NOVEMBER 2020

It’s November and my latest novel ‘Back to School’ has now over a hundred positive reviews on the Amazon Books website along with lots of similar reviews on Goodreads. This is encouraging and, in these difficult times of lockdown, it is good to get some feedback from my readers. The lack of opportunity to do signings and talks has meant it has been quite a lonely time with few opportunities for interaction with others in spite of the occasional zoom event.

On a more positive note I’ve just seen the art work for the cover of the next Teacher novel, ‘School Days’, to be published next year. I’ll share this when the final amendments have been made but you really have to admire the skill of the artist and the production team at Penguin Random House.

With regard to this year’s novel, ‘Back to School’, many thanks to the huge number of readers who have been in touch to say how much they enjoyed stepping back in time to share Jack’s early career in a tough school in the West Riding of Yorkshire. This novel is the 13th in the Teacher series and I have already submitted number 14 to my editor for publication next year. The new one is set in 1976/77 and is a prequel to the first novel in the original series, ‘Teacher, Teacher!’ set in 1977/78.  

The current restrictions have also impacted on my long awaited Literary Lunch event at the prestigious Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall and this will no doubt be rescheduled for next year.

Prior to the current lockdown I visited the ISIS studio in Oxford to make an audio recording of ‘Back to School’. For a couple of days I sat in front of a lectern and a microphone reading a hard copy in large print on A4 paper. The studio engineer was excellent and we completed an unabridged version lasting around ten hours. So thanks to all my partially-sighted fans out there who have encouraged me to continue recording each novel. I know this brings some relaxing entertainment to your lives.  

I’m still getting feedback on the successful zoom event following the invitation from the Open University to participate in an on line panel with my neighbour and best-selling author Carole Matthews. It was great fun and hosted with great enthusiasm by the effervescent Cinnomen McGuigan. The audience comprised around 500 students and the questions related to our work as authors. It was definitely a lively event and can be viewed here.

Also I did enjoy being a guest of the Milton Keynes Literary Festival for their on line event showcasing the terrific talent in this area. There were a number of creative writing competitions and poets and writers were given a platform to read their work with great success.

However, now it’s that time of the year again of dark nights and the gathering of the leaves.

So, best wishes to you all, keep safe and happy reading,

Jack