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We're thrilled to announce that Sir Tony Robinson will be going on tour, starting in September 2025, with Fane Productions to celebrate the publication of his thrilling fiction debut, THE HOUSE OF WOLF (Sphere, September 2025). Sir Tony Robinson is one of Britain’s best-loved faces on screen, a master storyteller and an award-winning writer, known for creating the iconic Baldrick in BLACKADDER and presenting 20 seasons of Channel 4’s TIME TEAM. Now, Tony celebrates a life on stage and screen – sharing stories from his remarkable career, his passion for history, and his thrilling fiction debut THE HOUSE OF WOLF, an epic tale of Alfred the Great and the bloody birth of England. Hear behind-the-scenes stories from TIME TEAM, BLACKADDER, THE WORST JOBS IN HISTORY and beyond – and have the chance to ask Tony anything, from writing his first novel at 78 to why Baldrick still gets the biggest laughs. Drawing on decades of archaeological expertise and his gift for making the past come alive, Tony will reveal the gritty reality behind the legend of Alfred the Great in his latest work. What was life really like for ordinary people caught between Saxon kings and Viking raiders? How did political scheming in medieval courts compare to today's power struggles? This isn't just historical fiction – it’s Tony’s unique take on the real events that forged our nation. This will be a night of brilliant storytelling, big laughs, and history with a twist – all delivered by a man who always had… a cunning plan. Tickets can be booked here.

We are delighted to announce that UNHEARD: THE MEDICAL PRACTICE OF SILENCING by Rageshri Dhairyawan and SHOULDER TO SHOULDER by Jake Hall have both been longlisted for the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing 2025! The Bread and Roses Award is a book prize with a difference: presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers, and without the backing of corporate sponsors, the award seeks to recognise and celebrate excellence in the field of radical political non-fiction. Nominations are invited from national and international publishers – see our frequently asked questions page for further information. An award of £500 will be made each year to the winning writer. A presentation ceremony is held at the ARB London Radical Bookfair. The board decided to release this longlist at the start of Independent Bookshop Week to highlight the importance of independent bookshops, particularly radical bookshops, for celebrating books which speak to the present political moment. The Bread and Roses Award, presented by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers with admin support from Lighthouse Bookshop, celebrates radical, accessible, politically left non-fiction that offers new perspectives and insights. Over 100 books were sent by publishers for consideration, from publishing houses big and small across the industry, including Verso, Bloomsbury, Saqi, Peepal Tree Press, and Canongate. The books chosen this year cover a wide array of topics which are critical to the present political discussion in the UK. Among them are social inequality, police violence, digital innovation, health politics, climate change, marginalised histories of identity, feminism for all, and the experience of forced displacement and refuge.

ITV has confirmed its summer schedule, and it includes SHARDLAKE, the TV adaptation based on historical crime thriller DISSOLUTION, by C. J. Sansom. SHARDLAKE was brought to life by Disney Plus last year, and will be available for viewers to watch on ITV1 from Monday 9th June. The four-part drama is set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries. Stephen Butchard (“Baghdad Central,” “The Last Kingdom”) penned the script and has said: "Writing Shardlake has been nothing short of a joy. CJ Sansom’s novels are incredibly rich in story, character and history; full of intrigue, excitement, cruelty and compassion – and at the centre of it all is Matthew Shardlake, a hero like no other." Production of “Shardlake” has already begun, with filming taking place in Hungary, Austria and Romania. The adaptation features a stellar cast including Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell, Anthony Boyle as Jack Barak and Arthur Hughes as Matthew Shardlake, a 16th-century lawyer tasked with investigating a murder at a monastery.

We are delighted that ENGLAND IS MINE by Nicolas Padamsee has been shortlisted for the Society of Authors Betty Trask Prize 2025. The annual Society of Authors’ Awards recognises the best and most promising literary voices of the year. The Awards ceremony is generously supported by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund prizes for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 in a traditional or romantic style. Each year a single prize winner receives £10,000 and the remaining fund is split between the shortlist. Judged by Andrew Cowan, Daisy Lafarge and Stephanie Sy-Quia. Judge Andrew Cowan said: "Whether politically urgent, exquisitely lyrical, or strange and surreal; whether expansive or economical, comic or introspective, set now or in the past, each of these skilful novels is brimming with wit and invention. Together they demonstrate the wonderfully open-ended possibilities for the contemporary novel."

We are thrilled to announce that THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE by Ruth Mancini has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. The most prestigious award in crime fiction, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, marks its 21st year in 2025. The Award celebrates excellence, originality and the very best in crime fiction from UK and Irish authors. A highlight in the literary calendar, past winners include Clare Mackintosh, Mick Herron, Val McDermid, Lee Child and the 2024’s winner Jo Callaghan. Awarded annually as part of Harrogate International Festivals’ Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, the winner of the most wanted accolade in crime fiction receives a cheque for £3,000 and an engraved oak beer cask, hand-carved by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakston’s Brewery, nestled in the heart of North Yorkshire in the beautiful village of Masham. The Awards Academy group is made up of over 20 passionate readers, including journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers, podcasters, and industry representatives. Each member independently ranks their top 18 titles from the submissions, and the books with the highest combined scores form the final longlist. Voting can be found here.

THE CASTAWAYS, adapted from Lucy Clarke's bestselling book, is making its way to Channel 5, having originally aired on Paramount+ back in 2023. The series follows a woman, Erin, whose sister Lori goes missing while travelling abroad. She travels to Fiji to investigate the use of her missing sister's credit card following suspicious activity on a remote Pacific island. The Guardian described the series as "A darkly plotted and sunnily staged piece of escapism". The series stars Sheridan Smith as Lori Holme and Celine Buckens as Erin Holme. The Standard review reads: "Clarke’s deliciously intriguing plot is aided by a standout performance from the intensely likeable Smith, who propels the drama along. Lincolnshire-born Sheridan is known for her roles in The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gavin & Stacey and Benidorm. Celine Buckens, a 28-year-old Belgian-British actress, is known for her roles in Free Rein, Showtrial and Warrior. The series also stars Brendan Cowell as Mike Brass, Lasarus Ratuere as Felix Vatuba, Dominic Tighe as Daniel Eldridge and Charlotte Vega as Amber Gordon. The Castaways airs on Channel 5 on Sunday, January 26 at 9pm. The remaining episodes will air on consecutive days, from Monday, January 27.

ENGLAND IS MINE by Nicolas Padamsee has been longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2025! The Gordon Burn Prize recognises literature that is forward-thinking and fearless in its ambition and execution, often playing with style, pushing boundaries, crossing genres or challenging readers’ expectations. Founded in 2012 by New Writing North, Faber & Faber and the Gordon Burn Trust, the Gordon Burn Prize has built a reputation for identifying and celebrating brilliant books that often find their readers outside the mainstream. The 2025 prize will be awarded in March 2025 in Gordon Burn’s home city, Newcastle upon Tyne, with support from Newcastle University and NCLA, the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts. The prize remembers the writer Gordon Burn who died in 2009, seeking to celebrate those who follow in his footsteps. A journalist and author of ten books, Burn’s work includes the novels Alma Cogan and Fullalove and non-fiction titles Pocket Money: Inside the World of Snooker and Happy Like Murderers: The Story of Fred and Rosemary West. Like Gordon Burn’s own work, the prize is open to a diverse range of themes and perspectives drawn from the breadth of today’s cultural and social concerns. The judges seek work that shows an affinity with the spirit and sensibility of Gordon’s literary methods: novels which dare to enter history and interrogate the past; writers of non-fiction brave enough to recast characters and historical events to create a new and vivid reality. The shortlist will be announced in January and the winner will be announced at the Live Theatre on 6 March 2025.

LEVITATION FOR BEGINNERS by Suzannah Dunn has been shortlisted for the 2024 Nero Book Award for Fiction. The Nero Book Awards are the only set of multi-category awards open exclusively to writers based in the UK and Ireland and have established themselves as ‘one of Britain and Ireland’s top literary prizes’ (The Observer), propelling the inaugural Nero Book Awards Gold Prize winner 2023, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton), to a wider audience earlier this year. The book’s paperback edition jumped from #3,724 to #129 in the Amazon book charts the morning after the announcement. Simon Prosser, Publishing Director at Hamish Hamilton, said: “Winning the Gold Prize was a great extra boost for The Bee Sting as we prepared to launch our paperback edition, and we were delighted when the book went straight into the Top 5 of the Sunday Times paperback fiction bestseller chart.” The category judges have selected 16 books as the best of the year in the four categories out of hundreds of books submitted. Each category (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s) winner, chosen from the shortlist, will be announced on Tuesday 14th January 2025 and of those, one book will be selected as the overall winner – The Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year – by a final panel of judges and announced at a ceremony on 5th March 2025. 10 out of 16 shortlisted books are by women and more than half of the books shortlisted are by debut authors. There is also an even split of books published by major publishing houses and independent presses represented on the shortlist this year. The judges for the 2024 Fiction Prize were Kevin Power, Dr Will Smith and Zoe West.

THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE by Ruth Mancini (Century, 2024) has made it to number 3 on the Sunday Times Bestsellers List.

NEON ROSES by Rachel Dawson has been shortlisted for the 2024 Polari Frist Book Prize. The Polari Prize is the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated LGBTQ+ book prize, founded by author and activist, Paul Burston. The Polari First Book Prize was launched in 2011. Previous winners include Fiona Mozley, Saleem Haddad, Paul McVeigh, Kirsty Logan, Diriye Osman, John McCullough, Mari Hannah, James Maker, Angela Chadwick, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Mohsin Zaidi, Adam Zmith and Jon Ransom. The Polari Prize was founded in 2019 and awarded to Andrew McMillan in its inaugural year, to Kate Davies in 2020, Diana Souhami in 2021, Joelle Taylor in 2022 and Julia Armfield in 2023. The Children’s & YA Book Prize was established in 2022 and won by Terry Eagleton and James Mayhew. The awards have been covered in a wide range of publications including Metro, the Bookseller, Book Brunch, the Guardian, the i, Irish Independent, Press Association, Gay Times, Winq, BBC Radio 4, The London Magazine, Wasafiri and elsewhere. This year's judges for the Polari First Book Prize are author Rachel Holmes, author and writing coach Karen McLeod, author Jon Ransom (Polari Prize winner 2023), Co-chair of Spread The Word Simon Richardson and author Paul Burston (chair). Jon Ransom said: “This is an exciting and diverse longlist, representing the very best of LGBTQ+ writing today.”

THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE by Ruth Mancini has been chosen as one of six titles on the Richard & Judy Book Club. The six books in this brand new WHSmith Book Club selection include compulsive thrillers and twisty mysteries selected by Richard & Judy themselves.

Ella Frears's debut novel GOODLORD: AN EMAIL has been shortlisted for The Forward Prize for Petry 2024. The Forward Prizes for Poetry are the most influential awards for new poetry in the UK and Ireland, honouring fresh voices alongside internationally established names. First awarded in 1992, over the last three decades the prizes have celebrated some of the most recognised names in poetry including Simon Armitage, Thom Gunn, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy, Claudia Rankine, Jackie Kay and Caleb Femi.

On Thursday 13th June 2024, Roy Foster, Chair of Judges, announced that MONET: THE RESTLESS VISION, published by Allen Lane, had won the ELHB 2024 Prize. Flora Fraser, Chair of the Prize, presented winning author Jackie Wullschläger with a cheque for £5,000 and a bound copy of Elizabeth Longford’s memoir, The Pebbled Shore. The Judges are all well-known historical biographers and historians. Antonia and Flora Fraser are also, respectively, daughter and granddaughter of Elizabeth Longford, the distinguished historical biographer and author of Victoria: RI, of Wellington: Years of the Sword and of Wellington: Pillar of State, who died at the age of 96 in 2002. Roy Foster on Jackie Wullschläger’s winning biography, Monet: The Restless Vision (Allen Lane):"The Judges cast a wide net for the 2024 Prize, choosing books which profiled various kinds of transformative lives: people who crossed barriers to change history, often in ways no less decisive for being discreet, whether they were philosophers, codebreakers, politicians or diplomats. In the end we chose a masterly biography of an artist who transformed the way we see things. Jackie Wullschläger’s life of Claude Monet is not only an enthralling portrait of a powerful personality; she shows how the ‘restlessness’ pinpointed in her subtitle drove Monet to reformulate memory and time in his great serial paintings. The process culminated with the legendary water-lilies series, but Wullschläger’s deeply-researched book traces the development of his vision back to its origins. She surveys and illuminates a complex and passionate personal life, and the networks of friendship and affinity which connected him to the worlds of Clemenceau, Bergson and Proust, as well as the fellowship of other Impressionists. Her biography not only shows the development of a revolutionary artistic vision and the slow process of understanding it; she sets the process against a brilliant evocation of the rich and multi-layered world of French culture in the late nineteenth century and belle époque. Historically insightful, psychologically perceptive, and consummately readable, Monet: The Restless Vision fulfilled everything the Judges of the Elizabeth Longford Prize look for in ground-breaking historical biography." Founded in 2003 by Flora Fraser and Peter Soros (Patron) to commemorate her late grandmother’s writing career, the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography rewards annually a historical biography which combines scholarship and narrative drive. Previous winners include Anne Somerset’s Queen Anne, John Bew’s Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee, Giles Tremlett’s Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen and Ramachandra Guha’s Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom.

NEON ROSES by Rachel Dawson has been shortlisted for The Society of Authors Betty Trask Prize. This award is presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Judge Anjali Joseph said: "The shortlist this year includes several historical novels, and a few that take elements of classics – Moby Dick, Frankenstein – and make them into something new. All of the shortlisted novels delighted us with their freshness and each had a voice that was distinctively and recognisably its own." Judged by Anjali Joseph, Michael Donkor and Alex Preston.