Karen Campbell’s ‘beautiful, uplifting’ THIS BRIGHT LIFE longlisted for Scotland’s National Book Awards

THIS BRIGHT LIFE – the ninth novel by Karen Campbell – has been included on the longlist for this year’s Best Fiction prize at Scotland’s National Book Awards, presented by the Saltire Society. One of the world’s oldest running prizes for literature, first awarded in 1937, Scotland’s National Book Awards celebrate the very best of Scottish writing across five categories – Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, First Book and Research – the winners of each competing for the overall Book of the Year prize.

‘Witty and incisive, this is a quirky and compassionate novel centred on a brilliantly realised child character,’ said the judges on THIS BRIGHT LIFE, calling it ‘a deft and empathetic exploration of lives fallen between the cracks.’

THIS BRIGHT LIFE tells the intertwined stories of twelve-year-old Gerard, widower Margaret, and social worker Claire as a terrible decision brings together their three messy lives in order to heal, mend, and build again. The novel was published by Canongate in March 2025, with an audiobook simultaneously published by Bolinda. It earned rave reviews from the likes of Janice Hallett  (‘Ultimately life-affirming, this gritty novel will take you to dark places, but it’s one beautiful, uplifting journey’) and Kirstin Innes (‘Karen Campbell finds lives that can fall between the cracks, and holds them up to the light of her clear, compassionate writing’), as well as The Scotsman and The Herald. A paperback will be published by Canongate in March 2026, and a Turkish translation by Nemesis is forthcoming.

Longlisted for Best Fiction alongside Karen are Sean Lusk (A WOMAN OF OPINION), Chris McQueer (HERMIT), Michael Pederson (MUCKLE FLUGGA), Angie Spoto (THE BONE DIVER), Richard Strachan (THE UNRECOVERED), James Yorkston (TOMMY THE BRUCE), Selali Fiamanya (BEFORE WE HIT THE GROUND), Krystelle Bamford (IDLE GROUNDS) and Chris Kohler (PHANTOM LIMB). The shortlists will be announced in October, ahead of the awards ceremony in late November.

Congratulations Karen!

About THIS BRIGHT LIFE

Margaret – an elderly widow who just wants to be left with her memories and her quiet, contained life.

Claire – newly divorced, downsizing into the neighbourhood and way too busy to mend a broken heart.

Gerard – a tearaway twelve-year-old who hates his name but loves his little brother and sister. Gerard is a bright kid, but trouble always follows him. No one really knows what it's like at home; he's used to carrying a lot on his small shoulders.

Gerard doesn't always make good decisions. One morning, he makes a very bad one, upending not just his world, but the lives of Margaret and Claire too. Both heart-breaking and life-affirming, THIS BRIGHT LIFE is a story of messy lives, second chances and the many hands it takes to build a boy.

Photo: Kim Ayers

About Karen Campbell

Karen Campbell is originally from Glasgow but now lives in southwest Scotland. She graduated with distinction from Glasgow University’s Creative Writing Masters and won an SAC New Writers Award and a Creative Scotland Bursary. Before turning to writing, she was a police officer in Glasgow, then press officer with Glasgow City Council. She also tutors in creative writing and was Writer in Residence at Dumfries & Galloway Council during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her first four novels focus on life behind the police uniform. This disconnect between what we see on the surface and the reality underneath runs through much of her work, with Karen going on to write novels such as THIS IS WHERE I AM (Bloomsbury, 2013), which was a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime.  Her eighth novel PAPER CUP (Canongate, 2022) was a Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Month and won the 2023 Blairgowrie Bookmark Prize. Karen’s appeared on Radio 4 Women’s Hour, Radio 3’s The Verb, Radio Scotland and BBC television’s Big Scottish Book Club.

Praise for THIS BRIGHT LIFE

‘THIS BRIGHT LIFE is a moving, haunting portrait of childhood and the jagged reflections of one tiny action in the kaleidoscope of humanity. Karen Campbell captures the voice of 12-year-old Gerard with poignant accuracy and her words paint pictures with the touch of an old master. Ultimately life-affirming, this gritty novel will take you to dark places, but it’s one beautiful, uplifting journey.’ – Janice Hallett 

‘I love this story so much. Karen writes with such a rare and deep understanding of people and every word of her stories earns its keep. THIS BRIGHT LIFE is dark, moving and compassionate… it makes you feel hopeful, like a handrail in the dark. I adore it’ – Joanna Cannon

‘Karen Campbell finds lives that can fall between the cracks, and holds them up to the light of her clear, compassionate writing. Wee Gerard is yet another one of her brilliant creations – so real you can hear him breathing, feel his hurt and frustration alongside him.’ – Kirstin Innes

‘A novel of great empathy and humanity, in which bleakness is offset by optimism, represented by the community that rallies around, the stranger who wants to help and the possibility of redemption.’ – Alastair Mabbot, The Herald

‘Few write with such compassion and understanding of human nature, which is just one of the reasons her books mean so much to her readers. THIS BRIGHT LIFE looks back to childhood and how decisions made, and resultant events, impact on individuals and those around them. Karen Campbell manages to convey the drama of people’s everyday lives in the most empathetic and beautiful way.’ – Alastair Braidwood, SNACK Magazine, ‘Ten Books for 2025’

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THE INNOCENTS by Bridget Walsh makes CWA Gold Dagger longlist

THE INNOCENTS by Bridget Walsh has been longlisted for the 2025 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Gold Dagger award.

This award is for the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English and first published in the UK during the judging period. It was originally created in 1955, under the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award. It was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960 and has been awarded ever since with variations in its name depending on sponsorship. Past winners include Chris Whitaker, Belinda Bauer and Mick Herron. The other titles on this year’s longlist are: A DIVINE FURY by D. V. Bishop, MAN OF BONES by Ben Creed, THE BELL TOWER by R. J. Ellory, THE HUNTER by Tana French, GUIDE ME HOME by Attica Locke, BOOK OF SECRETS by Anna Mazzola, I DIED AT FALLOW HALL by Bonnie Burke-Patel, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER by Kristen Perrin, NIGHTWATCHING by Tracy Sierra, DEADLY ANIMALS by Marie Tierney and D IS FOR DEATH by Harriet F. Townson.

The shortlist will be announced on Thursday 29th May, with the winner revealed in a ceremony on the Thursday 3rd July at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, 61-65 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DA.

THE INNOCENTS is the second in Bridget’s award-winning Variety Palace Mystery Series, now published by Pushkin Vertigo. When a new string of murders tears through London, Minnie and Albert are thrown together once more. Strangely, the crimes seem to link back to a tragedy that took place fourteen years ago, leaving 183 children dead. And given that the incident touched so many people’s lives, everyone is a suspect...

The third in the series, THE SPIRIT GUIDE, will be published by Pushkin Vertigo in April 2026. THE SPIRIT GUIDE sees Minnie and Albert uncovering the dark secrets behind a female-only spiritualist group that purports to help its members commune with deceased loved ones… Bridget is busy working on the fourth series title.

 About Bridget Walsh

Bridget Walsh lives in Norwich. She has a PhD in ‘Murder in the Victorian Domestic Sphere’ and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

The manuscript for the first book in the Variety Palace Mystery series, THE TUMBLING GIRL, won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction 2019, and was published by Gallic Books in May 2023, garnering starred reviews in Publishers Weekly (where it was also a ‘Book of the Week’ pick) and the Library Journal. It also reached No. 1 in the US Amazon Kindle Historical Thriller chart, and was a ‘Best Historical Fiction’ pick for May 2023 in The Times. It was shortlisted for the CWA’s 2024 ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and won the HWA Debut Crown Award in 2024.

 Praise for THE INNOCENTS

‘Historical crime fiction at its most beguiling.’ – Barry Forshaw, The Financial Times, ‘Best New Crime Books’

‘Walsh, who clearly knows her Victorians, writes with gusto. Whether she’s detailing the sweat, greasepaint and trickery behind theatrical illusion, the bloody savagery of the dog-fighting pit, or the creepily anthropomorphic world of the taxidermy diorama, time past is so vividly evoked that one can almost smell it. Highly recommended.’ – Laura Wilson, The Guardian, ‘The best recent crime and thrillers’

‘In Walsh’s triumphant sequel to THE TUMBLING GIRL… Walsh once again seamlessly combines vivid period detail, clever plotting, and thoughtful characterizations. This series merits a long run.’ – Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘Bridget Walsh does it again – this series has so much personality. THE INNOCENTS is pacy, captivating and accomplished and I loved it. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was book twenty-two and not book two. More Minnie and Albert, please – I miss them already.’ – Emma Styles

‘From the first dramatic and heart-breaking pages to the breathless final scenes, THE INNOCENTS by Bridget Walsh is the superb second novel in the Variety Palace Mysteries series. Victorian crime at its exciting and grittiest best. Don’t miss it’ – Essie Fox, author of THE FASCINATION

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THE TUMBLING GIRL by Bridget Walsh on 2024 HWA Debut Crown Award longlist

THE TUMBLING GIRL, the first title in Bridget Walsh’s vivid Variety Palace Mystery series, has been longlisted for the 2024 HWA Debut Crown Award.

The HWA Awards celebrate the best historical writing, fiction and non-fiction and its ability to engage, illuminate, entertain and inform legions of readers. To be considered, the bulk of the narrative of the work submitted must take place at least thirty-five years prior to publication. There are three awards – the HWA Gold Crown (for writers already published), the HWA Non-fiction Crown and the HWA Debut Crown. Previous winners of the HWA Debut Crown Award include THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIUS SANCHO by Paterson Joseph and THE SPIRIT ENGINEER by AJ West.

The other titles on this year’s Debut Crown Award longlist are as follows: THE OTHER SIDE OF MRS WOOD by Lucy Barker; THE GOLDEN GATE by Amy Chua; LEEWARD by Katie Daysh; COLOURS OF SIENA by Judith May Evans; THE MAIDEN by Kate Foster; THE PAINTER’S DAUGHTER by Emily Howes; ALL US SINNERS by Katy Massey; OUR HIDEOUS PROGENY by C. E. McGill; THE WITCHING TIDE by Margaret Meyer; THE BEHOLDERS by Hester Musson and THE REVELS by Stacey Thomas.

THE TUMBLING GIRL sees an unlikely duo – ex-actress Minnie Ward and private detective Albert Easterbrook – team up to solve a grisly spate of murders in Victorian London. It was first published by Gallic Books in May 2023, and prior to publication it won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2024 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and reached No. 1 in the US Amazon Kindle New Historical Thriller Chart.

THE INNOCENTS, the sequel to THE TUMBLING GIRL, was published by Gallic Books earlier this year to great acclaim (with The Financial Times describing it as ‘historical crime fiction at its most beguiling’) and Bridget is currently working on the next in the series, THE SPIRIT GUIDE. The latter sees Minnie and Albert uncovering the dark secrets behind a female-only spiritualist group that purports to help its members commune with deceased loved ones.

About Bridget Walsh

Bridget Walsh lives in Norwich. She has a PhD in ‘Murder in the Victorian Domestic Sphere’ and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

 Praise for THE TUMBLING GIRL

‘Bridget Walsh’s THE TUMBLING GIRL is the first in what promises to be an entertaining series of historical mysteries… a narrative that neatly weds historical detail and quiet wit.’ – Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times, ‘The best historical fiction books of May 2023’

‘Ms. Walsh does a splendid job depicting Minnie’s flea-bitten yet appealing theatrical world and Albert’s monied yet treacherous milieu.’ – Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

‘Walsh impresses in this series launch featuring an unlikely pair of investigators in 1876 London… diligent research pays off in spades here, and her rich and nuanced portrayal of the period will leave readers feeling like they’re on the soggy streets of London. Imogen Robertson readers will be eager for a sequel to this un-put-downable mystery.’ – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review and a ‘Books of the Week’ pick

‘Walsh resurrects the culture and crimes of Victoriana without cliché or condescension, but with warmth, wit, remarkable texture and rare authority.’ – Tom Benn

‘A brilliantly written page-turner. A bravura performance tumbling us into a compelling mystery in a vivid, richly imagined world. You can smell the greasepaint and hear the roar of the crowd on every page.’ – Imogen Robertson

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MY FATHER’S HOUSE by Joseph O’Connor nominated for 2024 Dublin Literary Award

Joseph O’Connor’s highly acclaimed novel MY FATHER’S HOUSE has been longlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award.

The Dublin Literary Award is one of the world’s most significant literary prizes, with a prize of €100,000 for the winner. Its aim is to promote excellence in world literature and its longlist is decided by libraries throughout the world, with titles nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit’. Other titles longlisted for the 2024 award include BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton, DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver and IF I SURVIVE YOU by Jonathan Escoffery. You can see the full longlist here.

The shortlist will be announced in March 2024, with the overall winner revealed in a ceremony during the International Literature Festival Dublin in May.

An Irish No.1 bestseller, MY FATHER’S HOUSE was shortlisted for the Eason Novel of the Year Award at the 2023 An Post Irish Book Awards (with Joseph shortlisted for the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award at the same awards). It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime in January 2023 and was picked by Jo Brand as a favourite title on BBC’s Between the Covers television programme last November. It’s also been selected as a 2023 Book of the Year by Fintan O’Toole, Colm Tóibín and Sarah Gilmartin in The Irish Times and many other publications such as The Washington Post.

MY FATHER’S HOUSE was first published in the UK and Ireland by Harvill Secker and in the US by Europa Editions in January 2023, with the paperback publication to come in the UK in February 2024 and in the US in April 2024. Translation rights have been sold in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, and  film rights are under option.

Based on the true story of an Irish priest in the Vatican helping escaped prisoners evade capture in Nazi-occupied Rome, MY FATHER’S HOUSE is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O’Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in extreme circumstances.

Joseph is currently writing the second novel in the Escape Line trilogy (of which MY FATHER’S HOUSE is the first), which is due to be published by Harvill Secker in the UK and Europa in the UK in 2025.

Photo credit: Urszula Soltys

About Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin, where he still lives. MY FATHER’S HOUSE is his tenth novel: he is also the author of film scripts, radio and stage plays, two collections of short stories, and several bestselling works of non-fiction.

2022 was the 20th anniversary of Joseph O’Connor’s novel STAR OF THE SEA which was an international bestseller, selling more than a million copies in the UK alone and being published in 38 languages. It won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year.

He holds an honorary Doctorate in Literature from University College Dublin and received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2012. He is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Praise for MY FATHER’S HOUSE

‘A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance, to our humanness, to our chances of learning from our most terrible and our most transcendent moments, and all our moments in between, to hold all life sacred, to see each other as brothers and sisters, to love and protect each other. No wonder he is so cherished and loved by his countless devotees across the earth. He is a national and international treasure, the most generous and noble of writers, a true master of the art.’ – Donal Ryan

‘A spectacular, thrilling novel… MY FATHER’S HOUSE celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie. It would require a present-day Puccini to do operatic justice to its tremendous tale.’ – Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

‘This is a literary thriller of the highest order. The incarnation of O’Flaherty, the Irish Oskar Schindler, is sublime. What often elevates a writer is compassion, and O’Connor has it in spades – paying tribute to the courage of those who resist tyranny. Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming until the novel’s coda, where a final joyful conceit is revealed.’ – Lucy Popescu, The Observer

‘Joseph O’Connor’s new novel MY FATHERS HOUSE is a riveting tale about the power of community in the face of unfathomable evil… a seamless blend of fact and fiction by a master of the genre; a brisk polyphonic narrative that brings the heroism of ordinary people thrillingly to life... O’Connor is a visualist who revels in evocative cityscapes of a Rome under siege… readers will be too caught up in O’Connor’s writing, the delight in watching a plan come together, the tension of wondering whether it will succeed… MY FATHER’S HOUSE, the first in a trilogy, is a novel full of deft characterisation and knowledge, not just the historical facts, but the broader – grander? – wisdom to be found in excavating the past.’ – Sarah Gilmartin, The Irish Times

‘O’Connor’s priest goes on to steal many more scenes by showing not just the courage of his convictions but also courage under fire. The result is a gripping World War II-set drama featuring the unlikeliest of heroes, one whom the reader roots for every step of the way… His cat-and-mouse game with Hauptmann is expertly plotted; his desperate mission through the streets of Rome is brilliantly paced. It is hard not to be captivated by his presence throughout this hugely satisfying book, from its explosive opening to its bittersweet end.’ – Malcolm Forbes, The Washington Post

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Shani Akilah shortlisted for the Writers’ & Artists’ Short Story Competition 2023

Shani Akilah’s story ‘A Short Trip to Tesco’ has been shortlisted for the Writers’ & Artists’ Short Story Competition 2023 after previously making the longlist.

Shani’s story was one of eight selected from a longlist of sixteen titles and over 850 entries to this year’s competition, themed around ‘Writing Love’. The shortlist was chosen by writer Naomi Booth.

Speaking about judging the competition, Naomi Booth said ‘It was a delight to read these short stories about love—in part because of their commitment to the surprising, the various, the ephemeral, and the difficult to articulate. There were brilliant stories in this longlist that focussed on the sharp and tender pain of lost loves; on the wordless dislocation of maternal love; on new friendships and the rush of fresh beginnings.’

‘A Short Trip to Tesco’ will appear in Shani’s upcoming debut short story collection.

About Shani Akilah

Shani Akilah is a 28 year-old Black-British writer from South London of Caribbean heritage (Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica). She is an avid reader and book blogger and was spotlighted as a ‘Key Black Influencer’ by DoubleDay Books.

 Shani is passionate about community and bringing people together and is the co-founder of Nyah Network, a book club for black women and is also the founder of contributor based platform, Bankra, that explored the navigated identities of black millennials.

 Shani loves travelling, and has spent significant time in Ghana as part of her studies. Shani has a Masters degree in African Studies from Oxford University with research exploring counter-diasporic return and issues of home and belonging amongst second-generation British-Ghanaians.

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