Dame Professor Sue Black selected to join the Order of the Thistle

Dame Professor Sue Black is widely recognised for her groundbreaking work as a forensic anthropologist and has now been invited by King Charles to join the Order of the Thistle. A chivalric order bestowed by the reigning monarch and believed to have originated in the 1400s, the honour currently recognises 16 knights and citizens who have held public office or have made a particular contribution to national life across law, medicine, politics and business.

The order is recognised by the ceremonial dress of a green velvet robe and black velvet hat topped with an ostrich feather. The Order’s motto, Nemo me impune lacessit – ‘No one provokes me with impunity’ – is a former motto of the Stuart dynasty and is also used by the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Dame Professor Sue Black will be appointed to the order alongside fellow Scots, human rights activist Sir Geoff Palmer and lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy. The King has also appointed his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, to mark his 60th birthday.

Professor Black, who was born in Inverness, set up the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at Dundee University and pioneered new identification techniques to convict paedophiles, with her further research on biometrics taking her to Kosovo and Sierra Leone to assist in international war-crime investigations.

Awarded a life peerage in 2021, Professor Black, who is currently serving as president of St John’s College at Oxford University, described the news of her latest honour as ‘somewhat surreal. Contact from the Palace was so totally unexpected. . . I don’t think it has really sunk in fully and all I can promise to do is to serve as best I can.’

The new knights and ladies will be officially sworn in at a ceremony held this summer at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Amy Twigg named one of The Observer's 'Best new novelists for 2024'

Amy Twigg has been selected by The Observer for their list of ‘Best new novelists for 2024’ for her highly anticipated debut, Spoilt Creatures. The annual list shines a spotlight on the best authors based in the UK and Ireland; previous authors chosen by The Observer include Sally Rooney, Louise Kennedy and Douglas Stewart.

Set in a close-knit community of women living in the South Downs, Spoilt Creatures has already received rave reviews in the build up to its release. Described by Kiran Millwood Hargrave as ‘heady with the possibilities of language and the righteousness of female rage,’ and ‘lush and dreamlike’ by Colin Walsh, Twigg examines sisterhood, obsession and transgression through these women and the men who disturb their peace.

Spoilt Creatures will be published by Tinder Press on June 6th.

Orbit acquires ‘wild-ride’ of a new epic fantasy The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford

Orbit has signed The Bone Raiders, a fast-paced and highly entertaining new epic fantasy from Jackson Ford, author of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind. Orbit UK Publisher Anna Jackson acquired World English language rights in two novels set in the world of the Bone Raiders from J&A’s Ed Wilson. Bradley Englert, Senior Editor at Orbit US, has acquired rights in US & Canada. Orbit will publish the book globally in May 2025.

This epic fantasy follows the story of the Rakada, a fearsome band known as the Bone Raiders, due to their charming habit of wearing the bones of those they kill on their armour. But being a raider is tough these days, especially when the High Chieftain is trying to wipe out you and your kind. When Sayana, a young Rakada scout, finds herself face-to-face with a fire-breathing lizard of legend during a raid-gone-wrong, she comes up with an audacious plan to save the Rakada and preserve their way of life. A plan that involves convincing the lizard to let her ride it . . .

‘I really fell for The Bone Raiders – this is such a fun and absorbing epic fantasy that really packs a punch,’ announced Acquiring Publisher Anna Jackson. ‘With a fast pace, great sense of humour and a superb ensemble cast, it’s perfect for fans of lively epic fantasy with attitude such as Kings of the Wyld, The Grey Bastards, The Blacktongue Thief and The Blade Itself. Get ready for the Rakada . . .’

Author Jackson Ford said, ‘Bad guys are always the best fun to write – especially bad guys who have everything to lose. I fell hard for the Rakada, and especially for Sayana, who has no idea what she's about to get into. I had a wild time creating the world of The Bone Raiders, and I can't wait for readers to get their teeth into it.’

‘Take one fearsome warrior band, add a giant fire-breathing lizard, heap on sass by the bucketload – it can only be the new Jackson Ford!’ commented Ed Wilson. ‘We’re delighted to have Anna and Bradley from Orbit along for the ride. Epic fantasy has never felt so fresh and feisty.’

Jackson Ford is a pseudonym for Rob Boffard, a South African writer who now lives in Vancouver. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Frost Files series, about a government operative with telekinetic powers. This series begins with The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind and has sold over 90,000 copies. He has released four science fiction novels under the name Rob Boffard, and was previously a journalist for over a decade, writing articles for publications and sites including the Guardian, the BBC, Wired Magazine and io9.

Sam Holland's The Twenty awarded the Dutch Silver Bat

The Twenty, the second novel by crime writer Sam Holland, has won the Silver Bat award for ‘Thriller of the Year’ at the Nederlands Thriller Festival. Published by HarperCollins NL in August of this year, The Twenty has been praised by readers and critics alike for Holland’s trademark ‘nail-biting’ and ‘addictive’ writing. She is the first author to be awarded a Bronze and Silver Bat in successive years.

Holland’s win was announced at a ceremony during the annual Thriller Book Festival, which took place in Zoetermeer. A prominent event in the Dutch literary calendar, this is the second year Holland’s books have been recognised; The Echo Man was previously awarded the Bronze Bat for ‘Best Debut Thriller’ in 2022.

Amy Arnold shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2023

Amy Arnold has been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2023 with her second novel, Lori & Joe, published by Prototype. This is Amy’s second shortlisting, following her debut Slip of a Fish, which was also the inaugural winner of the Northern Book Prize.

Tom Lee, chair of the judges, said of the novel: ‘Written in prose of astonishing musicality and resonance, Lori & Joe captures precisely the ebb and flow of a woman’s thoughts as she walks the Cumbrian fells following her husband’s sudden death. At first a seemingly quiet and meditative novel, the story that unfolds is anything but quiet – an unforgettable and devastating portrait of regret, secrets and harm amid a landscape of haunting beauty.’

The Goldsmiths Prize was founded in 2013 to ‘reward fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form’. The winner will be announced on 8th November.

Murder in the Family is an international bestseller

Cara Hunter has become an instant New York Times bestseller in her first week of publication in North America. Her novel Murder in the Family has entered the paperback fiction chart at number two. It also entered the bestseller lists in USA Today and the Toronto Star. In the UK, where Murder in the Family was first published in July, it hit the Sunday Times best-sellers chart at number 7.

News of these fantastic sales comes in a week where the Foreign Rights department has also concluded a translation deal for Cara in her thirtieth territory.

Cara’s first standalone novel focuses on an investigative true crime TV show, bringing together a group of experts to examine an unsolved murder from twenty years before.

The British Fantasy Awards shortlist is revealed

The shortlist for this year’s British Fantasy Awards has been announced and we’re delighted to see our authors Caimh McDonnell and Shauna Lawless included among the nominees.

Caimh is up for the ‘Best Audio’ award for this work narrating the first entry in his Stranger Times series, while Shauna has been nominated for Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer for her debut novel, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men.

The British Fantasy Society was founded in 1971 and has dedicated itself to promoting the best writing in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. The Society’s accolades are the longest running fantasy awards in the UK; previous winners include Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Iain Banks, Diana Wynne Jones and Neil Gaiman.

This year’s recipients will be decided by a special panel of readers appointed by the BFS, with a ceremony held in September at Fantasycon to announce the winners.

Million copy milestone for Sarah Pearse

Sarah Pearse has achieved the fantastic milestone of selling over one million copies worldwide of her novels, The Sanatorium and The Retreat. Published in 2021 and 2022 respectively, both books hit the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller lists, and The Sanatorium was chosen as a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

Internationally, Sarah’s books have been published in over 30 territories.

This wonderful news has landed during the week of the UK paperback release of The Retreat, and Sarah is currently working on Book Three – watch this space. . .

Heather Critchlow nominated for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize

Bloody Scotland, the festival honouring international crime writing has announced their shortlist for the 2023 season, and we’re delighted to see Heather Critchlow in the running for the Debut Prize for her novel Unsolved. In good company, Heather is nominated alongside Fulton Ross (The Unforgiven Dead), Heather Darwent (The Things We Do to Our Friends), Kate Foster (The Maiden) and Callum McSorley (Squeaky Clean).

Founded in 2012, Bloody Scotland has established itself as the country’s leading international crime writing festival and features a range of novels on criminal subjects, from fictional forensics and psychological thrillers to tartan noir and cosy crime novels.

The festival will take place in Stirling from the 15th to 17th of September.

Sinclair McKay's 'multifaceted portrait' of Churchill acquired by Viking

Viking have announced they will publish J&A author and historian Sinclair McKay’s next work, a biography of Winston Churchill to coincide with the 150th anniversary of his birth in 2024.

Meeting Churchill: A Life in 75 Encounters will be published in hardback in autumn 2023. The blurb reads: ‘This insightful portrait of Winston Churchill delves beyond well-known political moments, incorporating perspectives from various individuals who encountered him throughout his life. From Bletchley Park codebreakers to Hollywood stars, Harold Wilson to Gandhi, these lesser-known interactions reveal glimpses of the man behind the legend.’

‘We meet Churchill the mischievous schoolboy with a penchant for singing obscene songs, and Churchill the elder statesman shedding a tear in the House of Commons smoking room. Other incidents include a young journalist rudely dismissing a call from Churchill as a prank, and a visiting Dwight D Eisenhower dreaming of being strangled, only to awake entangled in Churchill’s borrowed nightshirt.’

Viking said: ‘The book showcases the profound transformations during Churchill’s lifetime, which ran from Benjamin Disraeli’s premiership to the release of the Rolling Stones’ ’Route 66’, and the shift from steam to atomic power. Examining controversial aspects of his legacy, this multifaceted portrait challenges preconceived notions, inviting readers to reconsider the complexities of Churchill.’

‘This is Churchill through the eyes of those who met him, brought to life by Sinclair McKay’s wonderfully vivid writing. It is not only a joy to be in Sinclair’s company on the page, but throughout the publishing process,’ said editorial director Connor Brown. ‘We are so proud to publish him at Viking and look forward to another success together.’

McKay said, ‘There are very few historic figures who absolutely everyone felt they somehow knew; yet in the case of Churchill, a dive into sometimes forgotten archives and memoirs kept by those who met him show us flashes of a man who moved through a thousand different worlds.’

He added: ‘Whether chatting with Charlie Chaplin under rich Hollywood skies, or jousting intellectually over salon dinners with the Bloomsbury group; smoking with Stalin in the Kremlin, dining with his Essex constituents in a Chigwell hostelry, or weekending with Einstein at Chartwell, Churchill – as seen through the eyes of others – emerges as a man on to whom the fears and dreams and passions of a century were projected. It is such a huge privilege to be working once more with the brilliant and inspirational team at Viking: their enthusiasm is authentically Churchillian.’

Photo credit: Liam Bergin

Neal Street options Cara Hunter's first standalone novel

Neal Street Productions have picked up the television rights to Cara Hunter’s first standalone novel, Murder in the Family, set to be published in July by HarperCollins. Cara is the author of the Sunday Times best-selling DI Fawley crime novels, which have sold more than a million copies in the UK and have been published in 27 territories internationally.

Murder in the Family is an ingeniously plotted and addictive novel about an unsolved murder that gripped the nation. When Luke Ryder was found dead in the garden of the family home in London in 2003, he left behind a wealthy, older widow and three step-children. Years later, a group of experts are filmed on the set of a true-crime show as they re-examine the evidence – with shocking results.

Neal Street produces award-winning film, TV and theatre and is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. Their most recent television slate includes the hugely successful Call the Midwife for the BBC, now in its 13th series, and along with The Franchise, an original TV comedy pilot, which Neal Street will produce for HBO and will be directed by Sam Mendes. Film projects include the newly released Empire of Light, for Searchlight Pictures, written and directed by Sam Mendes, starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones, as well as the multi-award-winning 1917 starring George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch. Nicolas Brown from Neal Street said: ‘We are delighted to have been fortunate enough to acquire the screen rights and are looking forward to working on an adaptation that does justice to Cara’s uniquely entertaining and thrilling book.’

Remembering D. M. Thomas, 1935 – 2023

Poet, novelist, biographer and long-time friend of J&A Donald Michael Thomas has died, aged 88. Considered one of the greatest contributors to modern literature, Donald’s work has been translated into 30 languages worldwide and received numerous accolades throughout his lifetime.

Born in Cornwall in 1935, he spent some of his childhood in Australia, before returning to the UK to finish his schooling. He studied English at Oxford, graduating in 1958, and worked as a teacher and lecturer for a number of years.

Donald had learned Russian during his National Service in the 1950s, and maintained a lifelong interest in Russian culture and literature. He would go on to publish a number of well-received translations of Russian poetry, including the works of Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Pushkin, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko. He also wrote a biography of novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which was awarded the Orwell Prize in 1999.

The writer of dozens of poetry collections and fourteen novels, including the Russian Quartet, his best-known work, The White Hotel, was published in 1981 and is regarded as a ground-breaking examination of eroticism and sexuality. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and the Cheltenham Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, coming a close second to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. William Golding and Graham Greene were huge fans of the novel, naming it their ‘book of the year,’ and Rushdie himself considered The White Hotel to be a work of ‘blazing imagination and intellectual thought.’

Donald passed away in his beloved Cornwall, and is survived by his fourth wife, Angela Embree, and his three children. Leaving behind a wealth of thought-provoking writing created over a colourful lifetime, he will be sorely missed.

Photo credit: Ken Goff, The Guardian

Dame Professor Sue Black and Kara Gnodde are Barnes & Noble 'Monthly Picks'

Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black and Kara Gnodde’s The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything have been chosen by Barnes & Noble as some of their top titles for March, for fiction and non-fiction respectively. These two books are among six highlights across categories such as mystery and thriller, YA and speculative fiction.

The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything was released by HarperCollins in North America on February 28th, and is set to be launched by Mantle in the UK as one of their lead Spring titles later this month. Written in Bone was published in the UK by Transworld in 2020 to great success, and was made available to North American readers earlier this year from Arcade.

The Marlow Murder Club hits international milestone

The ladies of Marlow are taking over the world! Robert Thorogood’s Marlow Murder Club series has experienced great success in the UK, and is set to be translated in 15 languages worldwide. Rights to the series have been acquired in Danish, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Slovenian and Ukrainian, with more to follow – stay tuned!

Jody Cooksley announced as winner of the 2023 Caledonia Novel Award

Congratulations to Jody Cooksley, the winner of the Caledonia Novel Award 2023! We are delighted that Jody has signed with agent Charlotte Seymour, who judged this year’s award and chose Jody’s Victorian gothic novel, The Small Museum, from a shortlist of seven writers and a longlist of fifteen. Jody wins £1,500 and this year’s specially-designed artwork by Edinburgh artist Lucy Roscoe. As the author of the best novel from the UK and Ireland, Jody also wins the free place on a writing course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre.

Excerpts from Jody’s novel and all the shortlisted entries are available to read here.

A tribute to Ronald Blythe, 1922 – 2023

Ronald Blythe, beloved nature writer, editor, essayist and champion of the English countryside, has passed away, a few months after marking his 100th birthday.

Ronald was born and spent his entire life in or near Suffolk, and is perhaps best known for Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, an evocative account of agricultural life in the county from the turn of the century to the 1960s. He wrote a number of books over the course of his lengthy career, as well as ‘Word from Wormingford,’ a long-running and highly praised weekly column in the Church Times.

Ronald was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1969 and was awarded the prestigious Benson Medal in 2006 in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement. He was appointed CBE in 2017.

Next to Nature: A Lifetime in the English Countryside, a collection of his writings, was published in 2022 to coincide with Ronald’s centenary.

Regarded by many as ‘an English institution’, Ronnie will be missed for his beautiful writing, his fascination with the lives of others, his deep sense of wonder and delight in nature, and the gentle warmth he bestowed on those who were lucky to call him a friend.

Photo credit: Eamonn McCabe, The Guardian

Being a Writer – Getting it Written with Bec Evans and Chris Smith

To celebrate the publication of Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit That Lasts, authors Bec Evans and Chris Smith had a conversation with bestseller Oliver Burkeman to explore what it means to be a writer. Over the course of their conversation, they covered topics such as the pressures of the ‘New Year reset,’ time management, embracing limitations, the lure of productivity gurus, and what it means to write, along with the habits, tips and tricks that have worked for them.

Remembering David Pownall, 1938 – 2022

J&A is sad to report the death of beloved playwright David Pownall, who created a wealth of internationally renowned stage, TV and radio plays over the course of his long career.

Born in Liverpool in 1938, his early memories of the Second World War, in particular The Blitz, would go on to shape much of his work. As a young man he worked in the motor industry and spent his evenings writing, hoping to one day make a career out of it. He moved to Zambia in the early 1960s to work in copper mining, and it was there that some of his early plays were produced.

On his return to England he began to write full time, taking up residency at Coalville’s Century Theatre and then at the Duke’s Playhouse in Lancaster, later co-founding Paines Plough Theatre Company with John Adams. His plays reflected the local environment, as well as meditations on the works of Shakespeare.

David is perhaps best known for his play Master Class, which combined his deep passion for music with his preoccupation with the unending struggle of the artist versus the state. Centring on Stalin bullying Shostakovich and Prokofiev into writing music he deemed fit for the Soviet people, Master Class was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre in 1983 and has been translated into over twenty languages worldwide.

Alongside his sixty stage plays and over one hundred radio plays written for the BBC, David was also a successful novelist and short story writer, publishing over fifteen novels and collections throughout his life. Many of his books were inspired by his time spent living in Africa.

He received numerous awards during his career, including the John Whiting Prize, the New York Theatre Yearbook, the London Stage Directors’ Award, two Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, two Giles Cooper Awards and three Sony Awards. David was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1976, and Keele University made him an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2000.

David leaves behind an extraordinary legacy, and he is survived by his wife Alex, his sons Tom and Max, his stepdaughters Dom and Georgie, his brother Barry and his grandson Zayden. In the words of his close friend, writer and actor Torben Betts, ‘He never wrote with an audience or a market in mind. He wrote simply because the ideas and the words and the characters poured joyously out of him. If the work was of any value to others, then so much the better.’

Written in Bone chosen as a Waterstones ‘Paperback of the Year’

Dame Professor Sue Black’s Written in Bone, a fascinating examination of the surprising details recorded in our bones, has been selected as one of Waterstones top paperback titles of 2022. Drawing upon her years of research and a wealth of remarkable experience, the world-renowned forensic anthropologist invites the reader on a journey of discovery, leading to some emotional revelations.

Originally published by Transworld in September 2020, the paperback edition of Written in Bone was released earlier this year to rave reviews and has seen great success. The follow up to her best-selling debut, All That Remains, Written in Bone won the 2021 Gold Dagger award for nonfiction and was named among the best memoirs of the year by The Times.

Dame Professor Black is due to deliver the prestigious Royal Institution Christmas lectures this winter, which will be broadcast on BBC Four between Christmas and the new year.

Sam Holland's The Echo Man shortlisted for Dutch Silver Bat award

The Dutch translation of The Echo Man has been nominated for a Silver Bat award for Thriller of the Year at the prestigious Nederlands Thriller Festival. Originally published in the UK by HarperCollins in April this year, De Echoman was well-received when it was released in the Netherlands in May.

Sam Holland’s gripping debut has been praised among the crime and thriller community, lauded as ‘compelling,’ offering one of the most ‘disturbing, shocking serial killers in recent memory.’

The winner of the Silver Bat award will be announced at the Nederlands Thriller Festival ceremony on October 30th.