{"id":769,"date":"2025-07-17T16:04:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T16:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:04:04","slug":"woody-allen-to-publish-his-first-novel-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769\/","title":{"rendered":"Woody Allen to publish his first novel | Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first novel by the film-maker Woody Allen is due to be released later this year by independent publisher Swift Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The book, titled What\u2019s With Baum?, is about a middle-aged Jewish journalist turned novelist \u201cconsumed with anxiety about everything under the sun\u201d, according to a description from the publisher. Baum\u2019s \u201cturgid philosophical books receive tepid reviews and his prestigious New York publisher has dropped him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Baum\u2019s third marriage is \u201con the rocks\u201d, and \u201cin a moment of irrationality, he has impulsively tried to kiss a pretty young journalist during an interview that she is about to go public with\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since the 1970s, Allen has written several books of short stories and essays, as well as a memoir, Apropos of Nothing<\/a>, published in 2020. The memoir was dropped<\/a> by its original US publisher, Hachette, after a staff walkout over allegations that Allen sexually abused his daughter in the early 90s, which have come to define his public image in recent years. The memoir was eventually published by Arcade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s daughter, Dylan Farrow<\/a>, has alleged that he sexually assaulted her in 1992, when she was seven years old. Allen has always denied the allegations, calling them \u201ca total fabrication from start to finish\u201d in his memoir. Two investigations at the time did not lead to criminal charges.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s With Baum?, which runs to 160 pages, is \u201ca portrait of an intellectual crippled by neurotic concerns about the futility and emptiness of life\u201d, said Swift Press.<\/p>\n

Baum \u201csuspects his handsome and successful younger brother may have seduced his Harvard-educated wife. He is uneasy with her close relationship with her son, a more successful author than he, and suspicious of her closeness with their neighbour in Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it any wonder Baum has started talking to himself?\u201d states the publisher\u2019s description. \u201cStrangers shake their heads and walk around him on the street. Meanwhile he learns a startling secret that could cause havoc should he expose it. Should he keep it to himself or reveal it and blow up his marriage?\u201d<\/p>\n

The novel is due to be published in September. Swift Press publisher Mark Richards said the company was \u201cthrilled\u201d to be publishing the book. \u201cIt is all we could have hoped \u2013 funny, clever, engrossing and wonderfully human. Woody Allen<\/a> may have waited almost 90 years before he wrote a novel, but it\u2019s been worth the wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift Press was established in June 2020. In 2022, it launched an imprint<\/a>, Forum, to publish \u201cthinkers who expand the realms of debate and aren\u2019t afraid to question contemporary orthodoxies\u201d, and has since published titles including Liberal Bullies: Inside the Mind of the Authoritarian Left<\/a> by Luke Conway and Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia by Gareth Roberts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first novel by the film-maker Woody Allen is due to be released later this year by independent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[64,63,457,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}