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Simon Crump

@crumpsimon

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📚 What happens when two very different novelists sit down together to talk about writing, life and where stories come from?

Join Simon Crump and Sheena Kalayil for an evening of lively conversation exploring the experiences, places and ideas that find their way onto the page.

From experimental fiction and environmental activism to childhoods lived across continents, identity, memory and belonging, Simon and Sheena bring very different perspectives to their work.

How much of a writer’s own life finds its way into fiction? Where do characters and stories begin? How does place shape the way we write? And what does it take to find your own distinctive voice as a novelist?

With Simon’s latest novel Post It Notes from Underground published in 2026, and Sheena’s The Others long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026, there’s plenty to talk about.

Expect an engaging, wide-ranging evening about books, writing, place, identity, experience – and the wonderfully unpredictable business of turning life into fiction.

🎤 Interviewed by Bec Evans
📍 Todmorden Library
📅 Friday 13 November
⏰ 7.30pm–9pm
🔗 todmordenbookfestival.co.uk

Two novelists. Two very different perspectives. One fascinating conversation.

#todmordenbookfestival #todmorden #booklovers #novelist #calderdale

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September is always a massive month for new books, and with #SuperThursday landing tomorrow, it’s about to get even busier.

More than 5,000 books are published across this week alone, so there’s an awful lot of noise out there. Here are just a handful of recent releases I was lucky enough to get a head start on and would hate for you to miss - a few I’ve shared with you already, and one I couldn’t let pass without singing its praises.

25th August - @andotherpics

The Sleep Thief by @ibtisam.azem, translated by @sinanantoon, is the experimental first novel from the International Booker-longlisted Palestinian author. Drawn into resistance and wrestling with identity, expectation and the commodification of suffering, its protagonist Gharib comes of age through stark, sparse and dreamlike prose.

7th September - @bluemoosebooksofficial

New to paperback this week, Post-it Notes from Underground by @crumpsimon is a sharp satire of class, work and workplace snobbery, but also a book about solidarity and kindness. Difficult to judge how much is fiction and how much is ‘real’, but well worth the journey to find out.

10th September - @prototypepubs

Pig Data by @anne_vegter explores power, desire and female rage. Winner of the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize, this is contemporary Dutch poetry at once funny, tender and explosive, brilliantly translated by @albenastrid.

And lastly, one we haven’t shared nearly enough about yet, from zoologist and international bestselling author @johnironmonger.

1st September - @flyonthewallpress

Moving from Cornwall to Tanzania and back again, The Angel of St. Piran is a gripping and surprisingly playful novel about conservation and exploitation, orbiting the interconnected worlds of ecology, trophy hunting and chimpanzee politics.

Four very different books competing for your attention in an incredibly busy month - and four we think are well worth making some noise about!

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Sunday Salon. August 30th @the_trades_club

Enjoy a wonderful afternoon with authors, poets and musicians.

Hear first hand tales of the literary creative process in a louch and relaxed setting 🍭🕺🏻🎶❤️🕶️💃🏽

@crumpsimon @rozeamee @pj_smith9 @michelle.s.clarke.92

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Wee book, wee coffee, day sorted 🥤📚 There’s something totally tempting about a little book you can grab for your bag and go 🏃‍♀️

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Sunday 30th August @the_trades_club 2-4.30 pm

Enjoy a louche and relaxing afternoon in the company of three excellent writers; Simon Crump, Rozie Kellie and Roy.

Lounge band is Michelle Scally Clarke with The Omowale Band.

Free Greek Meze
Get your tickets here

http://buytickets.at/thetradesclub/2314842

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Splendid afternoon at Leeds Central library with @bluemoosebooksofficial @leonorarustamova @globalgroundhopper @simoncrump @sharonduggal @graham.samuels #bluemoosebooks #booksofinsta

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It’s time for our weekly events roundup!

We have Sunyi Dean, RJ Barker and Frances White joining us on May 21st to talk about their exciting new books.

On May 27th, we have two exciting events!! At 1pm we have Douglas Stuart here to sign copies of his latest book!

Then, we’ll be joined by Hazel McBride and Jennifer Delaney at 7pm to celebrate the release of ‘A Queen Crowned in Flames’!

On June 9th we have an incredible panel lined up! Fonda Lee, A.S. Tamaki and Soraya Bouazzaoui will be here to talk about their fabulous new books.

On the 19th of June we will have Simon Reynolds and David Hesmondhalgh joining us to talk about ‘Still in a Dream’.

Then on June 20th we have an afternoon signing with Raf Nicholson, author of ‘The Women in Whites’! This event coincides with the women’s cricket World Cup, and England will be playing Scotland at Headingley that evening.

On the 25th of June we’re to be joined by Simon Crump to talk about his novel, ‘Post-it Notes From Underground’.

Heading into July, we will be joined on the 2nd by Katja Kaine and Sarah Brooks to talk about Kaine’s YA debut,
‘Blood of Gods and Girls’!

We have Jennifer Saint and Bea Fitzgerald joining us on July 8th to talk about ‘This Immortal Heart’ and ‘A
Beautiful Evil’.

On July 9th we have Thomas D. Lee, Ruth Frances Long, Sarah Rees Brennan and RJ Barker joining us to talk about storytelling!

Lastly, for now, we will be joined by crime powerhouse Chris Carter to talk with Alex North about ‘Hide and Seek’!

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It’s Sunday, the sun’s out, and it’s been a while since I showed you what I’ve been reading lately, so I thought I’d share a little of what’s kept me turning the pages this month.

From top to bottom, a few reads I blasted through lately are The Sleep Thief by Ibtisam Azem, Post-It Notes from Underground by Simon Crump, and Attention Seeking Behaviour by Aea Varfis-van Warmelo. All three contain distinctive yet entirely different narrative voices, each politically astute, each an act of defiance in its own way.

Two poetry collections I couldn’t get enough of are Little Bitch by Ellora Sutton and Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero. Raw, funny, dark, powerful, and electric. Highly recommend.

I’m currently working through The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París, which I picked up secondhand from @brewandbinduk, and Keshed by Stu Hennigan. All the while, I’ve been chipping away at (and thoroughly enjoying) our next Opt Indie Book Club pick, Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi. I can’t wait to talk about it.

What have you been reading lately?

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A few shorter reads we’ve been dipping into over the long weekend…

We’ve been reading Post-it Notes from Underground by @crumpsimon, published by @bluemoosebooksofficial (June), a quietly powerful story about class, solidarity and kindness, and a reminder that dignity lies in how we treat one another rather than the work we do.

We’ve also been spending time with The Sleep Thief by @ibtisam.azem, translated by @sinanantoon and published by @andotherpics (August). An experimental coming-of-age novella that moves between memory and dream to explore Palestinian identity, resistance and the desire to live beyond imposed labels.

And finally, the Turkish classic Surgical Ward 9 by Peyami Safa, translated by @ralph_peters_hubbell and published by @1000horsemenpress (March), follows a teenager living with severe illness in a raw and deeply psychological portrait of longing and despair in 1915 Istanbul.

Thanks to the publishers for the early reading copies - always appreciated.

What have you been reading over the bank holiday weekend?

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Just finished reading: My Elvis Blackout by @crumpsimon

A book once described as "Primary school prose and a plot out of a cokehead's arse"

But I wouldn't put it past Simon to have written that himself 😂

#book #reading #booksofinstagram #books #simoncrump #myelvisbackout #elvis #pixel #googlepixel #teampixel #pixel5 #teampixel5 #googlepixel5 #lofi

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Got me a copy of 'Persons Unknown:The Battle for Sheffield's Street Trees' from @rhymereasonbooks. Feels appropriate to be standing here in Endcliffe Park with it, with a view of Rustlings Road. After this I hung out with @sarahjayhawley and played ping pong in the park. A very Sheffield kind of a day!

#sheffieldissuper #peoplepower #saveourtrees

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