Greg Latter’s BLACK BUTTERFLIES cleans up at the South African Film and TV Awards 2012

The Greg Latter scripted BLACK BUTTERFLIES, having already experienced awards success at the Tribeca Film Festival and Dutch film awards The Golden Calves, enjoyed a triumphant homecoming, winning the majority of the film prizes - including best feature film - at the South African Film and TV Awards ceremony on Sunday evening (11th March).

After its American release last week, BLACK BUTTERFLIES was nominated in nine categories, and ended up garnering the awards for Best Feature Film; Best Cinematography; Best Production Design; Best Music Composition; Best Costume Design and Best Hair and Make-up in a Feature Film.

The South African Film and Television Awards, or the Golden Horns, are now in their sixth year. They are awarded by the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa for excellence in the creative visual arts, performance and drama. Previous winners of the main award include the Oscar winning Tsotsi and another of Greg's films, Goodbye Bafana.

Greg's latest project, NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON, directed by the Palme D'Or, Academy Award and Golden Globe winning Bille August, went into production last week.

GHOST LIGHT was 2011’s most borrowed book in Irish Libraries

GHOST LIGHT by Joseph O'Connor was the most borrowed book in Irish Libraries in 2011. In response to this wonderful achievement, Joseph O'Connor commented:

'I'm deeply honoured that GHOST LIGHT is the most borrowed book of 2011, and I offer a heartfelt thanks to my readers for making it so. All my life since childhood I have been a lover of our libraries. My novels have been researched in them, and I have many times been the beneficiary of the exceptional professionalism and helpfulness of our librarians. Now more than ever, I am proud to support the libraries and the wonderful work they do for their communities up and down the land.'

Joseph was recently awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to literature, and GHOST LIGHT was also Dublin's 'One City One Book' in 2011. The next work he will publish, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?, a collection of stories and a novella, will be published by Harvill Secker later this year.

Praise for GHOST LIGHT:

'Joseph O'Connor's GHOST LIGHT is absolutely brilliant - a beautifully written love story.' -- Roddy Doyle, The Guardian, Books of the Year 2010

'It has an astonishing command of voice and period detail, and offers an intimacy with the lives of others which is rare in fiction.' -- Colm Tóibín

'Thus her story comes alive in brilliant bursts of poetic language. She loves, hates, longs for vengeance, and despairs of redemption in luminous prose.' -- Barbara Fisher, The Boston Globe

Greg Latter's BLACK BUTTERFLIES opens in Manhattan to excellent reviews

The Greg Latter scripted BLACK BUTTERFLIES was a critics' pick in this week's New York Times ahead of its New York opening. The film previously played in the city during the Tribeca Film Festival where it garnered strong reviews and made many critics' festival watch lists, including Sound on Sight and indieWIRE.

BLACK BUTTERFLIES, directed by Paula van der Oest, is the story of Ingrid Jonker, the women hailed as the South African Sylvia Plath. Greg's script is set in 1960s Cape Town, as a young Jonker discovers her creative voice amid the stifling atmosphere of apartheid and the overbearing eye of her rigid father, a government censorship minister (played by Rutger Hauer). As tensions rise, Ingrid witnesses an unconscionable event that will determine the route of both her creative and personal life.

The full New York Times article can be found here.

You can watch the trailer here.

Andy Briggs starts the year swinging with a whole host of events planned!

Andy Briggs, whose collaboration with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, TARZAN: THE GREYSTOKE LEGACY brought the hundred year old Tarzan character swinging into the 21st Century, has announced a string of UK tour dates which will take him all over the country, highlights of which include:  

MARCH
Friday 2nd March: Guardian Pop-up Festival

Monday 5th March: Waterstones Norwich

Friday 8th March: Discover Centre

Monday 12th-13th March: Aye Write Festival, Glasgow

Thursday 22nd March: Edinburgh - Renascence Learning Librarian event

Saturday 31st March: Oxford Literary Festival

APRIL
Saturday 14th April: Cambridge Wordfest

MAY
13th May: Brighton Festival

JUNE
Friday 26th June: Middlesbrough Literary Festival

JULY & AUGUST
In LA for Comic Con and to launch the US publication during Tarzan centenary festival

OCTOBER
1st-5th October: Appledore Festival

6th or 7th October: Bath Festival

NOVEMBER
13th November: Swindon Literary Festival

So be sure to add some of those to your diaries and get along to see Andy!

Praise for TARZAN: THE GREYSTOKE LEGACY:

'I fell in love with Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan when I was 11 years old, and was jealous when he married that silly Jane. I would have been even more jealous of the Jane in TARZAN: THE GREYSTOKE LEGACY - she is not silly at all!  And what a stroke of brilliance to transform Tarzan into an eco-warrior. The Lord of the Jungle is with us still.' -- Dr Jane Goodall

'Tarzan is back with a bloodcurdling roar! An epic re-book of the classic series.' -- Eoin Colfer, author of ARTEMIS FOWL

'CRACKING jungle adventure with the one and only, all- time best eco-warrior, Tarzan.' -- MG Harris, author of THE JOSHUA FILES

'Wow! All the things I loved about the original Tarzan books rebooted for modern-day Africa, with a plot that will whisk you off your feet and swing you through the trees at breakneck speed.' -- Roderick Gordon, author of TUNNELS

'This is a lion-roaring read of an adventure that seized me from the first page and refused to let go.The action is breathless, the characters are enthralling and the environmental message is vital. Tarzan is not only stunningly reborn, he is more relevant today than he ever was.' -- Chris Bradford, author of YOUNG SAMURAI

'A hero that doesn't have special powers, can't do magic, and isn't an angel? Andy's Tarzan doesn't need them; he kicks ass from the moment he appears in the first chapter.' -- David Gatward, author of THE DEAD, THE DARK, THE DAMNED

'An awesome African adventure. The legend of Tarzan is in great hands.' -- Steve Feasey, author of CHANGELING

'A white-knuckle adventure worthy of Burroughs at his best. Andy Briggs' Tarzan is a stunning achievement.' -- William Hussey, author of WITCHFINDER

Roy Grace novels to be a specialist subject on TV quiz Mastermind

Ken Owen, a huge Peter James fan, will be appearing on the popular TV programme, Mastermind, and he has chosen the Roy Grace novels as his specialist subject. The programme will be broadcast in the UK on March 23, 2012.
 
The series began with DEAD SIMPLE, and has been hugely successful.  DEAD MAN'S GRIP, the 7th was a no 1 bestseller last year and Peter is now writing the eighth in the series, NOT DEAD YET which will be published by Macmillan in June 2012.  The series is published in 35 languages.

Praise for Peter James:

'Peter James is one of the best British crime writers, and therefore one of the best in the world.' -- Lee Child

'Roy Grace ... is fast becoming one of the more memorable coppers in modern crime fiction ... A first class police procedural.'  -- The Times

'Peter James is one of those writers whose work has found such a passionate multitude of readers that these days his books are repeatedly at the top of the bestseller lists. It's a tribute that is well deserved because not only are his novels meticulously plotted, they are also very well written ... James is a serious crime writer and the work he puts into researching his stories always pays dividends for his readers ... Good quality writing, a plausible narrative and no punches pulled has placed this author near the top of the current generation of crime authors.' -- The Daily Express