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RLF Fellows’ News: August 2025

Publishing

Dr Roopa Farooki’s The Glorious Gut is out now.

Published by Walker Books and featuring illustrations by Viola Wang, The Glorious Gut looks at how different bits of the digestive system work, and why it is so important to look after your body and maintain gut health.

The book is part of Roopa’s new series of children’s books on the human body, Dr Roopa’s Body Books.

Alex Wong‘s collection of Selected Poems and Essays by Alice Meynell is released by Carcanet Press on 28 August.

Highlighting the works of Victorian poet and essayist Alice Meynell, the book also includes a preface by noted feminist theorist, critic and film-maker Laura Mulvey, who is Meynell’s great-granddaughter. Both the preface and the introduction make a passionate case for Meynell’s importance and distinctiveness.

There will be a launch event at Birkbeck College in London on 31 October and in Cambridge on 10 November.

Broadcasts

Stephen Wyatt’s new radio drama The Song of the Cossacks, an adaptation of an original stage play by Jean Binnie based on true events, recently featured on BBC Radio 4’s Spotlight series, which showcases long-form contemporary and historical dramas by British and global writers.

The play explores the horror of June 1945, when Cossacks were forcibly repatriated to Stalin’s USSR by a group of army officers ordered to betray people whose trust they had gained. It includes the testimony of survivors voiced by actors from the Teatr Napadoli in Kyiv, as well as testimony from the subsequent enquiry by Major Rusty Davies. Listen now on BBC Sounds.

Rhiannon Tise’s award-winning BBC 4 adaptation of George Eliot’s The Mill on The Floss is now available to listen to as an audiobook via Audible UK. The full-cast 10-episode adaptation stars Anna Maxwell Martin as George Eliot and Joanna Vanderham as Maggie.

The Mill on The Floss was George Eliot’s most autobiographical novel and draws on her personal pain about the loss of a formerly close relationship with her brother after he cut off all contact with her. Listen now on Audible.

Miranda Miller was recently interviewed by writer and publisher Martin Goodman about her ninth novel, When I Was, as part of the Barbican Festival. Watch the interview here.

Productions

Trish Cooke‘s adaptation of Michael Abbensetts‘ seminal Windrush-era play Alterations for the National Theatre, which was directed by Lynette Linton, will be available to watch on the NT at Home streaming platform from 12 August.

Find out more on the NT at Home website.

Awards

The Booker Prize 2025 longlist features the work of two RLF Fellows – Andrew Miller for The Land in Winter and Jonathan Buckley for One Boat – as well as WritersMosaic‘s Claire Adam, for Love Forms.

For more information about the nominees, visit the Booker Prize website. Roddy Doyle, chair of this year’s judges, also recently wrote about his Writing Life for us.

Earlier this month Gwyneth Lewis’ Nightshade Mother, published by Calon Books, won the 2025 Creative Non-Fiction Award at the Wales Book of the Year Awards.

Nightshade Mother is a memoir about Gwyneth’s toxic upbringing at the hands of her controlling, coercive mother. By weaving in entries from the diaries she kept as a child, Gwyneth effectively co-writes the book with her younger self. The result is a “profoundly moving and beautiful work; questing, forgiving and loving in its approach.”

Find out more here.

Several RLF and WritersMosaic writers have recently been made Royal Society of Literature Fellows.

Huge congratulations to Jason Allen-Paisant, Gillian Allnutt, Marina Benjamin, Sita Brahmachari, Ekow Eshun, Lucy Ellmann, Damian Le Bas, Sarah LeFanu, Nick Makkah, Lucasta Miller, Ingrid Persaud, Rachel Seiffert and Rick Stroud.

You can see the full list of RSL Fellows and Honorary Fellows here.

Two of Paul Mason’s children’s books have been nominated for this year’s Lollies (Laugh Out Loud) book awards. Comic Strip Science: Physics makes the science behind forces, energy and simple machines fun, while Funny Beasts explores the features and behaviours that animals have adapted to survive.

Readers can vote online for their favourite book now. The winner will be announced in December. Visit the Scholastic website to vote.

Events and appearances

Between 9-24 August a number of RLF writers will be appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival, including Diana Evans, Marjorie Lotfi, Linda Cracknell, Joe Dunthorne, Ella Frears and Maisie Chan.

Plus, crime-writing super-group the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers – which includes RLF Fellow Doug Johnstone – will close the festival on 24 August. Tickets available here.

WritersMosaic are also set to chair two events at the festival.

On 18 August, Poets on Film will include readings and screenings showcasing the power of spoken word through a cinematic lens.

Featuring poetry by Anthony Anaxagorou, Jo Clement and Marjorie Lotfi, the event is co-chaired by The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation. More information here.

On 24 August, WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant will be joined by Bonnie Greer, Vayu Naidu and Ekow Eshun to mark the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X, looking back at his legacy as a revolutionary and a symbol of defiance.

Ticket information is available here.

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