Here’s Mark Richards over at Bookanista, explaining what the new John Murrays imprint, JM Originals, is all about. Or, at least, explaining why it’s hard to explain what it’s all about.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Gutter bookshop to launch Generation last night. The place was abuzz with old and new friends and family all talking books (it was books, right?). Huge thanks to Lia for doing the launching, and saying lovely things about my book, and to Tom Morris for reading Mark Richards’ equally generous words. Thanks to Bob for hosting. And thanks to Lyndsey at John Murrays for the beautiful flowers!

I read between fingers/via my sister/in tiny increments, until finally I had the courage to read properly (turns out it’s a debut author’s dream review).

Publication day sighting of Generation out in the real world. Couldn’t resist a peek into Hodges Figgis as we went past.

Publication day finally arrived yesterday, and it was a flurry of activity. With so many books published every year—every day even (see below)—it was lovely to discover how many well-wishers the occasion still garners; thanks everyone!

It was all a bit overwhelming, really, so in honour of my fellow JM Originals author, Jessie Greengrass, whose fabulous An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It was also published yesterday, we went to the calm space of the Trinity College Zoological Museum and paid our respects to Ireland’s last Great Auk.

I’m delighted to be included in the Liberties Press Blog Summer Reads.

Thanks too for the reminder from Andrew Nugent to read The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (which also reminds me, I planned to reread The Stranger first).

And I concur with Kevin Curran: The Flame Throwers is ‘an amazing novel’.

Thanks to Seán Rocks and the RTE Arena production team for making my visit last night completely painless, pleasant, even!  The podcast is here: RTE Arena

I hung out in UCD for the afternoon because it’s nearby. Despite spending three years there, I’d somehow missed this little gem—very conducive to talking to oneself in preparation for a radio interview…

Nice to see the launch for GENERATION included in The Irish Times Literary Listings:

‘Gutter Bookshop launches
Two new novels by Irish authors will launch at the Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar next month. Paula McGrath’s debut Generation (John Murray Originals) is set over eighty years, three continents and three generations. As parents make snap decisions, the repercussions will affect their children over decades. Launched by historical fiction author Lia Mills, the free event takes place from 6.30pm on Wednesday, August 5^th.’

The final event of our pre-launch JM Originals tour was in Winchester, where a lovely group assembled in the Discovery Centre. They asked great questions, which made for a lively evening. And the previous day we were in Edinburgh Central Library, for a How To Get Published event. We met some lovely people there too. The events have been largely led by the audience, and it’s been really interesting to see how different they’ve all been, so thanks to everyone who’s come to see us on all our stops. Thanks to fellow writer, Jessie, and editorial director, Mark, and huge thanks to Lyndsey Ng, without whom we’d have been lost (literally!). 

I sneaked in a few hours as a tourist. Our Edinburgh hotel was located just up the street from Greyfriars, and I took in a Da Vinci and a couple of Raphael’s in the Scottish National Gallery, relaxed in Prince’s Street Park with My Brilliant Friend, and caught a snatch of Treasure Island in the twisty-turny Writers’ Museum on my way back.

Winchester has quite the history (all of you knew this already; I only learned it in my Lonely Planet on the gorgeous train journey from Edinburgh to London), and though I didn’t have time for a visit to Jane Austen’s house, I did visit the Cathedral where she’s buried.

Next stop on our JM_Originals tour is ‘How To Get Published’ in Edinburgh Central Library, on Wednesday. As John Murray himself hailed from Edinburgh, it’s only fitting that the event has sold out!

From there, on Thursday, we’ll take a train all the way to London, and another to Winchester, which wikipedia tells me is ‘an unspoilt cathedral city on the edge of the rolling South Downs’. Sounds good to me. Our event will take place in Winchester Discovery Centre at 7.30pm. Come along!