Transworld lands 'myth-busting' book on DNA by Professor Turi King

Transworld has landed a ‘myth-busting’ book about DNA by Professor Turi King, best known for her work identifying Richard III from the remains discovered under a Leicester city car park. 

Susanna Wadeson, publisher, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, including Canada, to DNA: Why Genetics Matters from Michael Alcock at Johnson & Alcock. It will be published by Doubleday in spring 2024. Canadian rights have been snapped up by Amy Black at Doubleday Canada. 

The publisher said the book will ‘provide a window into the world of modern genetics, showing how it informs so many areas of 21st-Century life.’ It will go through 12 key cases that have changed the world, from the first DNA fingerprinting case which saw a young boy being reunited with his family after it was torn apart by immigration officials to the 2018 Golden State Killer case which has opened the floodgates for police cold cases.

Professor King said: ‘My field of genetics forms a part of our everyday culture from regular storylines in films and television shows, to modern policing and even to being a part of dating sites. I’m fascinated by the societal interest in genetics and how the understanding, and misunderstanding, of genetics became so commonplace. I’m rather passionate about science communication and can’t wait to explain modern genetics and how it informs our daily lives in the 21st Century.’

Wadeson added: ‘I am so excited to be working with Turi. This book will be fascinating to anyone interested in genetics but also archaeology, general history, geography and forensics; and, of course, in personal and family history. I think perhaps I’m particularly intrigued by the new science of epigenetics. It may not just be their genetic code that our parents pass on to us – their life events can also have an impact on our life span. Turi promises to take us on an investigative journey through all aspects of her work and I can’t wait to travel with her.’

Black commented: ‘We are thrilled to be bringing to Canadian readers Turi King’s riveting book about the multitude of ways genetics has a bearing on our world. Turi’s deep expertise on modern genetics as well as her uncommon ability to make complex, wide-ranging subject matter accessible to us all will combine into a fascinating, enlivening account that is sure to claim a broad readership.’

Sue Black wins CWA Dagger Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

Sue Black 2.jpg

Our congratulations to Sue Black for winning the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction at this year’s Crime Writers’ Association Awards, for her book Written in Bone, published by Doubleday.

 The shortlist of six also included

 We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper (William Heinemann)

These Are Not Gentle People by Andrew Harding (MacLehose, Quercus)

Dancing with the Octopus by Debora Harding (Profile Books)

The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes (Bloomsbury)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (Viking)

 For the CWA website announcement featuring these books, the long list and the judges, see

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association (thecwa.co.uk)

Interview with Hany Sheikh Mohamed, our first Page One mentee

Hany profile pic.jpg

Hany, can you tell us what you’ve been up to since you did the Page One scheme last year?  

After the Page One scheme, I managed to get a temporary Rights Assistant role at HarperCollins. As there was an opening for a permanent position as a Rights Assistant in the Adult Non-fiction side of the department, I applied and got the job.

Congratulations! And do you think the Page One mentorship helped you get ahead?

Yes, definitely! It gave me a great introduction to publishing! I didn’t know much about publishing before, so partaking in this scheme was a really great start. I was really interested in the whole process of publishing a book and this scheme was able to give me a greater understanding. As I was interested in rights, my mentor Hélène was able to give me real insight into what a rights person does, from looking at contracts, understanding the terms to how negotiation happens. The workshops really helped me understand some of the things I would be doing as a rights person. Being able to meet real publishing professionals also was great! I also enjoyed speaking to all the primary agents and learning about what they do on a day-to-day basis.

What does your current job involve?  What’s a typical day and what do you like most about it?

I’m now a rights assistant supporting the Rights Director and Head of Rights at HarperCollins. My role is very much admin heavy. On a typical day, I liaise with colleagues in contracts, editorial and production in order to support all aspects of a deal. I also liaise with different foreign publishers, draft contracts, do data entry and attend meetings. I love how in my role I get to liaise with many different foreign publishers and learn about what people like to read in different countries. In addition, I get to deal with such a wide variety of books from non-fiction titles to the occasional fiction title and the wonderful Tolkien series.

And finally, what words of advice do you have for people thinking about working in publishing?

Do it! Try to find out about the many different roles available and then decide which one you can see yourself in. Shoot publishing people a message on LinkedIn, Twitter, or on email, if you can find their email address, and ask them about what they do and how they got there. They might even be willing to do a virtual coffee zoom!  Networking helped me tremendously! Network across, where possible, with other people at a junior level and in the roles you’re applying for.

When it comes to applying for publishing jobs, do your research. Understanding the types of books you’ll be working on is really important, whether it is from an editorial, marketing, publicity or rights perspective. Try to learn as much as you can about the book market. You can’t possibly read every book that’s published but by diversifying your reading list and reading widely, you should be able to get a good understanding of the book market. The Amazon top 100 list is also very useful, so check it regularly! Trends are a thing, so the more you’re aware of them, the more you’ll be able to talk about them in your interview.

You can follow Hany here: https://twitter.com/Bookfairyx

For the next page one scheme please keep an eye on http://www.johnsonandalcock.co.uk/page-one

Avalon signs Caimh McDonnell's 'Dublin Trilogy' for TV - Chris Addison attached

The rights to Caimh McDonnell’s The Dublin Trilogy and the Bunny McGarry novels have been acquired by Avalon. The deal was done via Caimh’s agents, Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock and Emily Hayward-Whitlock of The Artists Partnership.

Comedian, writer, actor and director Chris Addison (Breeders, Veep), who is a fan of McDonnell’s books, is attached to develop the trilogy.

The series, which has sold over 500,000 books, comprises A Man with One of Those Faces, The Day That Never Comes, and Last Orders, all of which were bestsellers on Amazon. The trilogy has a prequel, Angels in the Moonlight and a sequel to this book, Dead Man’s Sins, which will be published 15 June 2021, thus extending the trilogy to five books. The books, which are set in McDonnell’s hometown of Dublin, follow the adventures of an unlikely crime-solving trio, including former guard Bunny McGarry.

Caimh McDonnell said: “I’m thrilled to be working with both Avalon and Chris. Breeders, which they made for Sky, is one of my favourite shows of the past few years and Taskmaster got me through at least one of the lockdowns. I’m particularly delighted to be working with Chris as we’re both grizzled veterans of the comedy circuit and I’ve long been a big fan of his brilliant live shows. I know Bunny and the rest of the gang are in very safe hands.”

Avalon’s television shows include Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe, Taskmaster, The Russell Howard Hour, Not Going Out, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Spitting Image, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay and Workaholics.

Born in Limerick, raised in Dublin and now living in Manchester, Caimh McDonnell is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer. He became known as the white-haired Irishman whose name nobody could pronounce on the UK comedy circuit. He performed around the world, had several well- received Edinburgh shows and supported acts such as Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney on tour before hanging up his clowning shoes to concentrate on writing. He has also written for numerous TV shows and been nominated for a Children’s TV BAFTA.

His debut novel, A Man with One of Those Faces – a comic crime novel – was published in 2016 and spawned the Dublin Trilogy books and the spin-off McGarry Stateside series. They have all been Amazon bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. Caimh is also the author of The Stranger Times which is written under his pen name C K McDonnell. Visit whitehairedirishman.com for more information.

Life peerage awarded to Dame Sue Black

We are thrilled to congratulate our client Professor Dame Sue Black on being awarded a life peerage.  She is one of the world’s foremost anatomists and forensic anthropologists, whose work has been recognised internationally, particularly in the fields of war crimes investigations, mass fatality incidents and forensic casework. 

Her nomination as a crossbench peer was announced in February and she was introduced to the House of Lords on May 17th. 

Baroness Black of Strome is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University, after thirteen years as Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at Dundee University, and she is President of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 

She has authored many specialist academic works and textbooks, and for the general reader her books All That Remains: A Life in Death (2018) and Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind (2020) have been published across the world in many languages, and to universal acclaim.

RJ Barker’s Forsaken Trilogy goes to Orbit

RJ Barker profile pic (c) David Bowman, 2018.jpg

Orbit has acquired a new trilogy from the British Fantasy Society Award-winning RJ Barker.

Ed Wilson at Johnson and Alcock sold World English rights to Senior Commissioning Editor Jenni Hill at Orbit UK, who will publish alongside sister imprint Orbit US in a co-ordinated global release in 2022.

RJ Barker lives in Leeds with his wife, son and ‘a collection of questionable taxidermy’. He debuted in 2017 with the fantasy novel Age of Assassins, the start of a trilogy which was shortlisted for the Gemmell Awards, the Kitschie Awards, The Compton Crook and the British Fantasy Society’s Best Debut.

The Bone Ships began a new series set on the high seas, and won the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Fantasy Novel, aka the Robert Holdstock Award, this year.

RJ will set his new tale within the bounds of a forest straight out of darkest folklore – with outlaws fighting an evil empire and warring deities.

Acquiring editor Jenni Hill said: ‘RJ’s style is inimitable and wonderful – more and more readers are discovering him every day, and they’re going to love the story he’s telling in the Forsaken series, which is bigger and darker and more feral than anything he’s told before.’

Ed Wilson said: ‘RJ has already taken us from the Sour Lands to the High Seas, and now we’re heading into the Woods. His writing is brave and unexpected, and there is nobody in UK fantasy pushing more boundaries. After his well-deserved BFS win, nothing can hold him back. Although we might have to confiscate his PS4.’

RJ said: ‘I've loved working with Orbit on both the Wounded Kingdom series and the Tide Child series and they've been hugely encouraging in what I do, so I can't wait to venture into the dark forests with them on this new series of books.’

For more information contact Orbit’s Senior Press Officer Nazia.Khatun@littlebrown.co.uk

About Orbit UK: Orbit is the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group. Launched in 1974, it is one of the leading SFF imprints in the UK. Orbit UK authors include Sunday Times and international bestsellers James S. A. Corey, N. K. Jemisin, Robert Jordan, Iain M. Banks, Terry Brooks, Jim Butcher, Trudi Canavan, M. R. Carey, Ann Leckie, Anthony Ryan and Brent Weeks.

HQ sign Nilopar Uddin's debut novel

HQ has signed The Halfways, a “very special” debut family drama from Nilopar Uddin.

Publishing director Manpreet Grewal acquired world all-language rights from Anna Power at Johnson & Alcock in a two-book deal. The Halfways will be published in hardback, trade paperback, e-book and audio in summer 2022.

Its synopsis states: “The Halfways is an epic family drama about two sisters, Nasrin and Sabrina. When their father Shamsur suddenly dies, they rush to be with their mother at the family home and restaurant in Wales, but reluctantly step back into the stifling world of their childhood. When Shamsur’s will is read to the gathered family, a devastating secret is revealed that profoundly changes the lives and identities of the sisters, and creates an irreparable family rift. Moving between London, Wales, New York and Bangladesh, this sweeping novel spans over four decades.”

Uddin was born in Shropshire to Sylheti parents, who like the fictional family in The Halfways, owned and ran an Indian restaurant in Wales. She has had a successful career as a financial services lawyer, practising in both London and New York. She now lives in London and has an MA in creative writing from City University, where she first started working on The Halfways.

She said: “I'm so delighted to be working with the HQ team on the publication of The Halfways. I've been overwhelmed by Manpreet's enthusiasm for these characters, who have lived with me for the last six years, and am very excited to have the opportunity to work with her. I'm also extremely grateful to my agent, Anna, for her unwavering support and encouragement. Publishing The Halfways is a dream come true.”

Grewal added: “In equal parts compelling, harrowing, multi-layered and beautiful, The Halfways is that rarest of novels. It’s everything I love in a big story about family, and more. A story of mothers and daughters, of fathers and daughters, of sisterhood, it is a tale that explores belonging, family and what makes forgiveness and redemption possible. I defy anyone not to be moved by these characters and the rich stories they have to tell. I was completely blown away by Nilopar’s talent, and this is going to be a very special publication for HQ.”

FAWLEY SERIES ACQUIRED FOR TELEVISION

Cara.jpg

Screen rights to Cara Hunter’s DI Fawley novels have been optioned by Castlefield, part of Fremantle, by the team behind BAFTA-winning In The Flesh and BBC One crime series In The Dark.

Hunter's four-book series is the biggest crime-writing brand to have launched in the UK in the last five years, selling over one million copies to date in the UK and across 25 territories worldwide. Her debut novel Close to Home topped The Sunday Times and Amazon bestseller lists and was Penguin Random House’s biggest selling eBook of 2018.

Castlefield Managing Director Hilary Martin and Creative Director Simon Judd said: “We are so thrilled to be joining forces with the brilliantly talented Cara Hunter to bring her hit novels to screen. Cara collides noisy, epic crime stories with vivid, visceral characters that you just can’t look away from. Her razor-sharp depiction of contemporary life is a gift and we can’t wait to get cracking.”

Cara Hunter, whose fifth novel The Whole Truth will be published in early 2021, said “I’ve always ‘seen’ the Fawley books play out in my head as I write them, and the style I developed for the books was a deliberate attempt to replicate the feel and pace of the best TV crime – the short scenes, the fast pace, and the changing points of view. Hilary and Simon completely ‘get’ what the books are all about, and have a wonderful feel for the characters. I can’t think of a better producer for the series than Castlefield.”

Viking buys McKay's history of the Allied bombing of Dresden

Viking has bought a narrative history of the Allied bombing of Dresden by bestselling historian Sinclair McKay.

Daniel Crewe bought World English rights from Anna Power at Johnson & Alcock.

Scheduled for publication on the 75th anniversary of the bombing, Dresden will provide a minute-by-minute account of the Allied obliteration of Dresden, a campaign which on a single night killed an estimated 25,000 people, and is today still hotly debated; was it a legitimate military target or a last act of atavistic mass murder in a war already won?

From the history of the city - the ‘Florence of the Elbe’ - to the attack itself through to the eerie period of reconstruction under Soviet control in the following years, Sinclair McKay tells the untold stories of both the civilians and military.

Sinclair Mckay said: “I am completely thrilled to be working with the team at Viking on a subject that resonates powerfully even now. After 75 years, the hideous moral questions thrown up by the 1945 destruction of Dresden remain as perplexing to the people of that beautiful city as they do everywhere else. Time has also brought sharper clarity to individual stories, and the trajectory of family lives before and long after the cataclysm. This isn’t just about the darker impulses of war, though: for out of that fiery horror eventually came moving reconciliation, cultural rebirth and miraculous regeneration.”

Daniel Crewe, Publisher, Viking, said: “We’re all thrilled to welcome Sinclair McKay to Viking. His deep research, careful reflection and powerful storytelling will make for a highly moving account on this important anniversary.”

McKay’s previous bestsellers include The Secret Life of Bletchley Park which has sold 225,000 copies TCM and Bletchley Park Brainteasers which currently stands at 150,000 copies TCM.  The Lady in the Cellar (White Lion) and Secret Service Brainteasers (Headline) are published in September 2018.

Hollie McNish wins the Ted Hughes Prize

Writer and performance poet Hollie McNish has won 2016's £5,000 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry for her poetic memoir about becoming a parent, Nobody Told Me (Blackfriars, an imprint of Little, Brown). 

McNish was announced the winner of the award, funded by Carol Ann Duffy from her honararium as Poet Laureate, at a ceremony at the Savile Club in Mayfair yesterday (29th March).

The Poetry Society’s Ted Hughes award judges, award-winning poets Jo Bell and Bernard O’Donoghue and singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, praised McNish's "funny and serious, humane and consciousness-raising" work for its "vivid language", its ability to "put things that most people ignore right back in the spotlight" and for "skilfully tackl[ing] hidden agendas and political issues in our society".

One of the judges, Bell, said the collection had changed the way he thinks about women and should be compulsory reading for new parents. Taken from the author's personal diaries, it blends poetry and storytelling following McNish through pregnancy to her first pre-school drop off.

"Adrian Mitchell said that 'most poetry ignores most people' but Hollie’s book puts things that most people ignore right back in the spotlight," said Bell. "This book is more than the sum of its parts, combining the immediacy of a diary with straight talking poetry from a spoken word tradition. This book is funny and serious, humane and consciousness-raising: it changed the way I think about women (and I am one). Should be given to every new parent, and handed to them along with their baby-care products."

Williams said the collection would "resonate outside the poetry world to reach a new generation of poetry readers" and praised it for tackling issues such as public breast-feeding, non-waged care work and interracial relationships.

O’Donoghue, who last year was shortlisted for the TS Elliot Prize, added of McNish's work: "Hollie McNish describes the experience of pregnancy and young motherhood in a vivid language that brings both forms to life, and makes them real for readers to whom these things are new as well as those to whom they are familiar."

McNish's new collection, Plum, will publish in June 2017 with Picador. She has previously written two other collections, Papers (Greenwich Exchange) and Cherry Pie (Burning Eye Books) and co-wrote the play Offside (Bloomsbury).

Little, Brown win auction for John Grant's memoir

Little, Brown has bought the autobiography of musician John Grant.

Grant, who used to front American indie band The Czars, rose to fame in 2010 with his debut solo album, "Queen of Denmark". In the book, he will not only tell the story of his career but of his "extraordinary" life. 

Editor-in-chief Antonia Hodgson acquired world rights at auction from Becky Thomas of Johnson & Alcock, on behalf of Showpony Management.

Grant said: "Flying in the face of all reason and good judgement, Little, Brown is giving me the opportunity to write a book about my experiences in life thus far. It is the tale of a lower-middle-class homosexual humanoid male musician, addict, chronically depressed language enthusiast and underachiever who, in spite of himself, is learning to enjoy life, make sense of relationships and become an adult. Perhaps this is the cure for insomnia you've been searching for."

Hodgson said: "I’m a huge fan of John Grant’s music, but had no idea just how extraordinary his life has been. It is a story of family, alienation, masculinity, self-destruction, survival, the creative spirit – and told with such wit and honesty it moved everyone here who read the proposal. His voice on the page is just as unique and intimate as his music – you are drawn straight into his world. And what a large, compassionate, fascinating world it is."

Kate Tempest shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards

We are delighted that Kate made the shortlist for the 2016 Costa Poetry Award in the Poetry category for Let Them Eat Chaos.

The Costa Book Awards is one of the UK's most prestigious and popular literary prizes and recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year, written by authors based in the UK and Ireland.

The judges said it was "A magical book about now....indispensable, wonderful, a cry from the heart to a wounded world."

Let Them Eat Chaos (Picador) is a call to action, and, both on the page and in Tempest's electric performance, one of the most powerful poetic statements of the year.

The prize for the category winner and the overall winner is announced in January 

 

William Trevor: 24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016

With great sadness the death of William Trevor, KBE, one of the great fiction writers of our time, was announced on Monday 20th November.

Born as William Trevor Cox in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland in 1928, William Trevor was educated at St. Columba's College in Dublin. After graduating in history from Trinity College, Dublin, Trevor married Jane Ryan whom he’d met at university and to whom he dedicated many of his books and the couple moved to England where Trevor set himself up as a sculptor ‘rather like Jude the Obscure without the talent’ as he once described himself. The first of two sons was born in London where Trevor got a job as copywriter and it was only when he took a full-time job at a London advertising agency that he really began writing.  His first novel, A Standard of Behaviour, which he subsequently disowned and refused to have republished, came out in 1958. In later years he chose to describe The Old Boys, which was published in 1964 and went on to win the Hawthornden Prize for Literature, as his first novel. In its comedic portrayal of unseemly, sometimes desperate behaviour hidden beneath a thin veil of decorum, it prefigured the theme of most of his early and middle-period novels, many of them set in a rundown, post-War London. Later he turned his attention to his native Ireland, and in particular the tensions between the fading Anglo-Irish gentry and their Catholic neighbours. These were more complex books, exploring ideas of loyalty and betrayal, loss and belonging, often through multiple viewpoints, but always with a deeply felt compassion for all his characters.

Trevor went on to write over fifteen novels, which were garlanded with awards: he won the Whitbread Prize three times and was short-listed for the Booker Prize four times, most recently with The Story of Lucy Gault in 2002, which was a favourite for the Prize but lost out to The Life of Pi. Trevor’s novels are widely admired but it is perhaps on his short stories that his literary reputation will come to rest. For many years a contributor of stories to the New Yorker, he had a firm belief that the short story was as great an art form as the novel, and as difficult to write. His Collected Stories, published by Viking in two volumes in 2009, runs to almost 2000 pages, and the best of them, including ‘The Ballroom of Romance’, ‘Kathleen’s Field’ and ‘Cheating at Canasta’,  are among the greatest stories of the last half-century, drawing comparison with the earlier masters of the form, Chekhov, Maupassant and Joyce.

A modest and private man, Trevor disliked talking about his books and abhorred any personal publicity, believing that the work should stand for itself. He lived for many years in a secluded house in Devon, visiting Ireland frequently, taking walking holidays in Italy, and pursuing his passions of gardening and watching sport – especially rugby, cricket and tennis. But it was writing that truly absorbed him. 

Andrew Hewson, Chairman of J&A gave the following statement: 

"William Trevor was an early client of our agency's founder John Johnson. John fostered the close links with his then editor, James Michie at the Bodley Head, and introduced William to Peter Matson at the Sterling Lord Agency in New York, who remained his American agent all his life.

"There followed a sequence of critically acclaimed novels from The Old Boys to Children of Dynmouth, three anthologies of award winning short stories, and a series of some of the most outstanding single plays commissioned by the BBC, ATV and Anglia Television. These combined to install William Trevor as a true Master of the English language, a standing he was to sustain without pause.

"On John Johnson's retirement William became a client of the inestimable Pat Kavanagh at A.D. Peters, later PFD, but in a typically generous gesture he asked that John Johnson Ltd, and later Johnson & Alcock, continued to represent the back list. To our great pleasure the association was renewed in 2008, and we oversaw the republication of all of his early works, continued international success, and the publication of his Collected Stories, one of his most lasting contributions to the canon of literature.

"This agency looks back with great fondness over many years of friendship, and looks forward to safeguarding the legacy of this great man's life's work, as takes its rightful and honoured place at the forefront of modern literature."  

THE LONGEST FIGHT: IN WITH A SPORTING CHANCE

On 1st June the winners of the 2016 Cross Sports Book Awards will be announced at a ceremony held at Lords Cricket Ground in London. Emily Bullock's beautiful and brutal debut, THE LONGEST FIGHT, set in the gritty world of 1950s boxing, is shortlisted in the New Writer of the Year category and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed! An Independent on Sunday book of the year, where it was described as 'a fine addition to the canon of boxing literature', THE LONGEST FIGHT has most recently been reviewed by the Historical Novel Society: 'In her story about redemption and hope, Bullock's writing is as taut as the fighters in her ring'.

THE LONGEST FIGHT was inspired by Emily's boxing grandfather and she writes about how this fed into her experience of becoming a writer, in an essay for Bookanista. Emily will appear on BBC Radio 4's Open Book this summer to explore the enduring appeal of the boxing hero in fiction today. Myriad holds World English rights to THE LONGEST FIGHT: translation, film/TV and all other rights are with Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock. 

Margaret Hewson Prize 2015

We’re delighted to award the Margaret Hewson Prize 2015 to Anthea Morrison. Her short story, You Have What You Want about a new mother’s midnight riverside stroll won over all the judges with its clear, spare prose and powerful description of a woman’s altered state of mind. 

The Prize is open to all students on the Creative Writing MA at Royal Holloway – it aims to recognize and encourage new writing talent, and to commemorate Johnson & Alcock agent Margaret Hewson and her unique contribution to the publishing world.