Stuart Urban's A BALL IN THE BRAIN as read by Pip Torrens, now available to listen

We are delighted to share a new recording from The Script Department. 

Pip Torrens reads A BALL IN THE BRAIN, an original screenplay by Stuart Urban 

1884. Khartoum. General Gordon, a devout Christian and the ablest commander of his day, is besieged by the army of the Mahdi in their Islamist uprising. Gordon courageously faces his end in a war drama that links the past and the present, the political and the spiritual.

Based on Gordon’s remarkable diaries, Urban’s script dramatises his last stand as an ultimate test of nerve and faith, descending finally into delusion...

Listen here or listen on Spotify

HONEY & SPICE by Bolu Babalola acquired by Headline in whirlwind pre-empt

We are thrilled that Headline have acquired Honey & Spice by rising star, Bolu Babalola, author of the Sunday Times bestselling Love in Colour, also a Waterstones Book of the Year. Katie Packer, Commissioning Editor at Headline, pre-empted the novel within a few hours of submission, and bought UK and Commonwealth and Translation rights for Honey & Spice and one more book from Juliet Pickering. US and Canadian rights in Honey & Spice were also pre-empted by William Morrow, in a significant six-figure deal.

Honey & Spice tells the story of the sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo, an expert in relationship-evasion, as well as the women who make up the Afro-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University, and their plights to avoid the mess of situationships, players and heartbreak. But when Kiki meets distressingly handsome and charming newcomer Malakai Korede — who she has publicly denounced as ‘The Wasteman of Whitewell’ — her defences are weakened.  A clash embroils them in a fake relationship to salvage both their reputations, and soon she finds herself in danger of falling for the very man she warned her girls about. Can Kiki look beyond her own presumptions and open herself up to something deeper, or is love out of her reach?  Full of romantic intrigue, the loveable characters that make up the Whitewell ACS and Bolu’s trademark humour, this book is the romantic comedy you cannot miss. Headline Review will publish as a super lead hardback in summer 2022.

Katie Packer says: ‘Working with Bolu on her Sunday Times bestseller Love in Colour has been one of the highlights of my career so far, and so, it was only right we continue this journey with two incredible new novels. I was hooked on Honey & Spice from the first chapter; so full of Bolu’s warmth, humour and love of love. The book struck a chord with the whole Headline Review team, as I know it will for masses of enthusiastic readers and I can’t wait for the world to meet Kiki in 2022.’

Bolu Babalola says: ‘I am elated for the world to finally meet Kiki and Malakai! This story was years in the making and so much love was poured into it. The universe of Honey & Spice is so special to me; it’s one of friendship and inner growth, romance and the strength in allowing yourself to open yourself up to love and community;  to be truly understood and to be seen. It is my hope that many feel understood and seen by it.’ 

Elle Keck at William Morrow says, ‘LOVE IN COLOR is one of the most anticipated US publications of 2021, garnering excitement and enthusiasm from every quarter. We are thrilled to continue our publishing journey with Bolu Babalola. HONEY & SPICE is emotionally vibrant and wonderfully fresh, and we believe readers will fall in love with this story as much as our team has.’

Juliet Pickering says: ‘Honey & Spice is fresh, spicy, witty and joyful, and will be read in one gulp! There are so many moments of recognition in love and friendship here, and it made me cry as well as laugh out loud. It’s utterly Bolu and utterly brilliant.’

Praise for LOVE IN COLOUR

‘Inventive, intimate, witty and wise, Babalola's irresistible explorations uplift you from the start. Here is love as freedom, love as deep joy. Romance will never be dead, as long as she's writing it.’ — Jessie Burton

'Perfection in short story form, I am in love with every single word Bolu Babalola has written. So rarely is love expressed this richly, this vividly, or this artfully.’ — Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

‘Beautifully written and full of joy. Bolu Babalola is a star.’ — Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Little Bridge Island series

About Bolu Babalola

Bolu Babalola is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Love in Colour, cultural commentator and lover of love. In 2016, she was shortlisted in 4th Estate’s B4ME competition for her short story ‘Netflix & Chill’, a hilarious tale of teen romance. Since then, she has been writing scripts for TV and film as well as articles for The Guardian, VICE, Cosmopolitan and GQ.

Follow Bolu on Twitter

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021

We are thrilled that THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey has been longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021. This year, the longlist of twenty books is dominated by independent publishers, with Monique’s publisher Peepal Tree Press among them. 

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH was published to wide acclaim by Peepal Tree Press in the UK and by W F Howes in audio. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize earlier this year and was recently announced as the winner of the Costa Novel Award 2020. Last weekend, it was also chosen as audiobook of the week by The Times.

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.

The Rathbones Folio Prize, known as the “writers’ prize”, is worth £30,000 and rewards the best work of literature of the year, regardless of form. The shortlist for the 2021 Prize will be announced on 10th February and the winner will be announced on 24th March. Past winners include Valeria Luiselli (2020), Raymond Antrobus (2019), Richard Lloyd Parry (2018), Hisham Matar (2017), Akhil Sharma (2015) and George Saunders (2014).

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

About Monique Roffey

Photo: Marcus Bastel

Monique Roffey is an award-winning novelist. House of Ashes (Scribner UK) was shortlisted for the Costa and the BOCAS Prize. Archipelago, winner of the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature, was published by Scribner in the UK, Viking in the US, and translated into 5 languages. Her second novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, among other accolades, and film/TV rights have been optioned.

Visit Monique’s website

Follow Monique on Twitter

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH BY MONIQUE ROFFEY ANNOUNCED WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD

We are delighted that THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey has won the 2020 Costa Novel Award. Announcing the Category Winners on BBC Front Row, Chair of Judges Suzannah Lipscomb called the novel ‘an unforgettable story of a legend that comes to life’, and praised its ‘beautiful passages and prose’, as well as the ‘fantastically compelling plot’. The other Category Winners are Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud (First Novel), The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence (Biography), The Historians by Eavan Boland (Poetry) and Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant (Children’s).

Click the links to watch a short video of Monique Roffey introducing her novel and you can also listen to Front Row on BBC Radio 4, featuring Suzannah Lipscomb discussing the Costa Novel Award (from 8:45) and an interview with Monique Roffey (from 9:47).

THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH was published to wide acclaim by Peepal Tree Press in the UK and by W F Howes in audio. It was also shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize earlier this year, an award established to celebrate fiction which ‘extends the possibilities of the novel form’.

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.

The winner of the Costa Book of the Year, chosen from one the Category Winners, will be announced on Tuesday 26th January 2021 and awarded a prize of £30,000. The Costa Book Awards was established in 1971 and is awarded to ‘the most enjoyable books of the year by writers resident in the UK and Ireland.’ Past winners of the Novel Award include Jonathan Coe, Sally Rooney, Jon McGregor, Sebastian Barry, Kate Atkinson and Ali Smith. Past winners of the Costa Book of the Year include The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather, The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es, Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore, Days Without End by Sebastian Barry and The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.

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

About Monique Roffey

Credit: Marcus Bastel

Monique Roffey is an award-winning novelist. House of Ashes (Scribner UK) was shortlisted for the Costa and the BOCAS Prize. Archipelago, winner of the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature, was published by Scribner in the UK, Viking in the US, and translated into 5 languages. Her second novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, among other accolades, and film/TV rights have been optioned.

Read an interview with Monique Roffey here

Visit Monique’s website

Follow Monique on Twitter

Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Promotions

We are delighted to announce significant promotions within the Blake Friedmann agency team. Juliet Pickering, Vice Head of Books, and Daisy Way, currently Finance Manager, will both be stepping up to roles as directors on the newly formed executive board, working closely with Julian Friedmann, Chairman, and Isobel Dixon, MD and Head of Books, in the management of the agency.

We’re thrilled to be able to recognise Juliet and Daisy’s commitment to Blake Friedmann and their sterling work, not just in their own areas of expertise, but also in contributing to the general welfare of the agency, our colleagues and our authors, and thinking creatively about the company’s future.

Before joining Blake Friedmann seven years ago Juliet Pickering was an Associate Agent at A.P. Watt. Daisy Way joined the company first as an intern, then in contracts and accounts support, with further experience at Rogers, Coleridge and White, before returning to Blake Friedmann in 2017. Juliet has developed a brilliant list of writers here, which speak to the agency’s consistent commitment to inclusivity, and has played a key role in mentoring colleagues too. Daisy has made an invaluable contribution to agency life and the wellbeing of colleagues in our close-knit team, in addition to her central finance role.

In further promotions, James Pusey becomes Head of Rights and Hana Murrell Senior Rights Manager in the translation rights team. Translation rights expertise has always been key at Blake Friedmann and we’re thrilled to have such an exceptional duo with wide industry experience selling our authors’ work in many languages around the world. We’re also delighted to be working closely with Kay Peddle of Kay Peddle Literary and Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates in selling rights for their clients internationally.

Together with Isobel and Juliet, the book agenting team includes Kate Burke, who joined in 2019 from Northbank Talent Management and represents a broad list of crime, thriller and commercial fiction, and Samuel Hodder, who initially joined in a finance role and has moved across to agenting, building a list of literary clients. The book agents are supported by Agents’ Assistants Sian Ellis-Martin and Roya Sarrafi-Gohar, and Tia Armstrong as Book Department Assistant.

Julian Friedmann and Conrad Williams, Head of the Media Department, are supported by Louisa Minghella, who joined in 2019 and also represents a number of her own writers. The agency welcomed Lizzy Attree as Office Manager in 2019 and Ane Reason as Contracts Manager in March 2020. Tabitha Topping was this year’s Carole Blake Open Doors candidate, the first to complete the shadowing period virtually, and is now doing some freelance support work for the agency while she continues with her Open University studies.

We’re proud of this talented team and all they’ve achieved across an extraordinary year and we look forward to an exciting future for the agency in 2021 and beyond.