News & press
Award-winning playwright Robert Cohen signs to Hobart for first novel
6 August 2022
Award-winning playwright Robert Cohen has signed with Hobart Books to publish his debut novel, Architecture For Beginners.
The Sussex-based writer’s first foray into prose follows two decades as a writer and performer of shows for the stage and numerous acting appearances in films and TV.
Described by the author as an account of ‘a year spent in unwisely renewed company with a long-lost schoolfriend’, Architecture For Beginners tells of the asymmetric friendship between Alex, an architect in disgrace, and Reggie, a retired football legend. What should be but a fleeting reunion becomes something more intractable when Reggie commissions Alex to build a football stadium on his Hertfordshire estate.
‘I’ve been writing drama since my teens,’ says Robert, ‘but prose, for me, is less familiar territory. In some ways it’s more challenging – there’s no offstage area in which you can conveniently leave stuff – but that wider landscape is also liberating, so it’s been hard work, but rewarding too. As for the story, well, I guess we all have a Reggie in our lives, someone whose bad influence you savour just as much as you fear it. As a child I was warned to steer clear of such people; as an adult, you’re obliged to make those judgments on your own, and it’s not always easy.’
Adam Gardner, Director of Hobart Books, remarks, ‘Robert brings a delightfully light touch and whimsical note to his writing that encourages the reader to keep turning the pages. We’re absolutely delighted to bring ‘Architecture For Beginners’ to the reading public.’
Architecture For Beginners will be published in the late summer of 2022 and is available for pre-order from bookshops.
First-time author Gary Cockaday signs to Hobart with Full Circle
11 July 2022
First-time author Gary Cockaday has signed to Hobart Books with Full Circle, a contemporary, erotic romance, suspense thriller, with relevant adult language and content.
‘Full Circle’ centres on wealthy trust-fund playboy James, who approaches a teenage girl in the street thinking she’s a prostitute. Bystander Richard intervenes but is knocked unconscious in the ensuing brawl falling into a coma, only to be imprisoned for the crime when he recovers. Lives both ruined and ruinous become intertwined, and converge on a collision course that unpicks the mess of events.
‘I’m absolutely delighted that ‘Full Circle’ is going to be published by Hobart this summer. Adam & David have impressed me hugely from the very first contact. I love their ethos! I queried hard, receiving two offers to publish, but it was an easy decision to sign to Hobart.’
Adam Gardner, Director of Hobart Books, remarks, ‘Gary brings an earthy and fast-paced touch to his writing that is engaging and compelling. Readers will like and loathe the ensemble cast of characters in equal measure, and we are delighted to be publishing ‘Full Circle’.
‘Full Circle’ will be published in the late summer 2022 and is available for pre-order from bookshops.
Hobart author wins prestigious SoA award
18 May 2022
Hobart author Judy Upton has been award the Eric Ambler award for professional novelists by the Society of Authors.
The awards are intended to partially support authors who are creating new works, and Judy will use the prize to write the second book in her cosy crime series featuring canine sleuth 'Brownlow'. The first book in the series, 'Sniff Them Out, Brownlow!' will be published by Hobart in the summer of 2022.
S. Nadja Zajdman publishes memoirs of Holocaust survivor mother with Hobart
12 November 2021
Hobart Books today announces their latest signing, the memoirs of the noted Holocaust activist and educator Renata Skotnicka-Zajdman, compiled by her daughter, Canadian author S. Nadja Zajdman.
I Want You To Be Free is the true story of one woman’s escape from hell in the Warsaw Ghetto in WW2 to her eventual migration to a new life in Montreal.
The story follows the author’s mother, a fifteen-year-old Jewish girl from a privileged background, as she navigates her survival in occupied Poland and later in Germany, where she was a slave labourer. Not just a Holocaust survival story, the book documents her emigration to Canada and eventual settlement, marriage and family life, before she embarked on a career as a Holocaust activist and educator.
Described as ‘an essential account of Holocaust survivors who did not go to the camps’, the book gives an insight into daily life in the Ghetto, the struggles faced by survivors after liberation, and the difficulties they faced in building new lives. I Want You To Be Free is a challenging and provocative portrayal of courage, defiance and hope.
‘I am thrilled to have my mother’s memoirs published by Hobart Books’, says Zajdman. ‘Her greatest fear was not death but oblivion, and publication will ensure her story – and that of her family and friends – will survive forever.
Adam Gardner, Director of Hobart Books, remarks, ‘This is a challenging and complex book, and a diversion from our typical output, but the gripping, often terrifying, and always extraordinary story is one that Hobart is proud to bring to a wider readership. This is a story that must be told and we are delighted that we have been able to make that happen.
I Want You To Be Free will be published in January 2022.
David Roy wins Readers' Award for Absent Victim
28 June 2021
Hobart author and co-owner David Roy has won the Chill With a Book Readers' Award for June for his book Absent Victim.
The award was made following a review by three panel members judging the book against criteria of readability, strength of characters and plot development.
'I'm absolutely delighted that my work has received this recognition' said David. 'It's been a long and lonely road being an author, but now I feel it is all coming together and paying off'.
Absent Victim is the second of David's books to be published by Hobart
Award-winning playwright Judy Upton signs debut to Hobart
23 June 2021
Award-winning playwright Judy Upton has signed to Hobart Books to publish her debut novel, Out Of The Frying Pan.
With the pandemic temporarily closing theatres, the award-winning writer of plays for the Royal Court, National Theatre and BBC Radio 4 has turned her hand to fiction. Set, like many of her stage plays, in Brighton, Judy has drawn on her experiences as a member of the city’s lively artistic scene to write a captivating and suspenseful crime novel set in that world.
Described by the author as a ‘cosy crime thriller’, the book centres on sculptor Vonnie Sharpe who investigates a kidnapping, aided by her arty friends and a hapless bank robber. With wry observations and colourful characters, Out Of The Frying Pan is a roller-coaster ride through Brighton’s artistic community.
The deal was brokered by Jessica Hare of London-based The Agency.
‘I am thrilled to have my first novel published by Hobart Books’, says Judy. ‘As a new publisher they have been able to strike the balance between traditional publishing and the agility of a modern, dynamic business. The turnaround from submission to decision has been rapid.’
Adam Gardner, Director of Hobart Books, remarks, ‘Signing such an acclaimed writer as Judy to Hobart is tremendously exciting and a shot in the arm for our fledgling publishing house. We’re absolutely delighted to bring Out Of The Frying Pan to the reading public.’
Out Of The Frying Pan will be published in the Autumn of 2021.
Acclaimed poet Sam Burnside signs to Hobart
22 June 2021
Acclaimed poet Sam Burnside has signed to Hobart Books to publish his new novel, My Name Is Rebecca.
Set in Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles, and against the background of social and political change and energetic economic and cultural development of the time, the novel explores the relationship of Rebecca and two male friends as they reconcile the murder of Rebecca’s sister Ruth in a bombing on the streets of Belfast years earlier. Described by the author as ‘a novel where intangible shadows emerge to play all too readily against a human landscape alive with possibility’, the unfolding story mirrors a damaged society coming to terms with its existence after decades of conflict.
‘I am so very pleased to be part of a new, fresh, young and adventurous publishing venture.’ said Burnside. ‘Publishing needs a company like Hobart to get new literature out there, literature that should not be left to wither and die on an editor’s pile’.
Adam Gardner, Director of Hobart Books, remarks, ‘Sam brings an incredible sensitivity to his writing, and we’ve deviated from our usual genres to publish this remarkable story of relationships and reconciliation. We’re delighted to be working with him.’
My Name Is Rebecca will be published in the Autumn of 2021.