Monday 2 July 2012

Launch of new novel InterRail

Giving a speech at the Calder Bookshop and Theatre

Many people braved the sultry London afternoon and came to the Calder Bookshop Wednesday evening, preferring our company and a glass of wine to the footballing feats of Ronaldo, Iniesta and Fabregas.

The even was the launch of my new novel, InterRail, and Jim Keeble’s The Happy Numbers of Julius Miles (recently reviewed in the Guardian) – two very different books in style, tone and setting. Jim’s book is modern, inventive, linguistically explosive and urban. My book is more traditional, gently humorous and cosmopolitan. Jim’s book has a self-styled transexual God of Love as the narrator, my book has a twenty-one-year-old Italian Candide – if such thing ever existed – as the hero of the story.

Jim Keeble
I have recently come back from an InterRail trip (my third) – and it was a real blast. You can now travel across thirty-four European countries, there is no age limit and there’s a number of flexible passes suited to the traveller’s finances and time availability. And it is even possible to travel first class. To find out more about this wonderful way to discover Europe, visit www.interrailnet.com

And to encourage more people to embrace InterRailing, we are offering the chance to win a free InterRail pass across Europe. To enter the competition, just visit our website: www.almabooks.com


Friday 17 February 2012

Important news! Alma Classics!

It's been some time since our last post and the reason for this is that we've been busy revamping Oneworld Classics and launching the new imprint Alma Classics!

In Spring 2007 Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, founders of Alma Books, launched Oneworld Classics in partnership with the directors of Oneworld Publications, Juliet Mabey and Novin Doostdar. During these five years Oneworld Classics took on the legendary Calder Publications list (founded in 1949) and launched a new music imprint Overture Publishing.

We are now delighted to announce that Alma Books has acquired Oneworld Classics and will be rebranding this amazing collection as Alma Classics. Apart from revamping these much loved titles and breathing new life into them we will also continue the Oneworld Classics mission, publishing not only the greatest masterpieces of all time but also making available unjustly neglected works of enduring significance.

Elisabetta Minervini, Alma Books’ Publisher, says: “We are really thrilled to welcome the classics into the Alma home. We like the idea of creating a dialogue between contemporary and classic authors. It will strengthen our desire to create a community of people who love literature. It is our plan to go back to the ideals that moved us when we started working in publishing: beautiful books lovingly produced; carefully selected texts of great classics from world literature, offered in new translations. Some of the new editions will be published in hardback, while other titles will be given a contemporary look with the aim of bringing these wonderful books to new readers.”

Alessandro Gallenzi, Alma Books’ Managing Director, says: "We would like to thank Novin and Juliet for helping us to set it up and being such supportive partners. It has been a pleasure to work with them, and we wish them every success in the development of their Oneworld Publications list.”

Alma Classics will continue the publishing program set by Oneworld Classics for Spring 2012 but significant changes will happen in the latter half of the year when we plan to launch new editions of bestselling titles with new covers and extra material. Most of the Oneworld Classics titles are still available for purchase however in the next three years Alma Classics will gradually replace them with new volumes.

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Thursday 5 January 2012

Kick-starting 2012

In spite of the Olympics buzz not many are optimistic about 2012 and the howling weather isn't helping much but we're hoping to start positive and prepare for some major changes this year.

To kick-start 2012 Oneworld Classics is running two competitions for UK residents, everyone who creates a free online account on our website automatically has a chance to win a set of five bestselling Oneworld Classics titles (worth over £50):
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Dearest Father by Franz Kafka
Death on Credit by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
No purchase or payment is necessary, simply log in now! Offer ends 29th February 2012.

We are also offering a set of our 10 Overture Opera Guides (worth £120!) plus a one-year free subscription to Opera Now magazine.
The set will include all the titles Overture have published so far:
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
La bohéme by Giacomo Puccini
Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Parsifal by Richard Wagner
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten
Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi
Le nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Der Fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner
To win simply tell us which opera you would like to see covered by Overture Opera Guides? Email your answer to competition@oneworldclassics.com (competition ends 15th February 2012).

For Alma Books we have decided to extend our Christmas Gift promotion and are giving every customer who makes a purchase from our website a free surprise book (valid for UK residents only, offer end 31st January).

Both websites currently have a 40% discount for every online order for January only, so this is the last chance to purchase some amazing titles at low prices.

We hope this is the start of many competitions and offers to come during the rest of the year.

Happy New Year everyone!