Author Talk: SIMON WROE, author of Costa Book Award nominated CHOP CHOP @ The Oxford Writers’ Circle

Join us for a talk and book signing given by Simon Wroe, author of the Costa Award nominated Chop Chop. Simon will be talking his book and his experiences, as well as offering help and advice to anyone wishing to become a published writer themselves.

Simon’s talk will kick-off at 7:30pm, but please come along earlier (we have the room booked from 6pm) if you’d like to grab some food and pre-talk drinks. There is a small entry fee of £3 to help cover expenses.

Simon Wroe is a freelance journalist and former chef. He writes about food for Prospect magazine, art and culture for The Economist and has contributed articles and features to a wide range of publications including Private Eye, Intelligent Life, The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Evening Standard. Simon is 30 and lives in London. CHOP CHOP is his first novel and was shortlisted for the 2014 Costa First Novel Award.

This event is being hosted by The Oxford Writers’ Circle. You don’t need to join the group to come along, but please check us out on Meetup for access to many more writing and literary themed events. http://www.meetup.com/The-Oxford-Writers-Circle/.

About Chop Chop

Outrageously funny and completely original, Chop Chop by Simon Wroe is the story of a hapless young chef in the crazed world of the professional kitchen, featuring lust, revenge, neurosis and haute cuisine.

Two months behind on his rent, young graduate Monocle swallows his dreams and takes the only job he can find: the lowest-rung chef in a gastropub in Camden. Here he finds himself surrounded by a group of deranged hoodlums (his co-workers) and at the mercy of an ingenious sadist (the head chef, Bob). What follows is a furiously-paced, ribald, raucous and unexpectedly touching tale of loyalty and revenge, dark appetites and fading dreams, and a young man finding his way in the world as he is plunged into the fat and the frying pan and everything else besides.

Praise for Chop Chop

* * * SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD * * *

‘Wroe depicts the literal underworld of a restaurant kitchen with wit, vigor and gleeful, necessary profanity’ The New York Times

‘A greasy, hilarious tale of loyalty, revenge and dark appetites. A gripping look behind the kitchen wall’ Shortlist

‘Perfectly baked [with] a rich, gooey pool of dark comedy hiding beneath the surface’ Independent

‘Lively, amusing and alarmingly informative’ Daily Mail

‘Arch comedy … Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain’ Kirkus

‘Twisted, surprising and above all genuinely funny’ William Sutcliffe

‘Raucous and inventive, peopled with technicolour characters and savagely funny’ A D Miller

‘A complete page-turner. Reminiscent of Kitchen Confidential but with an entirely fresh voice’ Thomasina Miers

‘A brutally funny look at the world of professional cooking’ Gary Shteyngart

‘Furiously funny, fast, surreal’ Anya von Bremzen