Results tagged “Author”

Queen of crime writing Martina Cole tells it like it is. And as I talk to her about the adaptation of her novel The Graft for the stage at Theatre Royal Stratford East, she tells me in her gravely Essex tones: "The crime world doesn't frighten me - if people get on my nerves I tell them I will kill them - and they believe me."

Top crime author Martina Cole is on a mission to help ensure Theatre Royal Stratford East survives un-scathed as a cultural gem.

She said: "I believe that theatres should remain at the heart of the community. Funding for our libraries is in jeopardy and I'm worried that our theatres are going to die out too."

Apparently you are never more than 5ft away from a rat at all times in London. And, according to author and full time monster hunter Neil Arnold, you're never that far away from a ghost or strange creature either.

London's spooky stuff is not just ghosts but other weird paranormal behaviour and activity such as UFOs and dragon-like creatures that fly over the capital.

What's that guy doing over there sitting on the Thames Clipper, tapping away on his laptop? Is he catching up on emails? Drafting a budget spreadsheet? Well, if that man is Farahad Zama, an FX IT director for a Wharf-based bank and celebrated author of fiction, chances are he's crafting tales of arranged marriage in a country far, far away.

A NEW vocabulary of pay freezes, staff cut backs and belt tightening has entered our offices in recent years so wouldn't it be nice to jack it all in and work for yourself.

Author Jane Green walked away from a career alternating between journalism and PR to do just that when she decided to write a novel. But it wasn't all plain sailing.

BOOK
Get Me Out Of Here
by Henry Sutton
Harvill Secker, £12.99
4/5

IN A NUTSHELL
Are you sitting comfortably? Make the most of it, you are in for a bumpy ride.

There is nothing like a good book to provide a bit of escapism, but has the credit crunch turned us into a nation of comfort readers?

Novelist and Mirror books editor Henry Sutton has had enough of the current penchant for cosy literature so has taken matters into his own hands. With his sixth novel, Get Me Out Of Here, he aims to buck the trend.