Non-fiction

The A63 Revisited

Non-fiction

Waterstones in Hull are extremely supportive of Hull & East Riding writers, and carry a stock of many of the books mentioned on this site.

Sometimes the line between fiction and non-fiction is a little thin in Hull literature, but these books err on the non-fiction side:

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"Corky's War"

Author Ron Fairfax got to know Mr Cawkwell, known as Corky, in the 1970s when he was researching his grandfather's history and they soon became good friends. As Mr Cawkwell's sight deteriorated they went out cycling together on a tandem.

"His generation was quite unemotional," said Mr Fairfax. "He wasn't reticent or reserved about talking about it. There was a sort of objectivity."

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An analysis of the dynamics of violence among Hull City supporters.

"There have been many 'hoolie' biogs in recent years, some have been great, others have been... not so great. But in "City Psychos" we have one of the best. This book is simply superb.

It is well written, brilliantly paced and like the wonderful Chris Brown book 'Bovver' evokes memories of times and places that many older fans of the great game will be familiar with."

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In Punta Arenas, Chile, in November 1998, Karl Bushby set out on one of the most remarkable journeys of modern times. His plan is as simple as it is extraordinary: to walk up the Americas, across the Bering Straits, through Asia, Russia and Europe, back through the Channel Tunnel and returning to Britain in 2009. It is a journey of remarkable endurance -- 20 miles a day, 3,000 miles a year, 36,000 miles in total. By the the time Karl returns, he will have crossed four continents, twenty five countries, a frozen sea, six deserts and seven mountain ranges. But more than that, unlike other similar expeditions, Karl is attempting it single handed: no huge support teams, no large sponsorship deals, this is the inspiring true story of a man facing remarkable odds -- and winning.

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As well as being Poet Laureate, a post which seems increasingly to grieve him, Andrew Motion is a very considerable autobiographer, biographer (Larkin, Keats, various painters and poets), and fictional biographer (Wainewright the Poisoner, Dr. Coke). Indeed some would rate his prose writing skills even above his poetic ones.

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"Bands, Booze and Ballrooms"

Hull-born author, Dorothea Desforges was evacuated during the Second World War to Canada. She returned to Hull after the war to continue her lively sagas of the city.

Had you any idea there's a camel wandering the Sahara Desert called Jimi Hendrix? Have you ever turned up uninvited to a Famadihana? What would you do if you were attacked by the masseur in a Moroccan hammam? Did you know Kaang, the creator of African Bushmen, made the moon out of an old shoe? Have you ever come face to face with an old, crusty-skinned guerba? Combining the allure of Africa and a bent for storytelling Why do goats climb trees? is an eclectic blend of short stories about travel, adventure and a slim chance of enlightenment.

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Tom Courtenay was born in Hull in 1937 and brought up near the fish dock where his father worked. When he left home for university, his mother, Annie, wrote to him every week and when her letters became more searching and more intimate in response to Tom's unhappiness he kept every one, not knowing that after her early death they were to become his most treasured possession. Tom has selected the best of them to go in this book and interwoven with them a portrait of what was going on in his life at the time, in the heady days of the early Sixties when successful young working-class actors were coming to the fore for the first time. Annie's letters are astonishing - wise, funny, with a natural instinct for words, but also deeply painful. She knows she's worthy of a better, more creative life, but she hasn't been given the chance. Partly a memoir of a working-class way of life that has gone for ever, partly a powerfully moving record of the love between mother and son, partly a portrait of the artist as a young actor, "Dear Tom" is sure to excite admiration and delight in equal measure.