Hello. My name is Andrew Crowther, and I've written a book called Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan (hence GOGAS). It's going to be published by The History Press in May 2011. It's a biography of William Schwenck Gilbert, who wrote the words of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, as well as being the foremost dramatist of his time, and a pioneering director, and a gifted cartoonist, and a notable wit, and much else besides.
I'm writing this because the next few months look like being interesting. I think, I hope, that the book will make at least a small splash; that it will get at least one or two proper reviews. My publisher is encouraging me to help publicise the book by placing a few articles in a few related periodicals, and by giving talks and so on. I have one or two ideas of my own as well....
All of this is new to me. I'm not a professional writer, though I consider myself a reasonably accomplished amateur. I can spell all the words that I use, and my grammar's as good as my neighbour's, to quote Iolanthe. I've also written several plays which have received warm reactions from audiences in Bradford, where I live. The biography is as well written as I can make it, and I've tried to make it a readable narrative, rather than the collection of facts which a lot of biographies seem to be these days.
2011 marks the centenary of Gilbert's death. It also sees the 175th anniversary of his birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his first professional work. I will be heavily involved in various events connected with the Gilbert Centenary celebrations, as I am the secretary of the W S Gilbert Society, and I know quite a lot about the old devil.
The aim is to write an entry every day--inspired by Richard Herring's "Warming Up" blog. It should only take thirty minutes or so. Thirty minutes a day.... It doesn't seem impossible. Well. We shall see.
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