Francis Plug is a troubled and often drunk misfit who causes chaos and confusion wherever he goes—and where he most likes to go is to real author events, collecting signatures from the likes of Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Eleanor Catton. As he adds to this collection of signed Booker first editions, Francis—a wannabe author himself—is also helpfully writing a self-help manual. Devised with the novice writer in mind, it is full of sage wisdom and useful tidbits to help ease freshly published novelists into the demands and rigors of author events, readings and general life in the public eye.
And so too, cultivating a photographic 'look' for the many publicity shots you will be subjected to is also a good idea—Francis's personal choice being that of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. With advice like this, and Francis' warm and deranged personality, How to Be a Public Author will prove essential reading for anyone with an interest in the literary world.
The Man Booker Prize becomes a springboard to explore what it means to be an author—and a human being—in the twenty-first century. This novel is certain to be one of the main talking points when the Man Booker Prize is discussed this year, as well as one that will endure long after the controversies have died down. It is an exceptional piece of writing—a novel that readers will love and return to, time and time again.
Paul Ewen is a New Zealand writer based in south London. In NZ his work has been published in Landfall and Sport, and in the UK his stories have appeared in the British Council's New Writing anthology (edited by Ali Smith and Toby Litt), and also in the Times Higher Education Supplement and Tank magazine. He has written for Dazed and Confused, and is a regular contributor to Hamish Hamilton's online magazine Five Dials. His first book, London Pub Reviews, was called 'a cross between Blade Runner and Coronation Street' (Waterstones) and 'a work of comic genius' (Dan Rhodes).
Francis Plug—long-time companion of Paul's, if only in a parallel universe—is a key figure in the British literary scene, regularly found in the company of today's highest profile authors. Based in Tufnell Park, London, he also works as a residential gardener (with very competitive rates). According to Francis, How to Be a Public Author, his first book, was written with the assistance of his amanuensis, Paul Ewen.
'Francis Plug is a brilliant, deranged new comic creation by the unknown writer Paul Ewen...he has created an extraordinary alter ego in the mentally unusual Plug.' Sunday Times UK
'A wonderful survey of the strange world of famous authors...Plug's exchanges with dozens of Booker-prizewinning authors are priceless. But the novel (really an ingenious hybrid of fact and surreal fantasy) takes on much extra resonance in the portrayal of Plug himself, an alcoholic chancer with a propensity for whisky-fuelled escapades.' Guardian
'One of the funniest books I've ever read.' The Times
'So funny you find yourself giggling helplessly long after you've passed the joke...Pure—and purely pleasurable— silliness.' TLS
'Outrageously good.' New Daily
