Instead of our regular Lit Bits post, we've gone all seasonal and are recommending some of our best reads of the year for your wish lists.

Jess Ruston:

I would pick One Day, by David Nicholls. As well as having a beautiful cover which makes it a lovely present, it's a delight on the inside from start to finish - astute, funny, sad, touching, and above all, true.

Debi Alper:

Too Many Magpies by Elizabeth Baines. Deceptively simple, a beautifully crafted novel in which every word seems to have multiple layers of meaning. Also The Killing Jar by Nicola Monaghan. The narrator of this book is a character who will remain with me for ever. At times, almost unbearable painful but ultimately uplifting and life-affirming.

Emma Darwin:

The Collected Stories of Lorrie Moore (Faber) is a new and glorious compendium of one of my generation's finest short story writers. Each of Moore's stories is a Tardis-like miracle, holding more inside itself - more feeling, thought, history, hope and despair - than seems possible before you go inside.

 Elizabeth Baines:

Ninni Holmqvist's The Unit: a stunning Swedish debut which presents an all-too-believable dystopia where those no longer useful to society submit to incarceration in the seemingly idyllic 'Unit'. Through prose as calm and dispassionate as the atmosphere of the Unit, Holmqvist presents a deeply moving as well as thought-provoking story. The English translation due for publication in the UK in March 2010 by OneWorld.

Brian Clegg:

We Need to Talk about Kelvin by Marcus Chown - A wonderful, readable popular science book: for entertainment value, and driving pace, Kelvin never lets the reader down. From the start we are bombarded with amazing facts, driven by Chown's very effective idea of taking everyday aspects of human existence and exploring the exciting science that lies behind them.

Tania Hershman:

Feeding Strays by Stefanie Freele, an astonishing collection of 51 very short stories, intense, rich and deeply imaginative. I defy anyone to read more than one story without having to put the book down to let it sink in.

Sarah Salway:

Keri Smith's How to Be An Explorer of the World made me think most this year about how I can look at, and record the things, I see every day. Although it's not necessarily a book for writers, it's about that sideways 'what if' glance that helps us make up original stories.  Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own is a great description of how we create and inhabit our environment. Also good on the creative, and practical, process of designing something solid.  Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall because it made me remember all over again that joy of getting lost in a book. Except you're not lost, you're just living a different life and it was like being a teenager again, being forced back blinking into the real world to cook supper etc. Except, of course, no teenager I've known cooks supper. hmm... getting a bit caught up here. Just to say. Good book!

Dave Roberts:

Another vote for One Day from me. Lovely book, which will make you very popular with the recipient. Also enjoyed Death, Destruction and a Packet of Peanuts by Chris Pascoe. It's about a history buff and his idiot friend visiting English Civil War battle sites, and dropping in on the local pubs while they're there. Very funny and superbly brings that particular chapter in history to life.

That should be enough to keep you going for a while.  Happy festivals of  light to all our readers!

Looking forward to seeing you in the next decade.

Remember, remember ...  lots of dates in November.  The month is full of launches, events and news for readers and writers, published and yet-to-be published.

Elizabeth Baines will read for Chorlton Book Festival at the Lounge Bar, 478 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Monday 9th November 7pm. Free. Reading and chance for audience discussion.
The official London launch of Elizabeth's new novel, Too Many Magpies, will take place at the Calder Bookshop, 51 The Cut, London SE1 8LF T: +44 (0)20 7620 2900. Tuesday 17th November, 7pm. Free.
Elizabeth will read with Ride the Word, a group of authors published by Salt at Cafe Yumchaa, 45 Berwick Street, Soho, London W.1 (Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Rd. All Oxford Street buses - to Berwick St stop.) Wednesday 18th November, 7- 9.15pm. Free admission.

The latest Nottingham Writers' Studio Word of Mouth readings will be curated by Nicola Monaghan, who will also read from work in progress on the night. The readings take place in the Len Maynard Suite at the Royal Concert Hall Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 7:15PM. £5/£4 members in advance or on the night available from the Concert Hall Box office: 0115 9895555. For further details see here  or the Writers' Studio website.

Jessica Ruston will be joining Susan Hill at two bookshop events in November - on the 18th at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights and on the 20th at Mostly Books in Abingdon. Susan will be talking about her life in books and the joys of reading following the publication of her latest work, Howard's End is on the Landing, and she will be introducing Jessica, debut novelist and author of Luxury. ("This sleek story about addiction, scandal and revenge is utterly thrilling. Five stars." Closer magazine) 

Sally Hinchcliffe will be appearing at the Crossing the Bar bookshop in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders to sign copies of her book, Out of a Clear Sky, at lunchtime (from 12 noon) on Tuesday, 3rd November. More details here

The East Dulwich Writers' Group is celebrating 10 years of supporting local creative writing talent, during which time the mailing list has swollen to over 100 members.  The group is publishing an anthology, Hoovering the Roof,  which contains novel extracts, short stories and poems, including an unseen extract from the 4th novel by Debi Alper.  A launch event will take place 7.00-9.00 pm Thursday 26th November at the Bookseller Crow on the Hill in Crystal Place.

Many of the people reading this are no doubt talented writers who deserve to be published but it hasn't happened for you (yet). One way to get recognition for your words is to enter competitions.
In which case, you might be interested in the Brit Writers' Awards Unpublished 2010.There are adult and child categories for novels, short stories, poems and songs with a whopping £10,000 prize.
You can make as many submissions as you like once you've paid the one-off admin fee of £10.95. Entry rules and conditions are here. Judging criteria here.

How do you fancy a whole weekend devoted to writing? Would it help to know there is an amazing line up of authors, editors and agents? That it will be held on the campus of the fabulous York University with en suite accommodation and all meals provided? That the price for the full weekend (£345) also includes all events on the programme, your choice of workshops and 3 one-to-one slots where you can directly pitch your writing to a top agent? That there is also a one day option (£145) or a mini course (£60) on the Friday? If so, welcome to the Festival of Writing 2010 which will take place next April.  Tickets on sale from 1st November.

Mystery Women, whose aim is to 'raise the awareness and profile of female crime writers and provide a forum for enthusiastic crime fiction readers', has secured a stall at the forthcoming Collectormania event at Earls Court, Olympia, 28th and 29th November.  Debi Alper will be one of the authors signing books and rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood stars.   

And if that isn't enough to be going on with, check out the other festivals taking place in November here.

The golden days of Autumn are here and we have some solid gold events coming up.  Talk about something for everyone ...

Emma Darwin is busy this month. On Thursday 8th October she's appearing at the Wimbledon Book Festival where she'll be talking to Jayne Buxton about A Secret Alchemy and The Mathematics of Love. On Thursday 15th October, at the Guildford Book Festival, she and Maeve Haran will be discussing how writers turn real history into modern fiction, with Elizabeth Buchan. Emma has a special affection for the Guildford Festival, because it was when The Mathematics of Love was shortlisted for their First Novel Award that she first realised that people other than her agent and her editor thought she’d written something worth reading.

To add to the above, we at Bookarazzi are particularly excited this month following the announcement that A Secret Alchemy is one of The Times's Top 50 Paperbacks of 2009.

Elizabeth Baines' new novel Too Many Magpies is published by Salt Publishing on Oct 1st, and she will be reading from it at Northern Salt, a Manchester Literature Festival event on Sunday 18th October, 3-4 pm. at the Whitworth Art Gallery. (A free event.) Three other Salt authors, short-story writers Robert Graham and Mark Illis and poet John Siddique, will also read at the event.

Jessica Ruston's debut novel, LUXURY, is published on 15th October.
'Luxury oozes glamour, wealth and scandal - a fantastic debut. *****' says Company magazine.

Jessica will be talking about her book at the Wimbledon Bookfest on Monday 5th October, with Penny Vincenzi and Jojo Moyes . She will also be giving a talk at the London Writers' Club on Tuesday 13th October about narrative, structure, story and plot.

Caroline Rance is appearing at Chester Literature Festival on Mon 12 October, 1pm-2pm at Oddfellow's, Lower Bridge Street. Caroline will be talking about her debut historical novel, Kill-Grief, which is set in Chester in the 18th century. Caroline Smailes will be appearing the following day.

Nicola Monaghan is featured on the Write Lion Podcast  coming out beginning October and will also be appearing at the Left Lion Circus Extravaganza on 3rd October - exact time and venue tbc.  See the Left Lion site for details.  She will also read from her work at The Flying Goose cafe in Beeston, 7:30pm on 20th October.

On October 15th, Greg Stekelman aka The Man Who Fell Asleep will be reading from his book, followed by a Q+A and some booze, at Bou Tea, a cafe in Covent Garden. You can see photos of the last event here.

And how exciting is this???   Brian Clegg won the IVCA Clarion Award for books at a ceremony in London's British Film Instute on Friday 25th September. Yes, you read that right.  He WON!

The Clarion Awards are for media promoting CSR, sustainable development, social inclusion and ethical debate. According to the judges, Brian's Ecologic 'brings a clarity of thought, economic focus and psychological understanding to expose the woolly thinking, misleading statements and propaganda which undermine the genuine requirements for sustainable environmentalism.'

It's unlikely you'll have any spare time after all the above, but just in case, details of the other literary festivals happening this month are here.

Phil Whelans will be splitting his sides this Hallowe'en in his comedy writing workshop on October 31st. Among the comedy gods he’s written for are Joan Rivers, Jimmy Carr, Armstrong and Miller, Basil Brush, Brian Conley, Jason Byrne, a constellation of latex stars in Spitting Image and any celeb who happened to wander onto the Wembley stage at Al Gore’s Live Earth.

December 12^th: Mil Millington explores real things - aspects of human psychology or philosophical questions - to explore the basis of a novel. It works for him; his first, 'Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About' led to him becoming one of the Guardian's Best First Novelists in 2002. Since then he's written three more critically acclaimed novels, and for various newspapers and magazines as a features writer and a columnist. His most recent novel, 'Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life' came out this year, as did the serial 'Sexton Blake: Detective!' for BBC Radio 2.

Comedy heroine, Jill Edwards and the Vicar in a Cowboy Hat, Pete Owen-Jones are all lined up to probe the way we think and write over the next few months.  And with plenty of beautiful places to stay and prices between £30 and £70 per room, The Sussex House Party is a weekend retreat you'd be hard pushed to find elsewhere.

So, the long (but not long enough) hot (but not hot enough) summer is almost behind us ...

But don't despair.  There's plenty going on to distract and entertain book lovers.

Tania Hershman will be reading at the launch of the latest issue of the London Magazine at the ICA in London on Sept 11th (7.30pm) and at Ride the Word XV at the Soho Cafe, 45 Berwick Street, Soho, London, (7-9.15pm) on Sept 23rd.

Tania is also celebrating the first birthday of her highly acclaimed book of short stories, The White Road and Other Stories by giving away signed copies as well as talking about how the first year was for her, the bad and the good! Pop into her blog to find out more and to win a copy.

Barbara Smith reads as part of the Poetry Divas collective at the Spoken Word tent at the Electric Picnic festival, Stradbally, Co. Laois, Ireland. 12pm Sunday 6th September. This is just one of the Divas' many outings at summer festivals in Ireland. For more info check Electric Picnic website

Emma Darwin and Debi Alper are running a one day workshop at Waterstone's, Piccadilly on Saturday 26th September for the Writers' Workshop.  This course is entitled Novels - Getting Started and deals with the basics.  Details including info on how to book a place are here.

Didsbury Arts Festival: Talking Fiction: Elizabeth Baines, Carl Tighe and Cath Staincliffe will be reading from their latest work and talking about the various forms of fiction they write at the Northern Lawn Tennis Club, Palatine Rd, Didsbury, 7.30 pm, Saturday 26th September. There will be a chance to buy the authors' books and have them signed. Elizabeth's new novel Too Many Magpies will be hot off the press. A free event.

And if festivals are your thing, you can find details of many more here.

The Salt Readers' Prize: Vote for the Salt book you found most important.
This summer Salt Publishing almost went bust but were pulled back from the brink by a masterstroke, the Just One Book Campaign. If enough people bought just one Salt book, the shortfall could be covered and Salt could be saved. The response was magnificent and Salt did survive. The danger is not over, however, and the campaign now continues with the Readers' Prize, a publicity campaign for the Salt list. You can vote for the Salt book you have find 'most important' by going to this Facebook Page and leaving your vote in the comments, by Tweeting @saltpublishing or #JustOneBook, or by emailing chrisatsaltpublishingdotcom. Two Salt story collections are written by BWBDers, The White Road and Other Stories by Tania Hershman, and Balancing on the Edge of the World by Elizabeth Baines.
The poll closes on September 15th.

In an effort to drum up sales (which have been really good...no, wait...poor, yes, very poor) I have decided to experiment.

People put up web comics, and sell books off the back of them (books of the same comics already available online). 

So, I'm putting up Trucking Hell as a looooong serial. And see if that produces sales! you never know!

A double whammy post this month, to take you through the (hopefully long, hot) summer.

Jessica Ruston's debut novel, Luxury, is out in hardback on the 9th July, published by Headline Review, who call it 'a scandalously good look at life lived in the lap of luxury'.

Sexy, smart New Yorker Logan Barnes knew how to take what he wanted to get where he wanted to be. But you can’t win the girl, make the money and live the high life without picking up enemies along the way... There’s only one enemy who matters, and that’s the friend Logan betrayed years ago – Nicolo Flores. He got mad, but better still he got even, waiting in the wings to pull the plug on Logan and see his fortunes come crashing down. Now Logan’s back, in London with a perfect wife, perfect family, and the perfect jewel to crown his rebuilt hotel empire: a stunning island getaway for the truly über-rich. Nicolo’s crazy to find a way to crush him again – but with gambling, addiction, sex and scandal all knocking on the Barnes’ family door, maybe they’ll destroy themselves before he even has a chance to...

Order from amazon or other online retailers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luxury-Jessica- ... 370&sr=8-1
and see Jessica's website for an extract from the book and news of events - http://www.jessicaruston.com

Also out in July, the latest book by Sue Mongredien: Prince Jake - Monster Madness by Sue Mongredien, illustrated by Mark Beech. The Prince Jake books are monstrous fun for 6-9-year olds, and are published by Orchard Books at £3.99 each.

Jake's the prince of pranks but even he is surprised when the press descend on the royal castle, all having believed Jake's story about a bone-crunching, ten-tentacled monster that lives in the moat. Well, if they want a monster, then he's the perfect person to GIVE them a monster... and before long Prince Jake has cooked up a right royal surprise for everyone...

On Thursday 2 July, Caroline Rance will be reading from her historical novel, Kill-Grief, at Fulham Library. The event, which also features authors Candi Miller, Peter Cave, Michael Marr and Alec Silifant, is part of the Exclusively Independent initiative to bring together indie publishers and booksellers (http://www.exclusivelyindependent.com/). As well as reading, the authors will be discussing their experiences of writing and getting published. The event starts at 7.30pm and tickets are available free from Debby Wale on 0208 753 3820 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Leisur ... endent.asp

Caroline also has a couple of book signings coming up – Waterstone's Chesham, Bucks on Sat 18 July from 11am to 2pm, and Borders, Cheshire Oaks, on Sat 16 August starting at 1pm. See her website at http://www.carolinerance.co.uk for more details.

Wednesday 8th July, 7pm. Elizabeth Baines will read and talk about her work at the Oxfam Bookshop, 778 Wilmslow Rd, Didsbury Manchester, M20 2DR 0161 434 5380. This is one of a fortnight-long series of author events at the shop for the national Oxfam Book Fortnight http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/bo ... kfest.html

She will also read at the Independent Book Fair in St Ann's Square, Manchester, Friday 17th- Sunday 19th July, author readings daily at 2pm, 3.30pm and 5pm. Details TBA, please keep an eye on Elizabeth's website http://www.elizabethbaines.com

Nicola Monaghan is reading on Weds July 8th at 7.15PM at the Nottingham Writers' Studio Word of Mouth event in the Len Maynard Suite of the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, an evening of new work by NWS members. Guest curator: Michael Eaton. Readers to include: James Urquart, Jon McGregor, John Lucas and Nicola Monaghan.

On 25th July Debi Alper and Emma Darwin are running a one-day workshop on Self-Editing Your Novel. Hosted by Writers' Workshop at Waterstone's Piccadilly in Central London, this workshop is designed to give you the self-editing skills that will serve you well both for this manuscript and for everything else you ever write. Learn to look at your own work with the eye of a demanding, professional reader, and develop a toolkit for dealing with what you see. For more details see http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/wshop_ ... ndon.shtml

Sally Hinchcliffe will be appearing alongside Thomas Legendre at the the Edinburgh Book Fringe on Wednesday 19th August at Word Power Books, at 1pm. She will be reading from her first novel, Out of a Clear Sky. For more details and how to get there, please see the Word Power website.

We expect to be adding more news and events to this post over the coming weeks, so don't forget to keep checking ...

Meanwhile, here  and here are some lit fests to be going on with ...