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The Half-life of Snails - April 12, 2023 Whilst the weather today might be wet and windy, safely indoors we are celebrating the breaking news that The Half-life of Snails by Philippa Holloway is on the longlist for the 2023 Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize. The annual RSL Ondaatje Prize is awarded to a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, which evokes the spirit of a place. To get on such a prestigious longlist is an outstanding achievement. We caught up with Philippa to find out how it feels to discover that The Half-life of Snails has been longlisted....

  Since Ironopolis was published five years ago, there have been many celebratory moments. The author, Glen James Brown, was not only shortlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction but also the 2020 Portico Prize for his debut. Additionally, Glen has enjoyed the rather enviable position of Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library. This month, there are further celebrations as we launch a new edition of Ironopolis, complete with an exciting new cover. Aside from some tremendous career highlights for Glen, Ironopolis also garnered rave reviews. The Bookseller called Ironopolis ‘An edgy and arresting debut novel.’ Meanwhile, in...

The Lake - March 28, 2023 When we recently discovered that The Lake, authored by Bianca Bellová and translated by Alex Zucker, had been shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize, we could not have been more delighted. As a compelling piece of Czech literature in English translation, The Lake is a natural contender for this award, which aims to illustrate the importance of literary translation and introduce a variety of voices to an English-speaking global audience. Bianca and Alex are no strangers to awards and nominations, with both author and translator having varying accolades between them. The Lake also previously won the Magnesia...

Pob lwc/ good luck to the cast and crew of Pijin/Pigeon for their upcoming tour across theatres in Wales. We could not be more excited for this stage adaptation of Alys Conran's award-winning novel! 

We are delighted that several independent bookshops are supporting the tour and the release of the brand new edition of Pigeon. Pop into their shops and pick up a copy today! 

For LGBTQ History Month, Parthian caught up with Julia Bell, whose superb, intriguing 'memoir in verse', Hymnal, will be published in April. A writer and academic, Julia is the author of four novels, the bestselling Creative Writing Coursebook (Macmillan) and the book-length essay Radical Attention (Peninsula Press). Her essays and short stories have been published nationally and internationally including in the TLS, the White Review and the Paris Review and broadcast on the BBC. Her poetry has been longlisted for the National Poetry Competition and the Bridport Prize. She is a Reader in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London....