A moving, unforgettable memoir of two lost men: a father & his child.

He had his final heart attack in the Silver Band Club

...

The book begins with a small girl in West Kirby who is obsessed with comics: The Daily Sketch, The Daily Express & The Mirror-each of these newspapers helped to shape one of our finest illustrators. Shirley's story takes us from this gentle start, through the second world war, & to a career, which began with Art School in a blitzed Liverpool, led to Oxford, & then to London. Shirley reflects on art, & her own development, in a tale which is fascinating & full of personalities. She describes her own creative process as 'the nearest thing I know to flying into the sun' & it is this passion for the world of illustration, which shines through the book & gives it a unique personality. Lavishly illustrated throughout with sketches from her Italian sketchbooks, doodles from boring meetings, roughs from what would later become classic picture books & perfectly executed paintings done just for the fun of it, this book will be a treasured gift for those who love art & those who have grown up with the enduring characters from Shirley's books who inhabit so many homes through this country & beyond. ...

For the characters in Segun Afolabi's debut collection, 'elsewhere' is a place they must transform into home. The Far East, Europe, the Americas, Africa
- the stories are as varied as their geographical settings. In the award-winning ' Monday Morning' a refugee boy puzzles out his place in a new l&. A bereaved father in ' Arithmetic' thinks back to a confusing, youthful sexual encounter that has left him emotionally scarred; Jacinta faces a long retirement with a husband she is not sure she likes in ' Jumbo & Jacinta' & ' The Wine Guitar' tells the story of an aging musician who pays a prostitute for the gift of her youth.

These are tales of Diaspora, of people making their lives in new lands, some for the first time, others in the second or third generations. Often moving, sometimes funny & occasionally shocking, Afolabi's stories reflect the way we live now; exploring the universal need to establish family & identity in a world where the boundaries of geography, culture & language are increasingly fluid.

Afolabi's elegantly restrained prose & his fascination with the internal emotional lives of his characters
- the often painful negotiation of relationships & navigation of life's uncertainties
- mark him as a highly original & engaging new literary voice.






...

For the characters in Segun Afolabi's debut collection, 'elsewhere' is a place they must transform into home. The Far East, Europe, the Americas, Africa
- the stories are as varied as their geographical settings. In the award-winning ' Monday Morning' a refugee boy puzzles out his place in a new l&. A bereaved father in ' Arithmetic' thinks back to a confusing, youthful sexual encounter that has left him emotionally scarred; Jacinta faces a long retirement with a husband she is not sure she likes in ' Jumbo & Jacinta' & ' The Wine Guitar' tells the story of an aging musician who pays a prostitute for the gift of her youth.

These are tales of Diaspora, of people making their lives in new lands, some for the first time, others in the second or third generations. Often moving, sometimes funny & occasionally shocking, Afolabi's stories reflect the way we live now; exploring the universal need to establish family & identity in a world where the boundaries of geography, culture & language are increasingly fluid.

Afolabi's elegantly restrained prose & his fascination with the internal emotional lives of his characters
- the often painful negotiation of relationships & navigation of life's uncertainties
- mark him as a highly original & engaging new literary voice.






...

From 1950 to 1962, John Richardson lived near Picasso in France & was a friend of the artist. With a view to writing a biography, the acclaimed art historian kept a diary of their meetings. After Picasso's death, his widow Jacqueline collaborated in the preparation of this work, giving Richardson access to Picasso's studio & papers.

Volume one of this extraordinary biography establishes the complexity of Picasso's Spanish roots; his aversion to his native Malaga & his passion for Barcelona & Catalan 'modernisme'. Richardson introduces new material on the artist's early training in religious art; re-examines old legends to provide fresh insights into the artistic failures of Picasso's father as an impetus to his sons's triumphs; &

Includes:: portraits of Apollinaire, Max Jacob & Gertrude Stein, who made up ' The Picasso Gang' in Paris during the ' Blue' & ' Rose' periods.



...