CATCH BFLA AUTHORS AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVALS

Edinburgh International Book Festival starts this week and you can see several Blake Friedmann authors there this August.

On Wednesday 16th Anneliese Mackintosh will be talking with Dana Spiotta. Their conversation will explore identity and transformation and the different ways their books address identity in their heroines on the panel Fast Friends. Mackintosh’s latest novel, SO HAPPY IT HURTS, was published on 27 July by Jonathan Cape. See more here.

Friday the 18th finds Pippa Goldschmidt author of THE NEED FOR BETTER REGULATION OF OUTER SPACE chairing the panel Rockets to Utopia? at 18:30, where she will be talking to Nalo Hopkinson, Ken MacLeod, Ada Palmer and Charles Stross about speculative fiction’s role in imagining hopeful futures. To find out more head to link here.

Christopher Nicholson is speaking to Jim Crumley about Men For All Seasons on 16th August. They will be exploring how Scotland’s wildlife copes with the chill, dark days, and exploring wildlife in the winter. Nicholson’s latest book AMONG THE SUMMER SNOW is an account of a summer's journey through the Highlands of Scotland in search of the snow patches that remain.  Find the event here.  

On Monday 21st Henrietta Rose-Innes talks on the panel of Dangerous Dispatches, as part of Amnesty International’s Imprisoned Writers series where they will discuss the dangers of being a journalist on the front line. The freedom of the press is continually under threat and reporting the news is one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. For tickets find the link here.

Henrietta Rose- Innes is also on the panel Near and Far, where she will be talking about her latest book Green Lion with author Cynan Jones. See her event at the Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre at 20:30.  

And finally, Alan Parks author of phenomenal debut BLOODY JANUARY will be appearing at the festival on Friday the 25th August where he will be talking with Malachy Tallack and Mick Kitson about their fiction. Get your tickets here.  

The Edinburgh Festival is one of the largest Arts events in the world and takes place for three weeks every August in Scotland’s capital city.

Annalise Mackintosh Website and Twitter

Pippa Goldschmidt Website and Twitter

Christopher Nicholson Website

Henrietta Rose-Innes Website and Twitter

Alan Parks Website

SO HAPPY IT HURTS by Anneliese Mackintosh published today by Jonathan Cape

SO HAPPY IT HURTS, the debut novel from acclaimed writer Anneliese Mackintosh, is published today by Jonathan Cape, and in audiobook by Audible.

'I want to be a good person. And I want to be happy. So happy it hurts. I need you to help me with that.’

Ottila McGregor is thirty years old and has decided it’s time to sort her life out. She’s going to quit drinking, stop cheating and finally find true happiness. Easy, right?

Of course not.

For a start, there’s Grace, her best friend, who believes self-improvement is for people in their forties. Next there’s Mina, her sister, who is mentally ill, and it might be Ottila’s fault. And then there’s Thales, the Greek guy who works in the hospital cafeteria. He's probably the best, most dangerous person Ottila’s ever met.

To make sense of it all, Ottila keeps a scrapbook of everything: emails, receipts, tickets, letters, her therapy transcripts, a boyfriend's note rescued from the bin... The result is an infectious one-off of a novel that makes you wince and laugh in equal measure, and which asks the question: what does it take to be so happy it hurts?

Anneliese gave us a treat with an engrossing interview on Bristol247, followed by a beautiful live reading of SO HAPPY IT HURTS on the The Janice Forsyth Show.

Her debut short story collection, ANY OTHER MOUTH, was published by Freight Books in June 2014. It has received incredible reviews including “Mackintosh is a real talent and Any Other Mouth is a remarkable debut” from The Independent, and “beautifully crafted snapshots… one of the UK’s most exciting new voices” from The List. It won the Green Carnation Prize, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s First Book Award, in the Best Short Story Collection category for the 2015 Saboteur Awards and Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.

Rights have sold in France, Germany and Holland.

Praise for SO HAPPY IT HURTS:

‘Impressive and challenging…this debut novel is every bit as assured, honest and innovative as its predecessor. For a start the structure is highly original. Like Mackintosh’s previous work, SO HAPPY IT HURTS is something out of a high wire act, laugh-out-loud funny at times but also so emotionally honest that it sometimes feels like a punch to the guts. Thrilling, edgy without ever seeming gimmicky, making this as sharp a novella about 21st century living as you’ll find anywhere.’ –  Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue

‘The novel balances irony and earnestness perfectly, offering both a heartbreakingly sincere quest for happiness and an acerbic intolerance of hollow quick-fixes. Told through a scrapbook of letters, emails, Snapchats, therapy transcripts and text messages, Mackintosh builds a novel out of the language we actually use day to day. More than anything though, her characters bring it to life. Maybe it’s the intimacy of revealing them through their private messages, maybe it’s just how powerfully Mackintosh draws them and what they mean to Ottila, but the effect is so strong and the threat of some new catastrophe so tangible that each page turn feels like a horrible gamble with these people’s lives. When it hurts, it really fucking hurts. But when it’s happy, Anneliese Mackintosh’s latest work is positively radiant.’ – The Skinny

‘Inventive and wise and very affecting. There’s a deep human experience in it.’ – Jason Donald, author of CHOKE CHAIN

Anneliese Mackintosh Debut Novel To Cape

Penguin Random House imprint Jonathan Cape has acquired a debut novel by award-winning, critically acclaimed short-story writer Anneliese Mackintosh.

Editorial Director Alex Bowler signed UK and Commonwealth rights to SO HAPPY IT HURTS by Mackintosh from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann Agency, following an auction.

Bowler said: 'SO HAPPY IT HURTS is the story of a year in the life of Ottila McGregor. A particularly significant year, given that thirty-year-old Ottila has led what you might call a 'colourful life' to date. But now she's going to give up the drink and plough a monogamous furrow and become so happy it hurts. But life, of course, doesn't work like that. In this book Anneliese has conjured a remarkable, hilarious and starkly honest voice; a beautifully confused and ever-hopeful heroine, who you can't help but root for; and a book – a grangerised scrapbook of a diary, composed of receipts, emails, a boyfriend's note rescued from the bin, and various other found objects – that looks like nothing else. An infectious, one-off of a novel, from an uncategorisable young writer with the brightest of futures.'

Anneliese Mackintosh is the author of short story collection ANY OTHER MOUTH, published by Freight Books in June 2014. It won the Green Carnation Prize, and was shortlisted for the Saltire Society's First Book Award and Edge Hill Short Story Prize. The Guardian praised ANY OTHER MOUTH for being 'a fantastic, cleanly focused book that's hilarious and heartbreaking", The Independent said of Anneliese, 'Mackintosh is a real talent and ANY OTHER MOUTH is remarkable', and The List called her "one of the UK's most exciting new voices"

SO HAPPY IT HURTS is due for publication in Spring 2017. Audio rights were sold at auction to Audible.

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

ANNELIESE MACKINTOSH’S ANY OTHER MOUTH SHORTLISTED IN BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION CATEGORY FOR THE 2015 SABOTEUR AWARDS

ANY OTHER MOUTH by Anneliese Mackintosh has been shortlisted in the Best Short Story Collection category for the 2015 Saboteur Awards. The Saboteur Awards are given for ‘publications and events that impress with their design or their enthusiasm or their content or their ethos, or with how much the judges enjoy them or a combination of all of those things.’ The winner is decided by public vote on the shortlisted works, and you can support Anneliese with your vote here. Results will be announced on 31st May at a special all-day event at Vout-O-Reenees in London.

Mackintosh’s collection is also a Brave New Reads pick by Writers' Centre Norwich this summer. Chosen by readers, for readers, Brave New Reads recommends six exceptional books. Of ANY OTHER MOUTH, they say that it ‘is a candid and deeply personal exploration … Be prepared to cringe, cry and smile as you race through this playful and poignant book.’

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 2014, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s First Book Award 2014 and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award 2014 and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2015.

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