Simon Trewin

Our clients  were much in evidence at the Irish Book Awards last week in Dublin. Robert Kirby’s client Anthony Horowitz presented two awards, John Boyne was a guest of his publisher Random House Books, Robert Harris was shortlisted for The Tubridy Show Award for THE GHOST and Niamh Greene‘s THE SECRET DIARY OF A DEMENTED HOUSEWIFE was shortlisted for both the Newcomer Of The Year Award and The Galaxy Popular Fiction Book Of The Year. Pictured are John Boyne and Niamh Greene. For lots more pictures see here.

Welcome to Amy Krouse Rosenthal (and her daughter Paris) who are in the UK this week to promote ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AN ORDINARY LIFE published by Grove Atlantic. As Viv Groskop said, in the Sunday Express, ‘Amy is a witty, astute observer of modern life in all its baffling guises…ENCYCLOPAEDIA makes you feel glad to be alive’.

Congratulations to the multi-talented Robert Popper for winning a BAFTA last night for PEEP SHOW in the Situation Comedy category. The paperback of his hilarious book The Timewaster Diaries is published by Little Brown later this year.

John Boyne‘s THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS has been awarded the prestigious Qué Leer prize for the best novel translated into Spanish. John receives the award at a prize ceremony held in Barcelona later today. My colleague Jane Willis here at United Agents has just sold Maltese rights for John’s novel – this is a first for her and the agency.

In common with most people in publishing I will be at Earls Court for the next three days for the London International Book Fair. The Bookseller’s free downloadable digital daily magazine is well-worth reading. Check it out here.

Congratulations to my friend and colleague Robert Kirby for his much-deserved shortlisting as Literary Agent of the Year, to the creative team at Canongate for the StoraEnso Design & Production Award shortlisting for Scarlett Thomas’ The End Of Mr Y and the marketing team at Canongate (headed by Jenny Todd) for being shortlisted for the Guardian Marketing Campaign Of the Year for their publication of Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts. The winners will be announced at the BA Conference in May.