News - Ruth Scurr

NEWS

Delighted The Folio Society agreed to dedicate this magnificent reproduction of Robert Hooke's Micrographia to Lisa Jardine who did so much to promote Hooke's memory in her lifetime:

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/press/2017/06/the-folio-society-publishes-limited-edition-of-hookes-micrographia.phtml

My column for the Wall Street Journal on novels of political protest: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ruth-scurr-1487367801

Joyous response to John Aubrey: My Own Life in the Paris Review: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/01/30/aubrey-illustrated/

Delighted that Aubrey is on the Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2016 list!

http://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2016/nonfiction#book/book-18

Aubrey is getting some really wonderful American reviews:

In the New York Times -
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/books/review-john-aubrey-my-own-life-ruth-scurr.html

In the Washington Post -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/finally-a-biography-of-the-man-who-invented-biography/2016/09/07/da517caa-7063-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html

And in the New Yorker -
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/the-nix-the-lesser-bohemians-the-book-of-human-emotions-and-john-aubrey-my-own-life

My visit to the offices of the New York Review of Books

A photo from my trip to Canada promoting Aubrey, thanks to Ben McNally's bookstore

Absolutely delighted that the US edition of John Aubrey: My Own Life is on this list of 'The Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016':

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/71042-the-most-anticipated-books-of-fall-2016.html

My blog for TLS about Svetlana Alexievich at the Cambridge Union, with thanks to Cambridge Literary Festival and English PEN:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2016/06/svetlana-alexievich-at-the-cambridge-union.html

John Aubrey: My Own Life has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Biography Prize: http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2016/literary-voices-vie-for-the-uk-s-oldest-book-prize

My paperback in Waterstones and a link to my Waterstones blog: https://www.waterstones.com/blog/john-aubrey-my-own-life

My blog for TLS about judging the Observer/Anthony Burgess Arts Journalism Award:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2016/03/observeranthony-burgess-prize-for-arts-journalism.html

Here is the cover for Aubrey in America, forthcoming in September from New York Review Books

Out in paperback from Vintage Books in April

Thank you William Boyd, AS Byatt and Stuart Kelly for choosing John Aubrey: My Own Life in TLS Books of the Year:

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1637188.ece

Wonderful to find John Aubrey: My Own Life recommended in The Guardian, The Financial Times, the Glasgow Herald and the Sunday Times this weekend:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2015/nov/28/best-books-of-2015-part-one

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dbbe9112-940a-11e5-b190-291e94b77c8f.html

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14109747.Scotland_s_most_influential_people_on_the_best_books_they_ve_read_in_20

John Aubrey: My Own Life is the Telegraph's No.1 Christmas Book!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/best-100-books-for-christmas/

Delighted John Aubrey: My Own Life has been short listed for the Costa Biography Prize - he loved coffee shops so much!

In celebration of Michael Holroyd's 80th birthday at the British Library: http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2015/10/michael-holroyd-at-80.html

Looking forward very much to talking about history books and writing with Mary Beard and Peter Stothard at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. Our event is sponsored by TLS: http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2015/rewriting-history/

Very pleased to be talking at the Budleigh Salterton Festival in September: http://www.budlitfest.org.uk/ruth-scurr-budleigh-salterton-literary-festival-devon/

Looking forward to the Edinburgh Festival on 17th August: https://www.festmag.co.uk/shows/16665-ruth_scurr

John Aubrey: My Own Life beautifully displayed in the gift shop at The Fitzwilliam Museum.

Lovely blog about Portuguese Brazilian edition of Fatal Purity:

http://cafe-musain.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/retrato-de-um-revolucionario.html

AS Byatt and Philip Pullman chose Aubrey for their summer reading: so thrilled!

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/11/best-holiday-reads-2015

Proud to be included in the Telegraph's Summer Books:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/11712854/Best-books-for-summer-2015-what-to-read.html

Proud to be included in the FT's Summer Books:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bd4a767c-1b99-11e5-8201-cbdb03d71480.html

Looking forward to two festivals in June:

http://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2015/talks/biography-of-a-biographer/

http://programme.cvhf.org.uk/speaker/ruth-scurr/

Very pleased to be doing two events at the Hay Festival this year:

Ruth Scurr talks to Peter Stothard: https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9630-ruth-scurr-talks-to-peter-stothard.aspx

and

Peter Hennessy, Ruth Scurr, Leanne Wood, Rosie Boycott: https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9597-peter-hennessy-ruth-scurr-leanne-wood-rosie-boycott.aspx

Ruth Scurr with Erica Wagner John Aubrey: My Own Life

John Aubrey redefined the art of biography. In his Brief Lives we meet Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton and Thomas Hobbes; see the stones of Stonehenge and the stained glass of long-forgotten churches. Yet he is all but forgotten.

Now, in an act of scholarly imagination, the historian Ruth Scurr has resurrected Aubrey as a potent spirit for our own time, drawing on Aubrey’s own words to reveal the dry wit and irreverence of a literary trailblazer. In conversation with the author and critic Erica Wagner, she discusses her book and the life of one of the pioneers of modern writing.

Wed 6 May, 8pm: Brighton Dome Studio Theatre

Delighted to have become an honorary patron of the Cambridge Literary Festival:

http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/about-the-festival/festival-patrons/

This year I will be talking about Aubrey with Julia Blackburn and Anna Whitelock:

http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/speaker/ruth-scurr-julia-blackburn/

Talking to Sandra Smith about Irène Némirovsky:

http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/speaker/sandra-smith/

Talking to Antonia Fraser about her memoir My History:

http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/events/antonia-fraser/

Looking forward to talking about Aubrey with Erica Wagner at the Brighton Festival 6 May:

http://brightondome.org/whats_on/words/

Book Launch: 12th March 2015.
Happy 389th Birthday John Aubrey: born and reborn on this day!

Delighted to be David Aaronovitch's Desert Island Book in the Times today:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/non-fiction/article4372014.ece

My Guardian Podcast with Karl Ove Knausgaard and Alexandra Fuller on Life Writing:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/mar/06/karl-ove-knausgaard-alexandra-fuller-ruth-scurr-life-writing-podcast

My article in the Guardian on Aubrey and Our Golden Age of Life Writing:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/28/john-aubrey-and-our-golden-age-life-writing-biography?CMP=share_btn_tw

Absolutely delighted with first review of John Aubrey: My Own Life

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1523401.ece

My article for History Today: A Diary Imagined

www.historytoday.com/john-aubrey/diary-imagined

First images of finished copies of John Aubrey: My Own Life

Very pleased to be a judge of the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize alongside Tom Holland and David Horspool:

http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/pen-hessell-tiltman-prize-2015-judging-panel-announced/

Photos of the judges from the Samuel Johnson 2014 prize-giving. We were delighted to award the prize to Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk.

Here is a link to the Guardian review of our Samuel Johnson Shortlist...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/09/samuel-johnson-prize-2014-shortlist-announced-memoirs

The fifteen titles on the longlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2014, celebrating the best in non-fiction writing, are announced today, Tuesday 2 September.

The fifteen titles on this year’s longlist are:

•           John Campbell, Roy Jenkins, Jonathan Cape

•           John Carey, The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life, Faber & Faber

•           Jessie Childs, God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England, Bodley Head

•           Marion Coutts, The Iceberg: A Memoir, Atlantic

•           Nick Davies, Hack Attack, Random House

•           Atul Gawande, Being Mortal, Profile Books

•           Greg Grandin, The Empire of Necessity, Oneworld

•           Alison Light, Common People, Fig Tree

•           Helen Macdonald, H is for Hawk, Jonathan Cape

•           Henry Marsh, Do No Harm, Weidenfeld & Nicolson

•           Jonathan Meades, An Encyclopaedia of Myself, 4th Estate

•           Caroline Moorehead, Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, Chatto & Windus

•           Adam Nicolson, The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters, William Collins

•           Jenny Uglow, In These Times, Faber & Faber

•           Ben Watt, Romany and Tom: A Memoir, Bloomsbury

My Samuel Johnson Prize blog before the long listing: http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/node/352

My interview about Finella for Gilded Birds: http://gildedbirds.com/tag/finella/

John Aubrey: My Own Life (forthcoming from Chatto & Windus)

Samuel Johnson Prize 2014 Judging

Claire Tomalin to chair judges in search for ‘surprise winner’ of The 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.

Claire Tomalin, author and historian, is to chair the judges for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, the UK’s leading non-fiction prize. Joining her on the panel, at a time when non-fiction bestsellers are outselling fiction, will be Alan Johnson MP, Financial Times* Books Editor Lorien Kite, philosopher Ray Monk and historian Ruth Scurr.

Claire Tomalin comments: ‘The Samuel Johnson prize has built up a great tradition for finding surprise winners. This year we are well set to maintain the tradition, with our judges, philosopher and biographer Ray Monk, historian Ruth Scurr, politician and memoirist Alan Johnson, and journalist Lorien Kite. I am delighted to be chairing this team, and look forward to many cheerful arguments as we search for a lively, original and pellucid winning book.’

The announcement coincides with the opening of submissions for the prize. Publishers may enter up to three non-fiction books per imprint with publication dates between 1 January and 31 December 2014. The deadline for submissions is 27 June 2014. More information about submitting books can be found on www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk .

The winner of the 2014 prize will be announced on Tuesday 4th November, following the shortlist announcement in October and longlist announcement in September (dates tbc). The winner of last year’s prize was The Pike, by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (4th Estate), which has since gone on to win the 2013 Costa Book Award (Biography).