Agency Blog

Ian Kelly has been awarded this year's Theatre Book Prize for his biography of the playwright Samuel Foote.

Ian Kelly has been awarded this year's Theatre Book Prize for his biography of the playwright Samuel Foote.

He was presented with the prize for his book, Mr Foote's Other Leg, at the London Palladium last week by fellow actor Timothy West- who is president of the Society of Theatre Research, which hands out the annual award.

Judges selected Kelly's work from a shortlist of five works including theatre critic Kate Bassett's In Two Minds: A Biography of Jonathan Miller and My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall by former prime minister John Major.

The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Drama, edited by Thomas Betteridge and Greg Walker and Lena Atwell:Actress, Patriot, Pioneer, by Margaret Leask, were also in the running for the prize.

This year's judging panel included actor Penelope Keith, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama principal Gavin Henderson and theatre critic Henry Hitchings.

On receiving the prize, Kelly said his book was "born of wonderful tales told by old actors backstage." He added that "one of the joys" of working in the theatre is "what you learn, not only onstage, but from the cast as well."

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2013/05/t…

Party held for Desmond Elliott Prize longlisted authors

Wendy Wallace (front row, right), and eight of the other authors longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, together with the Prize's three judges, Miriam Robinson of Foyles; Robert Collins, Deputy Literary Editor of the Sunday Times; and novelist Joanne Harris, chair at a party at Foyles Charing Cross Road.

Wendy Wallace's longlisted book, The Painted Bridge, has recently been released in paperback, and her second novel, The Sacred River, will be published on 4th July.

The shortlist will be announced on 23 May.

http://bookbrunch.co.uk/article.asp?pid=…

Clare Balding nominated in British Sports Book Awards Shortlists

Clare Balding's autobiography of the year and number one bestseller, My Animals and Other Family, has been shortlisted in the Horse Racing Book of the Year category of The British Sports Book Awards.

The 11th annual British Sports Book Awards will be staged at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 21 May. After the individual category winners have been announced on 21 May, each of them will then be promoted in a media and retail campaign before an online public vote will determine the Overall British Sports Book of the Year. The public vote will held on the official website – www.britishsportsbookawards.co.uk.

The paperback edition of My Animals and Other Family was published on 11th April 2013.

http://britishsportsbookawards.co.uk/201…

The Painted Bridge by Wendy Wallace longlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize

Wendy Wallace's debut novel, The Painted Bridge, has been longlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize 2013. The prize is one of the most prestigious awards for debut novelists from the UK and Ireland.

Jonathan Ruppin, Web Editor of Foyles Bookshop said: “The Desmond Elliott Prize has proved consistent in spotting excellence; all previous winner have gone on to write well-received, wonderful books and this year’s longlist promised just as much potential.”

Set in Victorian England, The Painted Bridge tells the story of recently-married Anna Palmer, who is tricked by her husband into leaving home and becoming incarcerated against her will in Lake House, a private asylum for genteel women of a delicate nature. An elegant, emotionally suspenseful tale of self-discovery, secrets, and a search for truth and freedom.

The shortlist will be announced on May 23 and the overall winner will be revealed at a ceremony at Fortnun & Mason on June 27.

The paperback edition of The Painted Bridge is published on 25th April.

http://telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/boo…

Evie Wyld named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists

We are delighted to announce that Evie Wyld has been named one of the 20 Best of Young British Novelists by the influential literary magazine Granta.

Evie Wyld's debut novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, was published to huge acclaim in 2009 by Cape (UK) and Pantheon (US). She won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (2009) and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (2009), the Orange Award for New Writers (2010), the Author's Club Prize (2010), and the Dublin International IMPAC Award (2011). Evie was also named one of the BBC Culture Show's 12 Best British Novelists in 2011.

Each of the authors will have a short story included in Granta 123: Best of Young British Novelists 4, published on 15th April, showcasing what Granta describes as 'the future of literature in Britain.'

Evie's second novel, All the Birds, Singing, will be published by Cape in June 2013 and by Pantheon in 2014.

Ian Kelly's Mr Foote's Other Leg: Comedy, tragedy and murder in Georgian London shortlisted for Theatre Book Prize

Ian Kelly's Mr Foote's Other Leg: Comedy, tragedy and murder in Georgian London has been shortlisted for this year's Theatre Book Prize, awarded annually by the Society for Theatre Research.

Mr Foote’s Other Leg is not just a tragicomic tale of the Oscar Wilde of the eighteenth century, it is also the story of the first media storm, the first true-crime bestseller, the first victim of celebrity culture, and a joyous hop around the mad theatre of London life – high and low.

'This is a stunningly good and long overdue biography... It is hard to think of anyone who could have written his [Foote's] life story with greater sympathy, understanding of his talent and the difficulties he faced.'
Anne Sebba, Daily Telegraph

Ian Kelly's previous book, Casanova, was named best biography of the year by The Sunday Times.

The Theatre Book Prize was first awarded in 1998 and is confined to books about British theatre. This year’s judging panel includes actor Penelope Keith, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama principal Gavin Henderson and theatre critic Henry Hitchings.

The winner will be announced on 2nd May at the London Palladium.

http://thestage.co.uk/news/2013/04/jonat…

Laetitia Rutherford sets up Nibfest, new literary festival in Notting Hill

Hang up the bunting and get out your bookmarks. Notting Hill is to have its inaugural literary festival. The chic postcode has long been home to well-known writers from Richard Curtis to Rachel Johnson but Nibfest, the Notting Hill International Book Festival, is the first time the area has put on a literary event to rival the popular Richmond and Stoke Newington festivals.

Literary agent and founder Laetitia Rutherford, sister of Gosford Park actress Camilla, says she has chosen to fill the programme with a diverse range of writers in contrast to more conservative events such as the Oxford Literary Festival, “which is full of very established, elderly male authors”.

Instead, guest speakers over the long weekend of April 12-14 will include the novelist Evie Wyld, fashion blogger LibertyLondonGirl and the creators of Rastamouse. The most unusual event will be the Wattpad-sponsored write-a-thon, Once Upon a Deadline, in which eight writers will have just 72 hours to create a story in front of an audience, using Notting Hill landmarks for inspiration.

While this might have echoes of the Monty Python live-novel writing sketch — “Thomas Hardy dips the pen in ink and he’s off!” — Rutherford promises the ground-breaking event will “make writing both social and dramatic, which is very hard to do”.

http://standard.co.uk/news/londoners-dia…