Polly James

Tel : 01603 516323

Interview on Talk Radio Europe

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I was interviewed by the radio presenter Hannah Murray recently, and we had such a laugh together, I almost forgot I was being recorded at the time. That could have proved catastrophic, but hopefully didn’t – though you can judge the outcome for yourselves when the interview is broadcast during tonight’s episode of The Book Show on Talk Radio Europe, also known as TRE.

My husband was quite worried about my tendency to say the first thing that comes into my head, until he heard the interview. Then he said he was REALLY impressed with me.

“Why?” I said. (You have to make the most of compliments when you’ve been married for thirty million years.)

“You didn’t swear at all,” he replied. There followed a brief pause, before he added: “Though you did say ‘half-arsed’ once.”

The Book Show begins at 6pm UK time, and you can listen online by clicking here. I’m the second guest on tonight’s show, so my interview starts about 20 minutes into the programme.

If you’re less easily offended than my husband is, but somehow managed to miss tonight’s broadcast anyway   – maybe because you were too busy late-night shopping to listen to the radio – then there’s no need to despair. The show will be repeated on Saturday August 27th at 7-8pm UK time.

In Female First today: “Ten Things About Me and My Books”

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It’s a weird feeling for a virtual recluse to suddenly feel as if she’s everywhere all at once, even if that “everywhere” is mainly virtual. (The last bit’s a good job, given the outfit I’m wearing today.)

Here I am again, this time in Female First magazine, anyway – and giving away a load of inside info about me and my books.

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/polly-james-would-like-to-meet-956805.html

Saturday magazine describes “Would Like to Meet” as a ‘must-read’.

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My cousin-in-law (the lovely Jayne) just sent me some great news: Saturday magazine (The Daily Express) carried this small piece about “Would Like to Meet” on Saturday. Even better, they described the book as a ‘must-read’.

Thanks, Saturday magazine – and thanks to Jayne, as well!

Saturday - Would Like To Meet

Blog Tour coming shortly for “Would Like to Meet”

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Just thought you guys might like to know that I’m doing a ‘blog tour’ about my new book soon.

I know it can seem a bit of a weird concept to ‘tour’ the internet talking about your books on other people’s blogs, but I really enjoyed it last time I tried it. That was when I did the blog tour for “Diary of an Unsmug Married”, and it was great – not only did I get to meet lots of really great book bloggers who shared my passion for books, but I also got to chat to their readers too.

I’m chuffed to bits to have been invited to join so many book bloggers this time around, and would like to thank them all for having me, in advance!

Here’s the itinerary for the blog tour for “Would Like to Meet”, and I really hope you’ll join me at one of my stops along the way.

Blog tour

Interview in The Warrington Guardian.

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I moved around a lot as a child, or rather, my parents did, and I went with them. (No other choice when you’re a child.) Of all the places we lived after leaving my home town in Wales, one of my favourites was Warrington, which is full of really friendly people who reminded me of the Welsh. That’s why I was so thrilled when The Warrington Guardian interviewed me about my books.

You can read the full interview either by clicking on this picture, or via my media page.

JPG INTERVIEW: Polly James on being shortlisted for an Orwell Prize, her new book Would Like To Meet and

And the book reviews start coming in, cue instant panic…

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It’s the moment I guess every author really dreads, or I do, anyway: when the first reviews of your new book start coming in.

Until that point, the only people who’ve read the manuscript that you’ve spent most of the previous year wrestling with are your agent and your editors – unless you’re one of those writers who shares your work with family and friends as you go along.

I’m not one of those, so the first inkling I ever have of whether my book’s going to appeal to anyone who wasn’t involved with publishing it is when someone at Avon Books’ PR company sends me a link to a review. Then I become overwhelmed with nausea and have to sit down for the next ten minutes until the panic starts to wear off. After that, I read the review, with bated breath and my fingers crossed.

That’s what I did first thing this morning, when I heard that not one, but two national newspapers had reviewed “Would Like to Meet” on the same day. Double the reviews caused double the nausea, followed by an extended period of sitting down and trying to get a grip.

Having sort-of done so, I read the first review, which was by Sara Lawrence at the Daily Mail.  She really liked the book! (You can read the full review on my media page, or by following this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-3645515/CHICK-LIT.html)

Then I opened today’s copy of the Sun. Would my luck hold out?  I had yet another funny turn before I could face reading this next review, but again, Tania Hadley (the reviewer) liked the book. Cue one VERY happy writer. (For at least ten minutes, until the worrier part of me decided that something was bound to go horribly wrong very soon, since today had gone well so far. There’s no pleasing neurotics like me.)

Anyway, if you’d like to read the Sun review, there’s a scan of it below, and also on my media page.

Sun review

Clip of the audiobook of Would Like to Meet

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I’ve just heard this clip for the first time, and it’s a really weird experience, listening to someone else’s voice narrating words you wrote and that you’ve always heard in a certain way in your own head until now.

It almost feels as if you’re inside a reader’s head, experiencing reading your book as they experience reading it themselves – which is quite wonderful, in a way.

You can listen to the audio clip by clicking here: https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio/would-like-to-meet-by-polly.