Author: Riot Communications

Pan Macmillan are excited to announce that the audiobook for publishing phenomenon Peter James’ upcoming thriller Absolute Proof will be voiced by Downton Abbey star, Hugh Bonneville.

Inspired by an unforgettable, real-life phone call received by the author nearly 30 years ago, Absolute Proof is a breathless race against time to solve the greatest mystery of all: absolute proof of the existence of God. With 13 Sunday Times number one bestsellers and 19 million copies of his books sold worldwide, Absolute Proof marks a major milestone for Peter James, as his most epic and ambitious stand-alone thriller to date.

Peter James and Hugh Bonneville first met in 2008 when they discussed the possibility of Bonneville playing James’s character Detective Superintendent Grace in a TV adaptation. Although the adaptation did not move forward, the two have remained close friends. The audiobook will be their first official collaboration.

Hugh Bonneville is no stranger to the topic of religion, holding a theology degree from Cambridge University where he was taught by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Earlier this year, Bonneville presented the standalone documentary Jesus: Countdown to Calvary, a historical examination of the events leading up to the execution of Jesus of Nazareth by the Roman government.

Peter James said: “From the moment I met Hugh I knew that I wanted to work with him, so when I was asked who I thought would make an exciting narrator for Absolute Proof he was the natural choice.  Hugh is an incredible actor and his reading really captures the suspense and excitement in the book. I’m delighted with how it’s turned out.”

Hugh Bonneville said: “When you pick up a Peter James book you know it’s going to be impossible to put down. Absolute Proof is a thriller that grips from the outset but it’s also incredibly thought-provoking, asking some of life’s biggest questions about science and faith, setting big pharma and high church on a collision course that could change the world. I was thrilled when Peter asked me to provide the narration for his latest, most compelling book.”

The audiobook for Absolute Proof was recorded in partnership with Audible, who will be releasing it as an audio first exclusive in the US in October.

#AbsoluteProof

Published by Pan Macmillan on 4th October 2018 in hardback (£20) /ebook (£16.99) / audiobook (£24.99)

This autumn, to mark the publication of his highly-anticipated new book, 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, global phenomenon Prof. Yuval Noah Harari will discuss the most urgent issues of our times at a special how to: Academy event in London on Thursday 27^thSeptember.

Harari will be joined in conversation by award-winning actress, director, activist and Harvard graduate Natalie Portman, who is one of a number of high-profile figures who have read and recommended Harari’s books in the past – alongside the likes of Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. Portman has also studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem where Harari now teaches.

The event will see over 2,300 readers and fans come together at Central Hall Westminster to hear Harari expand on some of the arguments he presents in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, as well as Portman’s own thoughts and experiences as an activist and humanitarian.

Published on 30^th August by Jonathan Cape, the book’s easily-digestible chapters tackle a number of contemporary issues, both personal and global; ranging from Brexit, fake news and the future of welfare, to mental stability, ecological cataclysm and technological disruptions. Over the evening Harari will turn his attention to some of the most provocative and insightful questions he poses in the book, and how we can all find our focus in this increasingly complicated 21^st century world.

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari said: “I am very much looking forward to talking with Natalie. We were both born in the myth-factory of the world, and much of our careers have revolved around the tension between myth, science and science fiction. I am keen to hear her take on reality, fiction and everything in between. Neither of us is known for dodging difficult issues – so it should be interesting.”

Michal Shavit, Publishing Director at Jonathan Cape, said: “It’s been extraordinary to see how powerfully and resoundingly Yuval Noah Harari’s ideas have resonated around the globe since publication of Sapiens and Homo Deus. We are thrilled that Natalie Portman and Yuval Harari will be marking the publication of his new book, 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, with a conversation about some of the most urgent themes confronting us today. This is an incredibly important and timely book that will no doubt resonate with an ever widening readership of this great 21st Century thinker.”

John Gordon, founder and CEO of how to: Academy, said: “I’m enormously excited to be hosting an unmissable conversation between Yuval Noah Harari and Natalie Portman. This promises to be an extraordinary event featuring two inspirational people together on stage for the first time.”

Tickets for the event will go on sale on Friday 13^th July and will be available from www.howtoacademy.com. The event forms part of a programme run by how to: Academyfeaturing leading scientists, business theorists, Nobel Prize laureates, philosophers and authors.

#21_Lessons / Twitter: @harari_yuval / @JonathanCape / FB: @Prof.Yuval.Noah.Harari

Specialist culture and entertainment PR agency Riot Communications has appointed Alison Clarke as a Board Advisor as the agency continues to grow.

Clarke, who recently won the PRCA’s most prestigious award – Mark Mellor Outstanding Contribution to the PR Industry – has long been a champion of Riot, most recently mentoring Riot Director, Adele Minchin, as part of the PRCA / PR Week Fast Track Mentoring scheme.

Clarke brings to Riot 25 years of experience having led Weber Shandwick’s Asia Pacific office, and heading Hunsworth PLC’s Business Development, before taking the helm at Grayling UK and Ireland. Clarke now runs her own consultancy business.

Preena Gadher, Managing Director of Riot said: “Working with Alison is a very exciting prospect for our agency as we focus firmly on growth and continuing to deliver outstanding PR expertise to our expanding range of clients. Her vast knowledge and experience in the industry will be invaluable, especially in business development, helping us achieve our ambitious goals for the agency. We can’t wait to start working with her!”

Clarke said: “I’m looking forward to working with the team at Riot . They have an exciting and dynamic business with plenty of potential. It’s going to be an exciting journey.”

Clarke will begin working with Riot this month.

Acclaimed British actor Bill Nighy has pledged his support for The Invisible Child campaign from Oxfam and Moomin Characters Ltd, by recording a reading of the short story that inspired the campaign for theguardian.com.

The Invisible Child campaign aims to help women and girls around the world fight inequality and escape poverty for good, with the full £4.99 price of the special edition book being donated to Oxfam’s women’s projects worldwide. Over £268,000 has already been raised through books sales and The Invisible Child merchandise including a tote bag, tea towel and handkerchief.

The Invisible Child is a short story by Moomin creator Tove Jansson, about a little girl who turns invisible after being badly treated by the woman supposedly caring for her. She is given a place to stay at the Moominhouse and, when shown warmth, kindness and respect by the Moomin family, she gradually reappears and regains her place in the world – a right that every woman and girl should have.

The fundraising campaign is to support Oxfam’s work fighting extreme poverty and suffering around the world. Since the majority of people living in poverty are women, the rights of women and girls are at the heart of the charity’s work. Long-held prejudices often mean that they are denied basic rights like education, a fair wage or decent working conditions. Women and girls are also often the worst affected when emergencies strike.

Sophia Jansson, niece of Tove Jansson and creative director of Moomin Characters, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the amazing response that we have had to The Invisible Child campaign, with over 40,000 copies sold already and every penny going to Oxfam. We hope that Bill Nighy’s recording will introduce more people to the magic of the Moomins and help us raise even more money for Oxfam’s vital work around the world. Bill is the perfect person to have read the story, as he has filled it with wonder, compassion and mischief – all things that Tove valued greatly – and we’re so thrilled to have his support.”

Nikki Van Der Gaag, Oxfam’s Director of Gender Justice and Women’s Rights said: ‘Listeners will love Bill reading this story of a little girl who finds her voice and thrives when shown kindness and support. Oxfam thanks Moomin Characters Ltd and Bill Nighy for their big-hearted contributions, and The Guardian for making this podcast possible. We hope the recording will boost book sales of The Invisible Child. Oxfam supports women and women’s organisations to access education, to have decent and fair work, and live a life free of violence. We provide emergency food, shelter, clean water and lighting in refugee camps so the most vulnerable survive. This tender tale is echoed in every country where Oxfam works as courageous women are able to find their own voices.’

The music used in the recording is by Finnish musicians Pekka Kuusisto and Samuli Kosminen and is a sample from the upcoming Moominvalley TV animation. The Invisible Child, published by Sort Of Books, is available to buy from Oxfam, Waterstones and the Moomin Shops in Covent Garden and Camden Market. For more information on the Invisible Child campaign, please visit www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/moomins. Photos from Sophia Jansson’s visit to Rwanda to see Oxfam’s work available here.

For further information please contact Caitlin Allen at Riot Communications on 020 3174 0118 / caitlin@riotcommunications.com OR Emma Fabian at Oxfam GB on 07825 503 274 / efabian1@oxfam.org.uk

The re-telling of King Lear is the second book from independent publisher Galley Beggar Press to receive the Prize, following Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing in 2014

Preti Taneja has won the eleventh annual Desmond Elliott Prize, the “UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists” (theDaily Telegraph), it has been announced this evening (20th June). Taneja takes home the £10,000 Prize for her “awe-inspiring” debut novel, We That Are Young, beating fellow shortlisted authors, Gail Honeyman (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine) and Paula Cocozza (How to Be Human).

A retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear set in modern-day India, We That Are Youngexplores the play’s themes of severed relationships and warring families against the backdrop of the 2011 anti-corruption riots in India. It follows a central cast of characters as they react to ageing patriarch Devraj’s decision to pass control of ‘the Company’ to his three daughters, Gargi, Radha and Sita.

The novel was chosen as the best debut of the year by a judging panel chaired by Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent (2016 Waterstones Book of the Year), who was joined by award-winning broadcaster, Samira Ahmed and Waterstones’ head of fiction and publisher liaison, Chris White.

Taneja’s triumph marks the second time independent publisher Galley Beggar Press has produced a Desmond Elliott Prize-winning novel. The first was Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-formed Thing in 2014, which also won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and went on to become a major commercial and critical success. The Norwich-based Press publishes just four novels a year and is run by co-founders and husband-and-wife-duo, Sam Jordison and Eloise Millar.

 

In a speech at the Prize ceremony, Sarah Perry said, “Samira, Chris and myself were absolutely unanimous in our love and admiration for this novel, whose scope, ambition, skill and wisdom was, quite simply, awe-inspiring … all three of us sat together, shaking our heads, saying, ‘If this is her first novel, what extraordinary work will come next?’”

Before trying her hand at fiction writing, Taneja was a human rights correspondent and reported on Iraq and in Jordan, Rwanda, and Kosovo. Her work has been published in various titles including the Guardian, the New Statesman and Open Democracy. Taneja was born in the UK to Indian parents and spent many childhood holidays in New Delhi.

The Chairman of the Prize’s Trustees, Dallas Manderson said, “It is with great pride and privilege that my fellow Trustees and I present our judges’ choice of winner this year. We That Are Young is exactly the kind of novel that the Desmond Elliott Prize exists to discover and promote; this extraordinarily accomplished debut has flown somewhat under the radar thus far, not having received the attention and wide-spread acclaim that it so rightly deserves. Our hope is that winning the Prize will help guarantee Preti’s long-term future as an author, as we’re sure it will be bright.”

He continued, “It is particularly gratifying, too, to witness the on-going success of Galley Beggar Press. I know Desmond, who launched his own independent publishing house, Arlington Books, and dedicated his career to promoting new writers, would be delighted to see that a Prize in his name is championing similarly small-but-mighty institutions.”

The Desmond Elliott Prize has a track record of spotting exceptionally talented novelists at the very beginning of their careers. Last year, the Prize was awarded to Francis Spufford for his debut novel, Golden Hill, and other past-winners include Lisa McInerney, Claire Fuller and Eimear McBride.

For further information please contact Laura Curtis at Riot Communications on 020 3174 0118 / laura@riotcommunications.com

Riot Communications, the award-winning culture and entertainment agency, is thrilled to announce it will be working with The Astrid Lindgren Company to celebrate the life and works of the ground-breaking Swedish author, children’s rights campaigner and original Rebel Girl ahead of the 75th anniversary of Pippi Longstocking in 2020.

The Pippi books, first published in Sweden in 1945, have sold around 70 million copies in 70 languages and have inspired seven feature films and two TV series, as well as an infinite number of stage productions. Fans of the remarkable redhead range from Lady Gaga (pictured) to Amy Poehler, Lauren Child to Maggie O’Farrell, and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus to Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki.

Working closely with Astrid Lindgren’s family, Riot’s campaign will celebrate Lindgren as a game-changing author, editor, campaigner and social commentator – along with her most famous creation, Pippi, as a thoroughly modern heroine – through a range of cultural and charity initiatives across publishing, stage and screen in the run up to the anniversary in 2020.

Olle Nyman, CEO at The Astrid Lindgren Company and grandson of Astrid Lindgren, comments:

“We’re very excited to work with Riot Communications to celebrate Astrid Lindgren and Pippi Longstocking in the UK. Riot has a great reputation and has shown impressive results in their work with other great literary properties, including the work of Philip Pullman and Meg Rosoff – both laureates of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. We can’t wait for British audiences to rediscover the particular combination of wit, humanity, independence and flair that turned Astrid Lindgren and Pippi into icons both in Scandinavia and internationally.”

Preena Gadher, Managing Director, Riot Communications, adds:

“Astrid Lindgren was a true pioneer and her legacy is immense. She’s a great fit for Riot since championing women is in our DNA. I can’t wait to work with the team at The Astrid Lindgren Company and help raise awareness of her wonderful, kick-ass character Pippi Longstocking!”

Strike a pose!

At Riot, we pride ourselves on being excellent communicators. We’ve won awards that stand testament to that, and clients who return again and again. However, we also know that success comes from constantly honing our skills – even when that means going back to basics. First impressions are critical to the work we do: from pitching to new clients to journalist meetings, winning the talent’s trust to networking with peers.

Over the past few years, there has been a focus on empowering professionals – especially women – when it comes to presenting skills and negotiation. TED Talks – such as those by social psychologist Amy Cuddy on body language, and comedian and coach Deborah Frances-White on charisma – are giving us the tools we need to create an impact on our audience, verbally and non-verbally. The science of first impressions is straightforward: an in-built vetting system in our primal brain means that we size people up within 30 seconds of meeting them. What’s often called gut instinct overrides most rational thought and, as with our ancestors, is based on both perceived threat and learnt experience. Think lion vs. prey on the Savannah, but in the boardroom.

We’ve taken the most salient points and turned them into a handy Riot 101 on how to make the best first impression. After all, that killer Cos jumpsuit isn’t going to do all the work for you…

T is for trust:
We judge people on how warm and trustworthy they seem: in fact, understanding someone’s intentions and perceived competency accounts for at least 80% of an overall first impression across all cultures. Your first job on meeting someone is to put them at an ease. Do you have mutual connections? Can you ask them a question about themselves? Can you align your body language to theirs, and ensure you are not giving off hostile non-verbal messages? Crossing arms is a real no-no, as is hiding your hands; maintaining an open posture, showing your palms and holding firm eye contact are all essentials here.

R is for respect:
Listen and be gracious. However experienced you are, you should always show respect for the time someone’s giving you. Whilst you should always be prepared ahead of a meeting, you should go into every interaction with an open mind and a willingness to listen to another’s agenda and concerns. Bulldozing might work for some, but generally it’s not the answer when it comes to building a long-term relationship. Show an instinct for harmony rather than appearing combative. It’s vital to be aware that your response (verbal and physical) can ramp up or deflate tricky situations: in a difficult negotiation, simple things like retaining an open posture and nodding your head to show you’re absorbing someone’s point (you can return to counter that point later if needs be) are more likely to help you resolve issues and reach the desired outcome.

I is for interest:
Show interest in the person you’re meeting – it may be a business meeting, but you’re also two human beings interacting. It’s good to engage in a little small talk: research has shown that just five minutes of chat before a negotiation increases the financial value created. Ask informed questions and encourage them to open up and share things about themselves. You can prepare for this by reading a LinkedIn profile, asking mutual connections about them and bringing up any shared interests you might have.

P is for personality:
No one likes a robot. Your personality and – ideally – a sense of humour will take you from a paint-by-numbers publicist to someone vital and worth listening to. Not full-on Siobhan Sharpe or Malcolm Tucker, but at least someone who has a something to say for themselves. You want to be memorable, and for the right reasons.

So there you have it: T.R.I.P.
If in doubt, channel Riot heroes Ellen de Generes or Oprah Winfrey. They are masters of non-verbal communication. From now on, we’ll be adopting Oprah’s expansive pose in all future negotiations.

Watch this space!

Purposeful and beneficial team away days

‘We’re going to have a team away day’ is the sort of sentence usually met with universal groans from colleagues as they stare at the 5,000 emails and counting in their inbox and the To Do list running across ten pages. An entire day spent away from the desk can feel like a monumental waste of time (‘Remind me, how is shooting a paint ball at Gary from Accounts’ head contributing to our bottom line again?’).

But an away day done right, can have fundamental, long-lasting benefits to the development of an individual, team and business. They can meaningfully bring a team together, inspire honesty, allow for transparency, improve lines of communication, generate ideas and create solutions. We love an away day at Riot. We down tools for the day, put the out of office on and head out to an external venue where we can hunker down to get practical, get inspired and get fat on break-time brownies.

Riot’s 6 tips for a successful away day:

A clear purpose to the day is essential. Everyone needs to know exactly what the objective of the day is in advance. The agenda must reflect the purpose and not veer from it. The purpose of our most recent away day was to specifically focus on our new business strategy. The purpose of our next one will be skills consolidation – we’re all going on a negotiation skills course. Everyone in the company has inputted into the agenda of this course for maximum impact.

A realistic agenda carefully timed out in advance. The away day is an opportunity for the team not to be racing around feeling rushed, overwhelmed and deadline driven. The away day should create a sense of space and freedom for clear thinking and clear communication. Trying to fit too much in will leave everyone feeling harassed.

Set conscious intentions for the day. A powerful exercise to get everyone in the right frame of mind from the off is to ask everyone to share their intention for the day. What do they want to get out of the away day? What quality will aid them in that endeavour e.g. patience/openness/generosity? Lay out picture cards on the floor or pin them to the walls, random images from goldfish to rainbows, the Taj Mahal to a set of keys. Each person chooses a picture that represents their intention and shares it with the team. This picture is kept visible to them all day as a reminder. Come back to the intentions at the end of the day and ask everyone to reflect on how they achieved their intention.

Create a safe space for participation. A successful away day involves everyone feeling as though they made a valuable contribution and to do that were able to be honest, open and transparent. People need to feel safe to do this. A set of rules laid out at the beginning is a good idea and might include:

1. reserve judgement
2. no negative responses or behaviour
3. every individual will have time and a platform to speak
4. every individual’s contribution is valid
5. ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood.’

Make the day fun, creative, unexpected. Remember the purpose of the day at all times, but within that bring the day alive with exercises, games, activities that challenge and excite. At Riot away days we’ve done everything from the spaghetti tower marshmallow challenge to a rock, paper, scissors championship to creating magazine cover stories. Each activity has fed into our higher purpose but has resulted in lots of laughs, chafed knuckles and tears of frustration. Not your average day in the office.

Invite feedback. Finally, always end the day with feedback from the team. A good old-fashioned bit of circle time is uniting and is a clear indication that you want to learn from your team.

Happy away day!

Here at Riot we LOVE a debut – whether we’re launching a new voice we know is going to resonate on a global scale, like we did with Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, or running the “the UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists” (The Telegraph), the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Over the past six months or so we’ve had the great pleasure of working with the team at Hutchinson to promote a particularly special debut – Tara Westover’s extraordinary memoir, Educated. We were thrilled with the coverage, which included The Times Magazine, Observer New Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Stylist, FT, Economist, Press Association, BBC Online, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 2 Steve Wright and BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, to name but a few.

To celebrate the success of the campaign and Educated becoming an international bestseller, we thought we’d share some of our top tips for launching debuts:

• Having a book published can be quite a daunting process, so it can be reassuring for first time authors to get to know others who are having the same experiences. Shout out to Amy Baker and Rosy Edwards who run The Riff Raff, a community for debut writers. Getting your author featured on their podcast or in the line-up of one of their monthly events helps to build buzz, but also gives the author the opportunity to meet supportive peers who will hopefully go on to champion their work.
• Identifying the right influencers and early adopters who can help position the book and generate word of mouth is of course crucial for a debut. Another shout out is due here to the wonderful Caroline Sanderson, who is such an incredible supporter of the books she loves. Having such an important figure from the book world on board can help you get cut-through in the mainstream media and Caroline’s early coverage of Educated in The Bookseller was invaluable to the success of the campaign.
• A tip for your pitches – don’t be afraid to tell media what else you already have in the bag. Nervousness around this is understandable as worded badly it can make the recipient of your pitch feel like they’re late to the story, but worded right, and with the inclusion of a bespoke angle specifically for that outlet, it can help convince them this is going to be an important and high-profile book that they really should be covering.
• Given that your author won’t have an existing fan base, you need your coverage to be as wide-reaching as possible. Focus on working with media to create shareable content. Two examples from the Educated campaign are this BBC Online piece, which featured on the UK and International homepages all day on the day it went live, and this video interview shot by the Channel 4 Digital team, which has been viewed on Facebook over 130,000 times.
• Lastly, plan for longevity – how are you going to keep your author relevant and interesting to journalists beyond the publication moment? Are there any hot topics that you could establish them as experts on? If so, use the publication moment to secure coverage in special interest titles, such as the TES, which you can point to later as evidence of them being a respected spokesperson on those issues. This will help you secure additional pieces of coverage further down the line – for example, comment pieces on current affairs.

Caitlin Allen, associate director

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been retained by Penguin Random House to promote the hotly-anticipated new title from global superstar Yuval Noah Harari, author of the multi-million selling Sapiens and Homo Deus.

Riot Communications has a long history with Harari, having handled publicity for his two previous books and, in the process, helped establish him as one of the world’s most exciting thinkers, with fans including Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg. Both titles remain in the top ten bestseller lists years after publication.

After illuminating our past and possible futures, his new book, entitled 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, will see Harari apply his trademark clarity, vision and refreshingly broad perspective to the here and now, helping us to grapple with a world that is increasingly hard to comprehend. Written in easily digestible, bite-sized chapters, it will take readers on a journey through some of today’s most urgent issues, including terrorism, fake news and immigration, as well as turning to more individual concerns, from resilience and humility to meditation.

21 Lessons for the 21^st Century will be published on 30^th August 2018 by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage, and Riot will work closely with the in-house team.

Joe Pickering, Publicity Director for Jonathan Cape, said: “‘I think it’s impossible to overstate what a phenomenon Yuval Noah Harari’s books have become, and Riot have been there every step of the way. We wanted them on board from the start with 21 Lessons for the 21st Centuryand are looking forward to working with them to make this the huge success it deserves to be.”

Co-founder and managing director of Riot Communications, Preena Gadher, said: “A writer like Yuval Harari – who combines such great depth of understanding with real flair and a lively, entertaining style – comes along once in a generation. It is a huge privilege to have worked with him, and the brilliant team at Vintage, right from the beginning of this journey, and we are so excited that this will continue with the publication of 21 Lessons later this year. It’s an incredible, vital read that will appeal to both existing fans and new readers alike, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”