COBRA shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger

Deon Meyer’s COBRA has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger. COBRA is translated by K L Seegers. The shortlists were announced at Crimefest in Bristol last Friday. The overall winners will be presented with their awards on 30th June, to mark the end of Crime Reading Month, at a gala dinner in central London.

Also shortlisted are Camille by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne, Into a Raging Blaze by Andreas Norman, translated by Ian Giles, Falling Freely, As If In A Dream by Leif GW Persson, translated by Paul Norlen, Arab Jazz by Karim Miské, translated by Sam Gordon and The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler.

Deon was previously shortlisted for the awards in 2010 with his novel THIRTEEN HOURS, also translated by K L Seegers.

COBRA was published in the UK by Hodder in 2014. It was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the Top Ten Mystery and Thriller for Fall and ‘Thriller of the Week’ on the very popular Dutch thriller & crime fiction communityCrimezone.nl. In his home territory South Africa, COBRA (published in Afrikaans by Human & Rousseau as KOBRA) shot to Number 1 on Afrikaans publication last year, beating off all international competition in English as well. 

Praise for COBRA:

‘A masterful new thriller.  This is terrific stuff:  fine plotting, superb characterisation, a constant thread of suspense, a multi-ethnic cast and an intriguing setting. It also comes with a glossary of South African terms and if COBRA doesn’t win at least one major prize this year, then someone needs a good snotskoot blikseming.’ – Mike Ripley, Shotsmag

‘The plot clicks along like a machine… The set pieces, such as a complex train-hopping action sequence, are slickly executed. This is an author in full charge of his technique, but he burnishes the mechanics of the story with delicious Kaapse characters and richly idiomatic dialogue. The feral pickpocket Tyrone Kleinbooi is one of Meyer’s best characters ever, sly and quick with a strong sense of thieves’ honour. Meyer has a habit of beckoning side characters to the front of stage in subsequent books… Here’s hoping Meyer will put Mbali Kaleni centre stage in future.  More of Mbali, please, and more, much more of Deon Meyer.’ – Michele Magwood, SA Sunday Times

Praise for Deon Meyer:

‘A master on vintage form… He is a defining novelist of modern South Africa.’ – Barry Forshaw, Books of the Year 2012, Independent

‘Deon Meyer is one of the best crime writers on the planet.’ – Mail on Sunday

 'With Deon Meyer you can't go wrong. He's a writer whose work I admire, wait for and then devour.' -- Michael Connelly

Redesigning Roy Grace: we speak to the designer behind Peter James' new covers

Knowing that Macmillan had decided to give new covers to the entire Peter James Roy Grace series in paperback, to coincide with publication of the 10th volume was exciting enough, but when the new designs  were revealed, they were stunning!  Everyone in the agency loved them when we saw them on screen, and when the finished books arrived we admired them even more.

 We were keen to hear from the designer, how he went about creating the new look.  In advance of the publication this week of the 11th Roy Grace novel YOU ARE DEAD, Neil Lang, Digital Design Manager of Macmillan, has kindly written about how be designed the new covers.

The redesign of the DCI Grace Peter James covers evolved from what is already a successful brand. I wanted them to have more impact in bookshops but especially with a view to online sales.

When starting to redesign the Peter James covers I initially started with a blank canvas. I tried a more iconic look, with some designs using figures as a main feature, or even a simple typographic approach, but ultimately the setting is possibly the biggest character of all and the best starting point. 

I tried to use images that weren’t quite so obviously Brighton but which would be recognizable to anyone living there, or familiar with Brighton: landmarks such as the Helter Skelter on WANT YOU DEAD, which is to be found on the pier, or the clock from Brighton train station on LOOKING GOOD DEAD. Sometimes we took an image at a slightly different angle, like that on DEAD SIMPLE where I took the photograph looking up from the beach at the exit to the pier.

Several different typefaces were used on the author branding but whenever they were shown everyone still seemed to prefer the original. Again, this is something that has changed slightly from earlier editions with the author name now taking up more of the cover, closing up the spacing between the letters, and aligning the P and J.

One of the key things in the redesign was to make more of the titles, making them much bigger so they can be read easily even as thumbnails online. By desaturating the image it becomes more of a background on which the titles in a bright pantones and fluros have much more impact. Used in combination with a matt finish and spot varnish over the embossed lettering it makes the physical books stand out more.

The bright colours also act as a series identifier, which I’ve carried over onto the spines, using Peter James author branding much larger so there can be no doubt when seen on a bookshelf who the author is.

Peter James' new book, YOU ARE DEAD, is published in the UK this Thursday by Macmillan.

BFLA Authors at the Franschhoek Literary Festival 2015!

Several Blake Friedmann writers are attending this year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival. The festival runs from the 15th to the 17th May. The events take place in village venues within a few minutes' walk of each other, which creates a vibrant ambience in streets buzzing with book-lovers.

The emphasis is on informal discussions and spirited debates between several writers with a chairperson, or one-on-one conversations, and occasional talks. The FLF hosts the shortlist announcements of the annual Sunday Times Literary Awards, for which several Blake Friedmann authors are longlisted.

Karin Brynard, author of WEEPING WATERS (Penguin, 2014), is appearing in two events on Saturday 16th May – ‘Telling Tales or Tub-thumping’ at 1pm and ‘What a Plot I’ve Got’ at 4pm.

Finuala Dowling, author of THE FETCH (Kwela, 2015), features in 5 events throughout all 3 days of the festival, talking about both poetry and prose.

Dorothy Driver, editor of a new edition of Olive Schreiner's FROM MAN TO MAN (to be published by UCT Press/Juta in June) will be appearing in events alongside Lyndall Gordon and Finuala Dowling on the 16th and 17th May.

Lyndall Gordon, author of DIVIDED LIVES (Little, Brown, 2014), is also busy with 5 events across 3 days, including a Life-writing Workshop on Friday 15th May.

Deon Meyer, author of ICARUS (Hodder, 2015; Afrikaans, Human & Rousseau 2015), will be talking about crime writing in 4 events across all 3 days of the festival.

S.A. Partridge, author of SHARP EDGES (Human & Rousseau, 2013), is asking ‘Who Likes what Teens Read?’ at an event on Friday 15th May.

Henrietta Rose-Innes, author of GREEN LION (Umuzi, 2015), appears on Friday 15th May at 2.30 at ‘Prizing African Writing’, and Saturday 16th May at 1pm at ‘Hello World, Africa Here’.

Ivan Vladislavić, author of 101 DETECTIVES (Umuzi, 2015) is taking part in 4 events across the three days of the festival.

You can find out more information about our authors and their events here.

Agent and Director Isobel Dixon will also be taking part in some poetry events at the festival.

Anneliese Mackintosh’s ANY OTHER MOUTH shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2015

Anneliese Mackintosh’s powerful debut novel, ANY OTHER MOUTH has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2015. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Free Word Centre on Thursday 2 July.

Now in its ninth year, the Edge Hill Short Story Prize it is the only UK award that recognises excellence in a published collection of short stories and has attracted established names competing alongside relative newcomers for the £5,000 main prize. The judges are The Guardian’s Chris Power, 2014 Readers’ Choice winner Rachel Trezise and Edge Hill’s Dr Ailsa Cox.

ANY OTHER MOUTH is a collection of powerful short stories involving a young woman, Gretchen, and her search for identity, happiness and self-discovery. It was published by Freight Books in June 2014 and has since received wonderful reviews. ANY OTHER MOUTH won the Green Carnation Prize, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s First Book Award and in the Best Short Story Collection category for the 2015 Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.

Anneliese Mackintosh was born in Germany and now lives in Manchester where she writes, performs, works and teaches.

Praise for ANY OTHER MOUTH:

‘Mackintosh is a real talent and ANY OTHER MOUTH is a remarkable debut.’ - The Independent

‘Beautifully crafted snapshots… one of the UK’s most exciting new voices.’ - The List

‘Among the most important debuts of the year… by turns funny, affecting, heartening and strange, this is a hugely impressive first book.’ – Global Civilian

Learn how to sell rights with Carole Blake

Agent and Blake Friedmann director Carole Blake will be one of the tutors at the UCL rights-selling course 2015. The two day course takes place on the 4th and 5th of June at University College London, and costs £399 including lunch and refreshments.

This new two-day course is aimed at staff handling rights for literary agencies and publishing houses. It will cover the rationale for selling rights as well as the practicalities – checking control of the rights and maintaining an accurate database of submissions and sales, as well as key activities such as researching particular markets, identifying potential licensees and building personal contacts at book fairs and on sales trips. The course will address a range of different rights categories, from English language deals in the UK and abroad, translation rights, serial rights to newspapers and magazines as well as non-print rights such as radio and audio rights, film and television rights and merchandising.

Carole Blake is the author of ‘From Pitch to Publication: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Novel Published’, in paperback from Macmillan.

Other tutors on the course are Lynette Owen, Copyright & Rights Consultant and Diane Spivey, Contracts Director at Hachette Group UK.