literature prize

Posted on by

Win a copy of Significance, Jo Mazelis’ Jerwood Prize-winning novel

Win a copy of Significance Jo Mazelis Jerwood Prize-winning novel

Enter our giveaway to win a copy of Jo Mazelis’ award-winning novel, Significance.

To enter, simply sign up to the Seren newsletter before 1st March:
https://www.serenbooks.com/newsletter/signup

Significance giveaway Jo Mazelis

Significance was a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize-winner, 2015. Up for grabs in this giveaway is a copy of the new edition of the book, printed to commemorate the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered announcement.

About Significance:
Lucy Swann is trying on a new life. She’s cut and dyed her hair and bought new clothes, but she’s only got as far as a small town in northern France when her flight is violently cut short. When Inspector Vivier and his handsome assistant Sabine Pelat begin their investigation, the chance encounters of her last days take on a new significance.
Lucy’s death, like a stone thrown into a pool, sends out far-reaching ripples, altering the lives of people who never knew her as well as those of her loved ones back home.

Quite unlike any literary crime novel you will have read before, Significance takes the chance encounters of Lucy Swann’s last days and examines the characters she meets so fleetingly in unnerving detail. This is a murder mystery where the murder remains backstage, overshadowed by the many intermingling lives Lucy has brushed so briefly against.

 

The winner of this giveaway will be chosen at random from all our email subscribers on 1st March 2017, so make sure you sign up to Seren News before this deadline to be in with a chance of winning.

Feeling generous? Why not invite your friends to enter, by signing up using the link below:
http://serenbooks.com/newsletter/signup

 

Posted on by

Dark Mermaids Shortlisted for Cross Sports Book Awards

dark mermaids anne lauppe-dunbar cross sports book awards

The Cross Sports Book Awards today announced their shortlists, and Anne Lauppe-Dunbar’s powerful debut novel Dark Mermaids is on the shortlist for the New Writer of the Year category.

The Cross Sports Book Awards is a major annual promotion for Sports Writing & Publishing; the awards exist to highlight the most outstanding sports books of the previous calendar year.

Dark_Mermaids_Web72Dark Mermaids is a shocking story of the horrors of a political system that doped its youngsters to sporting superhero status, and then left them to fend for themselves. Shortlisted for the Impress and Cinnamon First Novel Prize, this East German noir thriller is set in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Unhappy West Berlin police officer Sophia is called on to investigate the murder of her childhood friend Kathe; after her beaten body is discovered in Sophia’s local park. Sophia is forced to return to the hometown she fled as a teenager with her enigmatic father Petrus, and Mia – a frightened child who turned up on her doorstep. She must investigate Kathe’s murder and care for a mother she believed abandoned her.

As she reluctantly delves into the sordid Stasi secrets of those she grew up with, Sophie uncovers a web of horrors about her own abusive past as a child-swimming star in the former GDR. But her hunt for the truth has not gone unnoticed by those close to her, people who still have too much to hide.

You can see the full New Writer of the Year shortlist, as well as the other category shortlists, on the Cross Sports Book Awards website.

Posted on by

Enter our poetry books giveaway to win two new collections

We are celebrating the launch of two fantastic new books, Crowd Sensations by Judy Brown and Masculine Happiness by David Foster-Morgan, by giving you the chance to win a copy of each! All you have to do is sign up to our newsletter here before 1st May 2016 and you’ll be entered into the prize draw.

Read below to find out more about the book launch as well as the books themselves…

newsletter giveaway April-1.jpg

Join Judy Brown and David Foster-Morgan at The Yorkshire Grey for a dual poetry book launch, celebrating the release of both Judy’s Crowd Sensations and David’s Masculine Happiness. Both poets will be reading from their new collections, and there will be opportunities to ask questions and request signed copies of the books. The event will take place between 19:00 and 21:00 on Tuesday 19th April, 2016 at The Yorkshire Grey in London. You can find more details on our website.

Elterwater Rain Crowd Sensations Judy Brown
Crowd Sensations, Judy Brown
Poet Judy Brown’s new collection is a worthy follow-up to her Forward Prize-nominated debut, Loudness. Brown is a poet of dazzling contrasts, of thoughtful paradox, intimate confidences and precise evocations.
Read more

 

Masculine happiness
Masculine Happiness, David Foster-Morgan
The provocative debut poetry collection this Cardiff-based poet. Born and based in Wales, Foster-Morgan has long been a presence in the poetry world, having had poems published widely in magazines and with appearances at workshops, festivals, and events.
Read more

 

One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all our subscribers on 1st May 2016, so if you would like a copy of each of these lovely poetry collections in your bookcase then hurry and sign up for our newsletter before the end of the month.

 

Posted on by

Celebrating Significance!

jfu

Jo Mazelis’ fantastic debut novel Significance, described by Cathy Galvin as “A must read for anyone who loves literary fiction and believes they would never read a crime novel”, was one of the eight winners of the 2015 Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize earlier this year.

Throughout the summer, Jerwood Fiction Uncovered have been celebrating one of its winners, and this week it’s Significance‘s turn!

significance_reprint_72dpi

Lucy Swann is trying on a new life. She’s cut and dyed her hair and bought new clothes, but she’s only got as far as a small town in northern France when her flight is violently cut short. When Inspector Vivier and his handsome assistant Sabine Pelat begin their investigation the chance encounters of her last days take on a new significance.

Lucy’s death, like a stone thrown into a pool, sends out far-reaching ripples, altering the lives of people who never knew her as well as those of her loved ones back home.

Head on over to the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered website this week and you’ll be able to read the first chapter of Significance and take a peek at some reviews that will make you want to read the rest of it, if you haven’t already! 

Don’t forget to head on over to Twitter where you can follow us @SerenBooks, Jo Mazelis @JoMazelis, and Jerwood Fiction Uncovered @FictUncovered and keep up to date with all of the celebrations.

Order Significance from our website.

Posted on by

Jonathan Edwards Shortlisted For The 2014 Costa Poetry Award

This cover shows a colourful painting of a school boy stomping with excitement viewed as if looking from the ground. The text reads: My Family and Other Superheroes, Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards has been shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Poetry Award with his debut book of poetry, My Family and Other Superheroes. The news comes just a few months after the collection was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh Poetry Prize.

The Costa Book Awards honour some of the most outstanding books of the year written by authors based in the UK and Ireland. There are five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book.

Edward’s heroes are a motley crew: Sophia Loren, Marty Mcfly and Evel Knievel jostle for space on the pages alongside Valley’s mams and dads, The kebabby in Merthyr and the traditional Welsh costume.

The judges: Owen Sheers, Anna Dreda, and Charlotte Runcie said of Jonathan’s book:
“Joyful and dynamic – a collection that’ll make you laugh and make you think.”

Edward’s superheroes will have to fight it out with the likes of  Colette Bryce, Lavina Greenlaw and Kei Miller for the esteemed award. The category winner will be announced on 5th January with one of the five category winners chosen as the overall Costa Book of the Year later in the month.

Get a copy of Jonathan’s award worthy collection here. Save 20% when you join our online book club.

Posted on by

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize ‘Suspended’

Sponsors of the John Llewellyn Rhys prize, Booktrust, suffered severe funding cuts, which has resulted in the suspension of the popular prize.

The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize and was created to award authors from the Commonwealth under the age of 35.

Jane Oliver initiated the prize for the her husband, John Llewellyn Rhys, a writer who died tragically young, serving in the RAF in 1940.

“The John Llewellyn Rhys prize is one of the most romantic and distinguished of prizes and its disappearance would be a great loss to hopeful authors and he literary world” says Margaret Drabble former John Llewellyn Rhys prize winner.

Booktrust state that they did not take the decision lightly, and they strongly intend to bring back the Prize with a bang in the very near future.

Previous winners of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize:

2010 – Amy Sackville The Still Point
2009 – Evie Wyld After the Fire, A Still Small Voice
2008 – Henry Hitchings The Secret Life of Words
2006/7 – Sarah Hall The Carhullan Army
2005 – Uzodinma Iweala Beasts of No Nation
2004 – Jonathan Trigell Boy A
2003 – Charlotte Mendelson Daughters of Jerusalem
2002 Mary Laven Virgins of Venice
2001 – Susanna Jones The Earthquake Bird
2000 – Edward Platt Leadville

We hope to see the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize return very soon.

Posted on by

Pascale Petit Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2011

Pascale Petit has been shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2011 for her latest collection What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo.

Literature Wales announced the 2011 shortlist in both Caernarfon and Cardiff.

Pascale Petit, who was born in Paris and grew up in France and Wales, was named one of the Next Generation Poets by the Poetry Book Society and Arts Council in 2004. What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo (Seren, 2010) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and was a Book of the year in theObserver.  She has published five poetry books, three of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and which were also Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement, Observer and the Independent. Her second collection The Zoo Father was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was published in Mexico in a bilingual edition. A poem from it was shortlisted for a Forward Prize.

See who else made the shortlist – click here

Posted on by

Graham Mort’s collection of short stories ‘Touch’ short-listed for the Edge Hill Prize

Graham Mort’s collection of short stories Touch has been short-listed for the Edge Hill University short story prize 2011.

Touch includes the Bridport prize winning story ‘The Prince’, which was described by novelist Tracy Chevalier as “..the writing is word perfect..”.

From a young child adrift on an ice-filled lake to an ageing farmer facing life alone, the twenty-one stories display a deep sensitivity to both the natural world and to human relationships. In skilfully crafted prose, vivid with detail, Mort examines the strength and fragility of life and the ties that hold us within it.

See the Edge Hill Univeristy Short Story Prize 2011 shortlist – click here

Posted on by

Ruth Bidgood wins the Roland Mathias Prize 2011

Ruth Bidgood wins the Roland Mathias Prize 2011 with her collection of poetry Time Being, published by Seren (2009).

The £3,000 prize was awarded to Ruth Bidgood at ceremony in Roland Mathias’ home town of Brecon, supported by BBC Wales and hosted by Nicola Heywood Thomas, presenter of Radio Wales’ Arts Show.

In future years, it is to be incorporated into the Wales Book of the Year.

Congratulations Ruth!

Ruth Bidgood with editor Amy Wack at the prize giving event in Brecon.


Posted on by

Petit Long Listed for Wales Book of the Year 2011

Pascale Petit’s collection of poetry What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo has been long listed for the Wales Book of the Year 2011.

What the Water Gave Me contains fifty-two poems in the voice of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Some of the poems are close interpretations of Kahlo’s work, while others are parallels or version homages where Petit draws on her experience as a visual artist to create alternative ‘paintings’ with words.

To view all long listed titles click here