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RLF Fellows’ News: August 2024

August 2024 Fellows News
  • 1 August, 2024

Publishing

Trucks in the Garden of Eden by Vitali Vitaliev

Vitali Vitaliev’s Trucks in the Garden of Eden: in search of Britain’s Utopias has been published by Amberley Books.

The book follows Ukrainian-born journalist Vitali Vitaliev on a journey around Britain in search of that most elusive of ideas – utopia.

Laced with humour and trenchant insight, Vitali reflects on utopian ideals in the United Kingdom and his own Soviet upbringing.


Miranda France’s memoir about writing and storytelling, The Writing School, has been published in paperback.

The Writing School has been described by The Spectator as “an excellent example of literary non-fiction… In the narrow sense, with its concern for the craft of writing; literary in the broad sense, with its wry and witty ruminations on both art and life.”


Sophie Duffy's book D is for Death

Sophie Duffy’s first non-fiction book, D is for Death – an A-Z of all things to do with death and dying – has been published by Hero, the non-fiction imprint of Legend Times.

D is for Death was inspired by Sophie’s time working as an RLF Fellow at the University of Manchester and a bout of breast cancer.

Topics covered include accidents and anatomy, contagion and corpses, elegies and epitaphs, ghosts, grief, and everything after.


Horatio Clare’s new book, Your Journey, Your Way: How to Make the Mental Health System Work For You, will be published on 29 August by Penguin Books. Spurred into researching this topic following his own journey from breakdown to recovery, Horatio speaks to experts from across the system.

Author Robert Macfarlane describes it as: “A selfless, hopeful book by a writer of vast heart and quiet brilliance, which over its course creates a cartography of the ‘paths to recovery’ that are open to us all.”


Clare Chambers' book Shy Creatures

Clare Chambers’ new novel, Shy Creatures, is being published by Orion on August 29. Set in 1960s Croydon, it tells the story of an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital and her patient, a talented artist shut up in a house for decades.

Described as “a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness,” Shy Creatures will be available in hardcover, ebook, and Audible audiobook.


Alyson Hallett’s latest book End of the Glacier , a collection of poems written in response to the glacier paintings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), is out now.


Wren James' book Last Seen Online

Wren James, writing as Lauren James, has a new novel coming out in August.

Published by Walker Books, Last Seen Online is a contemporary YA murder mystery set in sun-drenched LA.

Based on the hugely popular online story An Unauthorized Fan Treatise, Last Seen Online takes readers into a world of greed, fandom, conspiracy theories …and murder.

 

Events and Appearances

Wren James will be talking about Last Seen Online as part of The Scream Queens YA Thriller Panel at Waterstones Piccadilly store in London, alongside fellow YA authors Rosie Talbot, Bill Wood and Kate Weston. The event, which is hosted by Benjamin Dean, is on 7 August, at 11am. Get tickets here.

Wren will also be speaking about their work in two events during the Teen Takeover of the Edinburgh Book Festival Schools’ programme on 21 August – Future Hopes with L R Tam and Tola Okogwu and Internet Sleuthing for Beginners. For more information, visit the Edinburgh Book Festival website.


On 10 August from 3pm, Doug Johnstone will be talking about the challenge and allure of writing stories about songs in A Lifetime of Dancing About Architecture, part of St Hilda’s College Crime Fiction Weekend.

The event, chaired by Abir Mukherjeeh, will see Doug share insight about his years of writing stories about songs and songs about stories, from early fictional scratchings to his forthcoming novel, named after a song.


Martina Evans will be Poet in Residence at the Kilkenny Arts Festival from 16 – 18 August. As well as leading a poetry masterclass, Martina will also be launching the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet, a platform for local writers to showcase work.

Awards

Two RLF Fellows, Ella Frears and Marjorie Lotfi, have both been shortlisted for a Forward Prize for Poetry Award.

Ella’s collection Goodlord: An Email is shortlisted for Best Collection, while Marjorie Lotfi – who, as a regular WritersMosaic contributor, recently spoke of her childhood fleeing Iran for the What We Leave We Carry podcast – is shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection.


Kiran Millwood Hargrave's book In The Shadow of The Wolf Queen

WritersMosaic contributor Kiran Millwood Hargrave‘s In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen has been longlisted for the Wainwright Prize in the Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation category.

Now in its second decade, the Wainwright Prizes – named for nature writer A. Wainwright – showcase nature-writing in publishing, aiming to celebrate and encourage exploration of the outdoors to all readers.

The shortlist will be announced on 15 August.


Nominations are now open for the Writers Guild’s 2025 Tinniswood Award for original audio drama scripts broadcast (or made available online) between 1 October 2023 and 31 October 2024.

The judging panel for the Tinniswood Award – established by the Writers Guild and Society of Authors in memory of Peter Tinniswood – includes RLF Fellow Nicola Baldwin. The award winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, which will be presented at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in early 2025.

The deadline for nominations is midnight, 4 October 2024. Visit the website for more information.


RLF Fellows Martina Evans, Gabriel Gbadamosi, Anjali Joseph, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Clare Pollard and WritersMosaic contributor Guy Gunaratne are among 29 writers who were recently announced RSL Fellows by the Royal Society of Literature. The RLF’s Sarah Ardizzone and Sue Gee have been announced Honorary RSL Fellows. To see the full list, visit the RSL website.


Martina Evans’ latest poetry collection The Coming Thing (Carcanet 2023) has been shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Poetry Prize.

Previously named Book of the Year in both the TLS and The Irish Times, novelist Joseph O’Connor praised The Coming Thing for ‘the honesty of the writing, the fragile exuberance of youth, which somehow survives its dooms long enough to recount them… brilliant and exceptional work’.

Plays and productions

A promotional photo for Babs Horton’s play In the Lady Garden, showing Babs in a nun's habit holding two iced buns.

Babs Horton’s play In the Lady Garden is now playing at the Edinburgh Fringe, supported by Plymouth Theatre Royal and Pleasance.

A rip-roaring feminist comedy created by three women over 60, In the Lady Garden is at the Pleasance Courtyard until 26 August.

Tickets are available here.




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