‘Infinite Powers’ makes the Royal Society Science Prize Shortlist

Infinite Powers:  The Story of Calculus – The Language of the Universe by Steven Strogatz has been shortlisted for The Royal Society Science Book Prize 2019.

Celebrating the very best in popular science writing from around the world for a non-specialist audience, this year’s six shortlisted books, chosen from over 170 submissions, ask readers to rethink the way they view both themselves and the world around them, whilst their wide-ranging subject matter reflects the sheer breadth of science writing published today.

Chair of this year’s judging panel, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, principal and professorial research fellow in computer science at Jesus College, University of Oxford, said: “This year’s shortlist is a great collection of popular science writing. Each book on the list presents an area of science that is fascinating, enthralling and important: from the mysteries of the quantum universe to the air we breathe, from the way that data encodes bias to the skin that is our largest organ, from the infinite power of calculus to new kinds of matter, our shortlist will appeal to all.

“Within these titles we encounter triumph and tragedy, hope and despair, enlightenment and enduring mysteries. The writers share great stories, rooted in outstanding research. They open up our understanding of the world in which we live and remind us of the important discoveries taking place around us every day.”

The winner of the 2019 Prize, sponsored by Insight Investment will be announced at an awards ceremony at The Royal Society on Monday 23rd September 2019, hosted by Professor Brian Cox OBE FRS, The Royal Society’s professor for public engagement in science. The winner will receive a cheque for £25,000, with £2,500 awarded to each of the five shortlisted authors.

‘My Sister the Serial Killer’ longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize

Oyinkan Braithwaite has been longlisted for this year’s £50,000 Booker Prize for her debut novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, the sole debut to make the 13-strong longlist. Longlisted alongside the likes of Lanny by Max Porter,  Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry and The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s hotly anticipated sequel to her classic The Handmaid’s Tale, Braithwaite is also the youngest nominee on the list at the age of 31.

My Sister, The Serial Killer, which was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, is “as skilful, sharp and engaging a debut as any first novelist can produce,” judges said. The Nigerian-born author’s novel has sold the second highest number of copies on the list at  13,052 units, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Chair of judges Peter Florence urged people to read all 13 nominations and emphasised the eclectic nature of the list. “There are Nobel candidates and debutants on this list,” he said. “They imagine our world, familiar from news cycle disaster and grievance, with wild humour, deep insight and a keen humanity. These writers offer joy and hope. They celebrate the rich complexity of English as a global language. They are exacting, enlightening and entertaining.”

 

Allen & Unwin publish charity football book ‘A Game of Two Halves’

Allen & Unwin have acquired World English rights to A Game of Two Halves: Famous Football Fans Meet Their Heroes by Amy Raphael. Editorial director Clare Drysdale acquired rights from Becky Thomas at Johnson & Alcock. A Game of Two Halves will be published by Allen & Unwin on October 3^rd, 2019.

A Game of Two Halves is a collection of revealing, entertaining and amusing interviews between celebrities and their favourite footballers, with half of the royalty earnings going to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Contributors include Raheem Sterling, Gary Lineker, David Morrissey, Clare Balding, Pep Guardiola, Lucy Bronze, Jürgen Klopp, Johnny Marr, Ian Wright, Romesh Ranganathan, Frank Lampard, Val McDermid, Rio Ferdinand, Vivianne Miedema, Steven Gerrard, Héctor Bellerín and David Lammy.

Clare Drysdale comments:

‘In these divisive times, football is a great – perhaps the great – unifier and partnering with UNHCR on this project reminds us that the refugee crisis requires urgent attention. The humour and generosity each of the contributors has brought to this undertaking has produced a sparkling and surprising collection which will be a must-read for all football fans this Christmas.’

 Amy Raphael has been writing about popular culture and sport for more than 25 years. She is the author of half a dozen books, including A Seat at the Table: Interviews with Women on the Frontline of Music, which was published by Virago in June 2019.

Amy comments:

‘I had the idea for A Game of Two Halves in summer 2016 and was amazed by the generosity of everyone involved, from David Morrissey and Gary Lineker to Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. The conversations in the book veer from Pep’s cashmere jumpers to Klopp addressing his touchline celebrations, but they don’t shy away from the fact that football has a social responsibility. I wanted to work with UNHCR on this project because we need to keep the conversation about refugees going – after all, one person is forcibly displaced every two seconds. We shall also be organizing a silent auction around the time of publication, in which signed football shirts, guitars etc will be donated by those in the book, with all proceeds going to UNHCR.’

Corvus acquires ‘The Temple House Vanishing’ by Rachel Donohue

Corvus is delighted to announce their recent acquisition of the stunning debut, The Temple House Vanishing, plus a second, untitled novel, by Rachel Donohue.

Rachel Donohue was the 2017 Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award overall winner, for her short story writing. The Hennessy award was established in 1971; previous winners include Hugo Hamilton, Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe, Colum McCann and Frank McGuinness. The Temple House Vanishing is Rachel’s first full work of fiction and will be published as a lead title by Corvus, Atlantic Books, in early 2020.

The Temple House Vanishing is an upmarket mystery set in an elite Catholic boarding school for girls in the 1990s. The school becomes mired in rumours of a scandal suppressed; a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic twenty-five-year-old male art teacher have disappeared without trace. Donohue takes us back to the months before the disappearance and gradually excavates a dark and complex tale of sexual longing and jealousy, confused and all the more intense for being hidden. Unrequited love can act as a sickness, something alien that takes over the body. Donohue brings alive the consequences of such yearning in a highly repressive environment. The result is a dark and eerie tale that captivates.

Sara O’Keeffe, Editorial Director said:

‘I fell in love with this book from the first page, with its brilliant web of relationships and almost cult-like gravitational pull. It is a novel awash with dark colours, glorious images and dangerous emotion. And always, there is a sense of the nuns, those inky spectres, hovering just out of view but forever watchful. This is a unique and compelling debut – absorbing, complex, riveting. It has just a dash of The Secret History; but also echoes of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Perhaps the best comparison might be to say that it is a sort of twisted Malory Towers for grown-ups. But it remains very much its own creation. We are hugely excited to publish The Temple House Vanishing.

Rachel said:

‘I am delighted to be working with Sara O’Keeffe and the Corvus Atlantic team. The welcome they have given me feels like a first-time author’s dream. Their publishing ambition for The Temple House Vanishing is thrilling and builds in an exciting way on the vision that my agent Ivan Mulcahy and I have had for the book.’

Corvus acquire ‘The Bastille Spy’ by C.S. Quinn

Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books, is delighted to announce their recent acquisition of World Rights for The Bastille Spy, plus a second, untitled novel, by C.S. Quinn from Piers Blofeld at Sheil Land. Quinn was previously published by Amazon and swiftly established herself as a major bestselling author in digital, selling hundreds of thousands of copies.

With her move to Corvus, C.S. Quinn is launching a new series, starring a female spy operating during the fevered atmosphere of the French Revolution. The novel was acquired at auction jointly by Sara O’ Keeffe and Susannah Hamilton, with plans to publish in print and digital in the autumn of 2019.

Quinn says:

‘I am beyond thrilled to be joining such a dedicated and hard-working publisher. There was really never any contest after meeting the team at Corvus. They demonstrated such incredible warmth and expertise, I knew I’d be in great hands.’

Piers Blofeld comments:

‘Amazon have done a brilliant job establishing Cath as an author in digital, selling hundreds of thousands of copies of her books and making Cath a regular at the top of their charts. I’m really thrilled that Sara and Susannah will be driving Cath into the next phase of her career and establishing her as a bestseller in print as well as digital.’

 

Grove Press UK acquires debut novel, ‘The Far Field’ by Madhuri Vijay

Grove Atlantic have acquired UK rights to Madhuri Vijay’s debut novel, The Far Field, from Fiona Baird at WME, on behalf of Claudia Ballard, for the Grove Press UK list.

The Far Field follows one woman’s search for a lost figure from her childhood, a journey that carries her from Southern India to Kashmir and to the brink of a devastating political and personal reckoning. With rare acumen, Madhuri Vijay masterfully examines Indian politics, class prejudice and sexuality through the lens of an outsider, offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion.

Clare Drysdale, who oversees the Grove Press UK list alongside her role as Editorial Director of Allen & Unwin UK and acquired the UK rights, said:

‘Madhuri Vijay’s evocation of place and character are extraordinary, and her plotting kept me on tenterhooks the entire time. This is a book that you live rather than merely read, and we can’t wait to share it with British readers next year.’

Editorial Director of Grove Atlantic Elisabeth Schmitz said:

‘We are thrilled that Grove UK will publish Madhuri Vijay’s remarkable debut novel, The Far Field, along with Grove Atlantic in the US.  The passion displayed by Clare and her colleagues won the day in the UK and resulted in this rare and wonderful independent acquisition.’

The Grove Press UK list, overseen by Atlantic Books, publishes a dozen or so titles a year into the UK market, with authors including Mark Bowden, P.J. O’Rourke, Charmaine Craig, whose novel Miss Burma was longlisted for the 2018 Women’s Fiction Prize, and Lisa Brennan-Jobs, whose memoir Small Fry is currently an international bestseller.

Allen & Unwin acquires ‘mesmerising’ Hannah Gadsby memoir

Allen & Unwin have acquired UK Commonwealth rights to Ten Steps to Nanette, the memoir by Australian comedian and performer Hannah Gadsby.

Hannah Gadsby’s powerful stand-up routine Nanette debuted in 2017, and garnered rapturous international acclaim when it was streamed on Netflix in 2018. Ten Steps to Nanette is a memoir that follows the funny and sometimes dark events of Gadsby’s life leading up to her realisation that she had to quit comedy as she knew it, a decision that she interrogates in her performance.

Editorial Director Clare Drysdale said:

‘Seeing Hannah Gadsby perform Nanette in London was thought-provoking, uncomfortable and mesmerising, and I’m still marvelling at her honesty and audacity. It’s been thrilling to see the international reception to Nanette on Netflix, and we couldn’t be prouder to be publishing Hannah’s vital and extremely funny book on the Allen & Unwin list next year.’

Hannah Gadsby grew up in Tasmania and came to prominence when she won the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2006.

Ten Steps to Nanette will be published by Allen & Unwin in Autumn 2019.

Grove Press to publish ‘Small Fry’, a memoir by the daughter of Steve Jobs

In September 2018, Grove Press (an imprint of Atlantic Books) will publish Small Fry, a frank, smart and captivating memoir by the daughter of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents – artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs – Lisa Brennan-Jobs’s childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, holidays and private schools. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he’d become the parent she’d always wanted him to be.

Small Fry is Lisa Brennan-Jobs’s poignant story of a childhood spent between two imperfect but extraordinary homes. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is an enthralling book by an insightful new literary voice.

“A gorgeous, compelling work of art and a dazzling coming-of-age story. This is a lovely, sweetly intimate portrait, a story told through the eyes of a daughter whose father struggled with his own origins—and who almost became the father she hoped he would be.” —Susan Cheever

Small Fry publishes in the UK on 13th September 2018.

Allen & Unwin to publish ‘Not That Bad’, edited by Roxane Gay

Allen & Unwin have acquired UK Commonwealth (excl. Canada) rights to the New York Times bestselling Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, edited by Roxane Gay. Editorial Director Clare Drysdale acquired the rights from Rachel Clements at Abner Stein, acting on behalf of Maria Massie at Massie & McQuilkin.

In this valuable and timely anthology, cultural critic and bestselling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women must measure the harassment, violence and aggression they face, and where sexual-abuse survivors are ‘routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied’ for speaking out.

Highlighting the stories of well-known actors, writers and experts, as well as new voices being published for the first time, Not That Bad covers a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation and street harassment.

It was published in the US by Harper Perennial in May 2018 and became an instant New York Times bestseller.

Clare Drysdale comments:

‘At this particular cultural moment it seems vital to articulate the lingering consequences of sexual abuse, how it can stop a young life in its tracks, and Not That Bad does this with great eloquence. But subject matter aside, the extraordinary thing about this anthology is the quality of the writing – in publishing Not That Bad it feels like we’re launching several significant careers.’

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture will be published in trade paperback and eBook by Allen and Unwin on 1 November 2018.

Deviant Minds winner announced!

We are very excited to announce that Julian Gyll-Murray‘s novel The Bridal Party has been selected as the winner of Deviant Minds, the writing prize launched by Corvus and A.M. Heath to find a talented and previously unpublished new voice in the crime and thriller genre.

The Bridal Party synopsis: It’s the weekend of Clarisse’s bridal party, a weekend that the girls have all been looking forward to. But on the day of their flight Tamsyn, the maid of honour, offering little explanation doesn’t show up. Upset, and confused, these women try to make the most of the stunning, isolated seaside house they find themselves in. Soon, things quickly start to go wrong, and as the secrets of the house expose themselves no one’s past will remain hidden for long…

Julian Gyll-Murray, the winning author, said:

‘I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Deviant Minds competition. Having read crime fiction from an early age, it is a dream come true to be working with AM Heath and Corvus on my own contribution to the genre!’

Sara O’ Keeffe, Corvus Editorial Director said:

‘We are thrilled to announce that The Bridal Party by Julian Gyll-Murray has won the Deviant Minds crime prize. This was a unanimous decision on behalf of the judges. The Bridal Party is a pacy, unsettling and page-turning read that will make you look at hen-do’s in a whole new – and much scarier – light.’

Euan Thorneycroft of A.M. Heath said:

‘We are delighted to have found, in partnership with Corvus, such a thrilling new writer in Julian. We can’t wait for readers to discover this brilliant novel.’

Julian Gyll-Murray can be followed on Twitter: @JulianGylMurray