Anna Frame

Those who back banning trans girls from Girlguiding need to look at Brownie Law ...which clearly states: ‘A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself’ – something that seems to have been forgotten in making the decision to ban trans girls from Girlguiding. There are many risk...

“I question the energy that is being dedicated to harming vulnerable people and children rather than tackling the much bigger and very real risks facing women and girls.”

A Brownie parent tackles Girlguiding banning trans girls: “It is an attack on children.”
www.independent.co.uk/voices/girlg...

So far I've tried emailing (bounceback), Live Chat (kicked off after 15 minutes of waiting to be connected to an agent, with a 'network error'), Facebook Messenger (dead link), WhatsApp (no number or link given) and phone (still on hold, 40 minutes in, having spoken to no one).

Infuriating.

Listened to a podcast recently about the rise of 'sludge' - the incorporation of inconvenience (long waits, AI chatbots etc) into customer service, designed to make customers give up before they can claim what's they're owed.

Having had a parcel misdelivered by FedEx, I'm REALLY feeling it today.

An empty train is sitting on a platform, at least 15 people clustered around the closed doors of each of the four carriages.

God love the middle aged man who walks up, in front of all of us, and presses the unlit Door Open button “just in case”…

Heading back north after a flying visit to London, to speak at the @publicitycircle.bsky.social Junior Publicists’ Training Day. A brilliantly engaged audience, with some great questions thrown my way! A good reminder both of what great work the PPC does, and how much talent there is coming up.

Feeling emotional today.

Some lovely news. Somewhere Bobby and Robert are celebrating!

Congratulations to everyone shortlisted and thank you to the judges and Nero and to @canongate.co.uk and my agent Clare Conville and to every bookseller, librarian and reader for giving my story space.

Every time I think this government can’t sink lower, they prove me wrong. It’s almost impressive.

Oh this is such incredibly sad news. A wonderful writer.

Independent children's publisher Knights Of set to close Award-winning inclusive children’s publisher Knights Of is set to close, The Bookseller understands, with accountancy firm Hart Shaw instructed to place the company in liquidation, pending a vote of t...

Oh this is such sad news. Knights Of have been such a force for good in this industry - we need more companies like them, not fewer. www.thebookseller.com/news/indepen...

Yes, that was a massive consideration - I don’t think anyone felt right making promises we couldn’t keep to authors in pitch meetings. You can’t always guarantee coverage or success, but you can promise time, energy and a team who really care. Delighted that’s coming across - it means everything!

Canongate has no plans to grow further, we actively cut our list size some years ago and last year became a BCorp. Does that inoculate us against poor ethical choices or this kind of rhetoric? Absolutely not - but I hope it’s a sign of the way we choose to do business, and what we are prioritising.

Oh sure - and the conversation about the ethics of who you choose to publish is a whole other factor. But I guess I just wonder how that transition happens, and whether it’s inevitable. I’d love to think not - so maybe it’s just a question of a series of conscious choices made much earlier…

I do think ever-tightening margins are leading a lot of people down some pretty dark paths - less spread betting and more just straightforward churn - and it’s easy to forget the reason we do what we do. And absolutely sheer corporate greed plays a factor in many places too. But still…

I hear you, but Newton isn’t a corporate CEO who moved over to lead Bloomsbury; publishing has been his life. I’d love to understand how you reach this position from that starting point. And corporate publishing remains packed w/ people who love books, even alongside those with a “units” viewpoint…

And obviously that's without even scratching the surface of his comments on the role of AI. Which also raises MANY questions for me, none of them good.

Beyond that, surely anyone who works in publishing would acknowledge that high sales are not always an indicator of good writing, nor low sales a sign of poor quality. There are a wealth of factors that go into a book's success incl - as ever - the industry's heavy inbuilt biases and, frankly, luck.

I'm just fascinated by his logic: if a 'big name' is already a big name (ie, a celeb), there's no guarantee they're a good writer. If they're a big name because they've made it as a writer, someone once took a chance on them. So how do you build more of those without investing in unknown names?

Personally, I’d ask why a “big name” is considered an indicator of quality, in publishing of all places - when the rise of celeb-authored books at the expense of new talent has long been an issue. But then I’ve quite a few questions about that interview, and that one is relatively low down the list.

AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief Publisher last week reported jump in revenue in academic and professional arm thanks to AI licensing deal

For those who missed it: www.theguardian.com/business/202...

“We are programmed deep in our DNA to be comforted by the authority and the reliability of big brand names, & that applies more than ever to the names of big writers.”

Worth bearing in mind this recent news, while considering Nigel Newton’s latest comments in the Guardian. Looks like Bloomsbury are going to be leaning hard into AI in the future: bsky.app/profile/publ...

Have I mentioned recently how much I adore this book? A love story spanning decades, it left me in tears at the end (not a common occurrence) - and I was far from the only one to have that response.

Lily lands in the UK tomorrow - do catch her on tour if you can: buythebook.online/heart-the-lo...

There was a story literally last week about a teenager who killed themself after encouragement from Chat GPT. These are empty words. As ever, it’s profit above everything.

A screenshot from Bluesky, showing a post about a dark secret coming back to haunt you - accompanied by a picture of an adorable dog in knitwear, sitting up in bed looking happy. Directly below it is a Canongate post about Alex Preston’s new book, A Stranger in Corfu, which deals with a very similar subject (but with fewer dogs).

Some days, the algorithm really is your friend:

"Le Carré meets the Durrells"
"Imagine the Slow Horses had parents who were also spies..."
"Agatha Christie meets the Cambridge Five"

To be clear, none of these lines are from me - they're from some of the MANY quotes we've already had in for Alex's novel.

Now boasting a stunning cover to match.

The Sudan Solidarity Collective supports organizations led by Sudanese civilians: including emergency response rooms, mutual aid, labor and farmers’ unions. Please give what you can and/or share.

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

Visiting so many bookshops around the country over the last few weeks simply confirmed what I already knew: booksellers are the kindest, best folk, the hardest workers - and the best chat. It always feels like such a privilege to get to drop into the many and varied communities they have created.

A bright blue award sitting on a desk, which reads: “BA Booksellers Association - Sophie Christopher Publicist of the Year: Anna Frame”

This was a truly lovely thing to find on arrival back into the office today, after a fairly intense few weeks of extensive touring.

Thanks again to the BA, and to all the brilliant booksellers who voted. It really does mean the world.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.