Pan Macmillan acquire a collection of short stories from number one bestselling author Peter James

Wayne Brookes, Publishing Director at Pan Macmillan, has bought UK and Commonwealth rights to a collection of short stories from the number one bestselling crime and thriller writer Peter James. Rights were acquired from Carole Blake.

Peter James commented:
"I have always loved the short story form, and the kind of quick, sharp shocks I like to deliver in my stories work particularly well in the new electronic delivery methods of publication.  I'm really excited that the Macmillan team have given me this wonderful opportunity."

Carole Blake added:
"As well as pinning readers to their seats with his page turning novels, Peter has always been a past master with the short story form. This collection will thrill his fans (and his 33 other publishers), and Macmillan plan to have fun with the way they market them."

Wayne Brookes said:
"Given his major success with the Quick Read novella the Perfect Murder, when I heard Peter loved writing short stories I really couldn't wait to read them. In this amazing collection Peter uses all of his skills as a number one storyteller to entertain shock and entice a new generation of reader, as well as completely satisfying his massive fan base. Using all of his favourite subjects from police procedure to the supernatural, Peter has created what I feel is a completely addictive collection. Our aim is to publish some as eBook originals and then later add them together in a physical volume with brand new unseen material. It's going to be a real delight for his fans."

Peter James' new novel, the stand-alone PERFECT PEOPLE was published in hardback by Macmillan UK on October 27.

Greg Latter’s BLACK BUTTERFLIES wins best film at the Golden Calves

BLACK BUTTERFLIES, scripted by Greg Latter, took the main prize at the Dutch national film awards, the Golden Calves, on Friday night. The South African set drama won best film, as well as receiving the best actress award for Carice van Houten's performance as poet Ingrid Jonker (following on from her win at the Tribeca Film Festival), and the award for best editing.

BLACK BUTTERFLIES, directed by Paula van der Oest, is the story of Ingrid Jonker, the women hailed as the South African Sylvia Plath. Greg's script is set in 1960s Cape Town, as a young Jonker discovers her creative voice amid the stifling atmosphere of apartheid and the overbearing eye of her rigid father, a government censorship minister (played by Rutger Hauer). As tensions rise, Ingrid witnesses an unconscionable event that will determine the route of both her creative and personal life.

You can watch the trailer here.

Greg Latter is a prolific screenwriter whose films have won awards at film festivals throughout the world. His next project, NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON, is currently in pre-production and due out in 2013. He currently resides in Knysna, South Africa.

Praise for BLACK BUTTERFLIES:

One of Sound On Sight's Five Films to Watch from Tribeca Film Festival: 'As a woman governed by equal parts genius and mercurial gloom, Jonker could inspire passion but never, it seems, love-a sad truth critically conveyed by van Houten. Jonker's inner turmoil mirrored her country's upheaval, but van der Oest is never heavy-handed with her parallels of the poet and the South African maelstrom happening around her: The relationships in the film are a lens through which to view a cultural zeitgeist, but the people always have center stage, not the politics.'

One of indieWIRE's 'Ten Films iW is excited about at Tribeca.'

'Van Houten (Black Book) is marvellous to watch, a tough, passionate whirlwind of an actress who summons the steely verve of a Judy Davis. She gives real backbone to the familiar arc of the self-destructive artist pushing against the social constraints of her time (South Africa in the Apartheid clampdown of the 1960s) while engaging in turbulent relationships with difficult lovers and a repressive politico father who, in horrific irony, was South Africa's censorship chief.' -- GreenCine Daily

TJ & DOUBLE NEGATIVE by Ivan Vladislavic and David Goldblatt shortlisted for Lucie Award

Ivan Vladislavić and David Goldblatt's photography-fiction collaboration, TJ & DOUBLE NEGATIVE is on yet another prestigious shortlist, for the Lucie Photographic Awards. Their Italian publisher Contrasto, who originated the innovative photographic book and novel collector's edition TJ & DOUBLE NEGATIVE is one of five publishers shortlisted in the Book Publisher of the Year category for this book. The same book won the Kraszna-Krausz award in London earlier this year.  Random Umuzi published the dual edition in South Africa, followed by the solo novel DOUBLE NEGATIVE, a haunting literary novel about photography and memory, in its standalone volume form in May 2011. The book was beautifully designed by Cyn van Houten. Contrasto will publish the Italian edition next year, and French rights have been sold to Editions Zoe.

Ivan also has a beautiful book of essays, THE LOSS LIBRARY, coming out from Random Umuzi and Seagull Books, and Sylph Editions are bringing out a special edition of his story A LABOUR OF MOLES in their Cahiers Series.

The Lucie Awards, set up to honour the greatest achievements in photography, will be announced at the Rose Theatre in the Lincoln Centre on Monday 24 October.

BOOK PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR Nominees:
Yale University Art Gallery for Robert Adams: The Place We Live
Contrasto Books for TJ/Double Negative, by David Goldblatt and Ivan Vladislavic
21st Editions for Yamamoto Masao
Chris Boot, Ltd for Infidel, by Tim Hetherington
Prestel for Permanent Error by Pieter Hugo

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić

'One of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today.' -- André Brink

'Vladislavić is without doubt the most significant writer in South Africa today.' -- Focus on Africa

'Vladislavić is a rare, brilliant writer.' -- Sunday Times (SA)

'PORTRAIT WITH KEYS reminds me sometimes of Orhan Pamuk's ISTANBUL and sometimes of James Joyce's DUBLINERS, but it is really altogether one of a kind.' -- Jan Morris

'PORTRAIT WITH KEYS is surely one of the most ingenious love letters - full of violence, fear, humour and cunning - ever addressed to a city. If Italo Calvino had grown up in Jo'burg and experienced both apartheid and its aftermath this is the kind of book he would have been proud to have written.' --Geoff Dyer

For more information on David Goldblatt click here:

http://www.davidgoldblatt.com/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographer.php?photographerid=ph026&row=0

David Goldblatt has been photographing and documenting South African society for over 50 years. Born in Randfontein in 1930 to parents who came to South Africa to escape the persecution of Lithuanian Jews in 1890, he was simultaneously part of privileged white society and a victim of religious persecution and alienation. Motivated by his contradictory position in South African society, Goldblatt began photographing this society, and in 1963 decided to devote all of his time to photography.

He was awarded the prestigious Henri Cartier-Bresson Award (2009), for his project "TJ". The award is intended for a photographer of exceptional ability who has an established career and has completed a significant body of work.

Sheila O’Flanagan nominated for the publicly-voted Irish Book Awards.

ALL FOR YOU by Sheila O'Flanagan has been nominated for the Eason's Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year, which is one of the nine categories in the Irish Book Awards and one in which the public vote plays a large part. The winner is decided from a combination of the public's and the Irish Literary Academy's votes. To cast your vote please click here.

This category celebrates Irish popular fiction, and previous winners include Marian Keyes and Ross O'Carroll-Kelly. The other nominees are Emma Hannigan, Sinead Moriarty, Cecilia Ahern, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly and Patricia Scanlan. The winner will be announced at the Awards Dinner on 17 November.

ALL FOR YOU went straight to No 1 in the Irish Bestseller lists its first week on sale and Sheila's previous book STAND BY ME was also a chart-topper in the paperback bestsellers chart this year.

Praise for ALL FOR YOU:

'O'Flanagan has unleashed a fire-breathing specimen straight out of the age of Germaine Greer in... ALL FOR YOU... Her characters evolve convincingly and you begin to understand why they do the things they do... you start to realise that ALL FOR YOU is actually a nuanced study of modern woman and the pressures they face in their lives, from the "handicap of beauty" to balancing a career with the desire to find a partner... O'Flanagan's latest offering deserves its place on the bestseller list - it entertains, surprises and provokes.' -- The Independent, Ireland

GHOST LIGHT shortlisted for Prix Femina Etranger

GHOST LIGHT by Joseph O'Connor, released as MUSE in France, is shortlisted for the Prix Femina Étranger in France. This prestigious award was established in 1904 by twenty-two writers and the winner is chosen by an exclusively female jury. Other authors shortlisted include Eleanor Catton, Francisco Goldman and David Grossman. REDEMPTION FALLS was also nominated for this award in 2007. The winner for this year's prize will be announced on  21 October, and the awards ceremony will take place on 7 November.

GHOST LIGHT, is published by Phébus in France and Harvill Secker in the UK and by twelve other publishers around the world. Joseph O'Connor has received wide acclaim for this novel both overseas and in the UK.

Praise for Joseph O'Connor:

'One of the best novelists of the Irish 'nouvelle vague'.'-- Le Quotidien Jurassien

'… a magnificent book… A brilliant, gentle and terribly poignant novel.' -- Le Temps