On Wednesday 17th April, VERVE hosted their spring blogger mixer where bloggers familiar with VERVE and new were able to meet each other in person – some of them for the first time – and also meet our team and some of our incredible authors releasing titles this year. Maame Blue, Curtis Garner and James Roseman were in attendance to talk about the inspiration for their novels, mingle with the bloggers and take part in the VERVE pub quiz.
Our eager readers piled into the lively pub The George and Monkey in Angel, lining up to receive name tags and drinks and excited to socialise. Some came in groups, but many came alone, being bold and seeking out community by themselves and ultimately making new friends.
Soon after everyone arrived, our Editorial Director Jenna introduced some of VERVE’s key books for the first half of 2024 before handing over to the guest authors, starting with Maame Blue. Her new novel, The Rest of You (published 29th October 2024) is an emotionally wrenching novel tackling key themes such as generational trauma and what it means to be Black British, set in today’s London and Ghana in the mid-90s. The Rest of You spans three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, exploring what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past. Maame had the crowd captivated as she revealed what readers can expect from her moving novel.
‘The Rest of You kind of began as a story about a woman dancing in a club by herself – surrounded by people but feeling alone. And it became a kind of bigger story as I came to know the character of Whitney a bit better and it was also heavily influenced by my experience, years ago, working as a psychotherapist working with childhood trauma survivors. So it kind of inspired this character and the nuances of her experience.’
– Maame Blue, The Rest of You
After Maame’s excellent opener, Jenna introduced James Roseman, author of Placeholders – a profound and emotionally insightful debut novel about a cross-cultural relationship, Jewish identity, loneliness, love and loss. James spoke about how the novel reflects his own experiences of moving from Boston to Ireland just before the pandemic, and the way in which we navigate our ever-changing identities in times of isolation. James wrote the novel from the ‘feeling of trying to start a new life where your old life is moving on without you in a lot of way and how impactful it is to find somebody in that moment.’
Next debut author Curtis Garner offered some thought-provoking words about his debut novel, Isaac (published 28th November 2024). Set in London across a single, life-altering summer, Isaac explores masculinity and queerness in the digital age and offers a fresh take on desire and intimacy, adolescent obsession and dangerous first love. Curtis writes about a time he doesn’t remember ‘fondly’ speaking on this time and about Isaac with humour, insight and a modicum of nostalgia.
‘[Isaac] is about those nebulous, elastic feelings you have when you’re younger and whether they disappear or not when you get older.’
– Curtis Garner, Isaac
The VERVE team then handed out branded tote bags which contained one of the new titles just discussed plus a book from our existing list, with attendees encouraged to swap with one another if they had already read the book they received. Now everyone was acquainted, we followed this up with our VERVE Pub Quiz, consisting of four rounds including, literary anagrams, literary trivia, and a ‘Guess the Book Cover’ round. The atmosphere was buzzing: people drank, bonded, debated and each player in the winning team received two new proofs of Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison and The Nude by C. Michelle Lindley.
This was VERVE’s third blogger mixer, and these events have quickly become a large part of what VERVE is trying to accomplish, fostering a community amongst our readers. By getting to know us and our authors, we hope that readers feel closer to us and our books, share our passion for the stories and understand why we publish them.
The social media response to the mixer has been wonderful! People have shared photos of themselves with the authors and with our books, and it has been such a joy to see. We can’t wait to start cooking up our next mixer later in the year! Sign up to our newsletter and keep your eyes peeled for the next one!
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