05 January 2021

Ingrid Persaud, Trinidad-born writer and artist living in London, whose debut novel Love After Love published in 2020 by Faber in the UK has been selected as the winner of the hugely prestigious Costa First Novel Award. The judges said the story tracing the life of a Trinidadian family over two decades, written in Trinidadian prose, was “teeming with life” and “full of unforgettable characters.”

Launched in 1971, the Costa Book Awards is one of the UK's most prestigious and popular book prizes and celebrates the most enjoyable books of the year by writers resident in the UK and Ireland. The prize has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the Year on 26th January 2021. 

14 December 2020

Alice Oseman's Heartstopper Vol 3, which continues the love story of Charlie and Nick, now open and out and ready to meet the world, has been announced as the winner of Goodreads Choice Awards in the Best Graphic Novel & Comic category with over 44,000 votes. Oseman’s ongoing serialized webcomic has won universal praise for its insightful exploration of LGBTQ+ themes and its quiet celebration of those universal mysteries: love, friendship, and loyalty. Over a quarter of a million Heartstopper books have now also been sold in the English language.

The annual Goodreads Choice Awards, sponsored by National Book Tokens, are compiled by bookshops and then the public is invited to vote for a winning title from each shortlist. Click here for more information. 

30 November 2020

Denise Mina and debut authors Jenny Pearson and Ingrid Persaud have been shortlisted for the 2020 Costa Book Awards. In the best novel category is Denise Mina’s thriller The Less Dead, which judges called “a richly drawn, beautifully paced book … set in the guise of a thriller, but it is actually about humanity.” Jenny Pearson's first book, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, has been shortlisted in the Children's Book Award category, and Ingrid Persaud's Love After Love is up for the First Novel Award.

The annual awards, open solely to authors resident in the UK and Ireland, span 20 titles across five categories. Winners in the five categories, who each receive £5,000, will be announced on 4th January 2021. The overall winner of the 2020 Costa Book of the Year will recieve £30,000 and be announced at a virtual ceremony on 26th January 2021. 

19 November 2020

Angelina Jolie has signed on to direct Unreasonable Behaviour, a biopic about the legendary British war photographer Sir Don McCullin, which is being produced by Tom Hardy and Dean Baker under their Hardy Son & Baker banner alongside Working Title Films' Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Gregory Burke (’71, Entebbe) is writing the screenplay, an adaptation of McCullin’s autobiography of the same title, an unflinching account of the celebrated British war photographer’s life, which took him from poverty-stricken, wartime London to some of the world’s most dangerous war zones.

Don McCullin said: "Having viewed Angelina’s last film on Cambodia (and having spent so much time during the war there) I was very impressed at how she made such a powerful and accurate representation of the place at that time. I feel as if I am in safe, capable and professional hands with her."

Click here for more. 

12 November 2020

Yan Ge's White Horse, which is translated from Chinese by Nicky Harman, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. It follows Yun Yun who, like the author, lost her mother very young. She sees more and more often white horses, fatal omens because relationships deteriorate between adults and ensuing tensions reveal that they are founded on a terrible lie. Through her eyes, we also observe her cousin, Zhang Qing, keen to dive into the excitements of adolescence but clashes with repressive parents. 

The prize is judged by Amanda Hopkinson, Boyd Tonkin and Susan Bassnett and is worth £1,000, a sum shared equally between the writer and translator. The winner will be announced in an online award ceremony on Thursday 26 November. Click here to discover the shortlist. 

10 November 2020

Moira Buffini (Harlots) has adapted the screenplay based on John Preston’s The Dig, which tells the story of the most famous archaeological dig in modern British history – the discovery of the Anglo-Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo, known as "Britain's Tutankhamun." The film is directed by Simon Stone and it is currently scheduled for release on Netflix in January 2021.

The screen version casts Ralph Fiennes as archaeologist Basil Brown who makes the discovery – though the site sits on the land of Carey Mulligan’s Edith Pretty. It also stars Lily James as archaeologist Peggy Preston, who – due to the 1939 setting – finds herself faced with misogynistic notions as a young woman in a male-dominated field. Elsewhere, the cast includes Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Monica Dolan, and Ken Stott. 

Click here to watch the trailer.

03 November 2020

Waterstones have put The Book of Hopes edited by Katherine Rundell and The Ratline by Philippe Sands on the Book of the Year shortlist for 2020. Sands' follow up to Baillie Gifford-winner East West Street was praised by the retailer as "a truly exceptional read," meanwhile Rundell's anthology has been commended as “a gorgeous collection of words and pictures that gifted many readers a ray of sunshine to move forward, to make sense of the world, or to get through the day.”

The 12-strong shortlist was drawn up by Waterstones booksellers, who each nominate a book they think is outstanding and would recommend to readers. The winner will be chosen by a Waterstones panel headed by James Daunt and announced on 3rd December.

Click here to visit Waterstones online.

03 November 2020

Former journalist Jemima Khan is set to write and produce her first romantic-comedy movie, What's Love Got To Do With It?,  under the banner of her company Instinct Production. She is collaborating with Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, which will be his first feature as director since 2007 Oscar-winner Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The film is a cross-cultural rom-com about love and marriage and is set between London and South Asia. 

Starring are Lily James, Shahzad Latif, and Emma Thompson. Studiocanal will fully finance and launch sales at this week’s virtual AFM, which will be welcome news for buyers on the the hunt for light relief in these challenging times and in a market where high-end comedies and rom-coms have dried up of late. The Euro studio will release in their own territories – the UK, France, Germany, Australia & New Zealand.

Click here to discover more.

02 November 2020

Six RCW authors have been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021, which is one of the UK's oldest and most prestigious Children's Book Awards. Among them are Aisha Bushby's Moonchild, Joseph Elliott’s The Good Hawk, Holly Jackson’s Good Girl, Bad Blood, Melinda Salisbury’s Hold Back the Tide, Alice Oseman’s Loveless and Zana Fraillon’s The Lost Atlas. 

The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. The Medals are awarded annually by CILIP, the library and information association and the Youth Libraries Group with longlists announced in February, shortlists in March and the winners announced at a ceremony in June.

Click here to discover more.

02 November 2020

Seán Hewitt's debut collection Tongues of Fires, which mixes deeply meditative verses on nature and sex, grief and loss with new translations of old Irish verses, is among five authors shortlisted for The Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award 2020. 

This is the first year the judges have decided on a shortlist five instead of the usual four books. The winner, which will be announced on December 10, will be offered prize money as well as a bespoke ten-week residency by the University of Warwick, home to the Warwick Writing Programme, and will be given a year’s free membership by the London Library, host of the award ceremony in previous years. All five shorlistees will be championed overseas by the British Council, and will also have their work featured on the website of the literary magazine Granta.

Click here to discover more.

02 November 2020

The BBC has snapped up the UK rights to Komixx Entertainment children’s series Itch, which will air on CBBC and BBC iPlayer from Monday 2 November, at 5pm. Based on the books from UK television and radio presenter Simon Mayo, the 10 x 30 minute series follows the follows the adventures of Itchingham Lofte, a science obsessed teenager who pursues the unusual hobby of collecting all the elements on the Periodic Table. When Itch gets his hands on a new, previously unknown element, things start to get interesting. Pursued by his malevolent teacher, the government, and an evil corporation who are out to commandeer the element for their own nefarious purposes, Itch must draw on his science know-how to stay one step ahead of his adversaries and keep himself alive.

Itch is a Komixx Entertainment Production in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Screen Australia, Screenwest, and Western Australia Regional Film Fund. The TV series was shot in Australia and the screenplay is written by Melanie Halsall, Dan Berlinka, Ron Elliott, Heather Wilson, Jessica Brookman, and Roger Monk.  Produced by Amanda Morrison, Tania Chambers, and Melanie Halsall...

28 October 2020

The 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards nominees have been announced and among them are Holly Jackson, Alice Oseman and C Pam Zhang. Their books are featured across a wide range of categories, including Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder for the Best Young Adult Fiction, Oseman's Heartstopper Vol 3 for the Best Graphic Novel and C Pam Zhang's How Much of These Hills is Gold for the Best Debut Novel.

Decided by voting open to all members of Goodreads, the Goodreads Choice Awards are one of the few major book awards chosen by readers. Voting in 20 categories happens in October, and the winners are announced in December. Goodreads analyzes statistics from the hundreds of millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on the site to select 15 worthy nominees in 20 categories. 

Click here to vote.

27 October 2020

Yan Ge's White Horse (translated from Chinese by Nicky Harman) and Christina Hesselholdt's Vivian (translated from Danish by Paul Russell Garrett) are among the 16-strong longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2020.

The prize is judged by Amanda Hopkinson, Boyd Tonkin and Susan Bassnett and is worth £1,000, a sum shared equally between the writer and translator. It is given for the best eligible work of fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction, work of fiction for children or young adults, play text or graphic novel, written by a woman and translated into English by a translator of any gender. The shortlist for the prize will be announced in early November and the winner will be announced in an online ceremony on 26th November.

23 October 2020

Abir Mukherjee has won the Sapere Books Historical Dagger for Death in the East. This is the fourth book in Abir Mukherjee's series of novels set in 1920s India, which follows Captain Sam Wyndham as he travels to a remote temple in Assam looking for a cure for his addiction and spots a face from his past that reminds him of his first case as a policeman. It is published in the UK by Harvill Secker who were nominated this year for the Publishers' Dagger Award. 

Nominated by publishers and judged by industry professionals the Dagger Awards represent the best crime writing in the industry. The Crime Writers’ Association was founded in 1953 by John Creasey; its aim to support, promote and celebrate crime writers of both fiction and non-fiction and to promote their work.

Click here to discover more .

22 October 2020

Niamh Campbell, Catherine Doyle, Anne Enright and Elaine Feeney have been shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2020, which is Ireland’s major literary prize celebrating the best of Irish writing talent. Their books appear across a wide range categories: Niamh Campbell's This Happy is up for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year, Catherine Doyle's The Miracle on Ebenzer Street for the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior), Anne Enright's Actress and Elaine Feeney's As You Were for the Eason Novel of the Year.

First awarded in 2006, the An Post Irish Book Awards showcase a diverse mix of exceptional writing from new and established writers across 16 categories. The public is now invited to vote for a winning title from each shortlist until 16th November, with the winners being announced 25th November at a virtual awards ceremony.

Click here to submit your vote.

22 October 2020

Synchronicity Films is developing a limited series based on Andrew O'Hagan’s Mayflies, with screenwriter Andrea Gibb on board to adapt the novel. The book tells the story of a life-long friendship, ranging from boyhood in a small Scottish town in the 1980s to middle-age, as they face to the painful realities of later life.

Claire Mundell, founder and creative director at Synchronicity Films, said: "In a time of turmoil, Mayflies is balm for the soul and will resonate with anyone who values the sustaining power of friendship. We cannot wait to bring this adaptation to the screen as a premium, prestige series."

Andrew O’Hagan added: "I have been overwhelmed by the public response to Mayflies and feel it has found the perfect home with Synchronicity. Andrea Gibb is one of my favourite writers for television and producer Claire Mundell is second to none in her devotion to gripping, emotional, world-class drama. I look forward to supporting the production in every way I can, and encouraging these brilliant people in their task of bringing to the screen my most personal novel yet. It’s a story of friendship, loyalty, youth and growth, and Synchronicit...

15 October 2020

Former winner Kate Summerscale has made the shortlist for the UK’s top prize for nonfiction, the Baillie Gifford award, for her “true ghost story,” The Haunting of Alma Fielding. The book traces how Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman in 1930s suburban London, begins to experience supernatural events, and follows the investigations of Nandor Fodor, chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research.

The judges said: “In a narrative as replete with conceptual surprises as dramatic reversals, Summerscale probes the distinction between the psychological and the material, the internal and external, and overhauls the reader’s sense of what it might mean to be haunted.”

This year's winner will be announced on 24 November 2020. Click here for more.