Feature ~ Unleashed :The Game Changers with Paola Diana

UNLEASHED

THE GAME CHANGERS

A VIDEO AND AUDIO PODCAST BY PAOLA DIANA

UNLEASHED: THE GAME CHANGERS is an inspiring and empowering YouTube Talk Show and Podcast hosted by Women's Rights Activist, Author, Entrepreneur, Speaker & Host Paola Diana.

Unleashed: The Game Changers introduces 20 inspirational champions of change, successful women and men who have faced huge personal and professional challenges and who have all dramatically changed their lives for the better.

The first series of Unleased: The Game Changers includes conversations with Claudia Doval the Jiu jitsu black belt World Champion speaks openly for the first time about her fight with Bulimia and her experiences of sexual abuse, with female airline pilot Captain Brenda Riepsaame Wassink whose extraordinary sideways emergency landing saved the lives of her passengers, with award winning film makers and pioneering LGBTQ couple Shamim Sarif and Hanan Kattan about diversity, prejudice and religion, with Melanie Seymour Global Head of Black Rock and Vice President of the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance about glass ceilings and equality in the work place, with TV chef & cookery author Ching He Huang, about how financial setbacks paved the way to her success and with Neuroscientist Sarah J. Caddick, about human behaviour and the behaviour of change and challenge. 

In her signature no filter, no hypocrisy style, Paola Diana speaks to leading scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, authors, activists, athletes, philanthropists about game changing career moves and personal changes that have transformed their own lives and the lives of others. Subjects discussed range from mental health, relationships, discrimination, gender equality, and self-defence to business, sport, religion, neuroscience, and fake news.

Unleashed: The Game Changers explores the lives of inspirational people who have been brave enough to change their lives more than once. The first season includes 20 episodes which feature interviews with inspirational people and leaders from the fields of Business, Sport, Science, Politics, Law, Film, and the Arts. Unleashed: The Game Changers shows that we should not be blinded by fear, instead we should embrace change and be brave enough to change our lives. Episodes of Unleashed: The Game Changers have been watched 200,000 times.

Paola Diana: Game Changer

“I left in awe of her willingness to say the unsayable

no matter what trouble it will cause”

Helen Rumbelow, The Times

Paola Diana’s own life story is one of inspirational change and challenge. As a child and a teenager, she suffered physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her father, which lead to bulimia and depression. Escaping at 19 to attend university, she never returned to her family. Instead she carved a path for herself. Despite facing sexual discrimination, she forged a career as one of the only females in Italy working in politics

She ran a Think Tank in support of the former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi’s political campaign. And then went on to found her own Think Tank PariMerito (Equal Merit), which she used to lobby the Italian Government to pass new equality laws in the workplace, including a new bill requiring every company board to have minimum 30% female representation.

In her personal life she has moved to completely new cities where she knew no one three times in her life, Bologna, Rome and London. Each time relishing the challenge of building up a new life for herself from scratch. A commentator and critic of sexual equality, domestic abuse, and violence against women, she is incredibly outspoken, honest and brave in tackling taboo subjects around women.

Saving the World by Paola Diana

Part manifesto for change part historical and sociological essay, Saving the World charts women’s condition through the centuries, analysing their treatment within political, religious, economic and societal contexts to form a bigger picture of their place in the world; because to understand the present, and make a meaningful difference, we must get to grips with the past. This is a journey that concludes with a clear vision for a better society in which all women are set free from fear, violence and oppression. Paola Diana impresses on us that this world we inhabit, dominated by men and often seemingly immutable, is far from the only one possible. 

On Friday 22nd May, Paola launches the first in a special series of new lockdown podcasts with Trisha Goddard, host of the popular TV show Trisha.

Trisha Goddard, the pioneering TV presenter and the first black woman to front a British chat show, opens up about everything from dating younger men, feeling 17 at 63, and sex in your 60s to controlling men, what it’s like to be the breadwinner in a marriage, and boyfriends who need mothering, as well as how she finally found the one, in an honest and candid chat with Paola Diana.

About Paola Diana

A bestselling author and political activist, Paola Diana is a mouthpiece for female equality, having experienced both domestic abuse and sex discrimination throughout her life. Now a London based entrepreneur and campaigner for equal rights Paola has dedicated her life to championing sexual equality in business and politics.

In her home country of Italy, Paola is the founder of the organisation PariMerito (Equal Merit), which she used to lobby the Italian Government to pass new equality laws in the work place, including a new bill requiring every company board to have minimum 30% female representation. Prior to starting PariMerito Paola ran a Think Tank in support of the former Prime Minister and President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi’s political campaign, which had a focus on issues including welfare, female employment and structural policies in favour of the family and equal opportunities.

In the UK Paola is also an entrepreneur starting her first business as a single mother of two, she now runs three separate businesses and has established herself as a market leader in recruitment and lifestyle services, recognised as one of London’s most influential service providers for high net worth individuals, families and corporations around the world.

Twitter @paoladiana_

@midaspr

A special feature available today from Audible ~ "Send This Book "

Scientists, authors, artists and athletes launch ‘Send This Book’ for Audible

Audible, the world’s largest retailer and producer of audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announces the UK debut of ‘Send This Book’. The feature allows listeners to give any audiobook they own in their ‘My Library’ to others instantly via e-mail, text, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, using their iOS, Android or Windows 10 device. 

Each recipient gets their first title for free to download and keep forever, whether they’re an Audible member or not.

To mark the occasion, some of Britain’s best-loved scientists, authors, artists and athletes are giving away the audiobooks they consider essential listening. 

On Friday 18th November Jon Ronson, Gemma Cairney, Mary Beard, Robert Winston, Karren Brady, Jude Kelly, Matt Dawson and Noma Dumezweni will each be sharing a link to their chosen audiobook on Twitter, inviting members of the public to download the title for free. Featuring a mix of side-splitting comedies, iconic classics and fascinating biographies their must-listen recommendations include: 

Jon Ronson, Author of ‘The Psychopath Test’ and ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’

A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment

Written by John Preston, narrated by Daniel Weyman

“This is a brilliant, funny, sad, startling nonfiction novel about the Jeremy Thorpe murder-plot scandal. I barely remember it from my childhood – just some hazy memories about a liberal MP and a dog and a field and a gun and my parents being furious that the Westminster elite got away with it like they always do. The details, it turns out, are astounding. But unlike less ambitious nonfiction writers, John Preston is not content to just tell a great story. He’s told it in a great way. It is as funny and dark as anything by Evelyn Waugh or Jonathan Coe. And in these post Cyril Smith/Jimmy Saville days, it’s so timely and relevant.”

Gemma Cairney, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ

Just Kids

Written by Patti Smith, narrated by Patti Smith

“When this book came out a few years ago, a friend of mine took me to see Patti Smith in the intimate and enchanting setting of the Union Chapel in Islington to watch Patti read extracts and perform. It was a beguiling and extraordinary experience, watching her, was like watching no one I'd ever seen before. Listening to audio version of this book, takes me right back to that night. One never to be forgotten.”

Mary Beard OBE, Professor of Classics at Cambridge

The Odyssey

Written by Homer, narrated by Anton Lesser

“The Odyssey takes us back to the very origins of Western literature. If you think ‘origins’ are likely to be crude and roughly formed, you're in for a shock. This is a marvellously sophisticated tale of homecoming, temptation, adventure and the contested boundary between civilisation and barbarity. There's no better book to listen to, because it was first composed not to be read, but heard in oral recitation: the original talking book.”

Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories From My Life

Written by John le Carré, narrated by John le Carré

“One of the most unusual autobiographies I have ever read. It gives a background to the content and style of one of our greatest fiction writers and what it really means to be a spy.”

Karren Brady CBE, Businesswoman and Baroness of Knightsbridge

The Kept Woman

Written by Karin Slaughter, narrated by Jennifer Woodward

“Pacier than a runaway train and more twists and turns than a roller-coaster. A blockbuster of a crime, thriller suspense. In short the body of a drug dealer and an ex-cop turn up in a warehouse owned by a famous basketball player resulting in murder, espionage, betrayal, secrets, relationship emotions – this book just about has it all! At the heart of it all is a love story, but it’s dark and twisted – it’s one hell of a good book!”

Jude Kelly CBE, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Written by Harper Lee, narrated by Sissy Spacek

“A young white girl scrutinises her community as its racism is revealed and then silently champions her father as he battles for legal justice for his wrongly accused black client. It's a 1960s novel with a frighteningly contemporary relevance and such a powerful read.”

Matt Dawson MBE, Presenter and former England Rugby Scrum-half

Room On The Broom

Written by Julia Donaldson, narrated by Josie Lawrence

“This timeless bed time soother entertains me most evenings. Oh yes.... the boys love it too. When Alex and Sami join in with 'Whoosh it was gone' there's a smile on all three of our faces because we believe it. Scaring Dragons, making potions and simply cruising on a broom with a shower, what better thought to have in your mind before a snooze.”

Noma Dumezweni, Actor, Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The Alchemist

Written by Paulo Coelho, narrated by Jeremy Irons

“The best kind of storytelling – The Alchemist seems simple enough, the journey, the obstacles and the transformation... but the depth of feeling one has if open to it is why it's brilliantly received. Such a pleasure.”

All of the above can be downloaded now  click here 

All the audiobooks featured are available to download free for today only (between 09:00 Friday 18th November and 09:00 Saturday 19th November).

To use the feature, customers simply hit the share icon when listening to an audiobook, then tap ‘Send This Book’, select their preferred sharing method (email, text, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp) and enter the recipient’s contact information. Users can send each audiobook to up to 10 people.  If it is a recipient’s first time accepting an audiobook via this feature the recipient does not need to sign up for a free trial or use a credit card to download the title.

Tracey Markham, UK Country Manager at Audible, said: “Our members know how irresistible a good audiobook can be. Now, for the first time, listeners can share their enjoyment by sending complete titles to anyone in the UK for them to download and keep forever without having to pay a penny. Whether you’re a book club member who wants to share an audiobook with the entire group, a teacher recommending a title to your class, or an enthusiastic listener giving to a friend, Send This Book lets you share the audiobooks you love with those you care about most.”

About Audible

Audible, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible was created to unleash the emotive music in language and the habituating power and utility of verbal expression. Audible content includes more than 200,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes Store.

Thanks to Audible and Francesca at Midas Public Relations for permission to share this information with my blog readers.

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National Reading Group Day ~ A guest post by the author ~ G D Harper

National Reading Group Day

I am delighted to welcome the author G D Harper talking to us about Book Club Author Chats

It’s National Reading Group Day, so I’d like to talk about author chats, a great way to add an interesting dimension to your book club meetings and gain a deeper understanding of the book you’ve read.

Many authors are willing to speak with book clubs via speaker phone or Skype. Making contact with an author is easy, most authors have websites, and usually they have contact information listed there. Some authors like myself include details at the end of my book as to how to contact them to do a book club chat. You might struggle to get a well-known author to participate, but if you want to try, google their name and ‘literary agent’ and this will give you a contact point to reach them. 

When you contact the author let them know that your club has selected their book and would like to chat to them about it by Skype or speakerphone. Tell them how many people are in your book club and when you would be planning to meeting to discuss their book. 

You should plan at least two months in advance and be prepared to be flexible. If you organize a public book club, such as in a library or bookstore, do some research to find out what authors live locally and see if they will turn up in person. You’ll want to publicize the event to more than just your regular attendees so you should plan much further ahead as you'll need time to publicize the event.

Having secured your author, the secret to having a successful author chat is in two stages.

Stage one is before the meeting.

Agree the details. Make sure that both parties are clear on when you're going to be chatting, which book you want to talk about, how long the author is available for, and who will be contacting who. Have a back-up contact point in case the first one doesn’t work for some reason.

Make sure everyone commits to reading the book. I know that might sound obvious, but some people view a club meeting as more of a social thing than an actual book club. I’ve known some people to turn up a book club having just read the synopsis, but if you’re going to have an author in attendance, it’s a different dynamic. It’s important (and respectful) to have read the book.

Make your members aware of the author chat. Email the club members in advance and ask them to have their questions ready. Don’t think it will be a nice surprise to announce at the meeting because people need to come prepared in order to get the best out of the meeting.

Pick a discussion leader. It’s good to have one person be the facilitator for the conversation with the author. Everyone can participate, but when you’re talking to someone remotely, it’s good to have a point person so the chat doesn’t turn into a free for all. 

Check that the speakerphone is working and you know how to use it, that the battery is charged if using a mobile phone, or if doing Skype the speed is good enough for a video call before people start arriving for the meeting.

The second stage is the meeting itself.

Make sure that the phone/computer is positioned so that everyone can hear and be heard. And test before the conversation starts.

Plan on discussing the book first before the author joins you, so that you know what you want to ask. 

Plan to call the author about 30 minutes into your meeting, allowing time for everyone to get settled and get their food and drinks. Maybe 45 minutes if your group is not especially punctual. This is a good time for your discussion leader to compile the list of questions from everyone. 

When the author joins you, it’s polite and a good ice-breaker to start off with a compliment about their book. Even if your group doesn’t love the book, you should always find something positive to say. Don’t try to pretend to like the book if you didn’t like it, but if you are critical of aspects of the book, try to make your comments as constructively and specifically as possible. 

Go beyond basic questions about the book. Some authors are perfectly happy answering questions like :

Where did you get the idea for the story?

What were the key themes of the book? What emotional truth were you trying to uncover?

Why did you write the story in the first person? What difficulties did it give you?

You might want to have the author ask you questions. For example, in Love’s Long Road I would ask readers.

Why do you think Bobbie embarked on and continued her destructive lifestyle?

Why did she allow herself to fall under Michael’s control?

In what ways might you consider Bobbie to be a flawed character? Did these character flaws affect your enjoyment of the book?

And the question to usually ask the author last is...

What are you working on now?

Finally, I’d like to finish on what an author gets out of these sessions.

Back in the pre-internet days, writing a book was a one-way process. Unless you were really, really famous you never really heard from readers about what they thought of your book.

Finally, I’d like to finish on what an author gets out of these sessions.

Back in the pre-internet days, writing a book was a one-way process. Unless you were really, really famous you never really heard from readers about what they thought of your book.

Today, the direct interaction an author can have with readers, as reviewers or on Facebook and the like, can occasionally be overwhelming but it is also motivating and informative. As Edmund Wilson once said, ‘no two people ever read the same book’ and interaction with readers is a way for an author to get an idea of what works and what doesn't with a wide variety of readers. I think it helps make you understand your books better and become a better writer. 

So if you haven’t tried an author chat at your book club I hope you will. For both your benefit and for the benefit of the author.

Huge thanks to the author for this insightful guest post. 

Most reading groups welcome and look forward to interaction with authors, it helps to encourage a relationship between both author and reader which can only work to increase the joy of reading for everyone.

If you would like to find out if there is a reading group near you follow this link   and enter your postcode.

Love's Long Road by GD Harper is out now in paperback


And also in e-book


Here's my Review  This would make a very interesting Reading Group Read !!

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It's all in the cover...

Notting Hill Press
2016

Like most readers I am intrigued by the variation in book cover design from one country to another and have often wondered what makes one cover work better than another. This is a recent case in point with the US cover of  Michele Gorman's  latest novel, Match Me If  You Can.

It’s interesting to see how the same book is marketed differently depending on where its fans are based. Michele Gorman’s Match Me If You Can is published by Avon (Harper Collins) in the UK and by Notting Hill Press in the US. Avon took the lead in designing the marketing package for Michele’s UK chick lit fans, with a pretty teal cover, fun font and firm focus on the online dating/romance storylines in the book.

Avon
2016

Meet best friends Catherine, Rachel and Sarah. Yet to find Mr Right, they’ve been settling for Mr Right Now. But when Catherine, London’s finest matchmaker, gets the girls to join her dating site where they can rate and recommend their ex-boyfriends, they soon realise that anything could happen… There’s someone for everyone, right? These best friends are about to find out!

To complement the UK cover, we at Notting Hill Press designed the US cover using the same fonts and heart motif. But something started to bother us. Match Me If You Can is also about strong women. It’s funny, cheeky, poignant and realistic. The women join the dating website and recycle their exes but their lives – their friendship, families and careers – are at the heart of the book. And while both British and American fans are definitely romantics, American readers are also really partial to a feisty story about friends.

We had to admit it: our hot pink cover didn’t seem quite right for Michele’s US fans. So we had a rethink about it, and here’s the result!

Meet best friends, Catherine, Rachel and Sarah. They’re fun, smart and successful, and haven’t had a date worth booking a wax appointment for in ages.

Catherine runs London’s most successful matchmaking business with her silent partner and ex-husband, Richard, who’s just announced that he’s marrying his twenty-three year-old girlfriend. Catherine has bras that are older than Magda, and now she’s barging in on their business with her meddlesome demands and wedding plans.

Architect Rachel’s got problems of her own. At work she’s competing against her ex-boyfriend, James, to win their biggest project and the promotion that comes with it. So when she joins Catherine’s website, RecycLove.com, where everyone brings an ex to recycle for the chance of an upgrade, she knows just who she’s going to trade in.

Homebody baker, Sarah, is in a rut thanks to family demands over the last few years. Reluctantly she joins RecycLove.com, where she’s convinced that some minor adjustments will improve her chances. But as minor adjustments turn into a complete overhaul and dates start falling at her newly-pedicured feet, will her popularity be worth the sacrifices she’s making?


A warm, funny story of friendship, strong women and self-discovery. Match us if you can, guys, but if not then please step aside and we’ll get on with being fabulous.

We hope you love the new cover and blurb as much as we do !

Notting Hill Press

Michele Gorman

Amazon UK
Amazon US


My Review of Match Me If You Can is here

My thanks To Notting Hill Press for  inviting me to share this feature about Book covers

Fascinating , isn't it?

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