Tomasz Jedrowski’s SWIMMING IN THE DARK selected by Dua Lipa for the Service95 Bookclub

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We are delighted to share that Tomasz Jedrowski’s debut novel, SWIMMING IN THE DARK, has been selected by international chart-topping singer-songwriter Dua Lipa as the May title for her Service95 Book Club. Writing about the selection on Instagram, Dua Lipa said ‘reading SWIMMING IN THE DARK is a bit like peering into someone’s most intimate moments of self-discovery. It’s poetic and tender, burning with a quiet rage at the persecution the LGBTQIA+ community in Poland has suffered for decades and continues to fight against today. It’s a beautiful story – I hope you love it as much as I do’.

Launched in February 2022, Service95 is a global editorial platform founded by Dua Lipa, with over 300,000 followers on Instagram. The Book Club connects readers from around the world through both classic and contemporary books, by writers from all around the world. Throughout the month of May, Service95 will not only be introducing SWIMMING IN THE DARK to new readers, but sharing interviews, pieces of historical context, and reading guides for fans of the book old and new.

First published by Bloomsbury in 2020, SWIMMING IN THE DARK has since become a worldwide sensation, embraced by both critics and new generations of fans on BookTok. The novel was a finalist for the Polari First Book Prize in 2021, has so far been translated in eighteen languages, with film/TV, theatre and opera rights all under option for adaptation. It was published in the USA by William Morrow.

Poland, 1980. Shy, anxious Ludwik has been sent along with the rest of his university class to an agricultural camp. Here he meets Janusz – and together they spend a dreamlike summer falling in love.

But with summer over, the two are sent back to Warsaw. Confronted by the scrutiny, intolerance and corruption of life under the Party, Ludwik and Janusz must decide how they will survive; and in their different choices, find themselves torn apart.

Photo: Kuba Dubrowski

About Tomasz Jedrowski

Tomasz was born in West Germany to Polish parents and studied law at Cambridge. He lives in France, exploring local history, national identity, and ecology.

His debut novel SWIMMING IN THE DARK was published by Bloomsbury in the UK and William Morrow in the USA, and has been translated into eighteen languages. Film/TV rights and opera rights have been optioned. The novel was a finalist for the Polari First Book Prize (2021).

Praise for SWIMMING IN THE DARK

‘Marvellous, precise, poignant writing; the reader is happy to be overwhelmed. The highest talent at work.’ – Sebastian Barry

‘A lyrical exploration of the conflict between gay love and political conformity. Jedrowski is an authentic new international star.’ – Edmund White

‘Heartbreak – yes, I’m a romantic – is what we get from Tomasz Jedrowski’s exquisite debut novel, SWIMMING IN THE DARK. Set in 1980s Poland, this love story captivates and is so beautifully written I return to it again and again.’ – Guardian

‘Readers will relish the indelible prose, which approaches the mastery of Alan Hollinghurst. Jedrowski’s portrayal of Poland’s tumultuous political transformation over several decades makes this a provocative, eye-opening exploration of the costs of defying as well as complying with social and political conventions.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘A stupendous read: I could not put the book down. I urge you to order this book now. Its eloquence, its understanding of identity, belonging, loneliness and love is second to none. Powerful and uplifting.’ – Lord Michael Cashman, co-founder of Stonewall

Tom Benn wins The 2022 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award

We are delighted to announce that Tom Benn has won the 2022 Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award for his novel OXBLOOD, published by Bloomsbury.

The award celebrates fiction, non-fiction and poetry by British or Irish authors aged 35 or under: recent winners include Sally Rooney, Max Porter, Sarah Howe, Raymond Antrobus and Cal Flyn. Its fuller alumni list includes Robert Macfarlane, Sarah Waters, Simon Armitage, Naomi Alderman, Caryl Phillips, Andrew Cowan and Zadie Smith, among others.

The other titles on this year’s shortlist were LARGER THAN AN ORANGE by Lucy Burns, MAPS OF OUR SPECTACULAR BODIES by Maddie Mortimer and SUPER-INFINITE by Katherine Rundell.

On Tom’s win, Sunday Times literary editor Johanna Thomas-Corr commented: ‘Tom’s story about the struggles of three generations of women in a Manchester crime clan has been rendered with care and specificity. The result is an atmospheric family saga that contains so much buried love, anger, grief, sexual jealousy and bitter disappointment… Yet somehow I emerged from it exhilarated!’

Chair of the 2022 judging panel Andrew Holgate added: ‘What a voice Tom Benn has got, what a feel for character and place, and what an uncompromising approach he has to his subject and material. He inhabits his milieu of 1980s Manchester with total conviction. We were bowled over as a judging panel by OXBLOOD.’

Sebastian Faulks, Chair of the Charlotte Aitken Trust, presented the award, having chaired the shortlist readings at Waterstones Piccadilly the previous night. The judging panel included critic and journalist Stig Abell, poet Mona Arshi, author Oyinkan Braithwaite, and novelist and earlier winner of the prize, Francis Spufford.  Stig Abell said OXBLOOD ‘is a book to get lost headlong in’ and Mona Arshi called it ‘one of those rare books where place and time are conjured so effortlessly, the cast of characters drawn with so much ease and grace.’ Oyinkan Braithwaite called it ‘a propulsive, bountiful, fearless work of art’ and Francis Spufford added that OXBLOOD ‘shows us that there are few places literature can’t take us, if the writer is brave enough, and gifted enough.’

See more on news of Tom’s win and praise from the judges for OXBLOOD:
http://www.youngwriteraward.com/tombenn/#

Watch a video of Tom talking about OXBLOOD before the prize announcement:
https://twitter.com/YoungWriterYear/status/1630656368418889739?s=20

See an interview with Tom after winning the prize:
https://twitter.com/Waterstones/status/1635981676596834305?s=20

Read an extract from OXBLOOD in Granta:
https://granta.com/oxblood/

OXBLOOD follows three generations of women as they try to come to terms with the bloody legacy of their family in 1980s Manchester. Told in vivid, visceral prose, OXBLOOD was published in hardback in April 2022 and was also longlisted for the 2022 Gordon Burn Prize. The paperback edition will be published in April. Translation rights have recently been sold in Spain.

More Praise for OXBLOOD:

‘Brilliant’ – Denise Mina

‘The master of northern noir… a richly layered tale of a Mancunian crime clan set in the 1980s, of decaying mills, rising unemployment and rampant drug dealing. This atmospheric novel, which was also longlisted for the Gordon Burn prize 2022, explores the legacy of violent men through the three generations of working-class women left behind’ – Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Sunday Times

‘One of the most powerful and urgent writers of our times.’ – David Peace

‘If I read a better novel than OXBLOOD in 2022, it’ll be a blinding year for fiction. Tom Benn, please take a bow. Everybody else, please take note.’ – Joseph Knox author of SIRENS and TRUE CRIME

‘Powerful and so beautifully written – like David Peace wrote Alan Warner’s The Sopranos and so lyrical, too.’ – Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times-bestselling author of BLOOD ORANGE         

‘Reading OXBLOOD is a compelling and deeply unsettling experience; this is a novel that glitters with the dark energy and lifeblood of its characters’ – Naomi Booth, author of THE LOST ART OF SINKING and EXIT MANAGEMENT             

‘More than anything, I was enamoured with Benn's audacity: to tell this raw, violent,  compassionate story; to use language in such a thrilling and fresh way; to explore the dark hearts of ordinary people, and to not look away when things get messy; to be, basically, this good.’ – D.W. Wilson, author of ONCE YOU BREAK A KNUCKLE

Credit: Benjamin Mathers

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.

His latest novel, OXBLOOD, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022 and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and won Tom the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2022. 

Follow Tom on Twitter

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.

Follow Tom Benn on Twitter

Kirsty Bashforth’s CULTURE SHIFT shortlisted for a Business Book Award

Kirsty Bashforth’s CULTURE SHIFT has been shortlisted for a Business Book Award, in the category of Sustainable Change. The Business Book Awards aim to highlight leadership, change and sustainability in business, promoting authors who share their industry knowledge, experience and expertise. CULTURE SHIFT, which was described by Iain Conn (CEO of Centrica) as “straight talking, realistic and refreshingly honest”, was published by Bloomsbury in 2019. An audio edition narrated by the author has also been published by WF Howes.

In CULTURE SHIFT, Bashforth uses her extensive experience to outline exactly what it takes to oversee sustainable culture change in an organization, drawing on case studies such as IBM, Uber, VW and John Lewis.

Her book explores how to communicate cultural expectations to a number of stakeholders; implement new, lasting habits in the workforce; effectively measure and track organizational culture; as well as deal with push-back from senior leadership when, as time passes, the planned culture shift risks falling lower on their agenda.

Founded on behavioural economics, CULTURE SHIFT recognises that people do not always make average assumptions or follow rational logic. Changing a culture, therefore, is not about telling people what to do and expecting them to fall neatly in line - it's about identifying where they are now and how they make decisions, in order to help them form new habits to create a sustainable culture shift, from the very top of the organization's workforce to the bottom.


Praise for CULTURE SHIFT:

‘The mix of personal experience and straight-talking advice creates a vital handbook for anyone taking on the task of managing culture.’ — Sunny Varkey, Founder of GEMS Education and Varkey Foundation

‘I taught culture at a business school for years, and always felt that I was about to get found out, because all the models I came across sounded plausible but simply didn't work. I wish I'd had this book, and I wish I'd written it. Bravo - it should be issued to all new leaders along with their security pass on day one.’ — Eve Poole, author of LEADERSMITHING

‘One person's logic is not another's - a key premise of this accessible book that unpicks why you can't simply announce the culture you want, and expect to create it. It takes time, effort, balance and a healthy dose of pig-headedness. Wonderful, original stuff.’ — Charlie Hodgson, Team and Leadership Coach


Kirsty Bashforth is CEO of QuayFive Ltd, advising CEOs on change, organizational culture and leadership, with clients across energy, utilities, health and financial services sectors both in the FTSE 100 and globally. Previously, she was Group Head of Organizational Effectiveness with BP, designing and delivering the shift in the company's organizational culture for five years from 2010, as part of the company's response and recovery following the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Follow Kirsty on Twitter

Visit Kirsty’s website

TOMASZ JEDROWSKI’S SWIMMING IN THE DARK SOLD IN A SIX-WAY AUCTION IN UK AND FOR A SIX-FIGURE DEAL IN THE US

SWIMMING IN THE DARK, the tender and passionate debut by Tomasz Jedrowski, caused excitement on both sides of the Atlantic in the lead-up to London Book Fair. Set against the decline of communism in Poland in the 1980s, the novel tells a story of first love between two men as they seek moral integrity under a repressive system.

The manuscript garnered much praise from editors in the UK, leading to a hotly-contested six-publisher auction. Alexa von Hirschberg, senior commissioning editor at Bloomsbury secured UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Samuel Hodder. She praised the “seductive and heartbreaking novel, which as well as being a passionate coming-of-age story, also raises profound moral questions”.

Tomasz said: "I could not be more thrilled to be working with Bloomsbury. Their authors have inspired and sustained me throughout my creative journey and it's incredible that SWIMMING IN THE DARK will be published alongside writers who have helped to bring it to life. Many thanks to my agent Samuel Hodder at Blake Friedmann and to Alexa von Hirschberg at Bloomsbury for setting Ludwig's and Janusz's story free in such a gracious and loving way." 

Jessica Williams, senior editor at William Morrow, snapped up North American rights as part of an impressive six-figure pre-emptive deal. She told The Bookseller it was a “breath-taking debut”.

“I started SWIMMING IN THE DARK on a cold Saturday afternoon in New York, and immediately disappeared into its sensuous language and the lives of its characters,” she said. “I fell so utterly in love with Tomasz’s storytelling that I finished the book in one sitting, immediately sent a note to my publisher, and offered a pre-empt first thing Monday morning.”

Further auctions saw German rights sold to Hoffman und Campe, Italian rights to Edizioni E/O, and UK and Commonwealth audio rights to Audible. An auction for Dutch rights is ongoing.

Tomasz Jedrowski was born in Germany to Polish parents, but has lived in several countries, speaks five languages, and is a graduate of Cambridge University and Université de Paris. He currently lives in Warsaw but often travels to the UK. SWIMMING IN THE DARK is his first novel.