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Natasha Bell - author

@bytashbell

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Author, creative writing teacher & new parent. HIS PERFECT WIFE and THIS NOWHERE PLACE available now, MAYBE THE WORLD WILL END... coming soon!

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Such a privilege to get an early peek at the brilliant @carolehaileyx's exquisite third novel, The Falling. If you like intensely enjoyable yet also deeply thoughtful disaster narratives that are really about the sheer miracle and purpose of life itself, this one's for you.
Out 5th November and available to pre-order now. by @bytashbell

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10 days ago

My former student and brilliant YA writer @madeleinefaulder just sent me these pictures of her picking up my book from the gorgeous looking @brownonionbooks in Ashbourne.

If you're in Derbyshire, I'm told these lovely ladies are the best booksellers around!

I think I need to plan a trip north soon...

#supportindepedentbookstores
#ilovebooksellers by @bytashbell

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12 days ago

In preparing my previous post I came across this ridiculous review tarnishing the otherwise excellent star rating of my former student @thatsparklybec's utterly brilliant middle-grade novel, Wildheart.
If you have any young readers in your life whose souls you don't think will be corrupted by knowing that queer people exist, please buy them Wildheart for Christmas. I promise they'll love it!

#WhyRepresentationMatters by @bytashbell

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19 days ago

If you've read and enjoyed a book lately (including mine 😉), one of the nicest things you can do for the author is...

...write a review.

Why?

Because we love a bit of an ego boost, obviously, but also:

It encourages the algorithm to increase the visibility of the book,
which hopefully means it makes it into more readers' hands,
which definitely gives us a better chance of publishing our next books,
which means you'll get to read more by us!
(So it's a nice thing to do for yourself as well. Win-win 😊!)

You can post reviews on:
✅Amazon
✅Goodreads
✅Waterstones
Or anywhere else you pay attention to reviews and ⭐ ratings

They all help!

Tip: you don't need to have purchased it from that retailer to write a review there.

I wrote this post to remind myself as well. These are some of my recent favourite reads that I've just left reviews for:

⭐Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
⭐Minor Detail by Albania Shibli
⭐Use the Words You Have by Kimberly Campanello
⭐Book of Mutter by Kate Zambreno
⭐The Strangers by Naomi Alderman
⭐The Daughter in the Cellar by Yvette Davies
⭐Wildheart by Bec Manser
⭐The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance by Chiara Bullen
⭐Jamaica Road by Lisa Smith

If you're looking for a new book, check them out!

Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing ❤️❤️❤️ by @bytashbell

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19 days ago

Thank you to everyone who came out to (belatedly) celebrate the launch of Maybe the World Will End So We Won't Have to last night. It filled my heart to see so many brilliant writers, friends and family together in one room.

Special thanks to my brilliant publisher and editor @willhdady and the beautiful @burleyfisher for hosting.

And, of course, to little E - baby's first book launch! May there be many more...

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡 by @bytashbell

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a month ago

A joyful evening celebrating the launch of Maybe the World Will End So We Won’t Have To @bytashbell at the indie paradise @burleyfisher 🙌

Officially out in the world! 🖼️

#bookstagram #bookig #bookshop #indiepublishing by @bytashbell

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a month ago

This is the most beautiful, devastating, honest, imaginative, amusing and moving book I've read in a long time.

The fictional @naomi_alderman at least dislikes the term autofiction, but this novel dances on the line between fiction and nonfiction and demonstrates everything I find truly exciting about hybridity, whatever we label it.

10/10

#TheStrangers
#NaomiAlderman by @bytashbell

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a month ago

Nowhere better to start this magnificent book: #Shorelines by @alyciap_

I'm highlighting so much already. This section has got me thinking about how what life writers choose not to write is often as important as everything they do. And how the absences in any narrative of the self are always somehow present.

💯 recommend!

#lifewriting
#naturewriting
#hybridwriting
#bookrecommendation
@canongatebooks by @bytashbell

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a month ago

Author Harry is struggling to figure out what comes next. Divorced and living with her new partner in a London house-share, she knows she should be writing – after all, she has a book due out any day now and her agent urgently wants to know what she is working on next. So she creates a version of herself called Natalie, intending her to be a bolder, more confident version of Harry, and embarks on recreating moments from her own life on the page, exploring different outcomes. But when a health scare threatens the life she has carefully rebuilt, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.

One of the things I loved most about this novel is how it explores what the act of writing means to the writer. At first Harry uses her own life as inspiration because it seems such an obvious source of content, and other authors she admires have done the same. But what starts out as a means to process events going on around her – and a way to give some of the thoughts she can’t say out loud space to breathe – soon spirals into attempts to control real life events through her narrative. As someone who has always seen art as therapy, the idea it can become so toxic gave me much pause for thought. It also raises questions around the ethics of capturing on paper the lives of those around us. Do we have any kind of ownership over our own experiences? Add to this poignant explorations of identity, friendship and mortality – and the fact this is just damn good writing – and Maybe The World Will End So We Won’t Have To is one of those reads I am longing to discuss with others. For this reason alone, you should buy it so we can talk.

The multitudinous layers of meaning have my brain ticking over at high speed. Is there any such thing as reality? Does art imitate life or life imitate art? If anyone needs me I will be over here pondering life’s bigger questions. This is a fascinating read.

#bookreview #bookblogger #booksworthreading #autofiction #bookstagram by @bytashbell

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a month ago

Is there anything more lovely than seeing your book facing out and on a table?

Signed copies of Maybe the World Will End So We Won't Have to now available at the equally brilliant @gaysthewordbookshop and @lrbbookshop.

And if you need someone to talk to about the book, Lucy at Gay's the Word has just finished it...

#supportindepedentbookstores
#supportqueerbusiness
#booksellersarethebest by @bytashbell

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a month ago

Everyone from Jericho Writers is sending huge congratulations to Natasha Bell, whose novel Maybe The World Will End So We Don't Have To has just been published earlier this week.

Natasha works with us as an editor, mentor and tutor on our Ultimate Novel Writing Programme. Want to learn more or join the next intake of the course with other acclaimed authors as your tutors? Head to our website for further information.

#publishedauthors #newbook #writingcourse by @bytashbell

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