Latest news

Amazing news for our two lovely authors: Kate Weinberg and Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books THE TRUANTS and THE MERCIES are in Alma's Favourite Books for Winter 2020. Emily Burack quotes: "Winter reading is actually the best. Winter is the best time of year to sink your teeth into a great story". Her 23 book recommendation is a diverse range - from true crime to historical feminist fiction to powerful memoirs. We are delighted she chose some of Janklow's finest authors to feature in her list. To read more, please see: https://www.heyalma.com/almas-favorite-books-for-winter-2020/

Tom was included in The Times' Sunday Review in 'Best Books of the Year' Segment for THE AI DOES NOT HATE YOU: SUPERINTELLIGENCE, RATIONALITY & THE RACE TO SAVE THE WORLD. This book is Tom's "attempt to navigate the utopias and dystopias that an artificially intelligent future implies. The AI does not hate you; you are irrelevant to it." Congratulations, Tom!

Our beloved author, Joe Hammond, died peacefully at home on Saturday. It was an honour to represent him at our agency. He was a remarkable man with an extraordinary memoir. Our condolences are with his family.

Congratulations to Yasmin Rahman, Sharna Jackson, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, and Angie Thomas. These fabulous authors have been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. For Yasmin, her book ALL THE THINGS WE NEVER SAID ( Hot Key Books). For Sharna, her book HIGH RISE MYSTERY (Knights Of Media). For Kiran, her book THE WAY PAST WINTER (Chicken House). For Angie, her book ON THE COME UP (Walker Books). For more information, please see https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_2020_nominations_carnegie.html. For more, you can follow @CILIPCKG. Congratulations again to these incredible writers.

Congratulations to Nat Luurtsema - her short story 'Howling Pack of Undesirables' is shortlisted for the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize (20th Anniversary). As quoted from the RSL website: "This prize was founded by the RSL at the beginning of the new millennium to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century, and to preserve a tradition encompassing Pritchett?s mastery of narrative. The annual prize of ?1,000 goes to the best unpublished short story of the year. The winning entry is also published in Prospect Magazine and the RSL Review." If you would like to know more about Nat and her short story, please click here: https://rsliterature.org/award/v-s-pritchett-short-story-prize/ The winner will be announced on Monday 11 November.

Congratulations to Kiran - her book The Deathless Girls is shortlisted for The Foyles Children's AND YA Book of The Year 2019. Foyles says: "Whittled from the books published or available to us by the time of selection, the shortlists come together through a definitely-not-scientific combination of Foyles bestsellers, staff vote, reader response and lots and lots of arguing discussion. Together they form a snapshot of a stand-out year: a year of brand new classics, game-changing debate, of sheer literary splendour, and humanity. So here, without further ado, are our most essential, important, meaningful, beloved books of 2019 so far." For more information about the competition or a chance to buy the book, click here: https://www.foyles.co.uk/Books-of-the-Year-Shortlists The winner will be announced on 21st November.

Congratulations to Rutger Bregman, who released his book De meeste mensen deugen on 9th September 2019. This book has been on the #1 Dutch bestseller list ever since. His book advocates for a new view of human nature. Not only does it aim to unite the left and right's belief, it also introduces a new revolutionary argument that people are good, not bad. His book analyses the roots of Western thought (from Freud to Pinker) that humans are bad rather than good. But when we think the worst of others, it brings out the worst in our politics and economics too. Perhaps we need to start believing that human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think. Can this be our foundation for achieving true change in our world? The English version of HUMANKIND will be published on the 19th May 2020. For more information, please click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humankind-New-History-Human-Nature/dp/1408898942 Reviews: ?The alt Robin Hood? ? Evening Standard ?Listen out for Rutger Bregman. He has a big future shaping the future? ? Observer ?The Dutch wunderkind of new ideas? ? Guardian ?A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell? ? New York Times

We are pleased to announce that our author, Henry Porter, is the winner of the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel for his book Firefly (Quercus). The founder of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, Niso Smith, said: ?We were delighted by the captivating stories submitted this year for the published prize. After much deliberation the judges chose Firefly for its thrilling story, its pace, its breathtaking cinematic quality, and its scope and ambition. Whilst adventure writing can offer absolute escapism and sheer entertainment, it can also remind us of important current political and economic issues. Henry has written a mesmerizing and important book, brilliantly researched, which illuminates the refugee crisis spreading from Africa and the Middle East across Europe. It is a vital story for our times.? Six judges chose Porter as the winner from a shortlist of six authors from across the globe, consisting of two debuts alongside well-established authors. Porter received his prize of ?15,000 at Stationers' Hall on Thursday 12th September. The evening was hosted by Kate Silverton and Keith Chapman, both Patrons of the Foundation. For more information about the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation and what it can do for writers, please click here: https://www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org/ Firefly is published by Quercus. The copy is out in all bookstores as a hardcover and on Kindle.

Faber & Faber will publish an anthology of Lyra McKee's work to mark the first anniversary of the journalist's murder. The book Lyra McKee: Lost, Found, Remembered will be published on April 2nd 2020. This anthology celebrates and defines McKee as one of the most important and formidable journalists of her generation. It will showcase a range of pieces - from her unpublished material to her lesser-known pieces. According to Louisa Joyner, Faber's publishing director: "[The anthology] reveals the sheer scope of McKee's intellectual and radically humane engagement with the world - and lets her spirit live on in her own words". Lyra McKee, an investigative journalist, was born in Belfast. She received many awards: this included the Sky News' Young Journalists Award in 2006, Forbes' 30 under 30, and was awarded rising literary star by The Irish Times. She was an influential activist for LGBTQ and women's rights in Northern Ireland: her essay, A Letter to My 14-Year-Old Self went viral in 2014 where she wrote about her experience growing up gay in Belfast. She was fatally shot by New IRA gunmen on 18 April 2019 during the riot in Derry. During the time of her death, she was working on a piece entitled The Lost Boys, which explored the disappearances of a number of children and young men during the Troubles. Their disappearances were never solved by the police, nor were they believed to be victims of the IRA or UVF. This work is still currently being reviewed by Faber, and McKee's friends and family.

There has been some fantastic coverage of Joe Hammond?s book The Short History of Falling: Everything I observed about Love Whilst Dying. For those interested, A Short History of Falling is a searingly beautiful, profound, and unforgettable memoir that finds light and even humour in the darkest of places. Joe writes about his experience dying from motor neurone disease and the process of saying goodbye. The Times featured an interview and an extract: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/joe-hammond-on-motor-neurone-disease-and-a-short-history-of-falling-cthxs2lwn?ni-statuscode=acsaz-307 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/motor-neurone-diseases-final-stages-dying-feels-like-a-slight-drop-in-temperature-j6t6hb5dk The BBC also showed a short film about Joe and the book on BBC Breakfast yesterday morning (begins at 52mins, continues a couple of hours later): https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007zst/breakfast-27082019 Also here: https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1166602563447222272 As a result of the coverage,A Short History of Falling spent most of yesterday in the Amazon top ten, and is currently at no. 58. As Joe states: ?A Short History of Falling is about the sadness (and the anger, and the fear), but it?s about what?s beautiful too. It?s about love and fatherhood, about the precious experience of observing my last moments with this body, surrounded by the people who matter most. It?s about what it feels like to confront the fact that my family will persist through time with only a memory of me. In many ways, it has been the most amazing time of my life.? This book will be available to buy on the 5th September 2019. We hope you enjoy it.

Carrie Gracie's upcoming book EQUAL: A story of women, men and money has been selected for the longlist of the Financial Times Business Book the Year 2019. Now in its 15th year, the award will go to the book that offers the ?most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics?. Judges will select up to six finalists and announce a shortlist on 16th September 2019. The prize will be awarded in New York on 3rd December 2019. Gracie joined a group of high-profile BBC women who challenged the national broadcaster over equal pay after enforced disclosures revealed huge gaps between top men and women. Gracie had insisted on equal pay at the time of her China posting, and after trying with other BBC women to put things right through negotiation, she eventually resigned her post complaining publicly of a 'secretive and illegal' pay culture. Her protest triggered a parliamentary inquiry into BBC pay, and after a protracted internal complaints process, she won an apology from the BBC and a settlement which she donated to the Fawcett Society. In Equal Gracie will tell her own story, explore why it is often so hard for women to assert their value in the workplace and give practical guidance on what women, men and employers can do to achieve equality for this and future generations of women.

Olivia Laing has been awarded the James Tait Black Prize for her novel, Crudo, alongside Lindsey Hilsum, who was awarded the non-fiction prize for her biography of Marie Colvin. The ?10,000 prizes, awarded each year by the University of Edinburgh, were announced by broadcaster Sally Magnusson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday (17th August). Fiction judge Dr Alex Lawrie, of the University of Edinburgh, said of Crudo: ?This is fiction at its finest: a bold and reactive political novel that captures a raw slice of contemporary history with pace, charm, and wit.? Laing was chosen from a shortlist of Murmur by Will Eaves (Canongate), Sight by Jessie Greengrass (John Murray) and Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Chatto & Windus). In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin (Chatto and Windus) picked up the biography prize. Hilsum, international editor at Channel 4 News, chronicled Colvin?s extraordinary life and career reporting on some of the world?s most devastating conflicts from 1985 until her 2012 death in Syria. The books were judged by senior staff from the university?s English Literature department, assisted by a reading panel of Edinburgh postgraduate students.

Derek Miller's American by Day has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award 2019. This award is for the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English, first published in the UK during the Judging Period. The broadest definition of the crime novel defines eligible books including thrillers, suspense novels and spy fiction. In the Gold Dagger category, Derek Miller is up against M W Craven's The Puppet Show (Constable) and What We Did (Sphere) by Christobel Kent. Donna Leon's Unto Us a Son is Given (William Heinemann); Claire Askew's All the Hidden Truths (Hodder & Stoughton) and Benjamin Wood's A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better (Scribner) are also in contention. Linda Stratmann, chair of the Crime Writers? Association, said: ?The Daggers are unparalleled for their longevity and reputation. Receiving a Dagger award is a something of a holy grail for authors. The CWA prides itself on supporting crime authors by not just recognising established names but as a platform for debut novelists and emerging writers.? The winners will be announced at the Dagger Award ceremony at the Grange City Hotel, London, on 24th October where Robert Goddard will be awarded the lifetime achievement award.

Anna-Marie Crowhurst's The Illumination of Ursula Flight and Ian Ross' Triumph In Dust have been longlisted for the Historical Writers Association Crown Award 2019, announced on the 23rd July. Crowhurst and Ross are two of thirty-six hopeful authors, divided into three categories: Debut, Non-Fiction and Gold. The prize is designed to reflect the HWA?s remit ?to promote and support historical writing in all its forms?. The Illumination of Ursula Flight is in the Debut category, accompanied by Janklow & Nesbit Associates author Namwali Serpell with her novel, The Old Drift. They are both joined by: The Familiars by Stacey Halls Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea As the Women Lay Dreaming by Donald S Murray Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd Robinson The Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton Triumph in Dust is in the Gold category, and is joined by: Little by Edward Carey The Lighthousekeeper?s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor The Murder of Harriet Monkton by Elizabeth Haynes Lancelot by Giles Kristian Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee Mrs Whistler by Matthew Plampin Tombland by CJ Sansom Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield Caligula by SJ Turney The 2019 judges are: HWA Debut Crown Elizabeth Fremantle, Susan Heads & Ayo Onatade (Chair) HWA Sharpe Books Non-Fiction Crown Richard Foreman, Jason Goodwin (Chair), Roger Moorhouse, Alex von Tunzelmann HWA Gold Crown Kate Atherton, Victoria Blake, Robin Carter, Helen Nugent, Antonia Senior (Chair) The winners will be announced later this year.