Graeme Armstrong’s documentary STREET GANGS to air on BBC

Credit: BBC

STREET GANGS, a new documentary series presented by Graeme Armstrong and inspired by his novel THE YOUNG TEAM, will premiere on the BBC this Wednesday (5 October 2023). In Scotland, the programme will be broadcast on BBC Scotland at 10pm on Wednesday; viewers in both Scotland and the rest of the UK will be able to watch on BBC iPlayer shortly after.

In the three-part series ex-gang member Graeme Armstrong travels to forgotten areas of Scotland to shine a light on the allure of gang life. He encounters drill musicians and street gang members, while also exploring his own past, and tries to understand why young people are seduced by the perceived glamour and excitement of gang life by speaking to young people themselves. The series will also include interviews with the actor and filmmaker Peter Mullan (TRAINSPOTTING, MY NAME IS JOE, NEDS) and Dundonian rapper Eugene.

About the series, Graeme told Connie McLaughlin for BBC Radio Scotland: ‘this is the natural evolution for me now – if you’re not part of the gang, you’re trying to prevent gang culture… If you want to interrupt something like gang culture, you need to understand it. Looking at the past will tell you a lot of information about it, but what we need to do is go and listen and speak to young people, and see what they want to say: so we’ve given a voice to people who don’t have one, and that opportunity, that’s what the series is all about. There’s two journeys: there’s my journey into the past, but there’s also these kids’ journey into the future.’

You can hear more of Graeme’s interview with BBC Radio Scotland here (from 1:11:10).

The series is produced by Harry Bell for Tern TV, and the series producer is Pete Stanton. The directors are Jo Pagan and Alistair Ferguson, as part of BBC Scotland and Screen Scotland’s new initiative backing emerging directors.

About Graeme Armstrong

Graeme Armstrong is a Scottish writer from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within North Lanarkshire’s gang culture. Alongside overcoming his own struggles with drug addiction, alcohol abuse and violence, he defied expectation to read English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling; where, after graduating with honours, he returned to study a Masters’ in Creative Writing. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde.

Graeme regularly works within the community visiting prisons and schools, giving talks on his experiences of gang-culture and substance abuse. He promotes a message of anti-violence and abstinence-based recovery.

His bestselling debut novel, THE YOUNG TEAM (Picador, 2020), is inspired by his experiences. It won a Betty Trask Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, and the Scots Book o the Year 2021.

In 2021, Graeme presented Scotland: The Rave, a documentary broadcast by the BBC that explored Scotland’s rave and PCDJ culture, subsequently nominated for a BAFTA Scotland and RTS Scotland Award 2022.

In 2023, Graeme was chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, an accolade that is awarded once a decade.

Praise for Graeme Armstrong and THE YOUNG TEAM

‘Graeme Armstrong is the real deal.’ – Douglas Stuart

‘One of the most admired young voices in British fiction’ – Mike Wade, The Times

‘Has proved the novel form is still alive and kicking… a genuine literary phenomenon… Indeed, Armstrong is that rare thing, a writer whose work has become a tangible part of a social material, as has Armstrong himself.’ – James Taylor, Metal Magazine

‘Gives us a voice from a place – geographically and socio-economically – we don’t often hear from’ – John Self, The Times

‘Armstrong’s hard-hitting novel is TRAINSPOTTING for a new generation’ – Independent

‘An instant Scottish classic… While its dialect might make THE YOUNG TEAM seem like a story rooted in the specificity of its location, the novel’s exploration of mental health and drug use tells a universal tale of working-class masculinity’ — The Skinny

‘A swaggering, incendiary debut… Sharp yet tender and mischievously funny, THE YOUNG TEAM pitches Armstrong straight into the first division of Scottish writers.’ – Jude Cook, The Guardian

Follow Graeme on Twitter

Kathryn Faulke’s ‘powerful, moving’ debut EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE won at auction by Fig Tree

After a hotly-contested auction, Helen Garnons-Williams of Fig Tree has acquired Kathryn Faulke’s poignant and timely memoir EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE: A Journey into the Heart of Carework. Isobel Dixon brokered the deal for UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) and Fig Tree, a part of Penguin General, will publish in hardback, ebook and audio in July 2024.

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is the first-of-its-kind memoir of a home care worker, told through her encounters with the overlooked and often marginalised people she cares for. It recounts the experiences of Kathryn Faulke, a domiciliary care worker who left a senior role in the NHS, to take up what she thought would be a simpler job of caring for people in their own homes. But despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.

With energy, compassion and hard-won humour, EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE gives an astonishing insight into this unsung – and often maligned – profession, and into the lives of the housebound and infirm. This beautifully written memoir is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system, but it is, above all, a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.

Helen Garnons-Williams, Publishing Director of Fig Tree says ‘We are so proud to welcome Kathryn Faulke to Fig Tree and to be publishing her powerful, beautifully moving account of working at the ‘coalface of human experience’. With warmth and honesty and (unsurprisingly) very great care, she illuminates and celebrates this undervalued profession and the often-disregarded people who depend on it.’

‘I’m thrilled to be working with Fig Tree to bring my early experience as a care worker into the public eye and shine a light on the profession that I have come to love so much,’ says Kathryn Faulke. ‘I would like people to understand not only the challenges but the satisfaction and joy to be found in doing this job that is so often swept under the carpet but is so vital to our communities.’

Isobel Dixon, Kathryn’s agent, says: ‘Kathryn Faulke’s story – and her compassion and humanity in bearing witness to the lives of others – struck right to the heart from the very first page. I knew this powerful and important book would be in the best of hands with Helen and the Fig Tree team and can’t wait for more readers to experience EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE’s particularly human magic.’

About Kathryn Faulke

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is Kathryn Faulke's first book. She was runner-up in the Wasafiri International New Writing Prize in 2020, and in 2021 she won the Mslexia Memoir Prize for an earlier version of Every Kind of People. She has now moved out of London but continues to work in care in the South-East of England.

Dialogue Books’ imprint Renegade snaps up Rachel Blackmore’s ‘outrageously evocative’ debut, COSTANZA

Credit: Nicolas Laborie

We are pleased to announce that CONSTANZA, Rachel Blackmore’s debut novel, has been snapped up by Renegade Books to be published as a super-lead title in August 2024. Rachel’s dazzling historical fiction, telling the forgotten story of Costanza Piccolomini, was acquired for the Dialogue Books imprint by Publisher Christina Demosthenous in a two-book deal, and translation rights have already been sold by Blake Friedmann in Italy and Brazil, as well as pre-empted in Spain.

COSTANZA brings to life the story of Costanza Piccolomini – a feminist icon who has been written out of history. Set in 1600’s Rome, it tells of Costanza’s intoxicating affair with Gianlorenzo Bernini – a famous sculptor who reigned over Roman society. Bernini wanted to possess Costanza not just in body and soul, but also in marble, creating a portrait which broke all rules of decorum and art. But in revealing Costanza in stone, she is exposed as his lover, marking the beginning of the end of their affair – and Costanza’s freedom… Within this tale of exhilarating desire, heady artistic pursuit and the most vicious of betrayals, is a story of control, violence against women and its devastating consequences. But above all, COSTANZA is a story of a remarkable woman who survives – and thrives – against the odds.

COSTANZA can now be pre-ordered here.

‘I couldn’t be more delighted that COSTANZA has found her home with Renegade,’ Rachel Blackmore says. ‘From the moment I heard Costanza’s story I knew I had to tell it. She was a phenomenal young, intelligent woman who found herself at the centre of a great Baroque scandal, yet all we have is Bernini’s version of events and her mute statue. I wanted to redress the balance; to prioritise Costanza’s narrative over that of her more powerful lover. Christina and the Renegade team have blown me away with their love, passion, and enthusiasm for Costanza, as well as their clear understanding of everything she represents.’

Publisher Christina Demosthenous added ‘in this dizzying, sultry and outrageously evocative book, Costanza finally steps out of the shadows of supreme sculptor, Gianlorenzo Bernini. This showstopping novel peels back the patriarchal mask that has cloaked this historical figure.  From the very first page, I was transported to the sun-drenched cobbles of Rome, and its darkness, danger, luxury and seediness. I’m in awe of Rachel’s talent, and I feel so lucky that I get to work on this special novel and introduce the world to COSTANZA – a true renegade.’ 

Rachel’s agent, Juliet Pickering says: ‘when COSTANZA landed in my inbox I was intrigued – I’m not usually a historical fiction reader, but the energy, humour and joy of Costanza’s voice blew me away, and I savoured the atmospheric, sensual setting. I can never resist a feminist icon, and Costanza was one of the most inspiring and resilient women I’ve come to know. I can’t wait for more people to meet and discover her!’

COSTANZA will be a flagship title for the brand-new imprint, Renegade.

Rome 1636. History calls her a Muse. Temptress. Fallen woman. This is her story.

In the scorched city of Rome, the cobbled streets hum with gossip and sin. Costanza Piccolomini is a respectable young wife – until she meets Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famed sculptor and star of Roman society, whose jet-black gaze matches his dark temper. From the second they set eyes upon each other, a fatal attraction is born.

Their secret love burns with a passion that consumes them. But with every stolen kiss and illicit tryst, Costanza’s reputation is at stake. Meanwhile, Bernini has a dangerous desire: he wants to make Costanza immortal. He vows to possess her not just in body and soul, but also in marble.

When Bernini unveils his sculpture of Costanza she is exposed as his lover, marking the undoing of their affair – and the beginning of a scandal which will rock Roman society. For Bernini would rather destroy Costanza than let her go.

Betrayed. Abandoned. Banished. This was meant to be the end of Costanza’s story. But Costanza is no ordinary woman: from the ashes, she will rise…

COSTANZA is a dizzying and sensual historical novel that brings to life a feminist icon who has been written out of history. This addictive tale of desire and betrayal is perfect for fans of THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT and THE MINIATURIST.

About Rachel Blackmore

Born in Birmingham the daughter of a theatre director and a teacher, Rachel developed her love of language and storytelling at a young age. She went on to study Early Modern History, before embarking on a career in politics which morphed into a long bout as a speechwriter – a craft she now teaches.

Rachel spent more than a decade working and raising a family, before taking a career break to write historical fiction about marginalised women, as a way of looking at contemporary issues.

In 2021 she was a runner up in Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition and won the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair in 2022.

She lives in London with her three teenagers, two cats and one dog.

Follow Rachel on Instagram and Twitter

Pan Macmillan SA to publish THE NEAR NORTH by Ivan Vladislavić

Photo: Minky Schlesinger

We are delighted that Pan Macmillan SA have acquired THE NEAR NORTH, the latest work from Ivan Vladislavić, for publication in Southern Africa in March 2024.

Terry Morris, MD of Pan Macmillan South Africa, says: ‘A new work by Ivan Vladislavić is always a momentous literary occasion. Pan Macmillan is honoured and thrilled to be publishing THE NEAR NORTH, which showcases Ivan at his inventive, lyrical and immersive best.’

Ivan Vladislavić says: ‘I am excited to be joining the Pan Macmillan fold. Picador Africa publishes some of my favourite writers and does so with skill and flair. Their Johannesburg shelf, which includes classics such as Dangor’s BITTER FRUIT and Van Wyk’s SHIRLEY, GOODNESS AND MERCY, keeps growing all the time. My work will be at home in this company and I look forward to a productive association.’

Ivan’s agent, Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann, adds: ‘It was a great pleasure to clinch this deal, seeing the passion for Ivan’s work from the team at Pan Macmillan SA. The Near North is a book of intense acuity and quiet power and will stand in excellent company on the Picador Africa list.’

Revolving around a writer in the city of Johannesburg in different states of lockdown, THE NEAR NORTH’s narrative traces his steps along the city’s streets, as he meets its ghosts and muses on found objects, journeying through eras and examining deep divides as he walks.

Wryly playful at times, fiercely serious at others, THE NEAR NORTH is kin to Vladislavić’s award-winning PORTRAIT WITH KEYS (which Geoff Dyer described as ‘one of the most ingenious love letters – full of violence, fear, humour and cunning – ever addressed to a city’), but is at the same time an entirely original and quietly intimate work of great power.

About Ivan Vladislavić

Ivan Vladislavić was born in Pretoria in 1957 and lives in Johannesburg. His books include the novels THE DISTANCE, THE RESTLESS SUPERMARKET, THE EXPLODED VIEW and DOUBLE NEGATIVE, and the story collections 101 DETECTIVES and FLASHBACK HOTEL. In 2006, he published PORTRAIT WITH KEYS, a sequence of documentary texts on Johannesburg. He has edited books on architecture and art, and sometimes works with artists and photographers. TJ/DOUBLE NEGATIVE, a joint project with photographer David Goldblatt, received the 2011 Kraszna-Krausz Award for best photography book. His work has been published in 11 languages.

His work has also won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the Alan Paton Award, the University of Johannesburg Prize and Yale University’s Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Creative Writing Department at Wits University.

Visit Ivan's website

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić

‘Ivan Vladislavić occupies a place all of his own in the South African literary landscape: a versatile stylist and formal innovator whose work is nevertheless firmly rooted in contemporary urban life.’ – J.M. Coetzee

‘Vladislavić is among the top writers on the contemporary world stage.’ – Neel Mukherjee

‘Mysterious, lyrical and wickedly funny… Ivan Vladislavić is one of the most significant writers working in English today. Everyone should read him.’ – Katie Kitamura, BOMB Magazine

‘One of South Africa's most finely tuned observers’ – Ted Hodgkinson, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Ivan Vladislavić is certainly one of the most remarkable and versatile writers of our time’ – Thando Njovane, Africa in Words