Cargo launches in France with a special event at the legendary Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop in Paris. And what an evening we had – Jim Haynes and John Calder shared their memories of the 1962 International Writers’ Conference with the authors of our book, Angela Bartie and Eleanor Bell. Check out more of the event photos here.

Video production is by Seamas McSwiney of Duckling Development.

The festival, now in its third year, will take place at the award-winning Banchory venue, Woodend Barn on 31st May and 1st June. A diverse mix of acts appealing to kids, families and serious gig-goers and literary lovers will be complimented with a full bookshop, food and drink offerings and a record store by major independent label Fence Collective.

With the growing reputation of the festival’s Glasgow edition, which takes place in October, the organisers had looked to bring a line-up to a different part of Scotland. The festival’s co-director Mark Buckland said “we’d been looking to bring the Margins experience to somewhere unique and the Woodend Barn is such a wonderful location. The people of Aberdeenshire have been very kind and generous to us and I think we have a bill that suits all the family; it’s a great chance to see and meet major stars of books and the Scottish music scene.”

The festival begins with a Friday night double bill of art-pop trio FOUND and singer-songwriter Pictish Trail on Friday 31st May, with the following morning seeing the festival’s first children’s authors taking the stage including the much loved best-seller Barry Hutchison and Scottish number one best-seller Badger the Mystical Mutt. Later that afternoon, top political correspondent Iain Macwhirter will tell all about his new, ground-breaking TV series and book “Road To Referendum” before comedy giant Robert Newman, formerly of Newman and Baddiel, reads from his new novel about the history of oil. Graham Hunter, Sky’s La Liga reporter, will return to his home town to chat about his award-winning book on FC Barcelona, with a late night billing of guitar maestro RM Hubbert, local songstress Sarah J Stanley and sparky thriller writer Christopher Brookmyre finishing the weekend’s offerings.

Tickets start from just £4 and details are available at www.marginsfestival.com and www.woodendbarn.co.uk.

June sees the release of Iain Macwhirter’s Road to Referendum, a definitive look at the path the UK has taken to the upcoming 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. We’re  joining forces with STV and The Herald to produce this companion book to feature alongside the  groundbreaking TV series “Road To Referendum”, also presented by Iain Macwhirter; top-notch analysis from one of the UK’s most respected political correspondents about how we got here and what the future of Britain holds for all of us.

National Book Award nominee and one of the most acclaimed writers in America today, Mark Z. Danielewski joins us with the powerful and much revered “The Fifty Year Sword.” The National Book Award judges praised Danielewski for having “raise[d] the level of American literature to a new height of experimentation.” “The Fifty Year Sword” is released in October, with limited UK tour dates, find out more about this startling, wondrous book here.

We’ve already announced it, but we love it so much we can’t stop shouting about it. Juliet Conlin’s “The Fractured Man” drops in July and is one of the biggest page-turning thrillers of the year. Watch this space and catch up with Juliet on Twitter and Facebook.

Fergus Muirhead has a tale to tell us in August – “A Piper’s Tale” to be exact. The BBC presenter is our roaming reporter in the world of bagpipes to bring us the funniest, most interesting and most exciting stories right from the mouths of the world’s most talented pipers including Finlay MacDonald, Terry Tully, John Wilson and many more. A perfect book if you’re the slightest bit interested in the world of music – accessible, endearing and immensely entertaining.

Last but certainly not least, 2014 will see the publication of beautiful and heartbreaking novel by prolific and recipient of an avalanche of praise, Tony Black. “The Last Tiger” is set in Tasmania, mesmerised us with a story through the eyes of a young immigrant and some stunning prose. Don’t miss.

And there’s more to come. In the next few days, we’ll be announcing three more exciting signings – we’ll see you back here for more exciting announcements.

But one innovative Scottish publishing house has the solution with new books to treasure for all time.

Cargo have announced the launching of a new series of special editions carved in stone, on gold plates and in other forms designed to make your book last forever.

The series begins with Robert Newman’s “The Trade Secret” on April 11th and will continue with every Cargo book with some being engraved to stone, other featuring William Blake style gold plates.

“It felt like the right move, particularly with all this ebook debate going on,” said Cargo MD Mark Buckland. “People want something that will last the test of time; since God handed down commandments, tablet has been the format of choice.”

The books, which weigh approximately 105 kilograms, will be sold separately but can be held together in the special reinforced bookshelf engraved with the Cargo logo, to be released late 2013.

“We’ve not had any bookshop orders yet, but I think the likes of WH Smith and Waterstones will be fully onboard once they see how thrilled customers are at these stunning special editions,” said Buckland. “All our special designs over the years, from Wasted in Love to the Elsewhere Box Set, has taught us that readers value design and with our team of twenty stone masons crafting each book, this represents real value.”

Each stone tablet series retails at RRP £4,105; the gold plate editions are dependent on the price of gold at time of dispatch.

I feel a need to pay tribute to Gavin personally; there’s certainly be no shortage of people who are mourning his loss and many of them have written much more poignant and eloquent pieces celebrating his life than I ever could – one of the UK’s finest book editors has a very moving and beautifully written obituary here – but yesterday illustrated perfectly the effect Gavin has had on my own life.

I spent much of the day with the general running of Cargo – which Gavin supported from the outset – and booking for Margins – which was partly inspired by a conversation with Gavin – before holding our editorial meeting and I later discussed Allan Wilson’s forthcoming novel with the author himself – an author whose first collection was financially supported by Creative Scotland and became a book that Gavin himself championed abroad to anyone who would listen.

Put simply, I, nor any of the people at Cargo, would have been able to have a career in the arts without Gavin’s support. Our authors would not be able to share their stories and ideas with the world.  And I doubt that any of us are alone in owing him great thanks in that respect.

The first time I met Gavin, I was struck by the fact that he was one of the first people in the entire publishing industry who took me seriously; I was a 22 year old gardener who had a dream of publishing great books and Gavin respected my opinion and introduced me to like-minded people. Gavin didn’t consider it a risk to support Cargo, he didn’t consider it improbable that we would become a major publishing house, he backed every decision we made. He championed our books all over the world and offered wisdom every step of the way. Again, in all those aspects, I don’t think our experience is unique; Gavin did this for everyone in Scottish literature, always on hand with a salient point, a keen piece of advice or observation or generous praise.

Looking at the outpouring of grief from many across Scottish literature, I can’t help but feel that Gavin would have been a little embarrassed-I saw him as an extremely humble man, more comfortable fighting a corner for others than revelling in his own, numerous accolades and achievements. The last time I saw him, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, I noted that we were planning to thank him for his support publicly at the launch of the Elsewhere Collection that night – “Oh, don’t do that!” came the response. “It’s your night, enjoy it.”

Gavin leaves behind a family and I hope they know that his extended family, that being the literature community, have all their thoughts and sympathies with them. He was a compassionate man, a wise man, a man who cared deeply about art and, above all, he was a kind man. I, and all at Cargo, owe him a great debt. He will be greatly missed.

Mark Buckland

Cargo MD-6/2/13

We’re delighted to announce that Cargo’s foreign rights will be sold by Faber & Faber in a partnership deal. Faber have nearly one hundred years of quality independent publishing behind them and continue to be a market leader in innovative and exciting fiction and non-fiction. At Cargo, we’ve long sought partnerships with likeminded people who care about books as much as we do and we’ve found that in our friends at Faber & Faber.

Cargo will once again be at the London Book Fair this year from 15th-17th April. Come see us at stand H350 and join us for our party at The Pembroke on the 16th. Details to follow.

The 2012 Dundee International Book Prize has been awarded to American author Jacob M. Appel for his

satirical novel The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up. Appel receives the £10,000 cash prize and a publishing deal with Cargo.

The prize, now in its eighth year, saw a record number of entries following the announcement of a prestigious judging panel of much-loved TV star Stephen Fry, acclaimed authors Philip Pullman and Alan Bissett and top literary agent Jenny Brown. Appel’s winning novel is an absurdist comedy of a mild-mannered man who accidentally sparks a major incident in America after he refuses to stand for the national anthem at a baseball game. His previous prize wins include Faulkner-Wisdom Award and The Boston Prize for his short stories and plays. He is a columnist for The Huffington Post and The New York Times and has been an outspoken bioethicist, with controversial views on ethics in America.

But the quality of the entries overall is indicated by runners up Pippa Goldschmitt and Matt Hill both securing deals for their novels with leading independent publishers Freight and Sandstone respectively. Prize organiser Anna Day said “We’re so proud to have The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up as the winner of the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize. The characters, the story and the author are all really special and I think Cargo have done an amazing job on the production. Each year the prize goes from strength to strength and this year that’s thanks to the wonderful judges, we appreciate their taste and hard work. All three finalists were excellent and it’s testament to the increased popularity that such great books are coming our way. The Book Prize is essential to getting a platform for new voices and I applaud the University and Dundee – One City Many Discoveries campaign for their continued support.”

Cargo MD Mark Buckland was equally pleased with the quality of the winning entry and the prize overall. “The judging panel must have had a very difficult time picking the top three from so many accomplished novels but we’re delighted and honoured to be publishing a winner like Jacob. It’s an exceptionally funny novel but also bold and daring in its exposure of the hypocrisy and absurdity of the American media and is a major achievement.” Winner Jacob Appel was delighted to win the prize and see his book published: “I am truly thrilled to be named the winner of the Dundee Prize. Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, I knew I wanted to write a book against the backlash against those events. It took me three years to complete The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up. At the time, I did not think that it would take me another eight years to find a publisher. I came close many times, but American publishers appeared to fear the political content of the work-and several of them admitted this candidly or even asked me to “sanitize” the novel. So I am deeply grateful to Dundee and Cargo for bringing out the work in the way that I had intended.” He was also impressed by the international scope of the prize, saying “One of the great benefits of the Dundee Award is that it draws an international pool of writers. We live in a far too insulated literary world here in the US, so it is exciting to be part of the international literary community.”

Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council’s city development committee said: “The Dundee International Book Prize is now firmly established on the literary prize map. It continues to help build Dundee’s growing and impressively varied cultural reputation.”

The Dundee International Book Prize is a joint venture between Dundee – One City, Many Discoveries and the University of Dundee. The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up is published on 25th October, priced £8.99.

We’re honoured to be publishing the story of the year-that of Martha Payne, a schoolgirl who has changed the world with her blog. Watch the BBC documentary on Martha’s trip to Malawi above or find out about the book below.

________________

Martha is such an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a difference. She is a true hero. –Jamie Oliver

Winner of The Observer Food Monthly Awards 2012 Best Food Blog –The Observer

Top 25 Blogs of 2012 –TIME Magazine

“First of all I’m pleased that so many of my readers turned out to vote for Tales from the Mall and that Sam and the staff at the Guardian accepted the votes. I’m a little saddened by Sam’s article however – although it was intended as fun I didn’t give permission for my emails to be reprinted. I’d just like to set things straight and offer some apologies.

I owe an apology to Ben Myers and his publisher, for describing them as a multi-national corporation. I had mistaken the book for one of the other competitors – but even so, Faber are not some kind of evil multinational conglomerate. I hope that Ben Myers and Bluemoose will accept my apology; it was the completely wrong thing to say.

I’d like to give a bit of context about NTB’s voting system and the frustration it created for me this week, which then led to me doing a mass mail out to everyone I know on email and on Social Media.

What created the urgency? This week, I had received many emails from people in different parts of the UK and other parts of the world telling me that they were unable to vote on the NTB page, in the ways that were outlined. Whether this was to do with Geo-walls, or servers, I don’t know, so I contacted Sam to ask about it. I had also had a few people who wanted me to post their reviews for them, these were two well known, mature writers. I refused, but then forwarded one of them to Sam, asking that votes also be accepted by email. He refused to accept those votes, and I also made the stupid mistake of giving his email address out to three people who were trying to vote and struggling – two of them being the writers above. These things were done in haste, as I felt there was a problem in the system that was not being addressed and I didn’t mean any offence. I’d like to apologise to Sam – if my tone seemed threatening or unpleasant, that certainly was not my intention.

Then there was the issue of the Guardian Facebook app. I discovered after posting a request for votes on FB that votes people put in were being stuck on the app page, and did not appear on the NTB page proper. So I contacted Sam about that asking if they’d be counted.

After Sam had said on the NTB comments chain that I could duck out to save myself humiliation, I interpreted that incorrectly as threatening and so emailed him saying that all I wanted was a fair count, and that my friends would be checking that that was happening. That came across as a fairly aggressive reply, and that was stupid of me.

I am very sorry to all concerned that things have seemed to get heated. I am very wearied by the entire experience and hope that we can settle down and get back the job of writing books, reviewing books and reading them. I’ve made some mistakes and feel terrible about the way the whole thing has panned out. The prize is supposed to be a bit of fun and I hope we can keep that spirit going.

All the best

Ewan Morrison”