You're Invited to the London Launch of Some Of Our Parts on September 26th!

Come along to a conversation with Ayishat Akanbi (and say hi!) Also, a podcast link...

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TLDR: Come along to the London launch of Some Of Our Parts in Bloomsbury Square on Thursday September 26th from 5-7pm! I would be so delighted to see you there. It’s a chance to meet some of the lovely UK-based subscribers who support Peak Notions and keep it going. Don’t be shy - all are welcome. Come along and say hello!

If you are coming along, please RSVP to beth.whitelaw@bonnierbooks.co.uk to help us gauge numbers (and to make me look super cool and popular etc)

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I so utterly owe you a column. Look - I know it! I do. I’m sorry. Some Of Our Parts came out yesterday and I don’t mind admitting that this stuff is overwhelming. As a writer you go from typing in a room while avoiding people’s phone calls to suddenly being out in daylight, talking to human beings with actual human faces, and telling them about the book you wrote. People can do this stuff and seem smooth, together, aspirational, not red in the face. I’m not one of those people.

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My niece Astrid (who thankfully can’t read all by herself because this book is definitely not for four-year-olds) pictured with SOOP in the wild! (ie at Easons in Limerick)

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The Dublin launch of Some Of Our Parts takes place next Tuesday and I’d love to see you there if you’re in Dublin. I’ll be in London on the 26th for an event from 5-7pm and I’m very privileged that my friend Ayishat Akanbi, the writer, cultural commentator and fashion stylist, has agreed to talk about the book, identity and labels with me for this event. You probably know Ayishat already but if somehow you don’t, you’ll certainly be enriched by knowing her. She is a supremely insightful, articulate and unique mind. Conversations with her over the years (this will be the first one conducted in front of a crowd, mind you!) have deeply influenced my thinking on identity and helped bring this book into the world.

While both the Dublin and London launch events are scary (see earlier reference to incompetent writer sitting alone in her home office avoiding phone calls), London is the scariest for me. It’s not Ireland. I’ll be off home turf and less able to rely on my brother’s second cousin’s friend’s pilates instructor coming along to show support because they remember me from summer camp in 1996. Ireland is just full of connection and good will - it’s part of what makes us great. London is my favourite city in the world, but it’s scarier too, for both me and my little orange book. So I’d be especially, utterly heartened to see friends and readers come along to Bloomsbury Square next Thursday evening. If you’re free on the 26th, (just RSVP to the email address above), do come and say hello.

In lieu of audio this week, I beg your pardon and share instead this episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast which Róisín Ingle and I recorded in Dublin just yesterday.

It’s the most in-depth discussion yet on the book and if you’re on the fence about reading it, will help you figure out if Some of Our Parts is for you. We discuss labels like ‘feminist’, and ‘autistic’, have a frank conversation about class, loving someone who doesn’t look like you, mental health and how Ireland needs to get its shit together (that one was mostly me - sorry Róisín). Because Róisín is my friend, this interview is me at my most relaxed and ‘at home’. So despite her rigorous journalistic competence and experience, it’s a real and unguarded conversation rather than a stiff media thing. I hope you enjoy it.

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My book, Some of Our Parts: Why We Are More Than the Labels We Live By, is out now! If you’d like to order the hardback, audio or Kindle editions, they’re linked below. Thank you to every subscriber whose support has enabled me to write the book!

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