NON-FICTION
© Josh Sisk
NON-FICTION
JACKIE KAY is a Scottish poet and novelist, and she is the National Poet of Scotland. The recipient of numerous prizes, she was also twice shortlisted for the Scottish Book of the Year Award. She is currently Chancellor of the University of Salford, and divides her time between Glasgow and Manchester. @JackieKayPoet
Bessie Smith Jackie Kay Scotland’s National Poet brings to life the tempestuous story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived. Bessie Smith – singer, icon, pioneer – was born in Tennessee in 1894. Orphaned by nine, she sang on street corners before becoming a big name in travelling shows. In 1923 she made her first record for a new start-up: Columbia Records. Launched into stardom, Smith’s life was notoriously difficult. She drank pints of ‘bathtub gin’, got in violent fights, spent huge sums of money and had passionate affairs with men and women. She once single-handedly fought off a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. As a young black girl growing up in Glasgow, Jackie Kay found in Bessie someone to idolise and with whom she could identify. In this definitive book Kay mixes biography, fiction, poetry and prose to create an enthralling account of an extraordinary life. ‘[Jackie Kay] offers the most vivid evocation of Bessie Smith I have ever read.’ Ian Carr, BBC Music
18/02/2021 PB | 9780571362929 | 208pp | £9.99 Ebook | 9780571362936
We Own This City A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption in an American City
Justin Fenton In his debut book, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter adds to the line of classic true crime writing with the true story of ‘one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation’ (New York Times).
A crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun, JUSTIN FENTON was part of the Pulitzer Prizenominated staff recognised for their coverage of the Baltimore riots that followed the death of Freddie Gray. This is his first book.
Baltimore, 2015. As riots threatened to erupt across the city, with people demanding justice for Freddie Gray, drug and violent crime were surging. For years, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins and his team of plain-clothed officers – the Gun Trace Task Force – had been the city’s lauded and decorated heroes. But all the while they were stealing drugs and money and gaming the system. Because who would believe the dealers, the smugglers or even law-abiding citizens over the word of the city’s elite task force? Now, in light of their spectacular trial of late 2018, and in a work of astounding reportage and painstaking self-discovery, Justin Fenton has pieced together a shocking story of systemic corruption.
World ex USA & Canada
25/02/2021 PB | 9780571356614 | 352pp | £14.99 Ebook | 9780571356638 UK C/Wealth ex Can open EU
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