Happy New Year!! I'm thrilled and honoured to say that I will be the inaugural guest at The Jeli's first ever book club, taking place in London on Saturday 14th January. Check out the link below for information, and tickets! Come on down!!

http://thejeli.com/blog/2017/01/02/jeli-book-club-with-sareeta-domingo/

I am beyond thrilled to have been featured in one of my favourite online magazines – the incredible gal-dem Magazine! Very well worth a read, their wonderful journalist Varaidzo captured so many of my intentions for The Nearness of You. Check it out!!

www.gal-dem.com/interview-sareeta-domingo/

Here are some pix from the recent launch for THE NEARNESS OF YOU at Picturehouse Central in London town. Was a fantastic night, so much support, a fantastic performance from jazz singer Vimala Rowe (including, of course, a rendition of The Nearness of You), and an insightful Q&A from Joelyn at Shades Of magazine!

I'm thrilled to say that my debut novel THE NEARNESS OF YOU is finally published Thursday 5th May. You can get it in your paws by ordering here:

Amazon.co.uk:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nearness-You-Sareeta-Domingo/dp/0349410593/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462392923&sr=1-1&keywords=the+nearness+of+you

Foyles:
http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/the-nearness-of-you,sareeta-domingo-9780349410593

Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Nearness-You-Sareeta-Domingo-ebook/dp/B010PIF8BM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461950536&sr=1-1&keywords=the+nearness+of+you

Waterstone's:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-nearness-of-you/sareeta-domingo/9780349410593

GO GET IT!!

As you may be able to guess, I am thrilled to say that I now have the cover of my new book THE NEARNESS OF YOU!!

Hit the 'My Books' page to see it in all its glory, and you can also see the cover reveal and some blurb-y goodness over at Have Book Will Read:

http://havebookwillread.com/2016/02/26/cover-reveal-the-nearness-of-you-by-sareeta-domingo/

Whooop! Feel free to head to Amazon and pre-order the book if ya like, too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nearness-You-Sareeta-Domingo-ebook/dp/B010PIF8BM/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456424957&sr=1-3&keywords=the+nearness+of+you

Excited (and not gonna lie, a touch freaked out) to say that I'll be participating in the panel "What does liberation look like?" at the first ever Bare Lit festival, which celebrates the work of Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) writers.

The event takes place at The Free Word Centre in Farringdon, London, on Saturday 27th February. Come and see me attempt to hold my own with my esteemed fellow panelists!

More info:

http://barelitfestival.com/events/2016/2/26/what-does-liberation-in-literature-look-like

Hey! Check out a Q&A I did for the virtual #BFILoveFest happening on Twitter and Facebook this weekend, in which you can see just how deep my love for the Before films goes, and judge for yourself whether I sound grudging about the love of my life, which according to sooooomeone, I do...

http://romance-festival.com/2015/11/18/meet-sareeta-domingo-sareetadomingo-bfilovefest/

SUUUPER excited that the news of Piatkus acquiring THE NEARNESS OF YOU made the rights pages of the Bookseller, with a gorgeous quote from the lovely Anna Boatman, my editor. Here's the text of the article and a link!

"Piatkus has acquired a book by Sareeta Domingo, who works as a senior editor at Hothouse Fiction.

Anna Boatman, senior editor at Piatkus Fiction, bought world rights in The Nearness of You from Sara Keane at Keane Kataria Literary Agency.

The Nearness of You is set in London and concerns a heroine with a troubled past who begins to fall for her best friend’s boyfriend.

Boatman said: “This is one of the most beautifully told love stories I have ever read. The Nearness of You is evocative, extremely sexy without being explicit and delivers a tension-filled romance whilst never cheapening the friendship that stands in the way. Sareeta Domingo is an outstanding new voice and we’re hugely excited to publish her.”

The Nearness of You will be published by Piatkus in May 2016."

Link: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/piatkus-signs-hothouses-domingo

A few weeks ago I saw Asif Kapadia’s incredibly powerful film AMY, about, of course, the incomparable Amy Winehouse,  and I felt compelled to write some words about it, so here you go:

The FRANK album was so incredible to me from the moment I heard it, and painted a picture to which I could completely relate. I couldn’t believe this woman even existed, who could capture pretty much everything I loved about music sonically, but was also SUCH an incredible lyricist; her words connected with me on a visceral level.

If you take a song like ‘Take the Box’ from the first album: “Your neighbours were screaming/ I don’t have a key for downstairs /So I punched all the buzzers hoping you wouldn’t be there” – her lyrics so immediately paint a picture. But the progression from that to the next big break-up song, ‘Back to Black’? “I tread a troubled track/ My odds are stacked/ I go back to black/ We only said goodbye with words”. Oh my goodness. She’s just one of my favourite writers of any kind, of all time, full stop.

And it’s weird, I never really processed her as a jazz singer until I realised she literally never sang a song the same way twice. Interpretation was all to her, and she was incredible at it, but she also had that knack to appeal to popular tastes. Then she transformed herself into an icon. God, who will ever be all these things again? I don’t know.

But the thing with Amy, that really REALLY pushed home to me watching the film was – how could someone who seemed so ordinary be simultaneously so incredibly extraordinary? Her humour, her eye rolling, bolshy personality… There’s always that feeling that she’s someone I knew (I’d see her around, I had very peripheral contact with people in her world), but also someone who could BE me… but then also someone who was completely outside of me with the uniqueness of her talents.

I remember my first reaction was surprise when I heard ‘Rehab’, thinking it was ironic, so I must have had some tangential knowledge of her struggles, but only in the most surface way, of course, and no idea how bad it was going to get. It was disturbing that, even when watching the film, with all it was presenting to us, the people next to me all turned to each other when an image of Amy striking out at a paparazzo came on screen and said “Oh, I remember that one”. Like paparazzi incidents and turmoil were all part of her greatest hits.

But hopefully her legacy will distil, until it becomes just her music, and her words.

Thank you, Amy