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During mental health awareness week, author Arthur Hutt has relaunched his autobiography ‘From Magic to Mania‘, which tells the story of a man suddenly diagnosed with bipolar disorder aged 30.

Originally from Sutton Courtenay, a small village in Oxfordshire and resting place of renowned author George Orwell, Mr Hutt has now lived in Wales for 34 years.

At the book’s relaunch in Caerphilly Library on Thursday May 17, Mr Hutt recounted his first experience with the illness, which affects more than 1.3 million people in the UK.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer and members of the public at the launch, he said: “I was running a thriving recruitment business before this illness changed the course of my life.

“There’s a difference between mental health and mental illness. My mother suffered with paranoid schizophrenia and neither that or bipolar are openly discussed.

“My book looks to address both. How mental illness affected my life, both through myself and my mother.

“I offer no medical descriptions or coping mechanisms; I just try to accurately describe how it feels to have this illness.”

At the relaunch, Mr Hutt read passages from his book, which is now available on Amazon, and stopped to answer any questions the audience had about his illness.

“It’s like viewing people through a glass box. My body has accepted that now but it’s always there.”

Mr Hutt went on to say how he tries to use his illness to his advantage now that he is on medication, and explained how he wrote the entire book during one month in which his bipolar was particularly bad.

Mr Hutt’s books can also be found in libraries across Caerphilly County Borough.