Days Like These – now available!

Given that my new book ‘Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems’ published the other week, I suppose I should bang on about it a bit.

It contains a poem for every day of the year, each one inspired by an event associated with that day – from the invention of television to World Bee Day; from Ada Lovelace Day to the founding of the NHS; from the death of Agatha Christie to the beheading of Charles I.

Subjects I’ve written about along the way include: quarks, morse code, Wittgenstein, Blue Peter, bananas, beards, unicorns, Barbie, the unification of Italy, the Rubik’s Cube, water, Scrabble, Waiting for Godot, the moon, Jane Austen, Esperanto, beer, Matt Hancock, Lego, kindness, octopuses, escalators, Countdown, Elvis, and the very angry caterpillar.

It’s available in all the usual places from which you might buy books (commonly known as ‘bookshops’).

All proceeds raised by the book will go towards paying my energy bills for the next couple of weeks.

Tickets are selling fast …

for my new shows, for reasons which remain unclear to me. Here’s a brief update on what’s what.

A few shows have now sold out: Belfast, Bristol, Corsham, Liverpool (but a new show has now been added), Otley, Painswick, Pocklington.

And tickets are disappearing fast for: Banbury, Brighton, Buxton, Colchester, Kendal, London (2 dates), Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Sale, Selby, Sheffield, and others.

I’ll be appearing at a number of festivals over the coming few months, including Hay-on-Wye, Morecambe. Tickets for Derby, Glasgow and Portsmouth will go on sale soon.

Links to all shows and tickets are here: https://brianbilston.com/upcoming-events-and-shows/

And finally, a few people have asked whether there will be book signings at these events – and the answer is generally, yes. Wherever possible, I’ll be working with a local independent bookseller so books are for sale on the day – and also very happy to sign an old book* if you want to bring it along.

* But only if it’s one of mine. It would be peculiar, for instance, for me to sign an Alan Titchmarsh novel; in fact, I would refuse to do so.

Autumn tour

I’m very excited to announce details of a series of new shows (aka ‘a tour’) taking place this autumn, in which I’ll be reading poems and making shrewd observations about the human condition and/or bin day.

There are around 30 dates and tickets are on sale now. Details & links are here …

https://brianbilston.com/upcoming-events-and-shows/

Tickets are now available for:
Banbury; Belfast; Bellaghy; Bridport; Brighton; Buxton; Cheltenham; Chippenham; Chorley; Clevedon; Colchester; Crickhowell; Frome; Kendal; Liverpool; Lytham St Annes; Milton Keynes; Norwich; Otley; Painswick; Pocklington; Sale; Selby; Sheffield; Stamford; Sudbury; Swindon; Worcester.

Caerphilly and Deal will be on sale soon.

I’ll also be at various festivals from the late Spring onwards. More on that, when I have all the details.

Finally, this month I’ll be at the Laugharne Weekend in Carmarthenshire, (24-26th March) and then in Newcastle on 28th. Tickets are still available for both.

Days Like These – live event

To celebrate publication of Days Like These, I’ll be reading some poems* in a live virtual event with @bookshop_org_uk – in support of UK independent bookshops – this evening at 7pm UK time.

More info on tickets and books can be found here:

https://bit.ly/brian_bilston_event

*approx. 21

Today’s Climate Forecast

And onto today’s climate forecast,
where we can expect to see a prolonged spell of inaction,
interspersed with patches of hazy promises
across many areas. 

Over Westminster and other centres of government,
a build-up of hot air will cause inactivity
to soar to record levels over the coming days,
in spite of the high pressure.

Elsewhere, a front of chronic misinformation
will sweep in from the east,
bringing with it a band of climate change deniers
and the chance of scattered falsehoods,

while powerful gusts of idiocy and ignorance
look set to blow across social media.
Outbreaks of ‘We just got on with it in 1976’
and ‘It’s called the British summer, mate’ are likely.

In summary: unsettling.

Days Like These – available to pre-order

I’m delighted to tell you that my new book ‘Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems’ is now available to pre-order from your local, friendly bookshop.

It’s publishing in October, just before tea time.

It contains a poem for every day of the year, each one inspired by an event associated with that day – from the invention of television to World Bee Day; from Ada Lovelace Day to the founding of the NHS; from the death of Agatha Christie to the beheading of Charles I.

It’s taken me a few years to compile this. There are quite a lot of days in the year, I have discovered – typically at least 365 – which means a lot of poems.

Subjects I’ve written about along the way include: quarks, morse code, Wittgenstein, Blue Peter, bananas, unicorns, Barbie, the unification of Italy, the Rubik’s Cube, water, Scrabble, Waiting for Godot, the moon, Jane Austen, Esperanto, beer, Matt Hancock, Lego, kindness, Countdown, and Elvis.

All pre-orders are very gratefully received, not least because they can help both the publisher and the booksellers understand the demand for a new book and plan accordingly.

Thanks for your support!

A Night In with Brian Bilston

If the above doesn’t sound too dull or terrifying a prospect, you might be interested to know I’m doing an event with Fane on 3rd February.

I’ll be reading some poems from ‘Alexa, what is there to know about love?’ and having a chat with the brilliant Ian McMillan.

More details – including how to get hold of a ticket – are here:

https://www.fane.co.uk/brian-bilston

Alexa, what is there to know about when the paperback is coming out?

I’m delighted to receive some advance paperback copies of my book ‘Alexa, what is there to know about love?’. It publishes on 3rd Feb and is available to pre-order.

I’ve taken a photo of it next to a plant because that’s what book bloggers sometimes do if a cup of cappuccino is unavailable.

Photo of a book next to a plant

It’s available through all the bookshops, particularly the independent ones. The book may or may not be appropriate for Valentine’s Day or be put to a variety of other sundry uses.

I’ve also attached a few poems from it, what always used to refer to as ‘bonus promotional content’.
Some books

It’s December so I suppose I should mention these books in case you might want to incorporate any of them into your Christmas shopping.

‘50 Ways to Score a Goal’ is a collection of poems, perfect for the football obsessive in your life, whether they’re aged eight or eighty (but not thirty-four for some reason).

‘Alexa, what is there to know about love?’ published earlier this year in a splendid-looking hardcover edition. It’s a collection of poems about love (plus a few other things like Brexit and pasta), making it the ideal gift for Sagittarians, vegetarians and Presbyterians.

‘Diary of a Somebody’ is a novel, in the form of a diary, about a complete loser called Brian Bilston (no relation). It also contains over 100 poems and for shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Goes well with a tomato and basil sauce.

‘You Took the Last Bus Home’ is, at heart, a book with some words in it. Many of these have been arranged into poems along with punctuation marks and the occasional line break. Appropriate for mums, uncles, nephews and sister-in-laws.

And ‘Refugees’ is my forwardy-backwardy poem in picture book format for children. The poem is accompanied by the beautiful artwork of José Sanabria.

They’re available from a bookshop near you. Unless you’re in North America, where generally you can only get hold of You Took the Last Bus Home and Refugees.

Also, you can find all the titles here, alongside some of my favourite books: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/brianbilston

I hope to bring news quite soon of a new book on the way but more on that anon (and on and on).