BOOKS TO READ

To read some of the books which I have
written or edited go to AURORA METRO BOOKS.

IN THE PRESS

-- Time Out

​‘… the talk is direct but authentic; the characterisation plain but telling. One is drawn into the predicament of the unanchored, almost derelict youngsters. The author’s voice of understanding and social statement cannot be ignored. And she makes good theatre of her material.’

-- The Stage

--The Independent

--The Evening Standard

‘Cheryl Robson, to her credit is a writer capable of thinking big - The Taking of Liberty is an epic piece about women and the French Revolution with a cast of 12.’

-- The Observer

‘Discarding all previous male interpretations of the French Revolution, Robson comes up with a completely fresh view that exposes those treasured shibboleths of ‘liberte, egalite and fraternite as hollow irrelevances where women were concerned.’

​‘A welcome antidote to King’s Road fashion, it’s a hell that’s already arrived for many and is on its way for more… an excellent play beautifully written by Cheryl Robson… ‘

-- What's On

-- LAM Magazine

​‘ …a mature piece of writing, whispering volumes as it details how insidiously – and inexorably- money, masonry and murder are tied in brutal knots.’  

-- City Limits
Pick of the Week

‘…a cleverly scripted work that examines the power and intrigue of the financial world.’

-- The Stage

‘…ambitiously spans the confusion generated by women trying in their various ways to have it all: the baby, the career, the sexual freedom and the security. Comedy springs from sly satirical takes on her protagonists, but not to the detriment of the more revealing and loaded downside of her play: the personal cost of her protagonists’ ambitions… where Robson and Frankcom make their greatest impact is the way they skilfully nurse their 60s caricatures to become the compromised, damaged individuals we discover in the 90s.’

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-- Time Out

​‘… the talk is direct but authentic; the characterisation plain but telling. One is drawn into the predicament of the unanchored, almost derelict youngsters. The author’s voice of understanding and social statement cannot be ignored. And she makes good theatre of her material.’

-- The Stage

‘this always watchable play (reminiscent in many ways of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom… has an engaging optimism. And for once in the theatre, the women really do get all the best lines - which gives the quintet of young actresses roles to relish.’                             

--The Independent

‘Ms Robson’s play is original in tone, wide-ranging in scope and provocative in its import. While sensitive to its period it remains admirably free of fustian… the writing is intelligent and funny.’

--The Evening Standard

‘Cheryl Robson, to her credit is a writer capable of thinking big - The Taking of Liberty is an epic piece about women and the French Revolution with a cast of 12.’

-- The Observer

‘Discarding all previous male interpretations of the French Revolution, Robson comes up with a completely fresh view that exposes those treasured shibboleths of ‘liberte, egalite and fraternite as hollow irrelevances where women were concerned.’

​‘A welcome antidote to King’s Road fashion, it’s a hell that’s already arrived for many and is on its way for more… an excellent play beautifully written by Cheryl Robson… ‘

-- What's On

-- LAM Magazine

​‘ …a mature piece of writing, whispering volumes as it details how insidiously – and inexorably- money, masonry and murder are tied in brutal knots.’  

-- City Limits
Pick of the Week

‘…a cleverly scripted work that examines the power and intrigue of the financial world.’

-- The Stage

‘Ms Robson’s play is original in tone, wide-ranging in scope and provocative in its import. While sensitive to its period it remains admirably free of fustian… the writing is intelligent and funny.’

--The Independent

‘Cheryl Robson, to her credit is a writer capable of thinking big - The Taking of Liberty is an epic piece about women and the French Revolution with a cast of 12.’

-- Time Out

​‘… the talk is direct but authentic; the characterisation plain but telling. One is drawn into the predicament of the unanchored, almost derelict youngsters. The author’s voice of understanding and social statement cannot be ignored. And she makes good theatre of her material.’

-- The Observer

​‘A welcome antidote to King’s Road fashion, it’s a hell that’s already arrived for many and is on its way for more… an excellent play beautifully written by Cheryl Robson… ‘

-- What's On

-- LAM Magazine

-- City Limits
Pick of the Week

‘…ambitiously spans the confusion generated by women trying in their various ways to have it all: the baby, the career, the sexual freedom and the security. Comedy springs from sly satirical takes on her protagonists, but not to the detriment of the more revealing and loaded downside of her play: the personal cost of her protagonists’ ambitions… where Robson and Frankcom make their greatest impact is the way they skilfully nurse their 60s caricatures to become the compromised, damaged individuals we discover in the 90s.’

​

-- Time Out

​

‘this always watchable play (reminiscent in many ways of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom… has an engaging optimism. And for once in the theatre, the women really do get all the best lines - which gives the quintet of young actresses roles to relish.’                             

​

--The Independent

‘Ms Robson’s play is original in tone, wide-ranging in scope and provocative in its import. While sensitive to its period it remains admirably free of fustian… the writing is intelligent and funny.’

​

--The Evening Standard

‘Cheryl Robson, to her credit is a writer capable of thinking big - The Taking of Liberty is an epic piece about women and the French Revolution with a cast of 12.’

​

-- The Observer

‘Discarding all previous male interpretations of the French Revolution, Robson comes up with a completely fresh view that exposes those treasured shibboleths of ‘liberte, egalite and fraternite as hollow irrelevances where women were concerned.’

​

-- What's On

‘… the talk is direct but authentic; the characterisation plain but telling. One is drawn into the predicament of the unanchored, almost derelict youngsters. The author’s voice of understanding and social statement cannot be ignored. And she makes good theatre of her material.’

​

-- The Stage

‘A welcome antidote to King’s Road fashion, it’s a hell that’s already arrived for many and is on its way for more… an excellent play beautifully written by Cheryl Robson… ‘

​

-- LAM Magazine

‘…a cleverly scripted work that examines the power and intrigue of the financial world.’

​

-- What's On

‘ …a mature piece of writing, whispering volumes as it details how insidiously – and inexorably- money, masonry and murder are tied in brutal knots.’  

​

-- City Limits
Pick of the Week

‘If you feel the generation gap is widening to exclude you, I’d recommend a visit to catch what I feel is an important social document.’     

​

-- The 

Morning Star

‘Apparently the women’s movement hasn’t reached this lost generation and one of the most interesting things about the play is the way it reveals how economic depression feeds sexual exploitation.’     

​

-- Time Out

RE: 'CELLULOID CEILING'

Every aspiring filmmaker, every woman filmmaker should delve into this book, its panoramic view of filmmaking can only propel you forward.

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-- Sight and Sound Magazine

 

'This is a book to smack down on the desk of Thierry Fremaux, the director of the Cannes Film Festival (or any programmer, professor or snotty cinemagoer who claims women aren't as good at making films, or aren't interested in making them), as abundant evidence not only of international female filmmaking, but its dynamism, ambition and complexity.'

-- The F Word

 

'The arrival of a new book, 'Celluloid Ceiling'could not be more timely. It takes a purposefully global overview of the status quo and in doing so provides some fascinating stories and insights, reminding us of what is lost when we limit the discussion to Anglophone directors.'

-- Indiewire

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RE: PROVENCE; PEOPLE, PLACES, FOOD

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‘…an excellent travel guide to Provence, including anecdotal information about famous people from Provence, the culture, the food
and the wine.’

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-- **** Readers’ Favourite

RE: 'SILENT WOMEN'

'What is perhaps most compelling about Silent Women is its documentation of the sheer graft and willpower behind these pioneering women’s work. Favouring historicity over critical theory, it does that most noble task of telling the stories that need to be told.'

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-- Lara Williams, London Review of Books

'You may come to this spry slice of film history prepared to celebrate a handful of women who helped shape the movies in their blinking infancy. The surprise of the essays collected here is their sheer volume in every corner of a business apparently better able to accommodate female talent then than now.'

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-- Danny Leigh, Financial Times

'Silent Women, in uncovering a diverse range of female voices from the past, offers a variety of present voices… On this evidence, the relative diversity of the industry’s past should shame it into taking action in the future.'

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-- Pamela Hutchinson, 
Sight & Sound

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RE: VIRGINIA WOOLF IN RICHMOND

“Lively, diverse and readable, this book captures beautifully Virginia Woolf’s time in leafy Richmond, her mixed emotions over this exile from central London, and its influence on her life and work. This illuminating book is a valuable addition to literary history, and a must-read for every Virginia Woolf enthusiast…”

-- Emma Woolf, writer & Virginia Woolf’s great niece

REVIEW OF 'SOUTHEAST ASIAN PLAYS'

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http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/1081/770

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REVIEW OF COUNTERCULTURE UK- A CELEBRATION

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https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rebecca-gillieron/counterculture-uk/

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RE: 'THE ORIGINAL SUFFRAGE
COOK BOOK'

'It’s a fabulous historical document of its time but also an interesting cook book to boot, interspersed as it is with line drawings and including letters to the editor – or Editress as she is described  in the contents section of the book. Recipes aside this is a great gift idea. It’s both practical and fascinating on so many levels and I’ll be trying out more of the recipes over time. A unique way to celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote.'

 – Frost Magazine

'The recipes in the compilation run the gamut from simple soups to fish (Virginia fried oysters and ‘shrimp wriggle’ both make the cut), meat (the baked ham à la Miller is described as “a dish fit for the greatest epicure”), breads and puddings, the latter section incorporating a series of “admonitions” directed at “those who would excel in cake making”.

As the writer Cheryl Robson observes in her endnote, “most of the contributors to this cookbook are long-forgotten but their legacy survives today in the spirit of social activism that inspires others to work for a better, fairer world”.  

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-- Town and Country Magazine

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'Giving Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson a run for their money, the cookbook includes a wide range of soups, salads and casseroles. Drinks also feature, from the “Peppermint Cup” to a wide selection of “Albuminous Beverages” (“When a large amount of nutriment is required the albuminized drinks are valuable. The egg is a fluid food until its albumen is coagulated by heat.”)

Kleber, however, writes in her foreword to the book that “as it is a serious matter what is put into the human stomach, I feel it incumbent to say that my readers may safely eat everything set down in this book'.

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-- The Guardian

BOOK REVIEWS OF MY WORK

PLAY REVIEWS OF MY WORK

BIO

Hi, welcome to my site.

I was born in Australia and credit my can-do attitude to growing up there. I've lived in London for many years as well as living at different periods in Singapore and the south of France.

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I'm a publisher and founder of Aurora Metro Books where we have published over 300 British and international authors with many accolades including being a finalist in the Independent Publisher Guild’s Diversity Awards (2019) and I was a finalist in the ITV National Diversity Awards (Lifetime Achievement) (2019).

​I am an award-winning documentary filmmaker who trained at BBC. My feature documentary Rock n Roll Island aired on BBC4 in 2020 and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice, Radio Times and the Observer ‘Pick’ programme. See more at Brumby Media Group.

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As a writer, I have written journalism, plays and non-fiction. My plays have won the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting festival and been longlisted for the Bruntwood Playwriting prize. As a translator I was shortlisted for the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation and as a book editor with dozens of book titles to my name I have won several awards including a Special Jury prize for Peace. 

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I am also a producer of talks, events, exhibitions and conferences and am leading the campaign for the erection of a statue of Virginia Woolf on Richmond riverside.

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To know more: 

cheryl [at] aurorametro. [com]