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Sue Divin's novel TRUTH BE TOLD has been selected for The KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards Shortlists 2023! This year's shortlist, which includes four debut authors, will compete for the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year and five other awards, including honours for fiction, illustration and a Junior Juries' Award which will be decided by young readers from across the country. A total prize fund of €16,000 will be awarded to this year's winners, who will be announced at a special ceremony at the International Literature Festival Dublin on Wednesday, 24th May. Founded in 1990 and sponsored since 2020 by KPMG Ireland, the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards are recognised as the most prestigious awards for children's books in Ireland, celebrating the best of Irish writing and illustration for young people. Children's Books Ireland, the national charity and arts organisation which administers the awards, has assembled an independent panel of expert judges for the 2023 Awards, including a Young Judge, aged 15+, and a network of Junior Jurors nationwide.

We're very thrilled with the news that Anthony Anaxagorou has been long listed for the Anglo-Hellenic League's Runciman Award 2023 for HERITAGE AESTHETICS (Granta, 2022), which celebrates literature about Greece. Since 1986, the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award has rewarded annually the best book published in the previous year in English about Greece or on a Greek subject. The Award is open to scholarly and creative books and to translations into English of Greek literary works. The list, which covers books published globally in English in 2022, includes books on history, biography, literature and philosophy, plus novels, poetry and literary translation. The books selected span Hellenic experience from antiquity until today. The Award Ceremony for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2023 is scheduled to be held in the Great Hall of King’s College London on Monday 19 June 2023, at 7pm. Details of the award ceremony and of the short list will be announced in due course. The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award is sponsored by the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. The value of the prize to the winner is £10,000.

We're thrilled that Lynne Bryan's memoir, IRON MAN (Salt, 2021), has won the East Anglian Book Awards 2022 under the Biography and Memoir category! The award was judged by Cassia Hayward-Fitch, PhD researcher in American Studies, University of East Anglia. The East Anglian Book Awards are now on their fifteenth year, celebrating writing talent within the East of England. The Awards are a partnership between Jarrold, the Eastern Daily Press, and the National Centre for Writing, supported by UEA Faculty of Arts & Humanities. The overall prize is sponsored by The PACCAR Foundation. https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/east-anglian-book-awards/2022-shortlist/

We’re absolutely thrilled that DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT (Pan Macmillan) by Laura Shepherd-Robinson and TRUE CRIME STORY (Transworld) by Joseph Knox have been shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Now in its 18th year, the prize celebrates crime fiction at its best. Laura Shepherd-Robinson continues her Theakston streak, as her second novel, DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT, is shortlisted, two years after her debut made the longlist in 2020. Her novel transports readers to the seedy underworld of Georgian London, as Caroline "Caro" Corsham tries to solve the murder of a prostitute in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. TRUE CRIME STORY, the first standalone novel from Joseph Knox, blends fact and fiction to tell the story of a 19-year-old university student who leaves a party in her student halls and is never seen again. Knox, who was selected by Val McDermid as a New Blood panellist in 2017, and was longlisted for the prize in 2018 with his debut novel, SIRENS. This is his first time on the shortlist. The public are now invited to vote for a winner at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com. Voting closes on Friday 8th July, with the winner to be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 21st July. The winner will receive a hand-made, engraved beer barrel provided by its sponsor T&R Theakston, in addition to the £3,000 cash prize.

We're delighted to be moving office to Somerset House! From 1st June, our new address will be: Greene & Heaton Ltd, T18, West Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

The 2022 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards longlists have been revealed, and we’re thrilled to see DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT by Laura Shepherd-Robinson and THE ROYAL SECRET by Andrew Taylor have both been longlisted for an award. DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT by Laura Shepherd-Robinson has been nominated for The Gold Dagger Award, which is for overall best crime novel of the year, from thrillers to mysteries, procedurals to psychological suspense. THE ROYAL SECRET by Andrew Taylor has been nominated for The Historical Dagger Award, which is awarded to the best historical crime novel set in any period up to 50 years prior to the year in which the award will be made. The CWA Dagger shortlists will be announced on 13th May at CrimeFest. The awards ceremony will be held at the Leonardo City hotel in London on 29th June, coinciding with National Crime Reading Month. The 2022 Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, has already been announced and we’re proud to say that the winner is another of our authors, CJ Sansom.

We’re thrilled with the news that C. J. Sansom has been announced as the recipient of the highest honour in British crime writing, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger. The CWA Daggers are now regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre. C. J. Sansom says: “I feel so honoured to be awarded this year’s Diamond Dagger, and my heartfelt thanks to the CWA members and committee. Wonderful to think I now join such a distinguished group of authors. To think it all started with the idea that a novel set around Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries might make a good story. Thank you.” Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA, said: “C. J. Sansom has proven himself to be the modern master of the historical thriller, regardless of periods. Equally at ease evoking sixteenth century England, Spain in the aftermath of its Civil War or even an alternate post-WW2 Britain, he weaves a web of compelling reality around his characters and brings the past to life like no other, making him a splendid and deserved addition to the prestigious ranks of Diamond Dagger winners.” C. J. Sansom is the author of the bestselling Matthew Shardlake series of historical thrillers, which have won many awards. DARK FIRE won the 2005 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, awarded by the CWA. DOMINION won the 2012 Sidewise Award for Alternate History. REVELATION was shortlisted for the Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year 2009 and the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger in 2008. HEARTSTONE was shortlisted for the 2011 Walter Scott Prize. C. J. Sansom is our third author to win the Diamond Dagger. P. D. James won the award in 1987 and Andrew Taylor won it in 2009. It was in fact P.D. James who introduced C. J. Sansom to the agency, having been sent the first few chapters of DISSOLUTION and then subsequently highly recommending them for our attention. We can imagine the pleasure she would take in her protégé’s success today. The Diamond Dagger is announced before the annual CWA Dagger Awards, dubbed the “Oscars of the crime genre”, due to be awarded this June. #CWADaggers

The full-line up for series three of BBC Two’s Between The Covers has been revealed - and we're so pleased that FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters (Virago) has made the shortlist for the "Booker Gems", a selection of Booker-shortlisted titles that didn’t win but still deserve to be celebrated. Hosted by Sara Cox, the six-episode series kicks off at 7.30pm on 10th November and sees a panel of four famous guests discuss two books from the series reading list. Here is the full list of shortlisted Booker Gems, in order of discussion on the programme: Good Behaviour by Molly Keane (Virago Modern Classics) The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (Fourth Estate) Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton) The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Canongate) Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Virago) The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Faber and Faber) Follow the discussion on Twitter: @bbctwo #betweenthecovers

We're very excited that two of our authors have made the shortlist for the East Anglian Book Awards 2021! THE TALK OF PRAM TOWN (Pan Macmillan) by Joanna Nadin has been nominated for the Fiction Award and THE END OF THE ROAD: A Journey around Britain in Search of the Dead by Jack Cooke (Mudlark) has been nominated for the History and Tradition Award. The East Anglian Book Awards are a partnership between Jarrold, the Eastern Daily Press, and the National Centre for Writing, supported by UEA Faculty of Arts & Humanities and the PACCAR Foundation. The category winners will be announced in the Eastern Daily Press on Saturday 30th October.

We're so thrilled that DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT (Mantle, 2021) by Laura Shepherd-Robinson is on the shortlist for the Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award 2021! The judges have described Laura's book as "a cracking tale that transports the reader back to the licentious and murky world of prostitutes, pimps and thieves of 18th-century Covent Garden. Pacy, intriguing story, full of characters you’ll love to hate and spot-on research." The HWA Crown Award winners will be announced on 24 November, 2021. Follow #HWACrowns21 on Twitter.

Congratulations to Anthony Anaxagorou and Wayne Holloway-Smith, who have both been shortlisted for the 2021 Ledbury Munthe Poetry Prize for Second Collections. Anthony's collection AFTER THE FORMALITIES (Penned in the Margins), a Guardian Poetry Book of the Year and one of The Telegraph's Best Poetry Books in 2019, has been nominated for the prize and Wayne's "stunning" and "relentlessly inventive" (Best Poetry Books of 2020, Irish Times) LOVE MINUS LOVE (Bloodaxe Books) has also been selected. Judges Naomi Shihab Nye and Sandeep Parmar have chosen books from poets who have "different backgrounds and styles, but whose work is characterised by ambition and risk." All the shortlisted poets will read at an online event on Tuesday 7th December, when the judges will announce the winner. Reserve free tickets here: Prize Ceremony Tickets.

Congratulations to Andrew Taylor and Laura Shepherd-Robinson who have both been longlisted for the Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award for 2021! THE LAST PROTECTOR by Andrew Taylor was published by HarperCollins in Spring 2020 and The Sunday Times wrote that "Taylor confirms his status as one of our finest writers of historical thrillers." His novel THE KING’S EVIL previously won the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown 2020 for Best Historical Novel of the Year. DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT by Laura Shepherd-Robinson was published by Mantle in Spring 2021 and was described by Antonia Senior in The Times as "the best historical crime novel I will read this year." Both novels were The Times bestsellers on their release. The HWA Crown Award shortlists will be announced on 5 October, 2021 and the Awards ceremony and HWA Crown Award winners will be announced on 24 November, 2021.

Congratulations to Rachel de Thample who has won the Guild of Food Writers Award for Specialist or Single Subject (sponsored by Watson and Walpole) with her cookbook FERMENTATION: RIVER COTTAGE HANDBOOK NO.18 (Bloomsbury, 2020). The Guild’s Awards celebrate the best of British food writing and broadcasting - you can watch the announcement here. In FERMENTATION, Rachel de Thample shines a light on one of the oldest methods of preserving food, which is just as relevant today, and shows you how to produce delicious and health-boosting ferments in your own kitchen. "A superb introduction with a practical but inspiring tone that will let you try something new with your garden produce." - English Garden

Helena Attlee, author of LEV’S VIOLIN: An Italian Adventure, has launched a crowdfunding campaign at Hay Festival to rescue and restore a unique violin. Helena was inspired to write the story of this violin when she heard it played by Greg Lawson at a concert in Presteigne, near Hay on Wye. She described its voice as “powerful enough to open pores and unbuckle joints” in her book, which reached millions of listeners when it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week in April 2021. Now the neck of the violin has collapsed and its fragile body needs thorough restoration. The campaign team includes Greg Lawson, violinist with Scotland’s leading orchestras and a member of Moishe’s Bagel, a band playing Klezmer and world music, and Dr Lev Atlas, principal viola at the Scottish Opera Orchestra, who smuggled the violin out of Russia in the 1980s. The restoration has been facilitated by Martin Swan of Martin Swan Violins, and will be carried out by violin maker and restorer Anette Fajardo. This campaign aims to raise sufficient funds to restore Lev's violin and give its wonderful voice back to the world for another hundred years. When it has been restored, it will be offered on loan to exceptional students seeking out their own voices as musicians, and to other players with projects especially suited to its particular tone. Any additional funds raised will be given to Music for All, a charity dedicated to providing instruments for schools, supporting individual musicians and community music projects. Contributors to the campaign will be given the opportunity to hear the glorious sound of Lev's violin on a newly recorded album featuring a variety of classical and world music. Among other funding rewards are tickets to an online concert with Lev’s violin, Greg Lawson and Lev Atlas, a signed copy of LEV’S VIOLIN, and the opportunity to welcome Greg Lawson to your home for a private concert.