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Booker Shortlist Announced

Tuesday, 9th September 2008 - The Man Booker Prize Shortlist has been announced. The Booker is the most prestigious British literary prize, awarded each year to a novel written in English by an author from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. Last year’s prize was won by Anne Enright for The Gathering.

This year’s shortlist comprises the following six books:

	The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he will never be able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over his situation, he realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master."The White Tiger" presents a raw and unromanticised India, both thrilling and shocking - from the desperate, almost lawless villages along the Ganges, to the booming Wild South of Bangalore and its technology and outsourcing centres. The first-person confession of a murderer, "The White Tiger" is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing. Available now for AED 83
	The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry Nearing her one-hundredth birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene, and their relationship intensifies and complicates. Told through their respective journals, the story that emerges is at once shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland's changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope. Available now for AED 93
	Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh At the heart of this epic saga, set just before the Opium Wars, is an old slaving-ship, The Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its crew a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed villager, from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman. As their old family ties are washed away they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races and generations. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, which makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive -- a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists. Available now for AED 83
	The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant In a red brick mansion block off the Marylebone Road, Vivien, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from both past and present by her timid refugee parents. Then one morning a glamorous uncle appears, dressed in a mohair suit, with a diamond watch on his wrist and a girl in a leopard-skin hat on his arm. Why is Uncle Sandor so violently unwelcome in her parents' home? This is a novel about survival - both banal and heroic - and a young woman who discovers the complications, even betrayals, that inevitably accompany the fierce desire to live. Set against the backdrop of a London from the 1950s to the present day, The Clothes on Their Backs is a wise and tender novel about the clothes we choose to wear, the personalities we dress ourselves in, and about how they define us all. Available now for AED 90
	The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher An epic chronicle of the last 20 years of British life from the Booker longlisted and Granta Best of Young British novelist, Philip Hensher. Beginning in 1974 and ending with the fading of Thatcher's government in 1996, 'The Northern Clemency' is Philip Hensher's epic portrait of an entire era, a novel concerned with the lives of ordinary people and history on the move. Set in Sheffield, it charts the relationship between two families: Malcolm and Katherine Glover and their three children; and their neighbours the Sellers family, newly arrived from London so that Bernie can pursue his job with the Electricity Board. The day the Sellers move in there is a crisis across the road: Malcolm Glover has left home, convinced his wife is having an affair. The consequences of this rupture will spread throughout the lives of both couples and their children, in particular 10-year-old Tim Glover, who never quite recovers from a moment of his mother's public cruelty and the amused taunting of 15-year-old Sandra Sellers, childhood crises that will come to a head twenty years later.In the background, England is changing: from a manufacturing and industrial based economy into a new world of shops, restaurants and service industries, a shift particularly marked in the North with the miners' strike of 1984, which has a dramatic impact on both families. Inspired by the expansive scale and webs of relationships of the great nineteenth-century Russian novels, 'The Northern Clemency' shows Philip Hensher to be one of our greatest chroniclers of English life. Available now for AED 135
	A Fraction of the Whole  by Steve Toltz Martin Dean spent his entire life analyzing absolutely everything - from the benefits of suicide to the virtues of strip clubs - and passing on his self-taught knowledge to his son, Jasper. But now that his father's dead, Jasper can fully reflect on the man who raised him in intellectual captivity, and the irony is this: theirs was a great adventure. As he recollects the extraordinary events that led to his father's demise, Jasper recounts a boyhood of outrageous schemes and shocking discoveries - about his infamous criminal uncle, his mysteriously absent mother, and Martin's constant battle to leave his mark on the world. From the Australian bush to the cafes of Paris; from the highs of first love to the lows of failed ambition, this is an unforgettable, rollicking and deeply moving family story. Available now for AED 90

All the shortlisted books are available at Magrudy’s Bookshops.

Join the Talking of Books team on Saturday, 4th October  for a special programme dedicated to discussion of the Booker shortlist and the panel’s tips for the eventual winner.

The Man Booker Prize Winner 2008 will be announced on Tuesday, 14th October, and will be reviewed by the Talking of Books panel on Saturday, 18th October.

Talking of Books is aired from 12 noon to 2pm every Saturday on Dubai Eye 103.8 FM or online at http://www.arnonline.com/dubai-eye/index.html

Magrudy's Opening at Dubai Festival City !

We would be honoured if you could attend our grand opening at Magrudy's Dubai Festival City on Saturday, 15th March at 5pm.

We have a host of wonderful activities and hope you will join us to celebrate.

Win Free Vouchers, Shirts, and other freebies. Win Bikes, Toys and other surprises in our lucky draw ! Also, you stand a chance to Win 6 months supply of books, or 1 year supply of books ! (* conditions apply). To cap that, we are also offering 50% discount on selected items !

Instant Vouchers for Loyalty Card Holders !

Starting March 3rd 2008, our shops will issue your vouchers on the spot ! Once you have earnt 1000 points, you are eligible for one AED 25 voucher for every 250 points on your card.

You can also check your loyalty account online ! If you have reached 1000 points, please visit any of our branches and ask for your vouchers.

This scheme will be effective from March 3rd 2008.

Photographs of the Harry Potter Launch - 21st July 2007

Photographs of the Harry Potter Launch at Magrudy's shops, in Ibn Battuta, City Centre, Al Wahda Mall (Abu Dhabi) and Jumeirah, are now available in the Gallery.

We are now open in the country's capital!

Dubai's premier bookshop is now in Abu Dhabi!

Dubai's premier bookshop is now open in Abu Dhabi at Al Wahda Mall. Come and visit us on weekdays from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and weekends from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm, for a quality range of books, toys, greeting cards, stationery and fantastic gift items !

Tel 02-443-7172
Fax 02-443-7062

Email us at: shopaw@magrudy.com

See you there !!!

Dubai, May 9, 2007: Award-winning children’s illustrator Korky Paul will be returning to Dubai after the success of his first visit in 2005. He will be signing books at Magrudy’s as well as giving illustration workshops at various schools.

Korky Paul is known and loved by millions of children for his wacky drawings of monsters, dinosaurs, dragons, mad professors and pugnacious pirates.

He is best known for his Winnie the Witch illustrations, which won the children’s book award. Originally from Zimbabwe, he studied at Durban Art School, South Africa and animation at Cal Arts, USA

Korky will be delighting children at Magrudy’s on Saturday 12th May at the Jumeirah Beach Road branch from 3:30pm, and again at the Ibn Battuta Mall branch on Thursday 17th May from 4:00pm. He has illustrated over thirty well-known children’s titles and the full selection will be on display.

Korky will also visit Dubai English Speaking School, Dubai British School, Jumeirah Primary School, and Horizon School during the week, to give workshops and sign copies of his books.

Dubai-based author, Greg Hunt, launches inaugural book

Dubai’s literary crowd join Hunt at Magrudy’s Jumeirah for inaugural book signing

"Hunt bucks trend with a book that crosses the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction with grace"

His first book recounts Hunt’s mind-bending, heart-rending battle with his dying father’s last request, during a journey on the long road from Abu Dhabi to London in a Nissan Pathfinder.

Dubai, April 22 2007: One of the UAE’s leading media personalities, Greg Hunt, has published his first book with UAE-based publishing house, Jerboa Books.

The premier of They Saddle Dogs, (Jerboa Books, Dhs 56), at Magrudy’s Jumeirah (April 17 2007) attracted Dubai’s literary community, and many Hunt ‘supporters’.

This inaugural stab at ‘big book writing’ by Hunt recounts his sometimes mind-bending and at other times heart-rending battle with his dying father’s last request to help assist his death.

The story unfolds during a road journey from Abu Dhabi to London, in Hunt’s trusty Nissan Pathfinder, leading They Saddle Dogs to be described as a quirky hybrid between a novel, a snapshot biography, a travelogue. It is also a factual, sometimes humorous, delve into the intricacies of euthanasia and parent-sibling communication.

Hunt is the founding publisher of the region’s inaugural finance magazine, MoneyWorks, weekly columnist for 7 Days and host of Travel Eye, the first weekly travel magazine programme in the region on Dubai Eye 103.8FM.

To view photos of the event, proceed to the Gallery

Event: Deana Martin Booksigning

The signing of Deana Martin's remarkable book Memories are made of this: Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyes will take place at: Magrudy's Jumeirah on:

Friday, April 20th 2007 at 2:30pm

Local personality, Greg Hunt, turns author

Hunt bucks trend with pioneering novel that crosses the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction with grace.

First book recounts Hunt’s mind-bending, heart-rending battle with his dying father’s last request, during a journey on the long road from Abu Dhabi to London in a Nissan Pathfinder

April 2007 - One of the UAE’s leading media personalities, Greg Hunt, is set to make his name as an author.

Hunt’s first book, They Saddle Dogs, is on countdown to hit the region’s bookshelves (this month; Dubai, April 17 2007, Jerboa-Magrudy’s, Dhs 49). It is thought to be the first-of-its-kind to be published in the UAE by a region-based English-language author.

This inaugural stab at ‘big book writing’ by Hunt recounts his sometimes mind-bending and at other times heart-rending battle with his dying father’s last request to help assist his death.

The story unfolds during a vibrantly described, experience-filled road journey from Abu Dhabi to London, in Hunt’s trusty Nissan Pathfinder, leading They Saddle Dogs to be described as a quirky hybrid between a novel, a snapshot biography, a travelogue. It is also a factual, sometimes humorous, delve into the intricacies of euthanasia and parent-sibling communication.

According to Edmund O’Sullivan, editorial director of MEED, one of a handful of ‘local personality critics’ selected to preview the work, They Saddle Dogs is ‘a compelling read’.

“They Saddle Dogs is a moving account of a journey of discovery set in the Middle East and how the author’s quest for help for his dying father led to a new understanding of what binds and divides,” said O’Sullivan.

Hunt has already carved a name for himself as seasoned journalist and more recently as a radio presenter. He is the founding publisher of the region’s inaugural finance magazine, MoneyWorks, weekly columnist for 7 Days and host of Travel Eye, the first weekly travel magazine programme in the region on Dubai Eye 103.8FM.

DIARY DATE Book Launch and Signing : They Saddle Dogs, by Greg Hunt

at Magrudy’s Jumeirah, Tuesday April 17 2007, 7-9pm