AA Gill is Away (Hardcover)

Gill's assignments have taken him around the world in pursuit of the great stand-first: a visit to the worst place in the world (the Aral Sea), how to write a porno film in a weekend and the joys of owning a Rolls Royce. In accordance with what is clearly a whistle-stop lifestyle, his book takes us all over the world: to Sudan, Bethlehem, Los Angeles, Patagonia--and Wilmslow in Cheshire. His writing is usually acute and provocative, and the various African articles are particularly sharp as he rails against the creeping colonialism perpetuated by aid agencies and international finance, and the crass priorities of drug companies whose profits are in Prozac and not cures for malaria or sleeping sickness.

Inevitably with a ragbag collection of this sort, the quality of the pieces vary. At times, you feel that Gill has dragged out his copy for his editors, and at others there is a surfeit of metaphors in which Gill tries too hard to be funny. But his trademark fury polishes his prose, which usually retains its sharpness and succeeds in conveying the thrill of immediacy without which no travel writing can sparkle. --Toby Green

Review
AA GILL IS AWAY by AA Gill AM AA Gill did an excellent event at the Hay Festival on Sunday 2 June and there has been masses of coverage for his collection of travel essays.GQ magazine have run an eight page illustrated extract from the introduction in the book, which is in their May issue, out now. The Sunday Times Travel Section have run a big piece about the Kalahari desert, which is similar to the one in the book but hasn't been used by the Sunday Times.Adrian is doing/has done the following interviews: Jonathan Ross Show (BBC Radio 2) live interview on Saturday 27th April for 45 minutes, Richard Allinson Show (BBC Radio 2) a pre-recorded interview to run Thursday 9th May; Nicky Campbell Show (BBC Radio 5 Live) live interview on Wednesday 1st May from 11 - 12noon with other guests and phone-in from general public; Cover Stories (BBC Radio Scotland), Muriel Gray is doing a pre-recorded interview to be broadcast on Thursday 9th May, Robert Elms Show (London Live) on 1 May and an interview on Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), 4 May. Adrian has done the regular Q&Aslot for Scotland on Sunday which ran on 28 April, an interview with the Edinburgh Evening News, an interview in the Evening Standard, which ran on 1 May, an interview in DSide magazine (Irish Face), May issue, and in interview with Bol.com which will run around publication together with the Sunday Telegraph's Case History interview in their travel pages Reviews are starting to come in and they're excellent 'in this collection of 25 accounts of trips abroadhe comes across as both funny and compassionate.'Clare Heal, The Daily Express 'His reporting here is spot-on: clear-eyed, informative and compassionate...his work is always ...surprising, original, stimulating and, for that reason, always worth reading.'Lynn Barber Daily Telegraph 'This is one of those rare books that I never wanted to end. While I hate missing any of Gill's acerbic restaurant and television reviews, I'll no longer wince at the words 'AA Gill is away' printed on the bottom of the page. It means that I'm in for a real treat when he returns to tell me where he's been.'Lee Randall, Scotland onSunday 'His objective is to interview places, and perhaps this is why the feel of the journalism is compassionate.... Entertaining.'Sarah Jenkins TNT Maga

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