On Sunday 22nd October, of school half-term week, award-winning UK Cypriot author N.E. McMorran celebrates the launch of her new novel Moojag and the Lost Memories, at Pickled Pepper Books in Crouch End, from 2-3:30pm. Free entry, plus refreshments and candy!
The fun, multi-generational adventure mystery has already received praise from the likes of Ben Davis (Lenny Lemmon), Alex Falase-Koya (Marv, The Breakfast Club Adventures), and Patience Agbabi (Leap Cycle), calling it “Thrilling and memorable”, “Captivating and whimsical”, and “Fantastical fun with a deep message”, while presenter Sean fletcher has applauded the story’s “authentic autism representation” and “fantastic ideas.” It was also awarded Readers’ Favourite’s five stars, describing it as “Imaginative, vivid, vibrant, compelling” and “laugh out loud.”
Lost Memories is the stand-alone sequel to N.E. McMorran’s debut Moojag and the Auticode Secret, which won the international NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD in 2021. The new story was inspired by the author’s 99-year-old Cypriot grandmother, Tessi, after bringing her home to live with her during the pandemic, and their experience living together with dementia and disability.
Set in 2054 post-climate catastrophe ‘London Tops’ (North London) and the utopian neurodivergent ‘Real World’, on ‘Box Hill Island’ in the ‘Surrey Isles’, Moojag is an original and fun, alice-esque sci-fi mystery, featuring a vibrant mix of autistic, neurodivergent, POC, mixed binary characters, that deals with difficult social and health issues.
While aimed at readers 9-12 years, it has also been written for and enjoyed by adults. The fast paced stand-alone sequel Lost Memories features a super granny trio suffering from memory loss who, with Nema and Moojag’s help, must remember what they are doing down in the parallel dystopian ‘Gajoomdom’, in order to save themselves and their perfect ‘Real World’ from destruction.
About the author
Nema, who goes by the pen name N.E. McMorran, was born in London to a Cypriot mother and British father, both architects, and a wider family of neurodivergent creatives including her grandfather, neo-classical architect Donald McMorran, who lived in Dorking.
Nema went to school in Surrey and graduated in art and design from Central St Martins, Hertfordshire University, and as a teacher from UCL’s Institute of Education. She started out teaching in London nursery, primary and secondary schools, and then worked as a researcher at the BBC before moving to Cyprus and working in publishing.
At thirty-nine, and a single mother, she started writing fiction inspired by her childhood experiences and the bedtime stories her parents told her as a small girl. During this period of self-reflection, she recognised her autistic traits and sought a medical assessment. On receiving her autism diagnosis, at the age of forty-three, she set up the autistic run Spondylux Press to support and publish the work of underrepresented neurodivergent and disabled creatives. And at the start of the Covid pandemic, she published her debut novel Moojag and the Auticode Secret, inspired by her journey to late autism diagnosis – growing up undiagnosed, and her experience as a mother.
Spondylux Press, also recently published GOALKEEPER: Memoir of Poet Peter Street, which McMorran developed with the author and edited during the pandemic and was shortlisted for the RUBERY BOOK AWARD 2023.
Moojag is available to order now as ebook, kindle, paperback, and full-cast own-voices audiobook, online and from all bookshops. Or grab your copy at the 22nd October Pickled Pepper launch party!
You can also catch the author signing copies of the book at Guildford Library on Tuesday 24th October, 10.30-11.30am, Haslemere Library on the same day between 2-3pm, and at Dorking Library on 25 October from 2-3pm.
North London library events will be organised for November – visit www.spondyluxpress.com for details.
More info: @MOOJAGbook www.moojag.com / @SpondyluxPress www.spondyluxpress.com / @nemcmorran www.nemcmorran.co.uk or email [email protected]
