Writer and performer Hannah Silva’s “genre-fluid memoir that questions what it is to write, to parent and to love”, entitled My Child, the Algorithm, has been signed by Footnote Press. Candida Lacey, consulting editor, acquired world English language rights in print and e-book, excluding the US, Canada and the Philippines, from Laetitia Rutherford at Watson, Little for publication by Footnote in July 2023. Subtitled by the publisher as “an alternatively intelligent book of love”, My Child, the Algorithm is billed as “a living exploration of undoing and redoing love and motherho ..read more

Actors including Toby Jones, Rory Kinnear, Sian Clifford and Emilia Fox are among those who will be recording the audiobook of Alan Moore’s Illuminations (Bloomsbury). In his first-ever short story collection, which spans 40 years of work and features many never-before-published pieces, the author of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen presents nine stories “full of wonder and strangeness”. Joining the ensemble are fellow actors Laura Haddock and Nina Sosanya. Haddock will read “A Hypothetical Lizard”, which follows two concubines in a brothel for fantastical specialists ..read more

HQ has snapped up two books from Jenny Blackhurst, writing under J L Blackhurst. Cicely Aspinall, senior commissioning editor, acquired world English language rights from Laetitia Rutherford at Watson, Little. The first book, Three Card Murder, will publish as a paperback original, e-book and audio in August 2023. TV rights have been snapped up by Gaspin Media, the US-based production company founded by former NBCUniversal TV Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin, in a deal brokered by Rutherford. With a studio deal at Entertainment One, Gaspin Media intends to develop it as a returning ser ..read more

Gallery has signed SEVENTEEN, an “achingly poignant” memoir written under the pseudonym Joe Gibson. Commissioning editor Alison MacDonald acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Donald Winchester at Watson, Little. The memoir will be published in July 2023. The publisher wrote: “It’s 1992. Like every other 17-year-old boy, Joe has one eye on his studies, the other on his social life – smoking, Britpop, girls. When his 35-year-old teacher takes an interest in him, it seems like a fantasy come true.” “For his final two years at school, Joe is bound to her, a woman twice his age, in an increasi ..read more

The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups by Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey and Robin Dunbar has been signed by Cornerstone Press/PenguinRandomHouse, for publication in February 2023. The publisher’s synopsis reads: “We humans may be social creatures by nature, but place us in the average team or organisation and our ability to work and co-operate with others all too quickly comes under stress. Trust can prove elusive. Resentments build quickly. Standing out becomes more important than working towards a common goal. It doesn’t have to be that way. “In this groundbreaking new bo ..read more

Congratulations to Alice Bell, whose OUR BIGGEST EXPERIMENT (Bloomsbury Sigma) has been shortlisted for the 2002 James Cropper Wainwright Prize! Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the aim of the Prize is to inspire everyone to connect with nature and embrace the outdoors. This year’s shortlisted books reflect the astonishing range and depth of nature writing, with titles that confront difficult, yet vitally important issues around climate change, food supplies and the decline of insects, stressing urgency of action whilst offering hope for the future, celebrating the ..read more

Congratulations to Tice Cin, who has added the Gordon Burn Prize longlist to a slew of other prize listings for her debut novel KEEPING THE HOUSE. The £5,000 Gordon Burn prize, which rewards the “boldest and most exciting” fiction and non-fiction, this year features a mixture of true crime, memoir, music and sport. This year’s longlist was selected by chair of the judges, author Denise Mina, alongside sportswriter and columnist Jonathan Liew, broadcaster Stuart Maconie, artist Heather Phillipson and writer Chitra Ramaswamy. Mina said: “What a joy it has been to read these diverse and wonderfu ..read more

Congratulations to Alice Bell (OUR BIGGEST EXPERIMENT) and Jeremy Williams (CLIMATE CHANGE IS RACIST) who have both been longlisted for the 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize in the Conservation category. Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the aim of the Prize is to inspire everyone to connect with nature and embrace the outdoors. This year’s longlisted books reflect the astonishing range and depth of nature writing, with titles that confront difficult, yet vitally important issues around climate change and food supplies, celebrate the wonder of life in our back gardens ..read more

The accolades keep coming in for KEEPING THE HOUSE – it has now been shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022. In a shortlist of three, Tice Cin‘s mesmerising debut adds this to prize listings for the Jhalak Prize, the British Book Awards, Dylan Thomas Prize, as well as a Somerset Maugham Award. With a reputation as the most prestigious award for debut novelists, the Desmond Elliott Prize encourages publishers from across the UK and Ireland to submit literary fiction debuts for consideration, awarding one winning author £10,000 to shape their developing career. In 2020, the thirteenth y ..read more

Congratulations to Tice Cin for winning a Somerset Maugham Award for her debut novel KEEPING THE HOUSE! The Somerset Maugham Awards are for published works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by writers under 30, to enable them to enrich their work by gaining experience of foreign countries.  This year the prize was judged by Fred D’Aguiar, Ardashir Vakil and Roseanne Watt. Each of the 5 winners were awarded £3,200. For more info please see the Society of Authors website.   The post Tice Cin’s KEEPING THE HOUSE wins a Somerset Maugham Award appeared first on Watson Little ..read more