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RLF Fellows’ News: October 2024

Publishing

The Woman Who Went Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel, written by Caroline Cauchi (also known as Caroline Smailes), has just been published in e-book format by Harper Collins UK, with the paperback set for release on 10 October. It will be published as The Queen of the Mist in the US and Canada, including an exclusive Canadian edition published by Indigo Books.

Caroline will be touring Canada throughout October to talk about the book, which is inspired by the true story of Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

In her role as Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Hull, Caroline will also be taking part in the launch event for Farsley Lit Fest on 8 October from 8pm. She will discuss how women involved in creative pursuits that have disappeared from historical narratives are being reimagined in contemporary creative practice, and what the novelist’s ethical and moral responsibilities are when fictionalising a real life. Buy tickets here.

Andrew Lycett’s The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes has been published in Japan, where Sherlock Holmes stories have been popular since their first translation in 1894.

As described by the publisher: “In this deep dive into the contemporary world of Holmes and Conan Doyle, biographer Andrew Lycett explores the world of the great detective – tracing the infamous character’s own interests, personality and mythologised biography alongside that of his creator’s.”

Published by Frances Lincoln for Quarto.

Doug Johnstone’s new novel Living is a Problem, the sixth instalment of his Skelfs series, is published this month by Orenda, with the e-book available from Isis Publishing.

Described by Herald Scotland as “an engrossing and beautifully written tale”, previous books in the Skelfs series have been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Novel and Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Book of the Year.

Lucinda Hawksley’s new book Victorian Christmas is set to be published on 22 October.

In the book, Lucinda – a descendant of Charles Dickens – reveals the fascinating stories behind many of the Christmas traditions of Queen Victoria’s reign. In 1843, for example, while Dickens was inventing the Christmas ghost story, a London civil servant commissioned the first Christmas card and Windsor Castle served turkeys for Christmas dinner. 

You can pre-order the book on publisher W.W. Norton’s website.

Trish Cooke’s latest book, The Magic Callaloo (Candlewick Press/ Walker Books) has recently been published in the USA and featured as one of Publishers Weekly’s Picks.

They described the book as a “moving work that twines magic, map, and story.”

Read the full review here.

Chris Arthur’s new collection of essays What is it Like to be Alive? Fourteen Attempts at an Answer has been published by Eastover Press.

Described by the publisher as “a virtuoso demonstration of the potential of the creative essay,” this collection of 14 essays sees Chris offer an account of what can be seen in ordinary things, exploring subjects as varied as a patch of lichen, a childhood barber’s shop, and the inscriptions on park benches.

This Albion: Snapshots of a Compromised Land is a collection of travel/psycho-geographical pieces by Charlie Hill.

Published this month by Culture Matters, the pamphlet is described by Aaron Kent of Broken Sleep Books as:

“…a remarkable socio-cultural examination of Britain today. Charlie Hill writes with a beautiful prose style that is sharp, poetic, funny, tragic and full of life.”

Claudine Toutoungi’s new poetry collection Emotional Support Horse will be published by Carcanet Press on 31 October.

Fellow poet Michael Symmons Roberts describes the collection as “poems of great wit and guile, tender and smart and beautiful. If there’s a family line, it’s from Stevie Smith’s domestic macabre or Frederick Seidel’s undercuts, but Emotional Support Horse confirms Claudine Toutoungi as a remarkable talent and a one-off.”

Claudine will be reading from the collection at Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge on 15 October, and you can buy tickets to the live launch here. There will also be an online launch event hosted by Tara Bergin on 16 October which you can register for here, and an event in London at the Poetry at the Wheatsheaf pub in Fitzrovia, from 7pm on 26 October.

Events and Appearances

Today, 30 September, Catherine O’Flynn will take part in the Libraries Give Us Power launch event for October’s Birmingham Literature Festival.

As Birmingham’s community libraries are threatened with devastating cuts, Brum Library Zine brings together 35 diverse Birmingham writers to champion each one of the city’s 35 libraries. Highlighting the richness of Birmingham’s literary culture, the zine makes clear that legacy would not exist without the power of libraries to transform lives and nurture readers and writers. 

Visit the Birmingham Literature Festival for more information and to buy tickets to this and other festival events taking place throughout October.

Lucinda Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, was recently sworn in as President of the International Dickens Fellowship.

She will also be speaking about Dickens’ travel writing and how his journeys influenced his writing and enriched his life at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival on 4 October, from 11am. Tickets here.

Poet and WritersMosaic contributor Raymond Antrobus will be in conversation with WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant at the Ilkley Literature Festival on 6 October.

Raymond will also be reading from his new collection Signs, Music, which has just been shortlisted for the 2024 T.S. Eliot Prize.

Find out more and get tickets here.

Awards

Broadcasts

Jane Corry has been interviewed by Lucinda Hawksley on the Goldster Magazine Podcast about her writing, journalism and being writer in residence in a high security prison for men – an experience that helped inspire her Sunday Times bestselling novels.

Now a judge for the life story section of the Koestler Awards – awarded to men and women in prison and mental institutions – Jane spoke about the importance of writing for mental health in the podcast, which you can listen to here.

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