Tonight (Friday), Paul Griffiths, of Manorbier, will read from his new novel 'Let Me Tell You' at a launch sponsored by the Calder Bookshop in London, across from the Young Vic Theatre in The Cut.

The bookshop and its noted series of lectures and readings were established by John Calder, the friend of Samuel Beckett who published Beckett's prose works in the 1950s following the success of Waiting for Godot, as well as new English translations of European writers, including Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Goethe, and Zola.    

To date, 'Let Me Tell You' is the best-selling book published by Reality Street Editions in its history.

Writing in the Times Literary Supplement, Stephen Mitchelmore called it 'exceptional'; writing in the Daily Telegraph, Tom Payne called it 'profound' and 'vital' and comments that 'from Griffiths, who is perhaps best known as an invaluable guide to contemporary music, this is a composition in its own right.' On a lighter note, Rick Schultz, of the Los Angeles Times, called it 'pure fun to read'.

Those who can't attend the reading can still hear Paul talk about the book that evening: known to have a great face for radio, Paul will 'appear' on Radio 3 three times in the next month, including tonight (Friday). This programme, 'The Verb,' airs at 9.15 pm. Paul's fellow guests will include the winner of this year's T.S. Eliot prize (not yet announced at press time) and the writer and Princeton University professor Edmund White speaking from a studio in New York.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Paul will join Sir Nicholas Kenyon, director of the Barbican Centre in London, on 'Music Matters' at 12.15 pm.

And on Valentine's Day, February 14, Paul will join Julian Anderson, 2007 Grammy Award winning composer and artistic director of the 'Music of Today' concert series of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, on the late-night contemporary music programme, 'Hear and Now'.  

'Let Me Tell You' (Reality Street Editions, 2008) can be ordered from the Tenby Bookshop.