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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.

We’re delighted that Pete Paphides has won the £10,000 RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2021 with his memoir BROKEN GREEK. The prize is awarded to a debut writer of fiction or non-fiction aged 50 or over. This year’s judges were Mary Beard (Chair), Monica Ali, Georgia Byng and Ben Hunte. BROKEN GREEK brings together Pete’s experiences as a child of Cypriot parents growing up in Birmingham and his early immersion in pop music in vivid and poignant prose. The paperback edition is out on 10th June 2021 from Quercus. “..the book's greatest asset is its abundance of material about musicians and songs, and the way that they have guided its author through experiences that would have been impossible to navigate alone.” - The Guardian

Congratulations to Gill Meller and Rachel de Thample, whose cookbooks have been shortlisted for this year’s Guild of Food Writers Awards! ROOT, STEM, LEAF, FLOWER (Quadrille, 2020) by Gill Meller is shortlisted for the General Cookbook Award. The category includes cookbooks that 'focus on recipes and the practicalities of cooking’, but can be based on ‘any cuisine, historical period or diet’. ROOT, STEM, LEAF, FLOWER is a cookbook about making the most of the land's bounty in your everyday cooking. With 120 seasonal, vegetarian recipes, Gill’s writing shows us how small changes to the way we cook and eat can lessen our impact on the environment and improve our health and wellbeing. Gill's first book, GATHER (Quadrille, 2016), won the Fortnum & Mason Award for Best Debut Food Book, and TIME (Quadrille, 2018) was shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers General Cookbook Award. Rachel de Thample’s book, FERMENTATION (Bloomsbury, 2020), which is part of the River Cottage Handbook series, is shortlisted for the Specialist or Single Subject Cookbook Award. This award covers cookbooks that ‘focus on a particular technique, ingredient, food group or single subject’. FERMENTATION shows us how to harness the power of fermentation in our cooking, with recipes on everything from sauerkraut and sourdough, kimchee and kombucha, to pickles and preserves, accompanied by brilliant explanations of how the fermenting process works. ‘Endlessly inventive’, according to The Independent, Rachel is the author of FIVE (Ebury, 2015), TONICS & TEAS (Kyle Books, 2017), MORE VEG, LESS MEAT (Kyle Books, 2018), and GIFTS FROM THE MODERN LARDER (Kyle Books, 2019). The Guild of Food Writers annual Awards ‘celebrate the breadth of knowledge and expertise at work in a thriving creative field’. The winners will be announced virtually this year on Wednesday 23 June at 6pm.

Anne Youngson’s novel, MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM, a “thoughtful and gentle meditation on buried passions” (The Guardian), will be dramatised on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour. There will be 10 episodes in total and the first one will be aired on Monday 22nd March. Tamsin Greig will be playing the protagonist, Tina Hopgood, and Paul Ritter will play Anders Larsen.

We’re absolutely thrilled that SMALL PLEASURES by Clare Chambers is on the longlist for the Women’s Prize this year, one of sixteen nominated books. Bernardine Evaristo, chair of the judges, remarked “these novels fascinated, moved, inspired and challenged us.” The judging panel will announce the shortlist on April 28th, and the 25th winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced on Wednesday 7th July. Good luck to Clare and many congratulations to her!

We're thrilled to see Laura Shepherd-Robinson's "deeply satisfying novel" (The Observer), DAUGHTERS OF NIGHT, reach number 5 in The Times hardback chart a week after its release.

LAMENTATION, the sixth book in the bestselling Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom (Mantle), has been dramatised by Colin MacDonald on BBC Radio 4. All episodes will be broadcast from Monday 18th January and will air throughout the month, available for catch-up on the BBC Radio 4 website. The drama will be split into ten exciting episodes, directed by Bruce Young. LAMENTATION received brilliant reviews on publication, described as a “serious rival” to Hilary Mantel (Sunday Times) and a “remarkable achievement” (The Observer). The Shardlake series begins with DISSOLUTION, DARK FIRE, SOVEREIGN, REVELATION and HEARTSTONE. Sansom’s latest addition to the series is TOMBLAND which was published in 2019.

We are thrilled to announce that THE KING’S EVIL (HarperCollins, 2019) by Andrew Taylor has been awarded this year’s HWA Gold Crown. Preceded by THE ASHES OF LONDON (HarperCollins, 2016) and THE FIRE COURT (HarperCollins 2018), THE KING’S EVIL is the third book in Andrew Taylor’s number one bestselling series, which follows James Marwood during the reign of King Charles II. ‘This is historical fiction at its dazzling best’, according to The Guardian, and Taylor is ‘one of the best historical crime writers today’, according to The Times. The Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown is awarded to the best historical novel of the year. This year’s winners were selected by a panel of judges who ‘unanimously loved’ Taylor’s latest instalment: ‘with its rich and exuberant writing and wonderfully realised setting, THE KING’S EVIL is a thrilling, immersive ride.’

We are thrilled to announce that THE KING’S EVIL by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins, 2019), THE BEAR PIT (Quercus, 2019) by S.G. MacLean, and THE FATAL PASSION OF ALMA RATTENBURY by Sean O'Connor (Simon & Schuster, 2019) have been longlisted for several awards at this year’s Crime Writers’ Association Awards! Both Andrew Taylor and S.G. MacLean have been longlisted for the Sapere Books Historical Dagger for best historical crime novel set in any period up to fifty years prior to the year in which the award will be made. THE KING’S EVIL is the ‘dazzling’ (The Guardian) third instalment in Andrew Taylor’s Sunday Times bestselling series, and is also longlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for thrillers set in any period. THE BEAR PIT by S.G. MacLean is longlisted for the Gold Dagger, awarded to the best crime novel. This latest novel is the fifth in the The Seeker series, which is ‘one of the best historical crime series around' (The Times). THE FATAL PASSION OF ALMA RATTENBURY by Sean O'Connor is longlisted for the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction for non-fiction works on a crime related theme, including works relating to true crime, historical crime, crime-related biography, crime-fiction literature and critical studies. THE FATAL PASSION OF ALMA RATTENBURY is 'A case study in human frailty, jealousy and desire.' (The Times). The Crime Writers’ Association awards are ‘the premier literary crime writing awards in the United Kingdom’ and the oldest in the genre. The shortlists will be announced later in the year with the ceremony due to take place on 22nd October 2020.

We’re thrilled to announce that Netflix has acquired the rights to THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer, which is the first book in Springer’s six-part series. Legendary Entertainment’s forthcoming film, titled ENOLA HOLMES, tells the story of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’s younger sister Enola, and the mysteries which she investigates. From FLEABAG director Sam Bradbeer, the film will be led by Millie Bobbie Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw and Helena Bonham Carter. The novels have been published to critical acclaim. Kirkus awarded its starred review, saying that Springer introduces us to ‘an innocent but capable young sleuth’ with ‘gleeful panache’. The film’s release date is to be confirmed.

We are thrilled to announce that BLOOD & SUGAR by Laura Shepherd-Robinson has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2020! Alongside representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith and The Express, the longlist was selected by a panel of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee. Simon Theakston, director of T& R Theakston said, ‘From the familiar faces to the new voices, we are immensely proud of this year's longlist and raise a virtual glass of Old Peculier to all the authors, and what will be another fierce contest for this much-wanted award.’ Laura Shepherd Robinson’s BLOOD & SUGAR is ‘a page-turner of a crime thriller’, according to CJ Sansom, and opens with a mysterious murder on the Deptford Docks in 1781. The debut was a Waterstones’ Thriller of the Month and a Guardian Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for two Crime Writers’ Association Awards, longlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, and won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown. The public will now be invited to vote for their shortlist, which will be announced on 8th June. This will be followed by a virtual awards ceremony on 31st July.

Carol Heaton has been involved with the agency continually since 1968, which was then Elaine Greene Ltd. From 1971 to 1976 she handled translation rights for the agency. When founder Elaine Greene died in 1995, Carol took over the representation of most of Elaine’s clients. The clients Carol now represent include Michael Frayn, the Estate of P.D. James, Jackie Wullschläger and Helen Craig. Carol gained her experience in publishing while working at Penguin as their Rights Director for twelve years from 1976 to 1988, where the sale of American rights was her speciality. During this period she was a consultant to Elaine Greene Ltd, which became Greene & Heaton Ltd in 1993. When she began working full-time at the agency in 1988, she started developing a list of writers working in areas of interest to her: biography, history, current affairs, travel, gardening, health – and, of course, fiction. We asked Carol about her longstanding career as literary agent, the agency’s history, as well as her recommended reading. When did you start at Greene & Heaton? Tell us a bit about the agency before you joined. I started at G&H – then Elaine Greene Ltd – in March 1968, the month I decided to get married. I remember phoning Elaine to tell her and ask was this okay with her. She – always a bit ahead of her time – said of course, as long as I intended to continue working. At that point there was only Elaine and me; she and I were on the top floor of shared premises in a wonderfully Dickensian building in Great Russell Street opposite the museum; we also shared an accountant and a foreign rights agent with Peter Janson Smith who had sponsored Elaine when she started. How was it different from now? Fifty years is a very long time and we’ve inevitably seen a lot of changes. We’ve grown a great deal from Elaine being a sole agent to now when we have several agents, including a full-time foreign rights agent. Things were unimaginably different. Back then paper was king: loads of physical manuscripts coming in all the time; letters and memos were the main means of communication. We used to send an envelope of memos each week to our American co-agents to save on postage. Submissions on behalf of American agents we represented were made with physical, finished books. In an emergency we would “borrow” other people’s telex machines in the seventies. In the late eighties we invested in a fax machine – a huge step forward. At that time too, in the late 80s, I got my first desktop computer and very gradually we moved our accounts to a computerised system against great resistance from our then bookkeeper. For many years I was paid in cash each week in a nasty brown envelope with holes in. Authors were paid by cheque. Elaine loved the telephone and used it a lot whereas nowadays we don’t use it nearly so much. Offices are quieter now whereas back then the phones were ringing all day long and there was a great clatter of manual typewriters. What was Elaine like? Oh she was wonderful and I loved her dearly. She was American and very proud of having worked at the renowned American imprint, Knopf, before she came to the UK. She was a lively, fun-loving person, fiercely intelligent, left-leaning (she was an investor in Ink, the radical magazine founded by Ed Victor and others in the early seventies) and a great reader. She loved crime writing so representing PD James was natural for her. Ahead of her time, she wore trousers to work and used to call restaurants beforehand to make sure it was alright for her to wear them to a lunch meeting – imagine a time when it was not ok for women to wear trousers outside the home! What did you do prior to being an agent? Why did you decide to be an agent? I was very young when I started as Elaine’s assistant and I had little office experience – indeed experience of any kind: short term jobs here and there including a 6-month stint in the export sales department of OUP, and a summer working with a holiday company in Italy which was fun! I never really made a formal decision to be an agent. I grew up in a house full of books so reading was intrinsic to me from an early age. My father was a writer and his publisher, Faber & Faber, introduced me to Elaine who was looking for a new assistant; I was always clear I wanted to work with books and writers. How did your background in translation rights help you in your career? Immeasurably: going to the Frankfurt Book Fair, getting to know and making friends in the international world of publishing and books, developing negotiation skills, learning how to pitch, when and what to pitch and not, I could go on. Back then Frankfurt was when big books were discovered and sold around the world; London hardly existed as a Fair whereas now it’s a key moment in the annual publishing calendar. Two books stick in my mind as being the ones I had most fun with in translation: Supership by Noel Mostert about supertankers, and Jaws by Peter Benchley. How did you feel when you did your first big deal? Thrilled and excited! And a teeny bit nervous: would it ever happen again? (it did!) What is one of the highlights of your career? My first trip to New York City was one of the most exciting moments of my career. What is the most satisfying part of being an agent? I think this must be discovering a new writer, identifying their talents, finding them a good home, seeing them develop and then take off. And the other side of this coin: nurturing an established talent, making sure they are getting the best possible exposure to the market and are completely happy with their publisher. And all things in between. Nurture talent is our watch word; being there to support our clients must be our primary purpose in life. Antony and Judith have grown up at the agency with your mentorship, how has it been to watch their career progression? They have been the most wonderful colleagues throughout our long years together; watching them develop their careers has been hugely exciting and satisfying for me. Mentorship is key in our industry. Elaine mentored me in so many ways and her values continue through me, and on through Antony and Judith, to our younger colleagues today. How do you think the agency has changed over time? What are your hopes for the future of the agency? Inevitably we have moved with the times. Our lists have expanded exponentially and we have taken the agency into new areas of media which we would not have dreamed of back in the 60s. I hope the agency will continue to expand in this way, developing new agents, taking on new clients, moving into new areas of the media that open up, while maintaining our core devotion to books and their writers. And using new technology as it develops: we’ve learned such a lot in recent weeks about video-conferencing. I can’t imagine how Elaine would react to such an idea! What are you reading at the moment, and what are your recommendations for lockdown reading? Now that Antony and Judith are running the business, while I continue to handle my own clients, I have more time to read for pleasure, though I still read a lot of our own new books and submissions. I am enjoying keeping up with things, new and old. My lockdown reading has been eclectic: among others, and avidly reading the daily papers: Jenny Offill’s WEATHER, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize, Bernadine Evaristo’s Booker Prize Winning GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER, John Le Carré’s latest, AGENT RUNNING IN THE FIELD, and now Hilary Mantel’s latest masterpiece THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT and Anne Enright’s ACTRESS. And I have a long reading list and am binge watching CALL MY AGENT, and NORMAL PEOPLE!

Jenny Offill's novel WEATHER is "A gorgeous, funny, deadly serious and warmly revelatory mesh of perfect paragraphs", and has been shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction! The aim of the prize is "always to celebrate women’s creative achievements and international writing, whilst also stimulating debate about gender and writing, gender and reading, and how the publishing and reviewing business works." On the 21st April 2020, the longlist of sixteen novels was narrowed down to six shortlisted novels, including Offill's "miracle of a novel". The winner of the prize will be announced on the 9th September 2020, and they will receive £30,000, and a limited edition bronze figurine called the ‘Bessie’.

Dorian Lynskey’s THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH (Picador) has been longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. Examining the cultural influence of George Orwell’s final novel NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH is joined by eleven other works of non-fiction in the category. The prize for political writing, which is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, aims to ‘celebrate honest writing and reporting, uncover hidden lives and confront uncomfortable truths’. Winning entries will strive to meet Orwell’s own ambition to ‘make political writing into an art’. THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH was reviewed as ‘engrossing [and] enlightening’ by The Sunday Times and ‘wide-ranging and sharply written’ by The New York Times Book Review. It was also longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2019. The Orwell Prize shortlist will be announced in Mid-May and the winner on 25th June.