Discover Caroline’s 10 Titles not to miss overleaf (p10-11)
mainly been focused on those non-fiction writers who do have a track record and here – what riches! Jung Chang, Jenny Uglow, Jonathan Freedland, Nikita Gill, Stephen Grosz, Richard Holmes, Davina McCall, Paul Kingsnorth, Elizabeth Gilbert, Tracy Borman, Michael Palin, Steve Pinker and Amy Jeffs to name but some. And two renowned novelists (Arundhati Roy and Sebastian Faulks) have taken beautifully to non-fiction writing, as has BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet, author of my Book of the Month, The Finest Hotel in Kabul. I felt entirely spoilt for choice, and I hope book buyers will feel that way too.
Non-fiction Book of the Month
are struggling to contend with. A huge change is birthing itself; a change in our human relationship with nature, with each other, with our past, with our tools. With everything.” Blimey. Maybe I will just stick
If ever there was a time to assert the importance of the creativity of human authors and illustrators it is right now
M
Upcoming Previews
y emphasis on writers and books we know and love is deliberate. For
the lengthening shadow of AI now stretches across this array of human creativity; as reflected by less merry and bright books also out this month, such as If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case Against Superintelligent AI by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares (Bodley Head). And Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth (Allen Lane) in which he writes, soul-seizingly: “All we know is that some force has been unleashed in our world which we
When the Inter-Continental Hotel opened in Kabul in 1969, its gleaming white edifice embodied Afghanistan’s hopes of becoming an affluent, modern country. Five decades later, it is a dilapidated, shrapnel-damaged shell that has endured civil war, terrorist attack, the US occupation and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. But its decaying grandeur still hints at the enduring hopes of ordinary Afghans that one day, they will live in peace and prosperity. The BBC’s chief international
History
Lyse Doucet The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan
Hutchinson Heinemann, 18th, HB, £22, 9781529151022
correspondent Lyse Doucet has been staying at the Inter-Continental since 1988 and has come to know many of the hotel’s staff and their stories while reporting from Afghanistan. Those stories – moving, often tragic but always inspiring in their inshallah tenacity – are at the heart of this captivating, deeply humane book in which Doucet gives herself only a small walk-on part as she charts the recent history of Afghanistan through the lives of those staff members; from Hazrat, the octogenarian receptionist and Abida, the first female chef to work in the hotel kitchen; to Sadeq, the 24 year old on the front desk who personifies the ambitions of a new generation of Afghans. The result is a deeply-affecting
microcosmic history that reads like a series of beautifully crafted short stories. It reminds us that when the news agenda has moved on and our screens are filled with the horrors of other conflicts, people we have stopped thinking about remain; battered and scarred but still standing, and carrying on as best they can, just like the Inter-Continental itself.
to reading about Penny Lancaster’s relationship with Rod Stewart. But seriously, if ever there was a time to assert the importance of the creativity of human authors and illustrators – whether they be celebrities, celebrity spouses, ghost writers, puzzle inventors, photographers, translators, chefs, Insta poets, TikTok sensations… whatever – it is right now. Finally, I would like to wish an
early happy birthday to one of the most beloved and enduring human creations of all time, Winnie-the-Pooh, as celebrated by Gyles Brandreth in Somewhere, A Boy and a Bear (Michael Joseph), a new dual biography of author AA Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard published ahead of Pooh’s 100th anniversary year in 2026. On his death in 1956, Milne left the rights to his Winnie-the-Pooh books in part to the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) of which I am a working Fellow. The proceeds of this gift have since been used for a whole array of good causes through the RLF, including supporting a host of professional working writers (like me) to support the writing skills of others. Just one example of the power, potential and preciousness of copyright protection as a force for good.
Submissions
New Titles: Non-fiction submissions should be sent to Caroline at St Ives, Frome Park Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 3LF. For submission deadlines, see
thebookseller.com/publishingcalendar
For submission information and deadlines, visit
thebookseller.com/ publishingcalendar
20th
June
Children’s Previews Covering titles published in September 2025.
27th
June
Paperback Preview Covering titles published in September 2025.
4th
July
New Titles: Fiction Covering titles published in October 2025.
4th
July
Discover Covering titles published in August 2025.
11th
July
New Titles: Non-Fiction Covering titles published in October 2025.
9
IVAN WEISS
Books New Titles: Non-Fiction
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