Will Dean longlisted for the 2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award

BLACK RIVER, the third book in Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series, has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Award. The award, which is now in its 17th year, celebrates excellence, originality, and the very best in crime fiction from UK and Irish authors. Past winners include Denise Mina, Steve Cavanagh, Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre. Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston said:

“The way the global obsession with the crime genre continues to grow year on year is simply astonishing and this year’s longlist proves the remarkable talent on offer in crime writing, from legends of the craft to eager-eyed newcomers.

The shortlist is already too close to call, so we encourage all to get voting.

A hearty toast of Old Peculier to all longlisted authors for this coveted award, and we look forward to what we know will be a fiercely fought competition.”

The public can vote on the shortlist which will be announced in June as well as pick an overall winner on harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com which will then be announced on 22 July during the opening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. The winner will receive a cheque for £3,000, and an engraved oak beer cask, hand-carved by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakstons Brewery.

BLACK RIVER was first published by Point Blank in 2020. When Tuva’s best friend Tammy Yamnim goes missing she races back to Gavrik at the height of Midsommar. Tuva fears for Tammy’s life. Who has taken her, and why? And who is sabotaging the small-town search efforts? Surrounded by dark pine forest, the sinister residents of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders. Unfortunately, they also hold all the answers. On the shortest night of the year, Tuva must fight to save her friend. The only question is who will be there to save Tuva?

Praise for Will Dean:

'A complex plot, suffused with the nightmarish quality of Twin Peaks, and a tough-minded, resourceful protagonist add up to a stand-out read.' — The Guardian

'Dean effectively re-creates the frustration and discomfort of high summer in the forested hills... [Tuva] is becoming more credible with each novel in the series and Dean brings a refreshingly different voice and setting to the subgenre of “femjep” crime writing.’ — Natasha Cooper, Literary Review

‘Dean masterfully ramps up the tension and claustrophobia throughout the story’s sinister series of events before delivering an unexpected and satisfying finale.  Tuva is a wonderful creation and Dean’s series is not to be missed.’ — Daily Express

About Will Dean:

Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

DARK PINES, the first in the Tuva Moodyson series, was published to huge critical acclaim in 2018, was shortlisted for Not the Booker prize, selected for Zoe Ball’s TV Book Club and named as a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. THE LAST THING TO BURN, his first standalone novel, was published by Hodder earlier this year.

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Five Blake Friedmann authors longlisted for the South African Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards

We are delighted that five Blake Friedmann authors are on the longlist for the South African Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards. OKAY OKAY OKAY by Finuala Dowling, THE BOOK OF MALACHI by T. C. Farren, A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES by Michiel Heyns, THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK by Zakes Mda and THE DISTANCE by Ivan Vladislavić are all on the longlist for the Fiction Prize. In its 20th year, the Fiction Prize is awarded to ‘a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.’

The fiction and non-fiction prizes are awarded annually to writers who are either South African citizens or residents, with two years’ worth of books being considered in 2021 due to a hiatus in 2020 due to Covid-19. Past winners of the Fiction Prize include Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Harry Kalmer and Nkosinathi Sithole, as well as Blake Friedmann authors Michiel Heyns in 2012 with LOST GROUND, Marlene van Niekerk in 2007 with AGAAT. Zakes Mda has won the Prize twice, in 2017 with LITTLE SUNS, as well as the inaugural award in 2001 with THE HEART OF REDNESS. Ivan Vladislavić won the Fiction Prize in 2002 with THE RESTLESS SUPERMARKET and the Non-Fiction Prize in 2007 with PORTRAIT WITH KEYS.

OKAY OKAY OKAY by Finuala Dowling

When a strike by the University of Adamastor’s technical staff coincides with a lull in sound operator Vida’s employment, she agrees to stage-manage a university event. There she meets the Head of Effective Communication, Simon Landor. He is caught up in a massive student protest and his communication is anything but effective. Vida, who rescues strays, whether pets or people, steps in. A host of engaging characters populate this novel exploring communication and connection in a complex world.

OKAY OKAY OKAY was published in South Africa by Kwela in 2019.

THE BOOK OF MALACHI by T. C. Farren

Malachi is mute and disconnected from human beings when he gets a mysterious and tempting job offer, with the promise of the restoration of his power of speech. Flown out to an old oilrig, he finds himself a carer and jail keeper in a secretive organ farming operation. But are all the prisoners as evil as the pharmaceutical company says? Sentenced to death anyway, do they deserve their fate, in the service of good people in need? As doubt starts to grow, Malachi is faced with a terrible dilemma. Must he leave them to this medical nightmare or risk his life and set them free?

Malachi may have no tongue, but his voice is one readers will never forget – sharply ironic, vividly descriptive and leavened with humour. He is a compelling guide through the twists and turns of this gripping and ultimately redemptive thriller with a speculative twist. And the great overarching question: What would you do?

THE BOOK OF MALACHI was published by Kwela in South Africa in 2019. It was published in the UK and US by Titan Book and by Bolinda in audio. TV rights have been optioned by Little Island. THE BOOK OF MALACHI was also longlisted for the Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction in 2020.

A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES by Michiel Heyns

Margaret Crowley, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly fifty-six years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. It was therefore hardly to be foreseen that in her fifty-sixth year she would kill a man with a kitchen knife.

When, after twenty-six years of marriage, Margaret Crowley’s husband leaves her for a younger man, she has to rethink her priorities and consider her options. Opting to leave behind her support system of family and friends, she moves to a seaside town with her dog, Benjy, intent upon a simple, uncluttered existence. But simplicity, it seems, can be a complicated affair. When the charismatic young Jimmy Prinsloo-Mazibuko enters her life and her home, apparently intent upon establishing himself as a general-purpose handyman and cook, she finds herself torn between distrust and attraction. Is he merely the helpful, cheerful young man he seems, or is there a darker purpose to his assistance?

A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES was published in 2020 by Jonathan Ball.

THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK by Zakes Mda

The impresario Farini introduced Em-Pee and his troupe to his kind of show business, and now they must earn their bread. In 1885 in bustling New York City, they are the performers who know the true Zulu dances, while all around them fraudsters perform silly jigs. Reports on the Anglo-Zulu War portrayed King Cetshwayo as infamous, and audiences in London and New York flock to see his kin. What the gawking spectators don't know is that Em-Pee once carried nothing but his spear and shield, when he had to flee his king. But amid the city's squalid vaudeville acts appears a vision that leaves Em-Pee breathless: in a cage in Madison Square Park is Acol, a Dinka princess on display. For Em-Pee, it is love at first sight, though Acol is not free to love anyone back.

THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK was published by Penguin Random House South Africa in 2020. It was also shortlisted for the Adult Fiction Prize at the SA Book Awards 2020.

THE DISTANCE by Ivan Vladislavić

In the spring of 1970, a Pretoria schoolboy, Joe, becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali. He begins collecting daily newspaper clippings about him, a passion that grows into an archive of scrapbooks. Forty years later, when Joe has become a writer, these scrapbooks become the foundation for a memoir of his childhood. When he calls upon his brother, Branko, for help uncovering their shared past, meaning comes into view in the spaces between then and now, growing up and growing old, speaking out and keeping silent.

THE DISTANCE was published in South Africa in 2020 by Penguin Random House South Africa, and in the UK and US by Archipelago, with audio by Tantor.  

ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES by Dima Alzayat shortlisted for the James Tait Black Fiction Prize

We are thrilled that Dima Alzayat’s collection of stories, ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES, has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Fiction Prize 2021. The other books on the shortlist are The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet and Lote by Shola von Reinhold. Dr Benjamin Bateman, one of the judges of the Fiction Prize, said, ‘These books represent the very best qualities of global anglophone literature – epic, experimental, and engaged with pressing concerns both political and planetary.’

The James Tait Black Prizes were founded in 1919 by Janet Coats, in commemoration of her husband publisher James Tait Black. The three Prizes, for Fiction, Biography and Drama, are each worth £10,000. The judging process for the Prizes are unique, as they are judged by senior staff from within the English Literature department at the University of Edinburgh, assisted by a group of postgraduate students. Past winners include Lucy Ellmann, Olivia Laing, Eley Williams, Eimear McBride and Benjamin Markovits.

The winner will be announced in August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES was published in 2020 by Picador in the UK and by Two Dollar Radio in the US, and will be published by Tantor in audio. It was also chosen as a finalist for the PEN America Robert W Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2021.

Dima Alzayat’s first book, ALLIGATOR & OTHER STORIES is an intricate, thoughtful exploration of what it is to be ‘other’: as a Syrian, as an Arab, as an immigrant, as a woman. Each story of the stories is a snapshot of those moments when unusual circumstances suddenly distinguish us from our neighbours, when our difference is thrown into relief.

Here are ‘dangerous’ women transgressing, missing children in 1970s New York, a family who were once Syrian but have now lost their name, and a young woman about to discover the hollowness of the American dream. At its centre lies ‘Alligator’: a remarkable compilation of real and invented sources, which rescues from history the story of a Syrian American couple who were murdered at the hands of the state.

‘These charged, visceral stories get under the skin and stay there. This collection heralds the arrival of an electrifying new voice.’ ― Irenosen Okojie

‘How does it feel to be an alien at home? . . . Sardonic, monstrous, tender, these well-crafted tales show us circumstances that might be our own, and let us see them through the eyes of others.’ ― Sunday Times

Dima Alzayat was born in Damascus, Syria, grew up in San Jose, California, and now lives in Manchester. She was the winner of the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award 2019, a 2018 Northern Writers’ Award, the 2017 Bristol Short Story Prize, the 2015 Bernice Slote Award, runner-up in the 2018 Deborah Rogers Award and the 2018 Zoetrope: All-Story Competition, and was Highly Commended in the 2013 Bridport Prize. She is a PhD student and associate lecturer at Lancaster University.

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Principal Photography Begins on Feature Adaptation of Kaite O'Reilly's ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE

Principal photography has begun on THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE, the film adaptation of Kaite O’Reilly’s stage play.

What happens when you're ambushed by time? An archaeologist and an architect fight to re-imagine a future after traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love.

THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE will star Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the directors are Celyn Jones and Tom Stern.

The film is produced by Mad As Birds, headed up by Andy Evans and Sean Marley with Alex Ashworth, and filming is taking place in Liverpool and North Wales.

THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE was debuted in 2008 as a stage play, at Sherman Cymru Theatre, Cardiff, to stellar reviews. The playtext was published by Sherman Cymru.

Praise for THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE:

"Unmissable drama ... Throughout Kaite O’Reilly’s tremendous new play ... extraordinary scenarios are tenderly drawn and powerfully realised in Phillip Zarrilli's beautifully judged production." 5 stars ***** (The Guardian, 2008)

“This is a powerful drama, beautifully written…Compelling and emotionally charged ... Bold and effecting ...” (British Theatre Guide, 2008)

“Kaite O’Reilly’s powerful new play ... Superb ... impressively researched ... [with] graveyard humour, poetic flights of fancy ...” (The Stage, 2008)

“Dense and multi-layered, ...Like…[Rothko or Satie]… Kaite O’Reilly has complete mastery over a territory that is distinctively her own…. What marks out Kaite O’Reilly’s writing is the skill with which she sets up deep echoes and resonances so that her play vaults beyond its subject...” (Theatre Wales, 2008)

“... this intelligent work ... flashes of brilliance. A fascinating work, totally engaging ...” (Western Mail, 2008)

BARBARA ERSKINE’S THE DREAM WEAVERS SHOOTS STRAIGHT INTO THE TOP 5 IN THE SUNDAY TIMES HARDBACK BESTSELLER CHART

Barbara Erskine’s sweeping new historical novel, THE DREAM WEAVERS (HarperCollins), has flown straight to the Number 4 spot in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller chart after just three days on sale, while the audiobook sailed into the Audible Top 10 bestsellers at Number 7. THE DREAM WEAVERS has also been included in Waterstones’ Best Books to Look Out For in April and was a LoveReading Exciting New Books on the Horizon pick.

Mercia, 788 AD. In the grand Saxon halls of Mercia, King Offa rules with cold ambition. His youngest daughter Eadburh is destined for an arranged marriage, but with reckless spirit her heart is taken by a Welsh prince, a man she can never be matched with and who is quickly and cruelly taken from her.

Eadburh inherited her father’s ruthless ways but it’s the gifts passed down from her mother that are far more dangerous. She is determined to carve her own place in the world, yet her path could cause war.

Offa’s Dyke, 2021. In a cottage hidden amongst the misty Welsh hills of Offa’s Dyke, Bea Dalloway is called to help Simon Armstrong, who is searching for peace. Instead he finds himself disturbed by unsettling noises and visions.

It isn’t long before Bea is also swept up by haunting dreams. The past is whispering to them, calling out for the truth to be told at last.  And as dreams and reality weave closer together, Bea and Simon must be strong to resist the pull of the past – and its desire for revenge…

You can read more about Offa’s Dyke in Barbara’s article for The Telegraph.

THE DREAM WEAVERS also garnered wonderful early praise from authors:

‘If you like brilliantly written history tinged with magic and ghosts, you'll love this’ – Peter James

‘As if by magic, THE DREAM WEAVERS transported me to another time and place. Mysterious and haunting - a richly woven tapestry of history and intrigue.’ – Fiona Valpy

‘Time-slip novels are rarely as compelling as this one, and Barbara Erskine is the supreme mistress of the genre. THE DREAM WEAVERS is a dazzling roller-coaster of a book that will thrill, enchant and intrigue those who love history and the supernatural. Erskine’s grasp of time, place and atmosphere is second to none, the storytelling a masterpiece, the ending one of the most moving I have ever read. If you read one book this year, read this one!’ – Alison Weir

‘So atmospheric and suspenseful, full of myth and magic and hauntings’ – Rachel Hore

‘Warmth, depth, mystery, magic and the supernatural … such a beautiful book!’ –  Santa Montefiore

‘Barbara Erskine has done it yet again. From the very first pages of THE DREAM WEAVERS, you are drawn into the lives of modern-day characters who will, inexorably, slip the bonds of time into the mysterious and magical world of the early Saxons, and find yourself turning the pages with increasing urgency to follow this terrific, epic tale of secrets and betrayals.’ – Liz Trenow

Translation rights in THE DREAM WEAVERS have already been sold in the Czech Republic and Russia. New audio editions of her classic novels LADY OF HAY, WHISPERS IN THE SAND and KINGDOM OF SHADOWS will also be released throughout 2021, with introductions written and read by Barbara herself.

About the Author:

Historian and novelist, Barbara Erskine was the first writer to become a major bestseller with dual time period novels. Her first novel, LADY OF HAY, catapulted her to international success and has been constantly in print for 35 years. Often imitated, never equalled, Barbara’s work is published all around the world in English and in 26 other languages. Her books are regular Sunday Times bestsellers in both hardback and paperback, with millions of copies sold.

Barbara Erskine has 16 novels and 3 original short story collections to her name. Euromedia published ‘The Best of Barbara Erskine’ short story collection in the Czech Republic in October 2020.

She lives in an old police station in Hay-on-Wye, the setting of LADY OF HAY and SLEEPER’S CASTLE, and near Offa’s Dyke, a key location in THE DREAM WEAVERS.

 Praise for Barbara Erskine
‘Fascinating, absorbing, original. But perhaps the most suitable word is hypnotic.’ – SHE

‘Erskine never disappoints.’ — Historical Novel Society

'My perfect storm of escapist bliss.' – Saga

‘The acknowledged queen of the historical time-slip novel.’ – Daily Mail

‘Whether you class her as historical or supernatural, she is certainly a first-rate storyteller.’ – The Bookseller

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