Kingmaker Winter Pilgrims Audio Drama by Greg Evans launches Today

Greg Evans’ KINGMAKER: WINTER PILGRIMS is now available on Towton Audio.

Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims follows the epic tale of two heroic young people who unwittingly hold the key to the throne and must survive against incredible odds in the savage world of 1460’s England. With a deadly enemy closing in and a mysterious ledger in their hands, wherever they flee they are drawn into the calamitous events of the time, culminating in the terrible slaughter at Towton field on Palm Sunday 1461.

This epic tale of survival, courage and love amidst the carnage of the times will be released on the 560th anniversary of the Battle of Towton on 29th March 2021.

Spread over 5 x 1 hour episodes, Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims is set during what became known as the Wars of the Roses. Recorded in the sumer of 2020 this epic historic audio drama involved 27 actors and 11 crew, and will be released by Towton Audio on 29th March 2021 to coincide with the 560th anniversary of the battle of Towton.

This adaptation is the first of many releases from Towton Audio who are launching a new and unique listening platform to showcase Kingmaker as its premiere title.

The original Kingmaker book series was incredibly well received, with Hilary Mantel describing it as: “An enthralling adventure story, honest and powerful. The Wars of the Roses are imagined here with energy, with ferocity, with hunger to engage thereader.”

Read more about the project here or listen to KINGMAKER: WINTER PILGRIMS here!

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021

We are thrilled that Monique Roffey’s THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH, published by Leeds-based independent publisher Peepal Tree Press, has been shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021. The shortlist of five books was chosen by judges Guy Gunaratne, John Mitchinson and Eley Williams, and was announced in partnership with Bookshop.org, a new website selling books from independent booksellers. Also shortlisted are A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Tramp Press), Lote by Shola von Reinhold (Jacaranda Books), Men and Apparitions by Lynne Tillman (Peninsula Press) and A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti, translated by Fionn Petch (Charco Press).

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH was published to wide acclaim by Peepal Tree Press in the UK in April 2020. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Folio Prize and won both the Costa Novel Award and the Costa Book of the Year Award 2020. It has also been longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Translation rights have been sold in Germany, Holland, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Turkey and Russia, with offering in other markets under way and a film deal being concluded.

Peepal Tree aims to bring readers the very best of international writing from the Caribbean, its diasporas and the UK, with the goal of always publishing books that make a difference. Jeremy Poynting founded Peepal Tree Press more than 30 years ago and he and Hannah Bannister run it from their offices in Leeds, Yorkshire. You can read more about Peepal Tree Press here.

The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses rewards fiction published by publishers with fewer than five full-time employees. Each publisher on the longlist receives £1,000, and a further £10,000 is split between the shortlisted books. The winner will be announced mid-May.

A vivid, moving story of love and trust, family and friendship in a Caribbean island community, THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is a world brought to unforgettable life by a master storyteller. A fisherman sings to himself in his boat, but attracts an unexpected sea-dweller — Aycayia, a beautiful young woman cursed to live as a mermaid, swimming the ocean for centuries. Theirs becomes a calm, unspoken bond. But when she hears David’s engine again one day and follows the vessel, she finds herself in a fierce battle for her life. Caught by American sports fishermen, she is strung up on the dock as a trophy, but David rescues her, and gently wins her trust as she starts to transform, painfully, back into a woman. But jealous eyes are watching them…

Interwoven with David and Aycayia’s love story is that of Miss Arcadia Rain, a white landowner bringing up her deaf son on a dwindling estate. As her young son connects with fellow outsider Aycayia, an old lover of Arcadia’s returns to the island and she too begins to feel her way into love and trust again.

See more about THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH on the Peepal Tree Press site  and read an interview with Monique Roffey here.

Praise for THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH

‘Monique Roffey is a unique talent and most daring and versatile of writers.’ — Bernardine Evaristo

‘THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH arrives bearing tragedy and beauty. Monique Roffey has created a new myth for an age of ruined oceans. She continues to be one of our most exciting new Caribbean voices.’ — A.L. Kennedy

‘Monique Roffey is a writer of verve, vibrancy and compassion, and her work is always a joy to read.’ — Sarah Hall

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is wonderfully written, with both soul and intense drama – it glistens almost, like the mermaid! I love its all-round charisma and also its great compassion for both humanity and the natural world.’ — Diana Evans

‘THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH is like a lost myth, found, and made fresh again for our times.’ —  Tessa McWatt, author of Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging

ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES by Dima Alzayat shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

We are thrilled that Dima Alzayat’s collection of stories, ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES, has been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2021. The shortlist is dominated by novels this year, with ALLIGATOR being the only exception, and four out of the six books, including ALLIGATOR, are from debut writers. The other books on the shortlist are Kingdomtide by Rye Curtis, The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, Pew by Catherine Lacey, Luster by Raven Leilani and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.

Namita Gokhale, Chair of Judges, said: ‘We are thrilled to present this year’s extraordinary shortlist – it is truly a world-class writing showcase of the highest order from six exceptional young writers. I want to press each and every one of these bold, inventive and distinctive books into the hands of readers, and celebrate how they challenge preconceptions, ask new questions about how we define identity and our relationships, and how we live together in this world. Congratulations to these tremendously talented writers – they are master storytellers in every sense of the word.’

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize was launched in 2006, to encourage raw creative talent worldwide and celebrate and nurture international literary excellence. One of the most prestigious awards for young writers, the £20,000 prize awarded to the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under. Past winners include Bryan Washington, Guy Gunaratne, Kayo Chingonyi, Fiona McFarlane and Max Porter.

The winner will be revealed on 13th May, the eve of International Dylan Thomas Day.

ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES was published in 2020 by Picador in the UK and by Two Dollar Radio in the US. It was also chosen as a finalist for the PEN America Robert W Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection.

Dima Alzayat’s first book, ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES is an intricate, thoughtful exploration of what it is to be ‘other’: as a Syrian, as an Arab, as an immigrant, as a woman. Each story of the stories is a snapshot of those moments when unusual circumstances suddenly distinguish us from our neighbours, when our difference is thrown into relief.

Here are ‘dangerous’ women transgressing, missing children in 1970s New York, a family who were once Syrian but have now lost their name, and a young woman about to discover the hollowness of the American dream. At its centre lies ‘Alligator’: a remarkable compilation of real and invented sources, which rescues from history the story of a Syrian American couple who were murdered at the hands of the state.

‘These charged, visceral stories get under the skin and stay there. This collection heralds the arrival of an electrifying new voice.’ – Irenosen Okojie

‘How does it feel to be an alien at home? . . . Sardonic, monstrous, tender, these well-crafted tales show us circumstances that might be our own, and let us see them through the eyes of others.’ ― Sunday Times

Dima Alzayat was born in Damascus, Syria, grew up in San Jose, California, and now lives in Manchester. She was the winner of the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award 2019, a 2018 Northern Writers’ Award, the 2017 Bristol Short Story Prize, the 2015 Bernice Slote Award, runner-up in the 2018 Deborah Rogers Award and the 2018 Zoetrope: All-Story Competition, and was Highly Commended in the 2013 Bridport Prize. She is a PhD student and associate lecturer at Lancaster University.

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Visit Dima’s website

TOM BENN’S OXBLOOD ACQUIRED BY BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING

We’re delighted that Allegra Le Fanu at Bloomsbury Publishing has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to Tom Benn's new novel OXBLOOD from Isobel Dixon.

OXBLOOD is the story of three seething generations of forgotten mothers living together in mid-1980s’ Wythenshawe, south Manchester. The family’s dead patriarchs once ruled Manchester’s underworld; now their house harbours an unregistered baby and is haunted by the ghost of a murdered man. The only surviving man in the family has returned home from prison – and in the course of a few days Nedra, Carol and Jan must all confront their family’s bitter legacy if they are to exorcise its past.

Tom Benn’s first novel, THE DOLL PRINCESS, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Portico Prize and longlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey Dagger. Benn’s creative nonfiction has appeared in the Paris Review and he won the BFI’s iWrite scheme for emerging screenwriters. His first film Real Gods Require Blood premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Short Film at the BFI London Film Festival. Originally from Stockport, he teaches on the UEA Crime Fiction Creative Writing MA and lives in Norwich.

Allegra Le Fanu said: ‘I can't wait for the world to meet Nedra, Carol and Jan, the three generations of women who blaze on the pages of Tom Benn's extraordinary OXBLOOD. My heart was captured by this daring, exhilarating, miraculous book from the very first page.'

Tom Benn said: ‘OXBLOOD was seven years in the writing, and so it's good to know that a Manchester novel about horny ghosts and forgotten Wythenshawe nanas can find a home. I’m overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of Allegra and the Bloomsbury team: so welcoming of working-class stories. And I’m indebted to my agent, Isobel Dixon, for her absolute belief in the book.’

Isobel Dixon said: ‘OXBLOOD is a novel of such rare, arresting immediacy and haunting power – I’m so delighted that Allegra Le Fanu heard the fierce and tender voices of these women, and of the world they inhabit, and that Tom Benn has found such an excellent home and editor at Bloomsbury.’

Publication is planned for April 2022, backed by a major marketing and publicity campaign.

About Tom Benn:

Tom Benn is an author, screenwriter and lecturer from Stockport, England. His first novel, THE DOLL PRINCESS (Cape), was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Portico Prize, longlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey Dagger, and was The Daily Mirror's Book of the Week. His other novels are CHAMBER MUSIC (Cape) and TROUBLE MAN (Cape). He won runner-up prize in the 2019 International Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction, and his creative nonfiction has appeared in The Paris Review Daily. He won the BFI’s iWrite scheme for emerging screenwriters. His first film, 'Real Gods Require Blood', premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Film at the BFI London Film Festival.

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SHEILA O’FLANAGAN’S THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY ACHIEVES DOUBLE TOP TEN SUCCESS

In its first full week of sale Sheila O’Flanagan’s latest paperback THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY (Headline, UK and Audio) has made it to Number Five in the Irish Times Bestseller list this weekend, and Number Seven in the Sunday Times paperback charts in the UK. Last year, the hardback of THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY topped the Irish Times Bestseller list, jumping straight to Number One, also in its first week of sale.

THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY follows two women on a life-changing European trip. Deira isn't the kind of woman to steal a car. Or drive to France alone with no plan. But then, Deira didn't expect to be single. Or to suddenly realise that the only way she can get the one thing she wants most is to start breaking every rule she lives by.

Grace has been sent on a journey by her late husband, Ken. She doesn't really want to be on it but she's following his instructions, as always. She can only hope that the trip will help her to forgive him. And then – finally – she'll be able to let him go.

Brought together by unexpected circumstances, Grace and Deira find that it's easier to share secrets with a stranger, especially in the shimmering sunny countryside of Spain and France. But they soon find that there's no escaping the truth, whether you're running away from it or racing towards it.

Sheila O’Flanagan’s brand new novel, THREE WEDDINGS AND A PROPOSAL, will be published by Headline in May 2021.

Head to Sheila’s Facebook page to watch the wonderful Facebook Lives she’s been hosting.

Sheila O’Flanagan is an international bestselling novelist, with more than 9 million copies sold. Numerous novels have been immediate and long-lasting No 1s in Ireland and, UK Top 10 Sunday Times Bestsellers, and she is published in more than 20 languages around the world. Her books have been Number 1 bestsellers in Sweden. She is the recipient of the prestigious Irish Tatler Literary Woman of the Year Award.

Praise for THE WOMEN WHO RAN AWAY

‘Life-affirming goodness from O’Flanagan.’ — Irish Examiner

‘If you’re looking for complete escapism, this riveting book with captivating characters and an evocative storyline is perfect.’ — August Books 2020, Candis

‘Love Sheila's writing.’ — Rosin Meany, Irish Independent

‘Sheila was a star at our Rooftop Book Club event, fans will love her fabulous new book.’ — Nina Pottell, Prima

Praise for Sheila O’Flanagan

‘'O'Flanagan doesn't skirt the pain of heartache but embraces it along with the humour (and imperfect judgment) that give her characters their aching credibility... Despite some dark themes, the book's overall tone is light and hopeful.' - Irish Independent on HER HUSBAND’S MISTAKE

‘O'Flanagan is one of our best-known, best-loved and most prolific women's fiction authors’ – Irish Independent

‘One of my favourite authors’ – Marian Keyes

‘O'Flanagan's writing is crisp and concise and her plotting deft’ – Belfast Telegraph

'One of our best storytellers' – Irish Mail on Sunday

Visit Sheila’s website.

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