Rodge’s new book, JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR, was published in hardback by Taproot Press on 5th September 2024. This page introduces the book, provides links to where you can buy the book, includes links to various press, media, podcasts, live dates and interviews, and explains where you can find out more. All author proceeds from the book go to Cure HHT and to the UCLH Foetal Unit that cared for Joshua. The audiobook, Produced by GIll Davies, is available through Spotify (if you have Premium it’s free, if not it’s £7.99), while the audiobook is also available through retailers such as Walmart and Barnes & Noble (USA). The audiobook is available here.
Blurb for Joshua in the Sky
‘Joshua dies on his birthday.
Joshua dies the day he is born.
Joshua lives for three hours.
Joshua is alive.‘
Rodge Glass’s nephew Joshua died the same day he was born, from a blood condition they both share.
This book charts the five years around Joshua’s life and death to tell the story of Rodge’s attempts to make sense of this loss. Having spent a lifetime using reading and writing to both hide from and face the world, Joshua in the Sky serves as a kind of reckoning, asking the questions: whose life deserves to be remembered? And how?
Endorsements –
‘A work of great tenderness and originality’ – Malachy Tallack, author of Illuminated by Water and The Undiscovered Islands
‘A wonderful, humane book’ Chitra Ramaswamy, author of Homelands: The Story of a Friendship & Expecting
‘It found me in pieces then gently wove me back together again’ – Helen Sedgwick, author of The Comet Seekers & The Growing Season
‘A truly remarkable piece of writing’ – Gavin Esler, Judge of the Anne Brown Prize, 2023, journalist, author of How Britain Ends & A Scandalous Man
‘Rodge Glass’s narrative voice is impressive – he never flinches from the tough stuff, yet remains supremely readable and joyful’ – Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists, Where Are the Women? & The Secrets of Blytheswood Square
‘Stands testament to the healing power of stories and offers up its raw and bloodied everything with unguarded vulnerability’ – Michael Pedersen, author of Boy Friends & The Cat Prince
What is Joshua in the Sky?
Joshua in the Sky is both an autobiography and biography, linking Rodge’s life with that of his nephew Joshua, who was born in March 2017 and died three hours after birth from HHT, the rare genetic blood condition shared across Rodge’s family. Having published biographies in the past of Alasdair Gray and Michel Faber as well as writing children’s stories featuring his own children for the BBC, Rodge tries to use that experience in order to write an ethical, caring, compassionate portrait of Joshua in collaboration with his parents, who worked with Rodge as part of this process from the start.
All author proceeds and appearance fees for the Joshua in the Sky tour will go equally to Cure HHT and the UCLH Fetal Unit that cared for Joshua so well. For more information about HHT, please see the bottom of this page.
Links to buy Joshua in the Sky
You can buy the book here direct from Taproot Press for £14.99 in hardback. It is also widely available in all the usual places, from Amazon to Waterstones to a range of independent booksellers around the country.
Joshua: Media
Here is a selection of some of the media coverage so far for Joshua in the Sky.
Rodge was interviewed by Connie McLaughlin as part of the ‘The Spiritual Life’ series on Radio Scotland. You can listen here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0022b1v
Rodge was interviewed by Alistair Braidwood for the popular Scots Whay Hae podcast. The interview used the texts explored in Joshua in the Sky, from Hassan Blasim to Grace Paley, Jenny Erpenbeck to Tom Leonard, as part of a walk through the book, exploring its approach to the art of storytelling. You can listen here:
https://www.scotswhayhae.com/post/joshua-in-the-sky-the-scots-whay-hae-podcast-talks-to-rodge-glass
Rodge was interviewed by Sally MacDonald for the Sunday Post newspaper about the reasons behind writing Joshua in the Sky. You can find the piece here:
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-sunday-post-newcastle/20240825/281908778483070
Rodge was interviewed by Lindsay Johnstone for the Glasgow Review of Books, interrogating the art of biography and autobiography, how writing the book changed him, and much more, here.
Books from Scotland review of Joshua in the Sky here, alongside a review of The Bright Fabric of Life by Mhairi Collie.
‘To paraphrase Alasdair Gray’s famous quote about cities, there are some illnesses and disorders that we know about because writers and artists have imagined them. Florence, Paris, London and New York are as over-represented in paintings, novels, and films just as tuberculosis, cholera and AIDS have been at various stages in cultural history.
But what about the medical disorders that no writers and artists have yet tried to describe? What kind of impact will books about them make when they are written about for the first time? How can they give contours and heft to afflictions readers won’t know about?’
The Joshua in the Sky tour 2024/25
Further dates will be added to this site as more dates are confirmed, often in the Latest News section. Meanwhile, here is a list of the confirmed dates for Autumn 2024. Not all Rodge’s live dates relate directly to this book, though many of them do. Others connect this book to Rodge’s previous books, or focus exclusively on previous books. For full details, please see the Latest News section of this site.
4th Sept – Joshua in the Sky at Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre, online only, 7.30pm – in conversation with David Ian Neville. Tickets here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/64973
5th Sept – Joshua in the Sky at Waterstones Glasgow, Sauchiehall Street, 7pm – in conversation with Sara Sheridan (publication day party afterwards). Tickets here: https://www.waterstones.com/events/in-conversation-rodge-glass-with-sara-sheridan/glasgow-sauchiehall-street
6th Sept – Joshua in the Sky at Cove Park, Helensburgh, 6pm. Tickets here: https://covepark.org/book-launch-joshua-in-the-sky-by-rodge-glass/
8th Sept – Rodge @ the Scottish Jewish Archive Centre, Glasgow, 2-4pm: ‘Scottish Jewish Writing in the 21st Century’ – discussing Chitra Ramaswamy & Eleanor Thom’s work. Tickets here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/66329?
18th Sept – Joshua in the Sky at Waterstones Edinburgh West End, 6pm – in conversation with Esa Aldegheri. Tickets here: In Conversation: Rodge Glass & Esa Aldegheri | Events at Waterstones Bookshops
27th Sept – Joshua in the Sky at Strathearn Arts Centre, Crieff, 3-5pm – in conversation with Alan Bissett. Tickets here: Buy tickets – JOSHUA IN THE SKY by Rodge Glass – CRIEFF LAUNCH – In conversation with Alan Bissett – Strathearn Arts (tickettailor.com)
3rd Oct – Joshua in the Sky at Wigtown Book Festival, 3pm, in conversation with author and journalist Wendy Moore – Tickets here: https://tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/main-programme/events/wbf-2024/events/joshua-in-the-sky-with-rodge-g
16th October @ 19.30 – SOLD OUT – London launch for Joshua in the Sky, West Hampstead, West End Lane Books (in conversation with James Angtay)
24th October @ 19.00 – Joshua in the Sky at Wedale Bookshop, Stow (in conversation with Alan Bissett). Tickets here.
4th November @ 13.00 – Creative Conversations, University Chapel, University of Glasgow, Rodge interviews JEN STOUT, author of NIGHT TRAIN TO ODESA. Tickets and info here.
5th November @ 18.30 – Joshua in the Sky, as part of Absent Friends Week. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, tickets and info here.
9th November @ 18.00 – Rodge interviews MICHEL FABER at The New College Festival of Books and Belief in Edinburgh. Tickets and info here.
13th November @ 14.30 – ‘Writing Real Lives: From Alasdair Gray to Joshua’ at Stewartry Literary Society, Kircudbright, tickets and info here.
26th November @ 18.30 – An Evening with Rodge Glass, at Edge Hill University Arts Centre. Tickets and info here.
2nd December @ 16.00 – ‘Memoirs of Love and Loss’ with Rodge Glass & Jay Prosser, University of Edinburgh, tickets and info here.
If you wish to book Rodge for an event, please contact directly through this site. All fees for Joshua events to Joshua’s named charities.
What is HHT?
HHT affects more than 1.4 million people worldwide.
Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic disorder that causes malformed blood vessels and can affect multiple organs of the body. The disorder is also sometimes referred to as Osler-Weber-Rendu (OWR) after several doctors who studied HHT in the late 1800s. HHT is considered a blood vessel disorder, which leads to bleeding. More than a hundred years later, HHT is still often misdiagnosed and many doctors do not understand all of its manifestations. 90% of people with HHT are undiagnosed.
Rodge Glass 