SERIOUS MEN shortlisted for the Regional Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize

Manu Joseph's debut novel SERIOUS MEN is on the shortlist in the South Asia and Europe category for the Common Wealth Writers First Book Prize 2011. Now in its 25th year, the Commonwealth Writers Prize is supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation and a previous winner in this category includes Zadie Smith, author of WHITE TEETH. The shortlist includes novels by Anjali Joseph, Lisa Hilton, Max Shaefer and Emma Henderson. The regional winners are to be announced on 3 March, and the final Commonwealth Writers Prize, bringing together the finalists from the four different regions of the Commonwealth, will be announced 21 May at the Sydney Writer's Festival.

SERIOUS MEN has received wide acclaim since its publication in the UK by John Murray in 2010. It is the winner of the Hindu Best Fiction Award 2010, listed as one of Huffington Post's Best Books 2010, chosen by The Telegraph as one of their 2010 'First Novels to Savour' and was a New York Times 'Editor's Choice'. Rights have been sold in Canada (HarperCollins), India (HarperCollins), US (W.W. Norton), Denmark (Thaning & Appel), France (Phillipe Rey), Germany (Klett Cotta), Holland (Podium), Italy (Edizioni Dedalo), Serbia (Laguna) and Spain (El Aleph).

Praise for SERIOUS MEN:

'The finest comic novelists know that a small world can illuminate a culture and an age. With this funny-sad debut, Joseph does just that for surging, fractious India.' -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'Manu Joseph shows how petty jealousies in India can motivate and divide as surely as major societal differences. His skills as a writer are tremendous - he invests even the most ordinary interactions with keenly observed human quirks, and almost every sentence is a joy to read for its ingeniously constructed language. This is a compellingly entertaining novel - witty, subversive, extraordinarily perceptive, deliciously wicked.' -- Manil Suri, author of THE DEATH OF VISHNU

'This ambitious debut cleverly weaves diverging plots of love, knowledge, class, and ambition…Joseph's finely portrayed characters exude wit and warmth in this engaging and introspective tale.' -- Leah Strauss, Booklist

Joseph O’Connor’s 10-city American tour continues and GHOST LIGHT receives fabulous praise

Joseph O'Connor's American tour to coincide with Farrar, Straus and Giroux's publication of GHOST LIGHT has got off to a successful start. The 10-city tour, complemented by a great media line-up, has amassed wonderful advance praise for the novel. The first leg of the tour in Washington included two events: one a dinner for independent booksellers at the Winter Institute, and a standing-room only event at the Irish Embassy.

The tour will continue on Monday 14 February with events scheduled in Iowa City, Seattle, Portland, Corte Madera, Philadelphia, Boston and New York City. For more information, please see click here.

GHOST LIGHT is Dublin's One City/One Book in April this year and in conjunction, sister city San Jose, CA, will do Big Read outreach, highlighting the book in their libraries, posting reviews of the novel and suggesting it as a book club selection for their 19 locations with fiction club.

US praise for GHOST LIGHT:
'GHOST LIGHT is O'Connor's vivid and sometimes visionary reimagining of the love affair between Molly Allgood and the Irish dramatist John Millington Synge ... In GHOST LIGHT, O'Connor allows himself to ride the wave of Irish eloquence.' -- New York Times Book Review

'Forbidden love, humor, and O'Connor's attention to the sentence highly recommend this.'  -- Library Journal, starred review

THE GREATEST KNIGHT no 1 on Barnes & Noble’s ‘Nook’ ebook downloads

THE GREATEST KNIGHT by Elizabeth Chadwick, published by SourceBooks in the US, reached the number one spot on Barnes & Noble's 'Nook' downloads. As part of their 'Free Fridays' promotion, THE GREATEST KNIGHT was the most downloaded ebook on their chart.

Sourcebooks will publish Chadwick's latest novel, TO DEFY A KING, in March this year.

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

'One of my favourite-ever writers of historical fiction ... an enthralling story ... filled with remarkable characters, plenty of details on both daily life and the politics of the time, and a romance that hit all of the right notes ... TO DEFY A KING is a knockout of a book...Once again, this book gets a five star rating as a cracking good story, and a big thumbs up from me. Happily recommended.' -- Epinions

'Elizabeth Chadwick is an author that never lets me down and I am happy to say that TO DEFY A KING was another wonderful read ... In each of her books there's a solid background of research that really brings to life the everyday events of the Middle Ages ... There are many reasons to pick up this book, the solid historical background, the plot that makes use of it and the engaging characters will appeal to every historical fiction lover but the truth is that her descriptions of feelings, emotions and needs with which we can identify will make this a terrific read for everyone.' -- Historical Tapestry (blog)

AGAAT longlisted for Best Translated Book Award 2011

Marlene van Niekerk's widely acclaimed novel AGAAT has been longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award, supported by Amazon.com in the US. Featuring authors from 19 countries writing in 12 languages, the list includes work by David Grossman, Per Petterson, Tove Jannson and Robert Walser. The shortlist is to be announced on 24 March and the awards ceremony will take place in New York City on 29 April, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.

Marlene van Niekerk has received wide recognition for AGAAT since it was first published in South Africa by Tafelberg  in Afrikaans in 2004, and in English by Tafelberg with Jonathan Ball in 2006.  AGAAT was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2008 and won the South African  Sunday Times Literary Award in 2005, and Heyns was awarded Outstanding Translation Award in 2009 as well as the Sol Plaatje Award for Translation in 2008. It was listed as a Best Book in 2010  by both Publisher's Weekly, and Booklist. AGAAT was brought out in the UK by Little Brown in 2007 under the title THE WAY OF THE WOMEN and Tin House published AGAAT under its original title in 2010. Rights have been sold to Gallimard in France, Neri Pozza in Italy, Querido in Holland, and Svante Weyler in Sweden. Film rights are sold to Mutz-Media.

Praise for AGAAT:

'I was immediately mesmerized by Ms. van Niekerk's novel. Its beauty matches its depth and her achievement is as brilliant as it is haunting.' -- Toni Morrison

'Van Niekerk follows the widely lauded TRIOMF with a dark, innovative epic that trudges through the depths of a South African farmwife's soul...Clearly an allegory for race relations in South Africa, the novel succeeds on numerous other grounds: a rich evocation of family dynamics; a chilling portrait of bodily and mental decay; and a successful experiment in combining diaries, the second-person, and stream of consciousness. Van Niekerk marshals it all to evoke the resigned mind of a dying woman who realizes, too late, the horrible mistakes that have made her life a waste.' -- Publishers Weekly starred review

'This novel stuns with its powerful sense of the rigors of farm life, desolation of a failing marriage, and comfort of a long and complex relationship.' -- Vanessa Bush, Booklist starred review

BLACK BUTTERFLIES by Greg Latter in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival

Based on the riveting life-story of young South African poet Ingrid Jonker and directed by Oscar-nominee Paula van der Oest, the film will compete in the World Narrative Features category.

In a record year for submissions, the 2011 film slate for the Tribeca Film Festival was selected from a field of 5,624 entries. The 12 films in the World Narrative category represent 11 countries and a diverse range of styles and stories in contemporary global cinema. The Festival will take place in New York City from 20th April - 1st May.

BLACK BUTTERFLIES is a powerful portrait of a strong-headed woman and talented yet troubled artist during the Apartheid regime. Starring Carice van Houten (VALKYRIE, BLACK BOOK) in a breathtaking tour de force of a performance as Ingrid, Liam Cunningham (THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY) as her all-consuming love and Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER, SOLDIER OF ORANGE) as her oppressive father. In his first speech to the South African Parliament in 1994, Nelson Mandela read Ingrid Jonker's poem "The Dead Child of Nyanga" and hailed her as one of the greatest poets of South Africa 

The film is produced by Richard Claus (Comet Film), Michael Auret (Spier Productions), IDTV Film and Cool Beans in association with Riba Film International and Bavaria Film International.