INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS SHOWCASE
# 4. Little Toller Books
Little Toller Books was established in 2008 purely as an imprint of Dovecote Press but Little Toller Books was established purely to seek out and revive those hard to find and forgotten books on nature and rural life.
It has since grown to be an established independent publisher in its own right publishing books by authors to seek to help us reconnect with nature and our landscape. Just recently one of the authors Dara McAnulty with his debut book ‘Diary of a Young Naturalist’ won the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing and is shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers Award #BAMBReadersAwards
With even more exciting news that Little Toller Books are to open their own bookshop at 10am on 3rd November in Beaminster, Dorset.
Keep an eye on their Twitter feed @LittleToller of visit their website: Little Toller Books for more information on what will be an exciting day for Little Toller Books.
A selection of the fiction titles currently released and soon to be released through Little Toller Books:
Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadowplay by Jeff Young
Published: 19th February 2020
Summary:
Liverpool is a city of ghosts. Through the centuries, millions have lived here or come to find a new life, and found safe harbour. More than any other city in Britain its history resonates in the buildings, landscapes and stories that have seeped into the lives of its inhabitants. In Ghost Town, Jeff Young takes us on a journey through the Liverpool of his childhood – down back alleys and through arcades, into vanished tenements and oyster bars, strip tease pubs and theatres. We watch as he turns from schoolboy truant into an artist obsessed with Kafka, Terence Davies and The Fall. Along the way he conjures ghosts and puts hexes on the developers who’ve ruined the city of his dreams. Layering memoir, history, photography and more this is a highly original approach to this great city.
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
Published: 21st May 2020
Summary
Winner of the 2020 Wainwright Prize, Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of Dara McAnulty’s world, from spring to summer, autumn to winter, on his home patch, at school, in the wild and in his head. Evocative, raw and beautifully written, this very special book vividly explores the natural world from the perspective of an autistic teenager juggling homework, exams and friendships alongside his life as a conservationist and environmental activist. With a sense of awe and wonder, Dara describes in meticulous detail encounters in his garden and the wild, with blackbirds, whooper swans, red kites, hen harriers, frogs, dandelions, skylarks, bats, cuckoo flowers, Irish hares and many more species. The power and warmth of his words also draw an affectionate and moving portrait of a close-knit family making their way in the world.
Savage Gods by Paul Kingsnorth
Release Date: 12th November 2020
Summary:
After moving with his family to a small-holding in Ireland, Paul Kingsnorth expected to find contentment. It was a goal he had sought, after years of rootlessness as an environmental activist and renowned author. Instead he found that his tools as a writer were failing him, calling into question his fundamental beliefs about language and setting him at odds with culture. Informed by his travels across the world, the writings of Annie Dillard and D H Lawrence, Savage Gods asks: what does it mean to belong? What sacrifices must be made to truly inhabit a life? And can words ever paint the truth of the world, or are they part of the great lie which is killing it?
Something of his Art: Walking to Lubeck with JS Bach by Horatio Clare
Release Date: 1st November 2019 (PB)
Summary:
In the depths of winter in 1705 the young Johann Sebastian Bach, then unknown as a composer and earning a modest living as a teacher and organist, set off on a long journey by foot to Lubeck to visit the composer Dieterich Buxterhude, a distance of more than 250 miles. This journey and its destination were a pivotal point in the life of arguably the greatest composer the world has yet seen. Lubeck was Bach’s moment, when a young teacher with a reputation for intolerance of his pupils’ failings began his journey to become the master of the Baroque. More than three hundred years later, the writer Horatio Clare set off to recreate this walk, following in Bach’s footsteps. The result of this journey is Something of his Art, an imaginative evocation of what the twenty-year-old composer would have seen and felt on his long journey is a sustained visualisation of the landscape, light and wildlife of early eighteenth century northern Germany. Bach becomes Clare’s walking companion, a vestigial but real presence, as he acutely observes the season and places he passes through.
Living with Tress by Robin Walter
Release Date: 2nd November 2020
Summary:
Trees and woods offer great potential for rebuilding our wider relationship with nature, reinforcing local identity and sustaining wildlife. We need more trees and woods in our lives, to lock up carbon, to mitigate flooding, to help shade our towns and cities and bring shelter, wildlife and beauty to places. Living with Trees is a cornucopia of practical information, good examples and new ideas that will inspire, guide and encourage people to reconnect with the trees and woods in their community, so we can all discover how to value, celebrate and protect our arboreal neighbours.
Visit the Little Toller Books Website for information on all their books: Little Toller Books
You can also find them on Twitter: @LittleToller and Instagram: @littletollerdorset and Facebook: @littletoller
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s showcase. Look out for my next Independent Publishers Showcase next week. If you are an indie publisher and would like to add your name to the showcase, you can contact me via Twitter: @TheLastWord1962
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