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The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook's adaptation of Sarah Waters's award-winning novel FINGERSMITH, has been nominated for a BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language. The film, which moves Waters's novel from Victorian England to 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation and rule, was first screened at Cannes in 2016 and at British cinemas in April 2017. It received great acclaim in the UK and the US, and has grossed over $37 million worldwide. FINGERSMITH was shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange prizes and was awarded the CWA Historical Dagger and the South Bank Show Award for Literature. Since its publication in 2003, the novel has been translated into 20 languages. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 18 February 2018.

We are pleased to announce that Michael Booth's THE MEANING OF RICE (Jonathan Cape, 2017) has been shortlisted for an André Simon Food and Drink Book Award. The award aims to highlight the best of contemporary food and drink writing, and this year the food category is being independently assessed by journalist Rachel Cooke. Peter Cary (i) praised Booth's 'light touch' with 'weighty topics', as 'the comedy does not diminish the informative heft of this foodie odyssey', while Lee Langley (The Spectator) called the book 'a masterclass in Japanese cuisine'. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Goring Hotel in London on Monday 12 February.

Many Greene & Heaton clients are scheduled to appear at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, which takes place 6-15 October. On 6 October, Anthony Anaxagorou will be chairing the Young Writers showcase of the festival's outreach programme; he will also be running a workshop on writing place in poetry on 7 October. On 7 October, Sarah Waters will be in conversation with Sunday Times chief fiction reviewer Peter Kemp as she accepts the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. Also on 7 October, Sumayya Usmani will share delightful Pakistani dishes from her book SUMMERS UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE, accompanied by poetry performances from Asma Elbadawi and Nafeesa Hamid as well as music from Pearls of Islam. On 9 October, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will discuss his new book, RIVER COTTAGE MUCH MORE VEG, with Tim Hubbard. On 11 October, Joseph Knox is going to be on a panel with Ali Land and Cathy Rentzenbrink, discussing his debut novel, SIRENS. On 11 October, Stuart Heritage will form part of "A Night Out For Knackered Dads" alongside Matt Coyne, Tim Dowling and Miles Jupp; he will also be discussing his new book, DON'T BE A DICK, PETE, on 12 October with Linda Blair and Cathy Rentzenbrink. On 13 October you can join Thomasina Miers for a delicious three course dinner, which will showcase recipes from her recent book HOME COOK. Finally, on 15 October Lucy Atkins will chair an event with author Sarah Moss.

Christophe Galfard will appear on the BBC Two programme The Search For A New Earth this Monday 11 September at 9pm. Christophe will appear alongside Professor Stephen Hawking and Professor Danielle George. The programme will explore the possibility of humans relocating to a new planet in the face of increasingly precarious conditions on Earth, using the latest advances in astronomy, biology and rocket technology to question how this new frontier might play out. Christophe's most recent book, the internationally bestselling THE UNIVERSE IN YOUR HAND, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2015.

We are delighted to announce that Ian McGuire’s THE NORTH WATER (Scribner, 2016) has been shortlisted for the inaugural Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. THE NORTH WATER, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Winner of the RSL Encore Award for best second novel, will be judged by Managing Director David Headley and his team at Goldsboro Books. The annual prize celebrates contemporary fiction published the previous year and will be awarded to a novel that is “compelling, possesses brilliant characterisation with a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised.” The winner will be announced on 28 September at Goldsboro Books.

We are delighted to announce that Gill Meller’s GATHER (Quadrille), Thomasina Miers’ HOME COOK (Guardian Faber) and Sumayya Usmani’s MOUNTAIN BERRIES AND DESERT SPICE (Frances Lincoln) have been nominated for Book of the Year at the Food and Travel Reader Awards 2017! From thousands of entries, readers of Food and Travel Magazine voted for their favourites in the world of food, drink and travel. Shortlisted candidates in this hotly contested category also include Rick Stein and José Pizarro. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 18th September at the RAC in London. Vote for your winner here.

Gill Meller’s GATHER has been shortlisted by the Guild of Food Writers for Cookery Book of the Year. The awards ceremony will be held and the winners announced on 22 June at The Oval Space in Bethnal Green. Meller draws from the beauty and abundance of the British landscape to create a collection of simple and stunning recipes. GATHER has been one of the most celebrated debut cookbooks of recent years. Earlier this month it was awarded Best Debut Food Book at the 2017 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards.

We are pleased to congratulate Gill Meller, who has been awarded the prize for Best Debut Food Book at the 2017 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. Gill has been part of the River Cottage team for 11 years, and his book GATHER, published by Quadrille in September 2016, contains recipes that demonstrate his love of the landscape and nature. The awards celebrate the very best writing on the subject of food and drink, and we are thrilled to see Gill recognised for his heartfelt debut.

We are delighted to announce that both Andrew Taylor and C. J. Sansom have been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library award! The prestigious prize has been described by the Crime Writers’ Association as going to ‘a body of work by a crime writer that users of libraries particularly admire.’ Staff from 175 libraries throughout the UK and Ireland nominated the longlist, with a handful of senior librarians and authors choosing shortlisted writers, as well as the final winner. Last year’s winner and this year’s judge, Elly Griffiths, went on to describe the award as ‘one of the best moments of my writing career.’ The winner will be announced at the British Library on Saturday 17 June.

Congratulations to Sarah Waters who has been named Author of the Year at the inaugural DIVA Awards! Waters beat shortlisted authors Val McDermid and Kiki Archer to the prize at the awards ceremony at London’s Café de Paris on 23rd March. The DIVA 250 ceremony celebrated 250 issues of DIVA, Europe’s best-selling lesbian and bisexual magazine. Winning one of 15 potential awards, Waters was joined by Mhairi Black and Jane Hill, who were also recognised in their respective categories.

We are pleased to congratulate Ian McGuire on winning the 2017 RSL Encore Award for THE NORTH WATER! The £10,000 prize has been awarded annually since 1990 for the year’s best second novel. In the words of Chair of Judges Alex Clark: “The North Water works by disorientation, from its violent opening scenes to its voyage through high seas and blocks of ice; it creates a series of unstable, dangerous environments, and peoples them with the good, the bad and all points in between.” RSL Encore Award 2017 Press Release Julia Copus, a judge for the award, commented: “Comparisons with great seafaring novels of the past are inevitable and valid, and yet it’s the riveting, closing scenes, set on dry land and played out with cinematic immediacy, that make this book what it is. I have never read anything quite like it.” For more information about THE NORTH WATER, which was also longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, visit Ian McGuire’s website: http://thenorthwater.net/

Architectural gurus Kieran Long and Piers Taylor return, offering their expertise to those up and down the country who are determined to build their own home on a budget of £100K. The next episode, airing on 1 March, concentrates on a retired Yorkshire couple who gamble their life savings only to find that their house may have been built in the wrong place. The programme airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC Two. @kieranlong

David Bez (SALAD LOVE, BREAKFAST LOVE), Jordan Bourke (OUR KOREAN KITCHEN, HEALTHY BAKING) and Gill Meller (GATHER, RIVER COTTAGE: PIGS AND PORK) will all be in attendance at this year’s Fare Healthy festival on the 4 – 5 February 2017. On the 4th, Jordan, Gill and David will be on the Fare Healthy Demo Stage – showcasing a selection of their favourite recipes – at 11:00, 12:30 and 16:00, respectively. In addition, Gill is also participating in a panel discussion about food waste on the Main Stage at 13:00; and co-hosting the “Root to Fruit” banquet – a zero-waste supper club – at 19:30, with all profits going to Action Against Hunger. Now in its second year and third incarnation, Fare Healthy is “a feel-good festival of food, exercise and wellbeing” spanning two days – with dozens of stalls, speakers and interactive sessions helmed by some the UK’s foremost experts in healthy eating and living – at The Old Truman Brewery, London. Please visit the Fare Healthy website for tickets and more information.

Laura Barnett's short story, "Survivors" - specially commissioned by the BBC - was read by Tamsin Greig and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Barnett's festive tale is centred on "blended families", the pull of familial ties and the difficulty of ignoring the past. "Survivors" originally aired on Friday 16 December, at 15:45. For more information, please visit the Radio 4 website; and to read the full text of "Survivors", visit laura-barnett.co.uk.