Canbury to continue virtual author talks

Independent publisher Canbury Press is to continue with the virtual series of author talks it began hosting during the pandemic lockdowns.

Its Beyond the Book series has included criminal lawyer William Clegg, author of Under the Wig, giving a talk on "Who is most likely to murder you?", and political commentator Ian Dunt, author of Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now?, holding talks on both post-Brexit Britain and the relationship between Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill (based on a chapter from his latest book, How to be a Liberal).

The talks were designed to give the publisher an additional revenue stream while bookshops were closed, as well as to enable its authors to grow their platforms and to speak on topics which enable them to dig deeper into aspects of their books, or to relate them to topical events and real-life scenarios.

Publisher Martin Hickman said: "We’ve been impressed with the ability to easily integrate Zoom with Eventbrite, and thus host large online events; for one talk, we had almost 900 attendees. As a small press, we don’t have deep pockets or a big backlist to keep us going through tough times. This event series has been a welcome revenue stream while authors have been unable to participate in bookstore events and other opportunities to showcase their expertise and promote their latest books in person. We’re looking forward to the return of literary festivals this year and hope people will continue to support their local bookstores now they’re able to hold events once again, but we’ll keep hosting online events for as long as we can find interesting topics and audiences."

The next author talk, "Liberalism versus Libertarianism in the Age of Covid" will be with author Ian Dunt (pictured), and following that, Generation Rent author Chloe Timperley will be giving advice to first-time homebuyers. Tickets for Dunt's talk are available here.