"From Albion To Shangri-La" edited by author Nina Antonia, published by Thin Man Press, July 1st 2014
Peter Doherty started his career as writer and publisher with a hand-xeroxed fanzine for his favorite football team Queens Park Rangers which he handed out at the team's matches. Any surviving copies would be highly collectable. He wrote and performed poetry at The Foundry near Old Street London and was selected to travel to st Petersberg with young British Poets by The British Council. He co-wrote lyrics for his band The Libertines with fellow front-man Carlos Barat and continued with his next band Babyshambles.
His many journals dedicated to "Arcady" and "Albion" an England without rules were published on various websites and exerpts edited by Earl Broad included in "The Books of Albion", Orion Books 2006. Various poems and short prose pieces were commissioned by Paul Roundhill and included in the free literary fanzine published by Ian Allison "Full Moon Empty Sportsbag" issues 3 -15 between 2003 and 2006.
Parts of his prison diaries written during four stints at Her Majesty's Pleasure (edited by Paul Roundhill) were published in The Guardian, on its website and on "BalaChadha.com" but have to date not yet been published in full.
His "Chiang-Mai" rehab diaries were published on-line in 2012.
"From Albion to Shangri-La" is a selection of writings taken from journals written between 2008-2013 and from his tour diaries.
It took a couple of years travelling over to her flat in Barnes and getting to know her, familiarising her with Peter's idiosyncratic style before Nina felt ready to take on the task but eventually in 2013 the doyenne of "dark" Rock and Roll prose was presented with a battered suitcase full of journals and set about deciphering the hand-written manuscripts. It is not always easy to make out the meaning of some of Peter's hand-writing indeed there was sometimes a suspicion that even the author was ambivalent about certain words leaving the de-coding to the readers judgement however in a relatively short space of time Nina had produced her transcript and selected passages which were then passed to Peter for his perusal and approval.
Peter is a fan of Nina's own writing which has been a terrific help in smoothing the books passage and a publisher was quickly found allowing hard copies to appear in Waterstone's, Foyles and all bookshops throughout the land
Peter Doherty started his career as writer and publisher with a hand-xeroxed fanzine for his favorite football team Queens Park Rangers which he handed out at the team's matches. Any surviving copies would be highly collectable. He wrote and performed poetry at The Foundry near Old Street London and was selected to travel to st Petersberg with young British Poets by The British Council. He co-wrote lyrics for his band The Libertines with fellow front-man Carlos Barat and continued with his next band Babyshambles.
His many journals dedicated to "Arcady" and "Albion" an England without rules were published on various websites and exerpts edited by Earl Broad included in "The Books of Albion", Orion Books 2006. Various poems and short prose pieces were commissioned by Paul Roundhill and included in the free literary fanzine published by Ian Allison "Full Moon Empty Sportsbag" issues 3 -15 between 2003 and 2006.
Parts of his prison diaries written during four stints at Her Majesty's Pleasure (edited by Paul Roundhill) were published in The Guardian, on its website and on "BalaChadha.com" but have to date not yet been published in full.
His "Chiang-Mai" rehab diaries were published on-line in 2012.
"From Albion to Shangri-La" is a selection of writings taken from journals written between 2008-2013 and from his tour diaries.
It took a couple of years travelling over to her flat in Barnes and getting to know her, familiarising her with Peter's idiosyncratic style before Nina felt ready to take on the task but eventually in 2013 the doyenne of "dark" Rock and Roll prose was presented with a battered suitcase full of journals and set about deciphering the hand-written manuscripts. It is not always easy to make out the meaning of some of Peter's hand-writing indeed there was sometimes a suspicion that even the author was ambivalent about certain words leaving the de-coding to the readers judgement however in a relatively short space of time Nina had produced her transcript and selected passages which were then passed to Peter for his perusal and approval.
Peter is a fan of Nina's own writing which has been a terrific help in smoothing the books passage and a publisher was quickly found allowing hard copies to appear in Waterstone's, Foyles and all bookshops throughout the land
Review of “From Albion to Shangri La” by Paul Roundhill
Peter once declared himself to be foremost a writer and that music was merely the vehicle by which he hoped his writing would reach the wider world. Peter’s submissions of poetry and short prose pieces in issues 3 to 14 of Ian Allisons brilliant and short-lived literary zine ”Full Moon Empty Sportsbag” demonstrated that promise. Copies were snapped up quickly at the time of publication and will assuredly become highly prized collector’s items in the future for those with the time and income to track down and collect. The life-style of a prolific touring musician is evidently unsuited to the creation of lengthy literary prose so the prospect of a full-length novel or even short stories remains so far a tantalising project for a future. His writing to date would appear to be a preparation for the time when his working schedule allows that kind of commitment.
Nina is a good choice as editor she has status and respect in the music world, revered by her fans for the detailed and passionately loyal portrait of cult guitarist Johnny Thunders, she has been a fan, close friend and chronicler of some of the music world’s darker more troubled talents and she writes with humour, painstakingly researched biography with and obvious sympathy for her subject which is demonstrated by the care and integrity of her research. She has written about Nico, Peter Perrot and Leee Black Childers amongst others.
It took about a year and a half of trips to Nina’s flat in Barnes before she was ready to to take on the task of removing this albatross from around my neck. Firstly I had to assure both Nina and Peter that I was happy to forego my role as “self-styled literary agent” secondly it was required to familiarise Nina with Peter’s idiosyncratic manner and style of business. Once those objectives had been achieved Nina made short work of picking out suitable passages and weaving them together into a cohesive whole. Peter’s subtle accolade to her on the back of this books reveals something of his skill as a writer as well as to hers. Its worthy of the Times crossword puzzle “Watch Nina write, she riots” 9 across: who riots? the STYLISH kid! In five words the bard of Albion slyly complements the doyenne of the gothic and of baroque and roll biography, assiduous researcher, painstaking recorder of crucial minutiae. If you read her biography of her teenage idol legend Johnny Thunders you will appreciate why she has been treated with rare reverence by the Hollywood film company who are currently in pre-production mode
Nina’s task in editing the journals demanded the same technique resorted to by Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac when faced with a trunkful of closely written pages with no numbers or indication of intended order. Which is supposed to be page one and how does one collate the random sheets into some semblance of sequential order? You just assemble them in whatever way seems to work and hope for the best … if Gysin and Burroughs cut-up theory is correct this intuitive assemblage will be an improvement on the authors order of writing. That is how the classic Naked Lunch was put together and Nina’s task was similar, confronted with fragments of indecipherable scrawl in creating this elegant sequence from the random sequence has proved to be a remarkable achievement.
The books of Albion rewarded close scrutiny by the avid fan prepared to decipher the spidery hand-writing whereas for Albion to Shangri La reveals an open secret hidden in plain sight - that this guy can write I don’t know another to equal him in this generation - its a more mature hand, poetry as prose by a writer of stature who is clearly developing his craft. within the covers of this book one finds the true individual; the expatriate lifestyle with its frequent journeys by Eurostar, domesticity, favourite television characters such as comedian Tony Hancock, Steptoe, Peter Falk of U.S. cop show Columbo all hang together with to create a remarkable gentle candidly intimate portrait of the prolific musician and artist. The usual suspects amongst the now familiar circle of friends are lightly touched upon and there are some surprising revelations including a declaration of love and his intentions to take a life-long partner.
The final third of the book and tour diaries is equally personal but more rewarding for aficionados of Babyshambles and reveals the inside track of touring solo and with the band.
If you have any interest in the man or indeed contemporary culture this book is good value for your money. I recommend you read it.
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