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RLF Fellows’ News: July 2024

Publishing

Lesley Glaister’s new novel, A Particular Man, has been published by Bloodhound Books.

Set in 1945, a family struggling to come to terms with the loss of their son and brother, Edgar, are visited by a man claiming to be his lover, who insinuated himself into the family home. The Independent on Sunday has previously said of Glaister: “[She] has the uncomfortable knack of putting her finger on things we most fear, of exposing the darkness within.”

Kirsty Gunn’s latest collection of short stories, Pretty Ugly, has been published by Rough Trade Books, a new publishing venture in the mould of the pioneering independent record label.

Rough Trade describes Pretty Ugly as:

“Contradictions (both real and apparent), oppositions, enigmas, provocations, challenges—this is the kind of material that makes a life, and is the kind of material that, in fiction, one is never quite sure of. With Pretty Ugly, Kirsty Gunn reminds us again that she is a master of just such material, presenting ambiguity and complication as the essence of the storyteller’s endeavour.”

Events and Appearances

Emylia Hall will be at the Penzance Literary Festival on 3 July, discussing her Kindle Top 10 bestselling cosy crime series The Shell House Detectives mysteries. Set on the Cornish coast, The Shell House Detectives has since been optioned for TV. Emylia will be discussing what ‘cosy crime’ really means, how setting inspires her stories, and the joy of writing amateur detectives. Buy tickets here.

Also appearing at the Penzance Literary Festival is Tiffany Murray , who will be running a workshop on character development. An award-winning novel writer, Tiffany also runs the Hay Festival’s development programme Writers at Work. Her workshop is part of the LitFest Guide to Novel Writing and takes place on 6 July. Tickets here.

Later on 6 July, Tiffany Murray will also be discussing her memoir, My Family And Other Rock Stars, in conversation with Patrick Gale. Find out more.

On 9 July, WritersMosaic and the Poetry Translation Centre, in collaboration with the Eccles Centre and Un Nuevo Sol, will be hosting The Forensic and the Fantastic – Latinx poets at the British Library. The latest in a series of WritersMosaic events, poets in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Quechua will explore acts of translation between cultures and across media to bring the living poetry of Latin America to the British Library. Hosted by writer Amanda Vilanova. Tickets here.

On 11 July, WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant will be in conversation with WritersMosaic contributor Jason Allen-Paisant to celebrate Aimé Césaire’s masterpiece, Return to my Native Land – translated by John Berger – as the poem becomes a Penguin Classic. Get tickets for the event, which takes place at the London Review Bookshop.

Awards

RLF Fellows Gerry Cambridge and Julia Copus, and WritersMosaic contributor Roger Robinson were among six poets to receive a Cholmondely Award for sustained excellence in poetry at the recent Society of Author Awards.

Poet Gerry Cambridge receives his Cholmondeley Award from author Kate Mosse. © Adrian Pope/Society of Authors.

2024 Cholmondeley Award judge Moniza Alvi explains: “The Cholmondeley Awards have been, since they were introduced in 1966, important honorary awards that recognise poets’ sustained excellence across a body of work… [the awards] prove that excellence can be perceived across a wide range of poetry from a diversity of poets. It is hoped that the recipients will feel valued, encouraged and truly celebrated.”

Plays and productions

Ed Harris has adapted Frantz Kafka’s unfinished novel, The Man Who Disappeared (also known as Amerika), into a two-part audio drama for BBC Radio 4 as part of Drama on 4’s contribution to the Orwell vs Kafka season.

The drama follows young immigrant Karl Rossman, who is dispatched to America by his parents after a mysterious family scandal. Adrift in this strange new world, Karl is soon swept up in a land of endless promise and monstrous brutality. Kafka had never visited America and the fantastical world of his novel is clearly inspired by the myths and fears wrapped up in the country’s great economic boom of the early 20th century.

The Man Who Disappeared is available to listen to now and throughout July, on BBC Sounds.

Ben Musgrave’s radio play, Vital Signs, was recently repeated on BBC Radio 4 and is available now on BBC Sounds.

The play follows Ben – who suffers from a severe phobia of blood, the heart and medical intervention – as he tried to make sense of the fact that, one normal day in 2018, his greatest fear came true. His heart stopped.

Horatio Clare’s second series of Is Psychiatry Working?, The Search for Hope will be broadcast on Radio 4 this July.

In the series, Horatio is joined by psychiatrist Professor Femi Oyebode as they focus on the most successful ways of treating mental health conditions – both the established and the more experimental.

Listen on BBC Radio 4 from 25 June, Tuesdays at 09:30-10:00, from 25 June, repeated Wednesdays.

RLF Fellow Stephen Wyatt‘s A House Called Insanity, will be broadcast on 27 July, as part of BBC Radio 4’s drama season based on true stories of rule-breaking.

Starring Anne-Marie Duff as Elsy Borders, the wife of a London cabby who went on mortgage strike to expose the poor quality of housebuilding – something which continues to resonate today, following scandals such as Grenfell Tower.

RLF Fellows can submit their news to our Marketing department via the Contact Us page.

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