Anneliese Mackintosh wins The Green Carnation Prize for ANY OTHER MOUTH

Anneliese making her acceptance speech

At a great event at Foyles’ flagship Charing Cross branch on Friday, The Green Carnation Prize was awarded to Anneliese Mackintosh’s ANY OTHER MOUTH (Freight). Originally awarded to the best book by a gay male author writing in English, the prize has been expanded to include the best form of written word by an LGBT* person, including those in translation. Mackintosh beat off competition from fellow Blake Friedmann authors Kerry Hudson (THIRST) and Laurie Penny (UNSPEAKABLE THINGS), as well as Niven Govinden (ALL THE DAYS AND NIGHTS), Kirsty Logan (THE RENTAL HEART AND OTHER FAIRYTALES) and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (INVISIBLE LOVE).

ANY OTHER MOUTH is a viciously funny, gut-wrenching and shockingly frank account of sexual misadventure, familial disintegration, loss, hope and self-discovery. Part short story collection, part fictionalised memoir.  A highly personal work, Anneliese takes the most intense episodes of her life so far, and reimagines them into profound, playful and poignant tales.

Chair of the judges, journalist Kaite Walsh, said of ANY OTHER MOUTH:  “Choosing a winner out of such an excellent shortlist should have been difficult, but we were all unanimous in ANY OTHER MOUTH, a raw, uncompromising debut by Anneliese Mackintosh that defies categorization. It isn’t quite a short story collection or a novel and, as she tells us at the very beginning, it’s only almost a memoir. In the end, the only category ANY OTHER MOUTH fits neatly into is the one of very, very good books. It stood out on a first reading for everyone, and we found that every conversation we had kept circling back to it. Grief, sex, family, growing up – there’s no theme here that isn’t universal, but in Anneliese’s hands they seem painfully personal. Rarely does a memoir or a short story collection bring you into the mind of the author quite so intimately. We were all struck by how skillfully Anneliese drew the fragments of her story together – it’s a masterclass in storytelling through non-linear narrative.”

Simon Heafield, Marketing Manager for the prize’s partner Foyles, said: “We’re thrilled that Anneliese Mackintosh has won, out of such a strong and diverse shortlist. This is a book that straddles the genres of fiction, memoir and short stories with great aplomb, and its winning the prize provides us with a great chance to put the book into the hands of more customers and help give such a talented writer the readership she clearly deserves.”

Visit Anneliese Mackintosh’s website, or follow her on Twitter.  

Praise for ANY OTHER MOUTH:

‘A fantastic, cleanly focused book that's hilarious and heartbreaking...’ – Guardian

‘Fresh and original… Mackintosh is a real talent and Any Other Mouth is a remarkable debut.’ – The Independent

‘The voice of the next generation… heart-wrenching, cheeky, profound and at the same time utterly stylish’ – Ewan Morrison, author of Close Your Eyes

Hodder Children’s Books acquire two novels from bestseller Sheila O’Flanagan

Photo copyright: Laurie Fletcher

Hodder Children’s Books has announced the acquisition of two books for the 10+ age group from adult number one bestseller Sheila O’Flanagan. Anne McNeil and Jon Appleton jointly acquired British Commonwealth ex Canada rights from Carole Blake. The first book, THE RUNNER, will be published in 2016 and is the first frontlist volume rights purchase for the Hodder Silver imprint, which thus far has been digital-only.

When Joe flees school bullies and finds himself in another world, he must team up with native Kaia to save her civilisation. Kaia is a Runner, one of three teenagers tasked with transporting the crystals that power the shield that keeps her country safe from their lifelong enemy tribe. Travelling into enemy territory, Joe has to come to terms with this new world, his feelings for Kaia, and that all may not be as it seems with the Runner’s task… 

Anne McNeil said: “I was delighted when Marion Donaldson, Sheila’s publisher at Headline, passed The Runner to me to read, with a view to publishing it on the Hodder Children’s Books list.  So many submissions from authors outside children’s books have come to us over the years, from writers who perhaps perceive a gap; or look for a trend. Sheila, on the other hand, has written a novel for children because she had the story inside her and clearly immersed herself in the telling of the tale.  I love that. And I think that this book has real authenticity. Her enjoyment in the writing is self-evident.”

Jon Appleton said: “At Hodder Children’s Books, we’ve been curating Silver, our science fiction and fantasy list, for readers of all ages who love immersive, vividly created worlds. The Runner exemplifies all the qualities of Silver’s timeless, classic titles, and we’re delighted to make it our first brand-new acquisition and our focus title in 2016.”

Sheila O’Flanagan said: “I’m delighted to embark on a new creative journey with a group of people who are so passionate about children’s books.”

Carole Blake said: “Our relationship with Headline over the past 15 years has been very successful and satisfying, so it’s terrific to be able to keep this very different novel in the Hachette family.”

Sheila O’Flanagan’s adult novels are published in the UK by Headline, also part of the Hachette Group, and have sold in 17 languages. Her latest, IF YOU WERE ME, was published in July 2014.

Praise for Sheila O’Flanagan’s adult novels:

‘Sparkling and inspiring ... a must for the contemporary woman.’ – Ireland on Sunday

‘Magnificent, feel-good stuff ’ – The Bookseller

‘Sheila O’Flanagan writes with fluency as she explores territories of friendship, love and sweet revenge, and into it all, she tips a light comic touch.’ – Irish Independent

Reading & Gender

The Goodreads blog created a fascinating infographic on gender and reading recently. Uniquely placed as they are to see this data, we decided to post the entire graphic below.

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/475-sex-and-reading-a-look-at-who-s-reading-whom

Gaby Chiappe's THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF on the Brit List 2014

Gaby Chiappe's feature film adaptation of the novel THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF by Lissa Evans has been selected for this year's Brit List.

The list is a collection of hot, unproduced screenplays, which are selected by a mixture of UK producers, agents, distributors and sales companies.

This year, there were 140 entries but only 34 scripts made it onto the final list, so it's a fantastic achievement.

THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF is with Number 9 Films, Wildgaze Films and BBC Films, and is scheduled to go into production next year. It's a romantic comedy featuring a love story set against the making of a propaganda film during World War II.

The novel was selected for the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction, so the accolades are stacking up for this story already. Watch this space for more news on the feature film.

Essie Fox’s Victorian Gothic THE GODDESS AND THE THIEF out in paperback today

The third book from ‘the master of Victorian drama’ Essie Fox, THE GODDESS AND THE THIEF, is out in paperback today from Orion. With its stunning new cover, THE GODDESS AND THE THIEF has been chosen as Orion’s ‘Paperback of the Month,’ and is available to reviewers on Netgalley. The book has also been selected to be the One Book Lane community’s book club Book of the Month. 

THE GODDESS AND THE THIEF is a dramatic, exotic tale of madness and desire, of séances in Queen Victoria’s Windsor, a cursed diamond from the Raj, and the daring plot to steal it. Uprooted from her home in India, Alice is raised by her aunt, a spiritualist medium in Windsor. When the mysterious Lucian Tilsbury enters their lives, Alice is drawn into a plot to steal a sacred Indian diamond. Both blessed and cursed, the stone exudes a power over all who encounter it: a glamorous deposed maharajah, a man hell-bent on discovering the secrets of eternity, and a widowed queen who hopes the jewel can draw her husband’s spirit back. In the midst of all this madness, Alice must find a way to regain control of her life and fate.

Essie has been appearing recently with The Memento Moriatas, a group of authors and musicians whose work explores death, dreams and destiny. Essie, Kate Mayfield, Kirsten Morrison and Lloyd Shepherd appeared at a sold out event at the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett in Southwark on Hallowe’en, and she talked at the Birmingham Coffin Works on 8 October. See Essie’s website for more appearances from this beguiling group!

Essie will be appearing at The Richmond Literature Festival on 21 November at Horace Walpole’s old residence, Strawberry Hill House in Richmond-upon Thames. Essie will be talking with Lynn Shepherd about the English obsession with vampires.

Essie’s debut novel, THE SOMNAMBULIST, was shortlisted at the National Book Awards for New Writer of the Year and was picked up by TV Book Club and optioned for film by Hat Trick Productions.

Praise for THE GODDESS AND THE THIEF:

‘The plot of this addictive novel is intricate and beautifully turned… Fox’s raids on the story-box cleverly enhance the sense of mystery.’ – The Times

'A richly textured, highly coloured and entirely pleasurable read.' – Metro

'A beguiling, imaginative and original tale.’ – Hello