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On Friday 19 July 2019, crime and thriller lovers came together at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate to celebrate their favourite books and authors at the fifth annual Dead Good Reader Awards. The award for Most Recommended Book went to Janklow & Nesbit author, Elly Griffiths, for her atmospheric thriller, The Stone Circle. The other shortlisted titles for the award were: The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware Now You See Her by Heidi Perks The Passengers by John Marrs Skin Deep by Liz Nugent Sleep by C L Taylor

The famous Proms season opens with Zosha Di Castri's latest work Long Is the Journey - Short Is the Memory, which marks the 50th anniversary of the lunar landings. The piece examines how humanity has "looked to the moon over different time periods and different cultures," she told BBC News. It's not only the composer's Proms debut, but the first time her music has ever been played in the UK. "It's a crazy way to begin but I'm very honoured," she told BBC News. The 1969 moon landings are a running theme in this year's Proms season, with highlights including a Sci-Fi prom featuring scores from films such as Gravity and Alien: Covenant. Di Castri's work was inspired by three pieces of writing - Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi's haunting Alla Luna, in which a man sees his grief reflected in the moon's face; Sappho's The Moon, in which the ancient Greek poet writes about the silvery brightness of the night sky; and a new text by Xiaolu Guo, which reflects both ancient Chinese legends and the recent Chang'e-4 exploration of the far side of the moon. Their words are fragmented throughout the piece, while the title, Long Is the Journey - Short Is the Memory, is lifted from Leopardi's verse.

The Royal Society of Literature elected 45 new Fellows and Honorary Fellows in a ceremony last night in London, including Janklow & Nesbit author Olivia Laing. To be elected as a Fellow, a writer must have published at least two works of outstanding literary merit (or equivalent material), in any literary form. The total number of Fellows currently stands at around 600. Elected alongside Olivia Laing as 2019 Fellows were David Baddiel, Mary Beard, Stephen Fry, Hanan al-Shaykh, Monica Ali, Elleke Boehmer, Jez Butterworth, Vahni Capildeo, Debjani Chatterjee, Esther Freud, Peter Gill, Armando Iannucci, Catherine Johnson, Cynan Jones, Patrick McGuinness, Jonathan Meades, Sin?ad Morrissey, Sarah Moss, Virginia Nicholson, David Olusoga, Susie Orbach, Nina Raine, Denise Riley, Lawrence Scott, Elif Shafak, Nikesh Shukla, Dorothea Smartt and Stella Tillyard. The Council of the RSL elects as Honorary Fellows those who have rendered special service to the Society, or who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of literature, for example as publishers, agents, booksellers, literature professionals or producers. New Fellows signed the RSL Roll Book using George Eliot?s pen. The new RSL Honorary Fellows for 2019 are Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Syima Aslam, Pete Ayrton, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Sharmilla Beezmohun, Xandra Bingley, Michael Codron, Dan Franklin, Richard Hollis, Nicholas Hytner, Susheila Nasta, Stephen Page, Stuart Proffitt, William Sieghart, Nicola Solomon and Nicholas Spice.

English PEN has announced the shortlist for the 2019 PEN Ackerley Prize for memoir and autobiography, featuring William Miller for his remarkable tales of growing up on Gloucester Crescent. The other shortlisted authors are Yrsa Daley-Ward for The Terrible (Penguin), and Christian Donlan for The Unmapped Mind (Viking). The PEN Ackerley Prize was established in memory of Joe Randolph Ackerley (1896-1967), the author and long-time literary editor of The Listener magazine. The prize is awarded annually to a literary autobiography of outstanding merit, written by an author of British nationality and published in the UK in the previous year. The PEN Ackerley prize is judged by biographer and historian Peter Parker (chair), writer and painter Colin Spencer, author Georgina Hammick and writer and critic Claire Harman. The winner receives a cheque for ?3,000. Peter Parker, chair of judges said: 'We called in 26 autobiographies published in 2018, far fewer than last year but once again including books by both long-established and first-time authors. We eventually arrived at a shortlist of three, all of them very impressive debuts. There seemed to be an unusually large number of books about serious illness and death this year, but none in the same class as Christian Donlan?s account of his searching engagement with multiple sclerosis, which we included on our shortlist alongside William Miller?s very funny recollections of growing up among the London intelligentsia and Yrsa Daley-Ward?s utterly original book about perilously emerging into adulthood after a childhood among Seventh-Day Adventists in the north-west. It would be hard to imagine three books more different from each other, but we urge everyone to read them and offer our congratulations to their authors.' The winner will be announced on Tuesday 9 July at a special prize event at Free Word.

Anna-Marie Crowhurst has been shortlisted in the literature category for the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2019. The other nominees are: Jessie Cave (Comedy) Chance Perdomo (TV Drama) Jessie Buckley (Film) Haroon Mirza (Visual Art) Nadine Benjamin (Opera) Alpesh Chauhan (Classical) Joseph Sissens (Dance) Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss (Theatre) Freya Ridings (Freya) The nominees are chosen by a panel of Times critics, and the South Bank Sky Arts Awards will be held at the Savoy Hotel in London on Sunday, July 7 and shown on Sky Arts on Wednesday, July 10 at 8pm. Image credit: Sarah Cresswell for The Times

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize shortlist has been revealed with Henry Porter's Firefly being one of six novels nominated for the ?15,000 prize. Celebrating the best adventure novels published between 1st May 2018 and 30th April 2019, the prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. The complete shortlist is as follows: J. D. Fennell, SLEEPER: THE RED STORM (The Dome Press) Zeyn Joukhadar, THE MAP OF SALT AND STARS (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion) Henry Porter, FIREFLY (Quercus) Craig Russell, THE DEVIL ASPECT (Constable/Little, Brown) Jock Serong, PRESERVATION (Text Publishing) Holly Watt, TO THE LIONS (Raven Books) Niso Smith, Founder of The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, says: ?This is a shortlist of heroes. The protagonists in these six novels inspired us with their courage, determination to pursue the truth, and stamina for survival in harsh surroundings. Each of these stories gave us what an adventure does in real life ? a chance to learn about ourselves and the world, while getting the adrenaline pumping. All we can say is go and read these unique and wonderful books, we couldn?t put them down." The shortlist will be celebrated at Stanfords, Covent Garden, on 23rd May 2019, with a discussion on the nature of adventure in fiction. The event is ticketed, and open to the public.

W H Smith has announced the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club choices for 2019, featuring The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths , recently released in paperback. The Book Club is run exclusively with WHSmith, with all the selections available to buy throughout the 1000 plus stores in high streets and travel locations across the UK. Each list is compiled after going through a rigorous selection process, the available titles are whittled down to a longlist which Richard and Judy (alongside a group of book industry experts) read before settling on a final selection of titles. Richard said about The Stranger Diaries: "It is wonderfully enjoyable and presses all the right buttons to make you shiver and shudder as you read of ghosts, portents, draughty old towers and elderly strangers aboard a Victorian train who engage guileless young travellers in the kind of stories best enjoyed around a Christmas fire, logs crackling and chestnuts roasting. We both loved it. So will you." Judy said: "This is a deliciously creepy book containing all the features of good old-fashioned ghost stories: terrifyingly dark passageways in old haunted houses, dense sea-mists, a deserted old warehouse with mysterious flashing nocturnal lights, and even a self-proclaimed witch. What?s not to love? It?s terrific."

Laura Freeman has been shortlisted for both the First Book award and the Food Book award by the 2019 Guild of Food Writers Awards, for The Reading Cure, released in paperback earlier this year. The Guild of Food Writers state that the shortlists highlight emerging talent as well as featuring some of the best-known current food writers and broadcasters, including Anna Jones, Gill Meller, Diana Henry, Rowley Leigh, Tom Parker Bowles and Grace Dent. The Guild of Food Writers Awards celebrate the breadth of knowledge and expertise at work in a thriving creative field. Also up for the First Book award are Maryam Sinaiee for Nightingales and Roses: Recipes from the Persian Kitchen, and Frankie Unsworth for The New Art of Cooking: A Modern Guide to Preparing and Styling Delicious Food. And on the shortlist for the Food Book award Laura is joined by Caroline Eden for Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes - Through Darkness and Light, and Niki Segnit for Lateral Cooking. The winners will be announced on Thursday 27 June 2019 at Studio Spaces in London, and they will be presented with a beautiful trophy.

Two Janklow & Nesbit UK authors are in the running for two Crime Writers' Association awards this year. Derek Miller has been longlisted for the Gold Dagger for American By Day, and Elly Griffiths has been longlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for The Stranger Diaries. The Crime Writers Association Daggers have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over fifty years. These prestigious awards started in 1955, less than two years after the Association was founded. Over the years the number of CWA Daggers has increased (and occasionally decreased). Currently ten Daggers are awarded annually by the CWA, and are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. Shortlists will be announced in the summer, and the glamorous Dagger Award ceremony where the winners are announced will be held at the Grange City Hotel in London on 24 October 2019 ? the crime writing event of the year.

Tara Isabella Burton has been nominated for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Award for best novel, for Social Creature. In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson?s writing, and with permission of the author?s estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, ?The Lottery.? Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. The Shirley Jackson Award will be voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors. The awards will be given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology. The other four nominees in the novel category are: In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams) We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk) Everything Under, Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape) Little Eve, Catriona Ward (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) The awards will be presented July 14, 2019 at the Quincy Marriott in Quincy MA.

The longlist for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2019 has been announced, and features Henry Porter's thrilling novel, Firefly. The complete longlist is as follows: J. D. Fennell SLEEPER: THE RED STORM (The Dome Press) Adrian Goldsworthy THE ENCIRCLING SEA (Head of Zeus) Paul Howarth ONLY KILLERS AND THIEVES (Pushkin Press) Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar THE MAP OF SALT AND STARS (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion) David Leadbeater THE RELIC HUNTERS (Thomas & Mercer) Henry Porter FIREFLY (Quercus) A. G. Riddle WINTER WORLD (Head of Zeus) Craig Russell THE DEVIL ASPECT (Constable/Little, Brown) Michael Rutger THE ANOMALY (Bonnier Books UK) Jock Serong PRESERVATION (Text Publishing) Taylor Stevens LIARS? PARADOX (Kensington Publishing) Holly Watt TO THE LIONS (Raven Books) The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is an international book prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. First awarded in 2016, the Prize presents awards in three categories: Best Published Novel, Best Unpublished Manuscript and Author of Tomorrow (age 21 and under). The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. From the longlist, a number of books will now be selected for shortlist and, under guidance from an expert judging panel, the ?15,000 first prize for Best Published Novel will be awarded at a ceremony in on 12th September 2019, at London?s Stationers? Hall.

The 2019 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award sees the return of previous shortlisted author Elly Griffiths, with her latest Ruth Galloway novel, The Dark Angel. The award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Mail on Sunday. The longlist of 18 titles were selected by an Academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee. Titles will be promoted in a dedicated online campaign with WHSmith and a nationwide library promotion. The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 19 May. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 18 July on the opening night of the 17th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. They?ll receive a ?3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier. The night will also feature the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, with past recipients over the years including PD James, Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill and Colin Dexter.

Crudo by Olivia Laing is one of four novels competing for the ?10,000 James Tait Black award for fiction, now in its 100th year. It is joined on the shortlist by Sight by Jessie Greengrass, Murmur by Will Eaves, and Heads Of The Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires. Fiction judge Dr Alex Lawrie, of the University of Edinburgh, said: ?These four books are stylish, witty, and experimental. I?m thrilled that in this centenary year our shortlist reflects the very best that fiction can offer.? In the biography category, In Extremis: The Life Of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum is competing for the ?10,000 prize with Natives: Race And Class In The Ruins Of Empire by Akala, The Life Of Stuff: A Memoir About The Mess We Leave Behind by Susannah Walker, and The Catalogue Of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus And The Quest For A Universal Library by Edward Wilson-Lee. The annual prizes have been presented since 1919, after Janet Tait Black, part of the threadmaking family J & P Coats, made a provision in her will for the awards in memory of her husband James. The winners of both prizes will be announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August.

Humble Pi by Matt Parker reached the number one slot in the Sunday Times bestseller list last week, beating the long-running bestselling autobiography by Michelle Obama. Janklow & Nesbit received confirmation from Nielsen BookData that this was the first time a book about maths has ever reached number one on the Sunday Times list, with its nearest rival being fellow Janklow & Nesbit client Alex Bellos, whose book Alex?s Adventures in Numberland reached number two in 2010. Humble Pi is still on the Sunday Times list this week, ranked at number eight, and after Matt Parker appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning (19th March) it is still featuring in the top ten bestsellers in the Amazon chart.