Simon Trewin

Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, is today (Wednesday 18th November) announced as Chair of the judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Andrew Motion is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and co-founder of the online Poetry Archive.  He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1999 for a ten year term. He has received numerous awards for his writing. His group study The Lamberts won the Somerset Maugham Award and his authorised life of Philip Larkin won the Whitbread Prize for Biography.  Andrew Motion was knighted for his services to literature in 2009.

Andrew Motion comments, ‘It’s an honour to be asked to chair the Man Booker Prize, which has consistently been a focus for the best fiction of recent years.  It’s an exciting challenge too: a lot of difficult decisions lie ahead.

I greatly look forward to a year of reading voraciously.’

The longlist, ‘The Booker Dozen’ – the 12 (or 13) titles under serious consideration for the prize – will be announced in July 2010.  The shortlist of six books will be announced in September 2010.  The Man Booker Prize 2010 winner will be announced on the BBC from London’s Guildhall at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 12th October 2010.

A light-hearted look at the New York Jewish dating scene through the eyes of presenter Tim Samuels, a London-based single Jew desperate to find the girl of his dreams.

Tim has always thought he would settle down with a nice Jewish girl in Britain, but with his single Jewish friends taking the plunge one after another and no sign of love in his life, Tim, at 33, takes decisive action. He is heading for the bright lights of New York City. He wants to find a Jewish princess with that NY get-up-and-go, someone who will get British humour – and still have lovely teeth (think Cheryl David from Curb Your Enthusiasm or comic Sarah Silverman).

He puts the word out on the NY Jewish singles circuit by way of an advert announcing that he is coming over for a week on an intense dating mission. He scrambles around for something impressive to say in the advert, before setting off for a week of power-dates. Will he find a New York girl who isn’t averse to rainy weekends and watching soccer on the box?

Listen HERE

John Boyne and Claire Kilroy are appearing at the Richmond Upon Thames literary festival tonight in an event focussing on Contemporary Irish Fiction. John will be talking about his new novel The House of Special Purpose and Irish fiction more widely and he will be joined by Claire Kilroy whose new novel, All Names Have Been Changed is ‘Written with swagger … a gripping study of group dynamics and an exploration of what it means to follow in a literary tradition.’ – Financial Times

Book Here

Ebury Press has bought the rights to an “incredibly special” book by my author Danny Wallace.

Publisher Jake Lingwood acquired rights for UK and Commonwealth, excluding Canada, to Awkward Situations for Men through  United Agents.

Each chapter describes Wallace in an awkward situation. Scenarios include saying the wrong thing about a friend’s baby, accidentally following a woman down a dark street and having an argument with a bishop. Ebury will publish as a £11.99 trade paperback in late May 2010.

Lingwood said: “Danny Wallace has quietly been developing as one of the best humorists we’ve ever had in this country. Awkward Situations for Men is something incredibly special and will be adored by men and women of all ages.”

Wallace has had six titles at Ebury, including Yes Man which was adapted into a film starring Jim Carrey.