Faber and Faber to Publish Ken Livingstone's Memoirs :
Faber and Faber is delighted to announce the acquisition of Ken Livingstone’s memoirs. In a deal concluded with Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown, Faber bought world rights and will publish in November 2011.
‘Immediately after I lost the election I planned to write a book about the eight years of my mayoralty but by the autumn of 2008, with no certainty that I would be Labour's candidate for mayor and every possibility that I would never hold office again, it seemed the right point to write my autobiography and draw out the lessons I had learnt in 40 years of political activity. It’s an indication of how fast politics moves that by the time I completed it I was once again back in the race for office.
By the time my youngest children are old enough to want to know why I did the things I did I might be dead or too senile to remember, so this book was really written for them.
Although it is heavily dominated by London politics I have tried to explain why politicians are seen predominantly as failures. It is also a social history of the post-war period. Writing about my youth I was struck by how different a world that now seems. Today’s teenagers will find it hard to believe the innocence of my post-war generation.’
- Ken Livingstone
‘I’m very pleased that Faber will be publishing the memoirs of Britain’s most successful and controversial radical politician. This is not standard Westminster fare, turgid and cautious: it’s full of Livingstone’s salty wit, passionate advocacy, undiplomatic judgements of time-servers and fascinating human detail. He has taken risks and done big things, and even his worst enemies will find the book interesting.’
- Neil Belton, Editorial Director, Faber
Ken Livingstone was born in Lambeth, South London in 1945. He began his political career serving on Lambeth and Camden Councils before becoming leader of the GLC in 1981 until Margaret Thatcher abolished it in 1986. He then served as Labour MP for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. He was elected Mayor of London in May 2000 and was re-elected for a second term in June 2004.
He has written two books, If Voting Changed Anything They’d Abolish It (1987) and Livingstone’s Labour (1989). He broadcasts a live phone-in show on London’s LBC radio and is also the Labour Party’s candidate for the mayoral elections due in May 2012.