Oprah
James Frey spoken out about a phone call he received from Oprah last autumn in which she apologised to him for publicly humiliating him on her show. “It was a nice surprise to hear from her,” Frey told Vanity Fair.
Posted May 15, 2009
Frey Q&A follow up
To see James’ responses to the questions collected from social media and this site, click here.
Posted April 23, 2009
Frey Q&A
James will be doing an online Q&A session in the UK on 11th March
Do you have a question for James?
If so, email it to frey@johnmurrays.co.uk The best ones will be put to him, and a video of his answers will be posted here and elsewhere online shortly after
Deadline is 14.00 GMT [pls adjust for time zones]
Posted February 25, 2009
James Frey on tour in UK
James Frey will be touring the UK to talk about Bright Shiny Morning next month. Tour dates confirmed below:
9 March James Frey at Aye Write!, Glasgow
10 March James Frey at Waterstone’s Liverpool
11 March James Frey at Miller’s Academy, London
12 March James Frey at the ICA, London
13 March James Frey at the Waterstone’s Dublin
Posted February 25, 2009
Frey’s internship at the Gawker
This December, James undertook an internship at Gawker to, quote unquote, ‘pad out his CV’. Frey spent most his time answering questions on the Gawker blog and drew a startling amount of attention: fans and those generally intrigued about him and his writing came out in full force to grill the celebrated author. The questions are certainly varied although it is James’ answers which make the conversations so highly entertaining.
Some of the questions were sensible:
Q: “What are you reading right now? I just finished a book like ten minutes ago and am in need of something new. You’re awesome and one of my favorite living authors, btw
James: “Thanks. Reading 2666, by Roberto Bolano. It’s pretty amazing.”
Some were a little more comedic:
Q: “Could you not sleep last night knowing that you were going to intern for Gawker today or was it just like whatever, I intern all the time?”
James: “It was a sleepless night. Spent a few hours choosing my outfit, a few more doing my hair and beard.”
And some were just plain weird:
Q: “You look like you’re from the Bible. What’s your favorite part? Don’t say “all of it.”
Yours in Christ,
Lornetta Churchypants”
James: “My favorite part is when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding around. I want to follow them and see what kind they shit they stir up”
But my personal favourite:
Q: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go through an entire day speaking like David Caruso on CSI Miami?
I think…it would be…fun (sunglasses off)
James: “I do it every day. That fucker stole that style from me.”
From the conversations between Frey and his fellow workers it seems that all equally had a fantastic time with the internship. Although, let’s hope he doesn’t give up the day job quite yet.
Posted December 23, 2008
I’d never read James Frey before
Somewhat embarrassingly, I’d never read anything by James Frey before. I’ve worked in bookselling since I was 17 (I’m now 27), and his books had somehow just passed me by. When the publishers came in to pitch Bright Shiny Morning right back at the beginning of the year, they showed us a cover image and a bit of information as to what the story was about. The other buyer with me was so excited, she almost fell off her chair. I realised there was obviously more to this guy than most other authors, and went out and bought myself a million little pieces that night.
I read the book in one sitting, and was slowly beginning to realise what I had been missing out on. I read my friend leonard too, and came to understand the whole Oprah controversy. I was ready for the release of Bright Shiny Morning.
When the book arrived at the Borders head offices, people were incredibly excited. We get sent a lot of books; this one had people grabbing it out of each other’s hands. I managed to get a copy, read it over the weekend and absolutely loved it. I loved the ‘nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable’. I loved the ‘facts’ at the beginning of each chapter about the history of LA, which may or may not be true. I loved the way some characters keep reappearing (Dylan, Maddie and Esperanza were my favourites), and some characters are never named and are given only a paragraph, or even just a single line. I loved the style of writing. I loved the depiction of LA as a mass of contradictions – from the glamour to the depravity. In case you haven’t picked up on it, I liked the book a lot.
We ordered stacks of it, and made it Book of the Month for the Borders Airport stores, and put it in New Fiction Talent for the rest of the shops. The store managers told us how much they loved the cover and how excited customers were by it. It’s been one of our best-selling books this year, and we’ve seen sales go up for a million little pieces and my friend leonard as well. So I’m professionally pleased by this book – because it’s made a lot money - but even more, I’m personally pleased, because you don’t get books come along that often that you enjoy this much.
Sarah Cahill
Borders Airports Book Buyer
Posted October 17, 2008
Public Stoning
This month sees the unveiling of ‘Public Stoning’, a painting by Ed Ruscha comissioned by none other than James Frey to commemorate his run-in with Oprah. See it here.
Posted October 3, 2008
Making our Mark
It may seem a little old-hat, but still, everyone loves a bookmark… the only drawback is that they are pretty small - we only had 190 x 60 mm to play with and quite a lot to say…
We wanted to put across a strong message to potential Frey readers – to make them see that this was something a bit different – a powerful work of fiction from the author of the controversial A Million Little Pieces. We wanted to say that James Frey is back, he’s unrepentant, and he’s got something rather exciting up his sleeve.
The disclaimer from the beginning of the book seemed to sum up our message in the most concise way. It gave us the opportunity to turn the controversy on its head, use it to our advantage, and have a bit of a laugh while we were at it.
… and it fills up a whole side of our 190 x 60mm book mark with confident, eye catching letters. Perfect.
The other side was easy; two striking cover images and a great quote from the Evening Standard – with a swear word and everything.
Our little book mark was ready to hit the shops!
Sophie Arnold, Sales & Marketing Manager, John Murray
Posted August 19, 2008
Frey Talk
Hello, I’d like to share my James Frey experience with you all…
My housemate works for a publishing company. This means 5 nights out of 7 she returns from work describing the latest exciting plot line or unexpected twist from her favourite up and coming book… I do try and listen but the information just seems to seep out and away before I’ve had chance to process it. I think I may just be a bad housemate.
Anyway, that’s how a copy of A Million Little Pieces ended up lying on our coffee table one morning. I didn’t know anything about the book (although I’m sure I had been well informed) so I picked it up with no preconceptions or real idea of it’s content.
I was hooked straight away by the writing style, the content and the obviously the story. A few of my other housemates had read the book around the same time so, being the highly intellectual beings we are, conversations/debates/arguments often came up about the story. I guess we all had fairly strong opinions about the book once the Oprah controversy occurred. I personally don’t think it taints the book as much as it has been suggested- it’s a brilliant, engrossing read and it allowed me the escapism that every book should.
When the opportunity came up to take part in the publisher’s discussion group about the books I jumped at the chance.
The idea was to discuss A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard in a concise and intelligent manner whilst being recorded for a John Murray promotional video. I’m not sure whether I was particularly concise or insightful but some of the other participants had great points, so we all just jumped in and chatted away. The fact we were being filmed throughout the duration didn’t seem to put anyone off, in fact everyone contributed evenly to the discussion and it remained quite a light hearted debate. The evening actually lasted a while longer than anticipated but I don’t think anyone was bothered by this, we all got so involved in the discussion (and beverages!) the time flew by.
Anyway, James Frey is a great contemporary author and if you haven’t already checked out his work you should.
James Weaver
Posted August 12, 2008
Meeting the Man
University ended. Unlike many students, at least I had the good fortune of knowing exactly what I wanted to do: publishing. So I got down to it and sent my CV to the major players in publishing and waited with bated breath, for three weeks. Three long weeks. Hurrah! John Murray, my saviour, replied.
I had prepared myself to be up to my arms in photocopying, running errands and even went so far as to prescribe myself the label of ‘Caroline a.k.a. dogsbody’. What I did not expect was to be attending meetings, copy editing, proof-reading, and certainly not this latest venture: my chance to help organise and attend a book signing for James Frey’s new book Bright Shiny Morning. I would like to say I’m of those girls that nods at the task, flicks her hair, taking everything coolly in her stride but I am, most regrettably and categorically, not of that demeanour. Seconds after leaving the office for the day I’ll be on my mobile gloating, yes gloating, about my involvement with James Frey. Ok, so he doesn’t know my name but I’ve certainly come across his many times.
One of my many roles is to send out any newspaper clippings to authors. Rifling through the cut-outs: James Frey; James Frey; James Frey…get the idea. Critics have described his novel as ‘immaculately written’, ‘exasperating but engrossing’ and ‘a riveting read’. His popularity at the moment is inspiring and without a doubt well earned. Bright Shiny Morning has hit the literary world hard and, from magazine to national reviews, everyone wants the chance to pass comment on him. Next week, Frey will be here in the John Murray office to meet, greet and sign books for the residents of 338 Euston Road and I shall get to meet the man himself!
Caroline Lotinga, John Murray Work Experience
Posted August 11, 2008