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RLF Writers’ News: August 2026

Publishing

Garry MacKenzie’s new collection Firth, a portrait in poems of the Firth of Forth, is out now.

Formally restless, moving from haiku and prose poem sequences to ambitious long works on glaciers and oysters, human and non-human perspectives intermingle as it reaches back into the deep geological past and forward into a troubled future of pollution and extinction, via the boom and bust of the nineteenth-century fishing industry.

Garry will be reading from Firth at Topping & Company bookshop in St Andrews, Scotland, on Thursday 3 September. Tickets here.

Zoë Howe’s 2009 book about punk / post-punk band The Slits, called Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits, has been republished in a ‘remastered’ edition from Omnibus Press, which is out now.

The book documents the Slits phenomenon and celebrates the legacy, spirit and creativity of this seminal band through interviews with the band, their friends, and collaborators including Don Letts, Dennis Bovell, the Raincoats, Budgie, Public Image Ltd (PiL) guitarist Keith Levene, the Pop Group’s Gareth Sager and many more. The original publication in 2009 sparked a reunion between Viv Albertine and the original band members before Ari Up’s death. This expanded and updated Remastered edition features new interview material and a foreword by punk singer-songwriter and academic, Helen McCookerybook.

Jim Beckett‘s latest book, Buzz Sausage Wolf and the Birthday Mystery, is out now, published by Hachette.

The third book in his popular series for young readers about a scruffy sausage dog trying to be good in a world full of temptation. This time, Buzz finds himself in trouble when a birthday party proves too exciting – especially when he sees a BIG BITE of birthday cake has gone missing. Who is the mystery muncher? Will everyone blame Buzz? Can Buzz, Trilby and Tiddles solve the birthday mystery..?

A funny story, ideal for reading aloud and sharing with newly independent readers, Buzz Sausage Wolf and the Birthday Mystery is illustrated by Aurélie Lise-Anne.

Penny Boxall’s new novel for 9-12-year-olds, Letty and the Mystery of the Word Thieves, is out now, published by Puffin.

It follows the further adventures of Lettice Breech, the daughter of a great museum collector in 18th-century London and is based on Dr Johnson’s Dictionary, and the fact he didn’t include any words beginning with X:

“Her beloved Pa is sick, and their home is in danger. Letty needs money. She needs treasure. So, when a mysterious socialite appears in London, promising more treasure than she can imagine, Letty finds herself embroiled in a thrilling new mystery. Baffling poems, puzzling clues in dictionaries, and curious notes from a mysterious group known only as The Alphabetters lead Letty on a whirlwind adventure through the streets of London. And then there is – nearly – a murder. Can Letty use her deductive skills to unravel the mystery of the word thieves?”

Broadcasts

Christopher Hill (writing as Christopher William Hill) has a new radio play, Sunbird, which is set to broadcast BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 4 August at 14:15.

A fresh take on the classic romantic comedy genre, Sunbird follows Lizzie, who has spent her whole life running from disastrous relationships – much to the frustration of her older sister Chloe. At the age of 52, she returns to Ibiza to lick her wounds after another failed love affair, and unexpectedly finds romance with a younger man, Josh. Then her former fling from 30 years ago, Danny, reappears, and Lizzie realises Danny and Josh are estranged father and son – she must choose one or the other. Meanwhile, Chloe flies to Ibiza to bring Lizzie home but the sisters find themselves reconnecting more than they have since their last trip to the island 30 years ago. If Lizzie can’t change Danny or Josh, maybe she can change herself?

Listen live or via BBC Sounds. Directed by Polly Thomas.

Bethan Roberts’ new audio drama A Portmeirion Love Affair with Life is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 6 August at 14.15.

Set in the summer of 1966, the drama follows The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, during a holiday in the eccentric village of Portmeirion in North Wales. Months of relentless pressure had left him completely exhausted. Portmeirion, created by his friend Clough Williams Ellis, was one of his favourite places to unwind. Bethan Roberts’s gentle drama imagines Brian finding an unexpected connection with a thoughtful young gardener on the estate, imagining what freedom and happiness might have looked like for Brian – one of many who were denied the chance to love openly.

Listen live or via BBC Sounds.

Helena Attlee‘s The Fire in the Mountain will be BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week from Monday 10 August. 

The book will be serialised throughout the week, with five abridged readings from the book broadcast live at 11.45am from Monday through to Friday.

Listen live, or find out more on the BBC Radio 4 programme page.

Collected: Live 

This month’s Collected: Live panel events include:

The Cutting Room Floor: The Writer as Editor at Collected Books in Durham on Tuesday 3 August, 7.30 – 9pm.

Three writers from across the North East: the poet and editor Jo Clement, novelist Zoë Marriot and playwright and poet Harry Man. Drawing on the archive of screenwriters, novelists and poets talking about their process for the Royal Literary Fund, all three writers will consider what we cut, what we keep and when to put the scissors away. If you’re curious about how writers marshal their ideas, or want to get insights into the editing process for your own work-in-progress, this event is for you. A light-hearted discussion full of insights from across the worlds of novels, plays, short stories and poetry followed by a Q & A.

Collected Books specialises in writing by women, with a creative writing class running in tandem to their events series, so the event is a treat to writers and students alike. Tickets here.

How does writing change the writer? at Stroud Library on Thursday 27 August, 2 – 3pm.

A Collected Live panel event featuring writers Rebecca Tantony, Robin Mukherjee and Franny Moyle, to explore whether and how writing does change the writer. The conversation will be followed by an opportunity for audience questions and discussion. This will be an informal and welcoming space for writers, readers and anyone interested in the relationship between writing and personal transformation.

Tickets here.

Events and appearances 

WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant will be at the South Bank Centre on Wednesday 26 August, 7.45pm to discuss his new book, What We Leave We Carry.

Writers Suzanne Harrington, Maria Jastrzębska, Amanda Vilanova and Clementine Burnley – whose writings appear in the book – will join Colin for an evening of candid, profoundly human, sometimes funny and always moving stories of migration.

For tickets and more information, visit the South Bank website.

Awards

RLF Fellow and former beneficiary Gwendoline Riley and WritersMosaic contributor Chloe Aridjis are two of the 13 writers whose works have been longlisted for The Booker Prize 2026.

The judges praised Gwendoline Riley’s The Palm House as “a novel of enduring friendships and small mercies” with “trademark keen observation and wit”, while Chloe Aridjis’ The Shadow of the Object was called “a magnificent work of shadow-play and a meditation on desire, metamorphosis and mortality.”

The judges, chaired by Mary Beard, are poet and writer and Raymond Antrobus; musician and broadcaster Jarvis Cocker; journalist and editor Rebecca Liu; and Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist and poet Patricia Lockwood. Find out more on The Booker Prizes website.

Katie Hickman and Kapka Kassabova have both been inducted into the Royal Society of Literature at the RSL’s annual summer party – the first time their election to the Fellowship has been publicly announced. They were among 22 new RSL Fellows elected in 2026 and signed their names in the RSL roll book using a pen from its permanent collection.

More information here.

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