Anna and Lizzie of the Boom Jennies to showcase their work in New York

Anna Emerson and Lizzie Bates have been selected by the BAFTA Rocliffe 'Future British Comedy Stars' programme to go to New York and showcase their writing at the city's Television Festival. Only five comedy writers (or co-writing pairs) were chosen from almost 500 entrants to have their work performed, so it's wonderful news for the writing pair.

Anna and Lizzie write and performs as two thirds of comedy sketch group The Boom Jennies. They have co-written their shows THE BOOM JENNIES: MISCHIEF (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe 2012), THE BOOM JENNIES: BLOWOUT (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe 2011), WE WANT ACTION (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe 2010), THE BOOM JENNIES (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe 2009), THE BOOM JENNIES: SHINDIG (C Soco, Edinburgh Fringe 2008), and CIRQUE DE SABOTAGE (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe 2007).
 
The Boom Jennies were selected for the Radio 4 comedy showcase SKETCHORAMA which was produced by The Comedy Unit (Tx July 2012). Their comedy drama series MISSION IMPROBABLE was produced by Dave Lamb's company Top Dog Productions, also for Radio 4 (Tx November-December 2012). They're currently developing a sitcom.

TWO NEW GRACE NOVELS, A STANDALONE AND PETER JAMES CLASSICS TO PAN MACMILLAN

PAN MACMILLAN PRESS RELEASE

Publishing Director, Wayne Brookes, has acquired two new Roy Grace novels, a standalone ghost story and three out of print backlist titles from the number one bestselling author Peter James. UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired from Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann. 2014 will see the publication of the tenth Roy Grace novel 'Want You Dead' and a volume of collected short stories.  Added to this will be a new stand alone thriller, 'Absolute Proof' which will come in 2017.  This will complete the new deal with Pan Macmillan.   

Peter James said: 
"I am hugely thrilled that not only is my wonderful relationship with Pan Macmillan continuing, but that is growing in so many directions.  I am also especially delighted that my three first novels, Dead Letter Drop, Atom Bomb Angel & Billionaire, which I have kept out of print for 28 years, are now going to be published anew, by Pan Macmillan, following numerous requests from my fans.  I'm also going to enjoy greatly going back to my early roots and writing a stand-alone ghost story.  With all of this, plus the stage play of The Perfect Murder, the TV miniseries of Perfect People and the film of Dead Simple going into production, the 10th anniversary year of Roy Grace, promises to be a memorable one!"

Wayne Brookes added:
"I am so incredibly excited by this new deal with Peter because he is quite simply an absolute gem to work with. I was a huge fan before I became his publisher and knowing that I've got new material on the way makes me a very happy editor indeed." 

Carole Blake commented:
"There's nothing more satisfying than an author-publisher relationship that really works well. This is one of the best: real teamwork that gets results.  I'm delighted with this new deal."

ABOUT PETER JAMES
PETER JAMES is one of the UK's most treasured crime and thriller novelists. His Roy Grace detective novels have sold over five million in the UK alone and thirteen million worldwide in total. The series is now translated into 36 languages.  Peter's most recent Roy Grace Dead Man's Time has been published to great acclaim and gone straight into the top of the Sunday Times bestseller charts. Peter's three previous Roy Grace novels, Dead Like You, Dead Man's Grip and Not Dead Yet went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller lists at no 1 in both hardback and paperback with Not Dead Yet toppling the 50 Shades Of Grey trilogy off the No 1 paperback fiction slot in the Autumn of 2012, ending its 25 week domination of the chart.  His novella, 'The Perfect Murder' (2010) went straight in at No 1 in the iBooks chart and spent 40 consecutive weeks in the iBooks Top 10.

Peter, an established film producer and script writer, was educated at Charterhouse then at film school. He lived in North America for a number of years working as a screen writer and film producer before returning to England. He has produced numerous films, including The Merchant Of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Brighton in recognition of his services to literature and the community. Peter is Patron of Crimestoppers in Sussex alongside Vera Lynn and in 2012 he was made Patron of The Whitehawk Inn.  In 2011 Peter was made Chair of the Crime Writers' Association. Peter has won many literary awards, including the publicly voted ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards People's Bestseller Dagger in 2011 and he was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize for Perfect People in 2012.  As popular internationally as in the UK, he won the US Barry Award, for Best British Crime Novel for Dead Man's Grip in the Autumn of 2012.

Born and brought up in Brighton, Peter divides his time between his homes in Notting Hill, London and Sussex. Peter is available for interviews and to write features. Find out more about Peter James at www.panmacmillan.com and Peter's website and follow him on Twitter.

Peter James is available for interview.  For further information please contact Sophie Ransom or Becky Short at Midas Public Relations on sophie.ransom@midaspr.co.uk or becky.short@midaspr.co.uk or call: 020 7 361 7860.

Sheila O’Flanagan is No 1 in Ireland!

Sheila O'Flanagan's THINGS WE NEVER SAY hits No 1 in the bestseller charts in Ireland for the second week since publication. Sheila has been touring both the UK and Ireland promoting THINGS WE NEVER SAY. We are thrilled for Sheila's success!

THINGS WE NEVER SAY was published by Headline on 20 June 2013.

Praise for Sheila:

Shelia O'Flanagan is one of the blinding talents on the female fiction scene.' -- Daily Record

'Sheila O'Flanagan writes with wit, shining an uncomfortable light on the insecurities that women carry into adulthood.' -- Candis

'Sheila O'Flanagan is one of the most popular women's fiction writers, very much in the same vein as Maeve Binchy, writing about families, relationships and finding love.' -- Driffield Leader

THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE by Manu Joseph shortlisted for the Encore Award

Joining the ranks of fellow Blake Friedmann authors, Monique Roffey (THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE) and Christopher Nicholson (THE ELEPHANT KEEPER), Manu Joseph's second novel, THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE, has been shortlisted for the Encore Award, which has a prize of £10,000.

His debut novel, SERIOUS MEN, is published in 14 languages, and is a bestseller in Holland, now in its 4th printing. With SERIOUS MEN winning The Hindu Best Fiction Award 2010, and being shortlisted for: the Man Asian Literary Prize 2010; the Commonwealth Prize South Asia & Europe Best First Book 2011; the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2011 and the the ALOA Award, Denmark, Manu Joseph looks to add another prize to his mantle with the ingeniously constructed, THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE.

To see the full list of nominees, click here.

Praise for Manu Joseph:

 
'A refreshing read' - John Murray, Time Out

'Manu Joseph really is a fine storyteller. His narrative is rich with detail.' - Antara Dev Sen, The Asian Age

'Manu Joseph is brilliant' - Tom Sutcliffe, BBC Radio 4

'A searing new voice.' --  Megan O'Grady, Vogue

'Manu Joseph's skills as a writer are tremendous.' -- Manil Suri

'Joseph writes with extraordinary wit, cunning and sympathy about both family relationships and ultimate mysteries.' -- Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews

Praise for THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE:

'The ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE is ambitious...It is a plot-driven yarn with themes of morality, sexuality, psychiatry and yet more science and philosophy….but it does not feel overburdened…quite an achievement.' -- The Economist

'A cocktail of character, culture and religion … exquisitely phrased without an excess of sentimentality.' -- The Daily Telegraph

'Plenty to enjoy…the key revelations are powerful.' -- Anthony Cummins, Metro

'Tense and intriguing … [with] striking observations… THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE is an engaging read that leaves readers with plenty to think about afterwards.' -- David Hebblethwaite, We Love This Book

'Both wittily funny and darkly serious.' -- Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail

'Very very affecting...this is a story which works perfectly well.' -- Kathryn Hughes, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review

'I loved it...great one-liners that stick in the mind.' -- Billy Kay, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review

'The use of language is really beautiful...sophisticated. Really well done, really interesting.' -- Hannah McGill, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review

'The novel is anything but derivative. Joseph twists what I feared would be a book for people wanting a second White Tiger into a cocktail of character, culture and religion…Joseph's prose is exquisitely phrased without an excess of sentimentality. … the confident, immersing voice of ILLICIT HAPPINESSS promises readers this is not the last we've heard of Manu Joseph.' -- Christine Edwall, The Telegraph

Hannah Lowe’s poetry collection CHICK shortlisted for the Forward Best First Collection Prize.

A panel headed by Jeanette Winterson, who is joined by the poets Paul Farley and Sheenagh Pugh, the actor Samuel West and journalist David Mills have included Hannah Lowe's CHICK in the shortlist for the £5,000 Best First Collection prize. Hannah's collection is published by Bloodaxe Books.

Previous winners have included Sam Riviere's 81 Austerities and Kid  by Simon Armitage.

The awards will be announced at a ceremony in London's Southbank Centre on 1 October 2013.

Praise for CHICK:
'CHICK opens with a powerful sequence of poems centred around the poet's memories of her Chinese/black Jamaican father - a complex, larger than life character who came to London in the late 40s and eked out a living as, among other things, a gambler. But the book is very much more than a personal reminiscence and family history. This is a collection cross-hatched with myth and history, a hymn to London as much as to its characters. Though all the poems have a strong, vividly cinematographic line, they are also beautifully lyrical - sung stories, offering us the glimpsed lives of strangers and lovers. But however poignant and moving it may be, the collection remains doggedly celebratory of life itself, of people and place, loved and remembered. Each poem takes us a little further into the mystery of lives in a world that is as incomprehensible as it is unforgettable. This is an outstanding, unputdownable first collection' - John Glenday.

'Here is a poet with a commanding style; her voice is entirely her own, both rich and laconic. These are poems springing from the page with vitality, rue and insight. Her elegies are restrained and devastating. An extraordinary debut' - Penelope Shuttle.

'CHICK is an unforgettable book. In an age where blurby superlatives compete on debut book covers, this one has an edge: it is about someone, namely the poet's late father, from whose name it takes its title. …The reader approaches the book not only as a set of poems but as a narrative with a fascinating central character. …The early poems about him are riveting. … [The poem] 'Say', which exploits understatement to the full, is remarkable, and heartbreaking. … And did I like the poet? Yes, enormously. You couldn't not. She is there as a child, and a young, vulnerable adult, and then as a grown woman lamenting her own unfatherly father with compassion, but without sentiment.' - Helena Nelson, Magma

'A notable achievement, particularly in a first book … a sustained elegiac sequence, raw, but consistently well-wrought. … Lowe's poetry is vibrant and sensual.' - Chloe Stopa-Hunt, Poetry Review

Links to some of Hannah's blogs and readings:

Hannah's blog: www.hannahlowe.org/blog/

Video of Hannah reading, from the Bloodaxe site: http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852249609

Video of the Edinburgh World Writers' debate, with address by Hannah Lowe at the beginning and responses to questions re memoir:
http://www.edinburghworldwritersconference.org/national-literature/marlon-james-a-national-literature/

Hannah's blog about the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference:
http://www.edinburghworldwritersconference.org/national-literature/why-investigate-the-question-of-a-national-literature-hannah-lowe-blogs-from-ewwc-trinidad/

http://paperbased.org/2013/06/06/chick-by-hannah-lowe/

http://www.camdenreview.com/reviews/books/against-the-odds-chick-by-hannah-lowe-bloodaxe-books

http://www.apoemandapint.co.uk/images/reviews/hannahlowe.htm

http://www.bocaslitfest.com/2013/father-figures-colin-grant-and-hannah-lowe/

http://www.susumba.com/books/reviews/literary-patchwork-jamaican-chinese-experience

http://grasmerepoetry.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/w-n-herbert-and-hannah-lowe-21st-may-2013/