Remember When: John Lennon's First Book, 'In His Own Write,' Was Published 60 Years Ago
On March 23, 1964, John Lennon’s first book, In His Own Write, was published in the U.K. The 78-page volume featured 31 nonsensical and absurd short stories and poems, as well as an introduction by Lennon’s Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney.
Besides his obvious passion for music, Lennon was an avid reader and art lover growing up. As a child and teen, he began to channel his creativity into making cartoon doodles and writing poems and short stories that displayed his skewed, absurd sense of humor and knack for clever wordplay.
With The Beatles’ star on the rise, Lennon showed some of his writing and drawings to journalist Michael Braun, who in turn showed them to the head of U.K. publishing company Jonathan Cape, Tom Maschler. Impressed by Lennon’s works, Maschler agreed to publish them in a book.
On the evening of In His Own Write’s publication, an interview with Lennon about the book aired on the BBC television show Tonight. In addition, several excerpts from the book were read by some of the show’s presenters.
The book received mostly favorable reviews and was a huge commercial success, with its first edition run of 25,000 copies selling out in one day. In His Own Write eventually sold 300,000 copies in the U.K. The book also was a bestseller in the U.S., where it was published on April 27, 1964.
Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com
