Scroobius Pip podcast tie in to Octopus

​Cassell Illustrated - part of the Octopus Publishing Group - has commissioned a book tie-in to the Distraction Pieces Podcast series, hosted by spoken word and hip-hop recording artist Scroobius Pip.

The podcast series fronted by Pip - a UK spoken word and hip hop recording artist from Essex - provides insight into the creative world, featuring interviews with artists such as Alan Moore, Simon Pegg, Billy Bragg and Jon Ronson. 

The Distraction Pieces book will feature curated highlights from the podcast, as well as exclusive new content, with entries grouped thematically into sections including music, social media, politics and comedy. Contributors include: Akala, Riz Ahmed, Russell Brand, Adam Buxton, Richard Herring, Dylan Moran, Amanda Palmer, Sara Pascoe, Howard Marks and Kate Tempest, among others. The book comes illustrated with drawings by tattoo artist Mr Heggie.

Commissioning editor Hannah Knowles bought world English language rights from Becky Thomas at Johnson & Alcock.

Knowles said: "With Distraction Pieces, Pip has set the standard for podcasting, with intelligent, thoughtful and insightful interviews. It’s a real privilege to be working with him to produce a book that not only curates the best of the podcast thematically, but also includes new and exclusive material in a package that will appeal to his fans, and to anyone interested in the creative mind."

Pip's Xfm radio show, "The Beatdown", won the "best specialist music programme" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2014, ahead of Zane Lowe and Mark Radcliffe.

He said: "As soon as I sat down with Octopus it was clear they were the right ones to work with and put together something genuinely exciting. Not just a log or transcription of something that has already happened, but a collection of themes and topics and new media to really create an addition to what is already an ever-evolving journey through Distraction Pieces."