by Jim Davies (Editor), John Simmons (Editor), Rob Williams (Editor)
£9.00 on Amazon

Shakespeare was a successful businessman, as well as an actor. "Henry V" is already used as a model for understanding business ethics, but what else can the greatest playwright in history teach the modern businessperson to help them perform their role better? "Acting the Part" will contain 26 chapters written by 26 writers, exploring the relevance of Shakespeare in business life. Each writer will be assigned one of Shakespeare's plays or Sonnets - including "King Lear", "The Tempest", "Richard III", "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello", "Macbeth", "Comedy of Errors", "Timon of Athens" - to examine, contemplate on and draw out lessons and inspirations for business managers, communicators and leaders today. Shakespeare's relevance to life in general has been the subject of wide debate for centuries. This fascinating book provides a new perspective on Shakespeare's influence on modern business.

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by John Simmons (Author, Editor), Rob Williams (Author, Editor), Tim Rich (Author, Editor)
£7.00 on Amazon

Ali Smith finds that the modern landscape still suggests the other-worldly creatures she used to read about in folk tales. Niall Griffiths laments the clumsy tributes to Dylan Thomas that cover every available surface in Laugharne. Virginia Woolf's Orlando might seem to be standing beside you in the unchanged parkland around Knole. How does Jaspar Fforde's alternative Swindon compare with our comparatively prosaic version? And who would have thought the M40 such a rich seam for Will Self? Every writer contributing to this amazing tour of literary Britain continues to be inspired by the writers who lived in their region. They find, whether or not the landscape is changed, some common ground with them.

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by Stuart Delves (Editor), Jamie Jauncey (Editor), Damian Mullan (Editor)
£9.90 on Amazon

An elegant, full-colour book that details a fascinating commercial/design project based around 26 malt whiskies. This book provides a vivid and fascinating insight into a unique commercial design project, which will be of interest to anyone in design, copywriting and packaging; and contains four-colour photographs of the stunning lables produced by the project. "26 Malts" is being featured as an event in the both the Edinburgh Festival and the London Design Festival in 2005. Its feature and review coverage expected in design, advertising, marketing and branding publications, as well as in culture sections in national newspapers. What happens when you throw 26 writers together with 26 designers and give them carte blanche to create identities for 26 malt whiskies? "26 Malts" tells the fascinating story of how 52 writers and designers tore up the rule book to create the labels and identities for 26 of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's finest single cask malt whiskies. The book contains full colour plates of these stunning labels that defy all the conventions of whisky packaging and language.

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by John Simmons (Editor), Neil Taylor (Editor), Tim Rich (Editor), Tom Lynham (Editor)
£8.57 on Amazon

Notting Hill, Baker Street, King's Cross, Westminster ... the Circle Line transports us to and from many of London's most famous places, as well as some of its obscure corners (Temple, Euston Road, Aldgate). The 31 chapters of this book, each by a different writer, explore the territory around the Circle Line's stations and the network that connects them. Through fiction, poetry, memoir and reportage, they bring to life the extraordinary spirit of this complex, demanding, inspiring city.

There are 31 original stories about London, with contributions from Simon Armitage (Selected Poems, The White Stuff), Martin Gorst (Measuring Eternity), Ian Marchant (Parallel Lines, In Southern Waters) and John Simmons (My Sister's A Barista, Dark Angels).

From Here to Here is a vibrant exploration of a place rich in stories and history, and teeming with plots and characters. It's the prefect companion for any journey, but especially one underground.

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by Freda Sack (Author), John Simmons (Author), Tim Rich (Author)
£5.71 on Amazon

What thoughts, feelings and treasures lie behind the letters of the alphabet, one of the most widely used tools of communication for the past centuries?

In this beautifully designed and produced book, twenty-six commercial writers and twenty-six of the UK’s leading graphic designers team up in pairs to to create fresh, imaginative and inspirational written and visual interpretations of the alphabet.

Each team was given a letter of the alphabet to explore in the form of a graphic poster and words. The book also includes diary entries about the creative process from each team. The result is a fascinating, original and multidimensional interpretation of the alphabet, produced by people who have had a close association with letters for most of their lives.

26 Letters: Illuminating the Alphabet is the product of a unique and exciting collaboration between writing and language group 26, the ISTD, the British Library and Cyan Books as part of the London Design Festival, that will help inspire writers, artists, children, students and the public to look again at how we can use, enjoy and learn from writing and design.

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