Tickets are FREE via Eventbrite: Between Fact and Fiction

Join us as we delve "Between Fact and Fiction" to celebrate the publication of Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet and a new edition of The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel James. 

Hosted by Dr Claire Nally, Associate Professor (Humanities) at Northumbria University, Newcastle, and Deputy Editor of C21 Literature.

There will be an opportunity to purchase both books during the event and refreshments will be available. 

Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of four novels, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau (2014), the Man Booker shortlisted His Bloody Project (2015), The Accident on the A35(2017) and Case Study (2021). His Bloody Project has been published in over 20 languages including German, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish, Farsi and Estonian. Graeme was named Author of the Year in the Sunday Herald Culture Awards 2017 and he has appeared at festivals and events in Edinburgh, Seoul, Los Angeles, New York, Adelaide, Macau, Estonia, Moscow, Cheltenham, Berlin, Lyon, Paris, Glasgow, London, Ullapool and many other places. He has also written for The Guardian, The Observer and Le Monde.

Daniel James is an author and journalist from Newcastle upon Tyne. His debut novel, The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas, was critically acclaimed on its release and shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize. A journalist for a decade, Daniel was a finalist for the Young UK News Writer of the Year award, before going on to work as a senior reporter on a daily newspaper and feature writer for a number of major arts and culture magazines. His first novel was based on the life of reclusive artist Ezra Maas whose disappearance was considered one of the art world's biggest mysteries. A definitive, special edition of The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas featuring artworks, photographs, and a range of other new material, is set to be published in May 2022 by Valley Press.

Tickets are FREE via Eventbrite: Daniel James @ Read.

Ezra Maas is dead. The famously reclusive artist vanished without a trace seven years ago while working on his final masterpiece, but his body was never found. While the Maas Foundation prepares to announce his death, journalist Daniel James finds himself hired to write the untold story of the artist's life – but this is no ordinary book. The deeper James delves into the myth of Ezra Maas, the more he is drawn into a nightmarish world of fractured identities and sinister doubles. A chilling literary labyrinth, The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas blends postmodern noir with biography, newspaper clippings, artworks, photographs, letters, official documents, phone transcripts, emails, and handwritten notes, to create a book like no other before it.

This landmark, definitive edition of the novel features new material from the author and more than 60 pages of stunning, full-colour visual content from an international cast of artists, including Hanna Ten Doornkaat, Mike Corrao, Laura Barnard, Nick Loaring, The Printed Word, Ella Holder and Tiny Golden Books. In 2022, Maas Lives...

“With The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas, Daniel James has created a labyrinthine metafictional headf*ck that spills well beyond the confines of its own pages. It is by turns thought-provoking, original and infuriating, and very possibly the work of a madman.”

— Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of Booker-shortlisted His Bloody Project

Daniel James is an author and journalist from Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK. A journalist for national newspapers and magazines for over a decade, James was a finalist for young UK news writer of the year before he became an author. 

The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas is his debut novel and has been shortlisted for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize.

UPDATE: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis the Aye Write 2020 festival has unfortunately had to be cancelled. Tickets will be refunded by the organiser.

I’ll be joining author Rory Clements to discuss our novels and explore the relationship between fact and fiction in contemporary literature. Tickets are £10 and available here: http://bit.ly/clementsjames

My first book event of 2020 will take place at Read Holmfirth, a wonderful new independent bookshop in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, on Saturday 25 January. Tickets are free and available from the link below.

Join North East author and journalist Daniel James at Forum Books this November for the official launch of his debut novel, The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas.

Ezra Maas is gone. 

The famously reclusive artist vanished without a trace seven years ago while working on his final masterpiece, but his body was never found. While the Maas Foundation prepares to announce his death, journalist Daniel James finds himself hired to write the untold story of the artist’s life. But this is no ordinary book. The deeper James delves into the myth of Ezra Maas, the more he is drawn into a nightmarish world of fractured identities and sinister doubles, where art and reality have become dangerously blurred…

The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas is the story of a journalist searching for the truth about a reclusive artist through 60 years of unreality. A chilling literary labyrinth, the book combines postmodern noir with new journalism and biography, letters, phone transcripts, emails and newspaper clippings.

We hope you will join us, and Daniel, Thursday 29th November, at The Chapel, Corbridge, for what is bound to be a unique and exciting evening, celebrating a talented new voice and a brilliant debut novel.

We are delighted to also welcome renowned mixologist Joe Summerfield, who has created two themed cocktails inspired by the book and will be serving drinks on arrival. 

Doors from 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start. Tickets are available now at £5 which includes a drink.

DEBUT author Daniel James will give the first public reading from his novel at Books on Tyne 2017 next week after a successful crowdfunding campaign.

The writer and journalist from Cullercoats, North Tyneside, will share a packed bill at this year’s festival, alongside bestselling authors such as Val McDermid (The Wire in the Blood), Ann Cleeves (Vera), LJ Ross, and many more.

Tickets are free for the event on November 28 at 6pm, at Newcastle’s City Library, but must be booked in advance from Newcastle Libraries Eventbrite page.