Emma Layfield launches Children’s Books North Agency in Manchester
thebookseller.com – Wednesday September 25, 2024
Emma Layfield has launched the Children’s Books North Agency (CBNA), which is based in Manchester and represents writers and illustrators from the north of England and Scotland.
Layfield has worked in publishing for 25 years, and will run CBNA alongside the Children’s Books North network.
CBNA represents writers and illustrators of picture books, fiction and non-fiction. The launch list includes bestselling writer, illustrator and animator Michael Whaite, from Lancashire; author Bethan Clarke from Cheshire; FAB Prize winner Lucy Farfort from Newcastle; Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award winner Rachel Plummer from Edinburgh; Oscar’s Book Prize shortlistee Francis Martin from Lancashire; and debut illustrator Jess Mahy from Yorkshire.
Felicity Bryan Associates hires agent James Gill
thebookseller.com – Wednesday September 25, 2024
Felicity Bryan Associates (FBA) has hired James Gill, a founding member of United Agents Ltd, who has worked in publishing and literary representation since 1995. He is set to join FBA on 16th October.
His authors have been Sunday Times number one and top-10 bestsellers in fiction and non-fiction, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Nibbie Novel of the Year Award and the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year, as well as past winners of the Wolfson History Prize, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, the Whitbread Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Wainwright Prize and the Ondaatje Prize.
Eleanor Birne joins RCW as literary agent
thebookseller.com – Tuesday September 24, 2024
RCW Literary Agency has announced that Eleanor Birne has joined the company as a literary agent.
She was previously an agent with PEW Literary, and prior to that, a publishing director at John Murray before becoming an agent first at David Godwin Associates and latterly at PEW Literary where she has built a strong list of authors including Mary Costello, Louise Kennedy and Michael Magee.
Birne said: "I have loved my time at PEW Literary working with such talented, creative people. I have always admired RCW and the extraordinary list of writers it represents and am very excited to be joining such an impressive team."
Literary festival aims to inspire young writers
bbc.co.uk – Saturday September 21, 2024
A festival of women's writing named after the famous literary Brontë sisters aims to inspire those taking part "to keep reading and writing", its organisers have said.
The three-day Brontë Festival, which is now in its 13th year, is due to get under way in Haworth later, with leading female authors giving talks throughout the weekend.
Young adult writer and Sunday Times bestseller Bea Fitzgerald and former Children's Laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson are among the speakers expected to take part in the festival based in and around the Brontë parsonage.
Angela Clare, programme officer for the museum, said: “It has been a joy to bring together such fantastic guests for the festival."
The theme of this year's festival is literature inspired by and created especially for children and young people.
New magazine announced for writers and readers in Wales
thebookseller.com – Thursday September 19, 2024
A new literary periodical for Wales called Folding Rock focused on creative prose will launch its first issue in Spring 2025. The new magazine, which plans to support new writing in and from Wales, will launch after securing funding from the Books Council of Wales.
Co-founders of the publication—editor and designer Robert Harries and writer, editor and creative producer Kathryn Tann—describe it as "a magazine to pay attention to", similar to the likes of The Stinging Fly in Ireland, England’s Granta, and Gutter in Scotland.
Folding Rock: New Writing from Wales and Beyond aims to be "the catalyst needed to usher in a new era for Welsh literature". The founders are aiming to "tirelessly develop talent, grow skills, advocate for authors and open as many doors as we can, this magazine will give the UK-wide publishing industry—and reading population—no choice but to pay attention".
Launching Discoveries 2025
womensprize.com – Thursday September 19, 2024
Entering its fifth year, Discoveries our pioneering writers development programme launches with the search to uncover the writing stars of tomorrow.
Run in partnership with Audible, the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency, and the Curtis Brown Creative writing school, Discoveries aims to inspire unagented and unpublished women in the UK and Ireland to write their first novels, providing a host of resources designed to support women at all stages of their writing journey, with an ongoing commitment to reach writers currently underrepresented in the UK publishing industry.
The 2025 judging panel will be chaired by Kate Mosse CBE FRSL, the international bestselling writer, playwright, performer and Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Kate Mosse is joined this year by author and musician Claire Kohda (Woman, Eating); international bestselling and award-winning author Dreda Say Mitchell MBE (Say Her Name, Trapdoor, Gangland Girls series, DI Rio series, Flesh and Blood series and Spare Room with Ryan Carter); journalist, author and podcaster Chloe Timms (The Seawomen); Curtis Brown literary agent Jess Molloy; and Founder and Managing Director of Curtis Brown Creative, Anna Davis.
Rachel Richardson launches the Rich Lit literary rights agency
thebookseller.com – Saturday September 14, 2024
Rachel Richardson, previously of Watson, Little, has launched the Rich Lit literary rights agency, specialising in children’s books, commercial and upmarket fiction for adults and select non-fiction. The agency will also specialise in international titles, representing global rights on behalf of literary agencies and independent publishers.
Rich Lit will handle foreign rights on behalf of Storm Publishing and Richardson will continue to represent rights for ASH Literary, Holiday House and Little Door Books.
Richardson began her career at Rights People, a rights agency focused on children’s books and has more than 15 years of experience in the industry.
Bridport Prize Memoir Award 2024 competition nears deadline
bridportnews.co.uk – Thursday September 12, 2024
Writers are getting their pens and keyboards at the ready as the deadline is fast-approaching for a prestigious town writing competition.
The Bridport Prize is an international creative writing competition which began more than 50 years ago.
It has a £20K prize fund across different literary forms including novel, short story, poetry and flash fiction. In 2023 the Bridport Prize added memoir to the competition's genres.
The deadline for this year's memoir writing contest is fast approaching on Monday, September 30.
The contest asks what stories we have to tell about ourselves, the good, bad, and how we ended up where we are. The award celebrates life stories, a look back into what was and is.
Entries must be between 5,000 to 8,000 words, including a 300 word overview.
The top prize will be £1500 plus a mentoring package from The Literary Consultancy. The winner is also invited to attend an industry day with London literary agents and publishers and take part in a discussion with the University of Exeter’s Creative Writing Department.
This Online Writing Platform Wants Budding Authors to Plot an Elaborate Murder
lbbonline.com – Wednesday September 11, 2024
The Novelry, the world’s top-rated online writing school, is inviting should-be authors to plot murders and start covens in its first major advertising campaign, by St Luke’s, the London-based, independent creative agency.
'You’re a writer. Make it official' showcases how The Novelry’s courses enable students to make significant progress on their novels in just an hour a day simply by transforming everyday moments during daily tasks or downtime - into thrilling creative adventures.
St Luke’s does this with a series of animations that begin with intriguing propositions. In one, the line “Plot an elaborate murder…” appears alongside a bottle of poison and skull. Another reads “Start a witch coven…” paired with a pointy hat silhouetted against the moonlight.
Authors report 'worst ever delays' with advances and royalties as some forced to survive on loans — survey
thebookseller.com – Monday September 9, 2024
More than half of respondents to The Bookseller’s survey on advances and royalties revealed problems, with some describing decade-long delays due to "financial terrorism", and some reporting a reliance on loans, hardship grants, and foodbanks.
One author, with 15 years’ experience, revealed the "delays now are the worst I’ve ever known" while another described chasing £30,000. Overall many expressed frustration with the lack of transparency and accountability from publishers and literary agencies.
Across 262 respondents, 52% (137 people) reported issues with receiving advances or royalties with the average delay of over a year though many reported several years delay or even stretching back decades.
Of those who had experienced issues with payment, around 18% (48 people) experienced problems with both advances and royalties, 17% (45) only with advances with around the same number (44) experiencing problems only with royalties. 48% reported no problems at all and there were some notable examples of good practice.
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