A by Abigail Dean An Experiment in Leisure by Anna Glendenning This New North (Valley Press)  Test Signal (Dead Ink and Bloomsbury) Other things mentioned: PublishingTea Twitter account

Hello everybody! We are back again with another episode, and we are especially excited about this one... A few weeks ago, we spoke to J.A Mensah about her stunning debut novel, Castles from Cobwebs, which follows the story of a foundling brought up on a remote Northumbrian Island who travels to Ghana to find out who she really is.  Listen to this episode to hear more about J.A Mensah's crafting of the story, the importance of diverse books, and sinking tourists' cars at the Holy Island causeway. You're in for a treat! You can find J.A. Mensah's Northern book recommendations here: Handling Stolen Goods by Edna Stone The Girl Aquarium by Jen Campbell  The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell  Seduce by Desiree Reynolds  And the events mentioned here:  New Word Festival (26 March) Arvon At Home We are encouraging our listeners to, if they can, seek out an independent bookshop to purchase Castles From Cobwebs from. You can also buy the book, available in hardback, via Bookshop Org here.

Hello lovely listeners, we are back again with another episode! We spoke to Blair James about her recently-published debut, Bernard and Pat, a novel that explores the peculiarities of memory and the vulnerability of childhood.  Listen to hear more about Blair's research into neuroscience and psychology, writing in the child's voice, and her opinion on "gross old men" writers.  You can find Blair's Northern book recommendations here: Seagulls by Edwin Stevens  Passing Time by Michel Butor  Quiz Night by Joe Darlington (working title) MKUltra by Ben Jackson We are encouraging our listeners to, if they can, seek out an independent bookshop to purchase Blair's book from during these hard times. You can also buy Bernard and Pat, available in hardback, via Bookshop Org here. 

Happy New Year to all of our lovely listeners! We're kicking the year off with a brilliant conversation we had with Stuart Evers at the end of 2020, all about his newest novel: The Blind Light. Listen to hear more about the origins of this fantastic (and indeed, monumental) novel which spans decades of British history, beginning in the 1950s and meeting with the present day. We encourage all of our listeners to seek out an independent bookshop to purchase Stuart's novel, currently available in hardback. Lots of shops are still delivering and would appreciate your business during such a difficult time. The paperback will be released in June 2021. Buy via Bookshop Org here.

In this festive edition of Up North Books, we served up all of the book-buying recommendations that we think you'll need to shop for family and friends this Christmas. Whether you're shopping for a Love Actually addict or the politically-outspoken northerner in your life, we've got 6 recommendations that should cover those who are a little harder to buy for.

In this episode of Up North Books, we decided it was time to shout out all of our favourite indie presses in the North of England and mention some of their books that we’ve loved over the years, as well as what we're looking forward to! The independent publishing community is strong in the North and is a key part of the industry — we must support them, particularly during such hard times. They’re often pioneers of new, diverse and marginalised voices which is a key step towards making positive change in publishing, so let's keep supporting that work! Books and publishers mentioned: Dead Ink Books -Exit Management + Sealed (Naomi Booth) -London Incognita (Gary Budden) -Glitch (Lee Rourke) -Test Signal (coming 2021) -Cat Step (Alison Irvine) Comma Press -Resist: Stories of Uprising -BBC National Short Story Award 2020 Anthology -The New Abject: Tales of Modern Unease Peepal Tree Press -The Mermaid of Black Conch (Monique Roffey) And Other Stories -Theft (Luke Brown) -Many People Die Like You (Lina Wolff) -What You Could Have Won (Rachel Genn) Bluemoose Books -Leonard and Hungry Paul (Ronan Hession) -Saving Lucia (Anna Vaught) -The Gallows Pole (Ben Myers) Fly on the Wall Press -Mancunian Ways Anthology -The Goddess of Macau (Graeme Hall) UCLan Publishing -Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest (Susan Brownrigg) -Kicking Off (Eve Ainsworth) -The Witching Stone (Danny Weston)

In this episode of Up North Books, we're bringing you something a bit different. This week, in partnership with Durham Book Festival, we were very excited to get the chance to interview Mim Skinner. Mim is the author of Jailbirds, published in 2019 by Seven Dials. Inspired by her work in a women's prison, her memoir gives voice to women's experiences and rewrites the narrative on prison life. We asked Mim about the process of creating this book, as well as her newly commissioned piece with New Writing North, Camaraderie and Chaos. Links to things mentioned: Mim's book Camaraderie and Chaos  Citizen Song Writers Durham Book Festival

In this episode of Up North Books, Beth and Kate discuss two brilliant new releases: Summerwater by Sarah Moss and Exit Management by Naomi Booth. This is a spoiler-free episode with some readings, diving into some of the key themes which come up in both of these books, including the phrases produced by Brexit and the way they have infiltrated our language. 

In the first episode of Up North Books, we introduce the podcast, ourselves as hosts and set out the reasons why we wanted to create this podcast in the first place. You can also find a rundown of four of our favourite reads from northern authors which we felt captured the spirit of the north when we read them.  Our future episodes will be themed on different topics, genres or forms and each month we'll be discussing different books from the north.   Thanks for tuning in! Follow us on Twitter: @upnorthpod  @bethrdb  @whatkateread Get in touch: upnorthbookspod@gmail.com