As Fenella Wilson points out in her Introduction to this collection of Neil Munro's writings on war, the theme is represented in each aspect of his career as a writer - in his fiction, journalism and poetry. A number of the short stories here, including two Para Handy tales, were published Munro's lifetime, as was his introduction to Fred Farrell's 1920 The 51st Division War Sketches, and some of the Poems. What has not previously 'seen the light of day' since The Great War are the reports which Munro wrote as a war correspondent, as a civilian and later in uniform, in 1914, 1917 and 1918. They are vivid, personal, accounts from the Western Front, widely published in a range of newspapers of the time. Stories of Scottish regiments - in kilts, with their Pipers - abound. They cushion, but don't diminish, the reality of everyday life both for soldiers on all sides in the conflict, and for the local population, amid the 'havoc' of the battlefields; 'the filthy job of human slaughter'.

Sandi Toksvig - broadcaster, writer, actor, and seeker of all things whimsical, has turned her probing mind to many of the most intriguing questions of our times in the pages of the Sunday Telegraph for many years. Now, for the very first time, these musings have been collected in one hilarious collection. In The Chain of Curiosity, Sandi takes the reader on a side-splitting journey through life's peculiarities in a book packed with wit, wisdom and wonderment. From pondering the joys of World Pencil Day to examining the intricacies of applause etiquette, and from tip-toeing around the delicate art of school report vocabulary to researching the oddest way to meet a sticky end, the tickling tidbits and intriguing revelations contained within the book will delight Sandi's fans, both old and new.

Read the definitive essay collection from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Adversary, dubbed 'France's greatest writer of non-fiction' (New York Times) 'The most exciting living writer' Karl Ove Knausgaard Over the course of his career, Emmanuel Carrere has reinvented non-fiction writing. In a search for truth in all its guises, he dispenses with the rules of genre. For him, no form is out of reach: theology, historiography, reportage and memoir - among many others - are fused under the pressure of an inimitable combination of passion, curiosity and intellect that has made Carrere one of our most distinctive and important literary voices today. 97,196 Words introduces Carrere's shorter work to an English-language audience. Featuring more than thirty extraordinary texts written over an illustrious twenty-five-year period of Carrere's creative life, the book shows a remarkable mind at work. Spanning continents, histories, and personal relationships, 97,196 Words considers the divides between truth, reality and our shared humanity, exploring remarkable events and eccentric lives, including Carrere's own. * A New York Times Notable Book *

J.G.Ballard is the author of the novels Crash, Empire of the Sun and Rushing to Paradise. Throughout his career he has also been a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers. This book collects together pieces of his journalism, grouped under themes including science and film.

A powerful and authoritative selection of critical essays and reviews by poet Padraic Fallon. Skilfully compiled and edited by his son Brian Fallon, this book is published to mark the centenary of his father's birth, and testifies to the enduring value of literature in the flux of the twenty-first century. Padraic Fallon (1905 - 1974), one of the foremost Irish poets of his generation and a prolific writer of radio plays, was also an active essay-reviewer in the leading periodicals of his day. His literary criticism was incisive and witty, his erudition lightly worn. Disinterred from old files of The Bell, The Dublin Magazine and The Irish Times, his work remains fresh and readable decades on. Fallon writes authoritatively about the key figures of the Literary Revival: Gregory, Yeats, Stephans, Synge, Shaw and O'Casey - he knew many of them - and also of his contemporaries F.R. Higgins and Austin Clarke, with whom he shared a dedicated engagement with the Irish tradition. He comines frank judgements of Eliot, Pound, Graves, Auden, Gunn, Lowell, Larkin, Kinsella and others with fascinating detours into an East Galway childhood and the folk memories of Antony Raftery. The book is built around a core of previously uncollected work, beginning with the controversial, highly influential 'Poet's Journal' (The Bell, 1951-2) and closing with the wide-ranging 'Verse Chronicles' (Dublin Magazine, 1956-8).

For avid readers and the uninitiated alike, this is a chance to reengage with classic literature and to stay inspired and entertained. The concept of the magazine is simple: the first half is a long-form interview with a notable book fanatic and the second half explores one classic work of literature from an array of surprising and invigorating angles.

For decades, Colombia was the 'narcostate'. Now it's seen as one of the rising stars of the global economy. Where does the truth lie? How did a land likened to paradise by the first conquistadores become a byword for hell on earth? And how is it rebuilding itself after decades of violence? Writer and journalist Tom Feiling has journeyed throughout Colombia, down roads that were until recently too dangerous to travel, talking to people from former guerrilla fighters to nomadic tribesmen and millionaires. Vital, shocking, wry and never simplistic, Short Walks from Bogota unpicks the tangled fabric of Colombia to create a stunning work of reportage, history and travel writing. Books of the Year 2012 Boyd Tonkin, The Independent 'Creates a portrait of Colombia that is perceptive, unsensational, and full of humanity ... Feiling is a brilliant reporter, lucid, unflinching, morally engaged, and with an occasional deadpan sense of humour .. one of the most consistently intelligent and compelling books to have appeared on any South American country in recent years' Michael Jacobs, Independent 'Tom Feiling takes us on an enlightening journey through a changing country that few understand' Rachel Aspden, Observer 'A deeply political account of one man's journey to the violent heart of modern, rural, Colombia ... a must read' Kevin Howlett, Colombia Politics 'Feiling... venture[s] into areas that have been off limits for decades ... the sense of a vibrant nation worth discovering peeks out' Siobhan Murphy, Metro 'The best British travel writers like Norman Lewis or Bruce Chatwin give the reader more than simple travellers' tales. Feiling is of their company ... a brilliant, penetrating and highly readable account' Robert Carver, Spectator Some of the best insights in the book come from the people Feiling meets, and memorably portrays ... a well-written, thoughtful book David Gallagher, Times Literary Supplement Dramatic and captivating Wanderlust 'Elegantly written and knowledgeable. Feiling writes with the eye of a seasoned journalist and the style of a travel writer' Carl Wilkinson, Financial Times Tom Feiling spent a year living and working in Colombia before making Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia, which won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, and was broadcast in four countries. In 2003 he became Campaigns Director for the TUC's Justice for Colombia campaign, which organizes for human rights in Colombia. His first book was The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over The World, which was based on over sixty interviews with people involved in all aspects of the cocaine business and the 'war on drugs,' and was published by Penguin in 2009.

THE STORY BEHIND NEW BBC RADIO SERIES AND PODCAST BLOOD LANDS Utterly gripping, timely and shocking PHILIPPE SANDS Compelling and disturbing . . . quietly devastating DAMON GALGUT This is a book of profound importance . . . A masterpiece ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH A vintage crime story . . . an extraordinary tale . . . It is written as a drama, part thriller, part tragedy ALEC RUSSELL, Financial Times A smartly paced true-crime thriller with a vivid cast of characters . . . as tense as it is disturbing JOHN CARLIN, author of Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation Two dead men. Forty suspects. The trial that broke a small South African town Look what the fucking dogs did to them, someone muttered. No-one mentioned the rope, or the monkey-wrench, or the gun, or the knife, or the stick, or the whip, or the blood-stained boots. In fact, no-one said much at all. It seemed simpler that way. There was no sense in pointing fingers.' At dusk, on a warm evening in 2016, a group of forty men gathered in the corner of a dusty field on a farm outside Parys in the Free State. Some were in fury. Others treated the whole thing as a joke - a game. The events of the next two hours would come to haunt them all. They would rip families apart, prompt suicide attempts, breakdowns, divorce, bankruptcy, threats of violent revenge and acts of unforgivable treachery. These Are Not Gentle People is the story of that night, and of what happened next. It's a courtroom drama, a profound exploration of collective guilt and individual justice, and a fast-paced literary thriller. Award-winning foreign correspondent and author Andrew Harding traces the impact of one moment of collective barbarism on a fragile community - exploding lies, cover-ups, political meddling and betrayals, and revealing the inner lives of those involved with extraordinary clarity. The book is also a mesmerising examination of a small town trying to cope with a trauma that threatens to tear it in two - as such, it is as much a journey into the heart of modern South Africa as it is a gripping tale of crime, punishment and redemption. When a whole community is on trial, who pays the price?