Ones to read in 2009

Richard Milward author of Ten Storey Love Song, one of Waterstones' New Voices of 2009

In true eagle-eyed Scribbler enthusiasm, we have sought out – with the help of Waterstones – the writers we all need to look out for and read this year.

The high street booksellers, Waterstone’s this week announced its New Voices for 2009, the books from emerging writers that the chain believes will go on to feature in and possibly win the literary awards of the year.

Incredibly half the choices came from independent publishers, including A Kind of Intimacy, a debut by prison librarian Jenn Ashworth which is being compared to Notes on a Scandal, and Ablutions by Patrick DeWitt.

Waterstone’s fiction category manager, Toby Bourne said: “There are a huge number of novels published every year and it is very difficult to say which will strike awards gold and which will not, but we had a fantastic hit rate last year.”

Included in 2008’s selection were Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger which went on to win the Man Booker, Sadie Jones’ The Outcast, which was awarded the Costa First Novel Award, and other novels that made Richard & Judy’s Book Club (bleurgh!) and other awards shortlists.

“Even more so than last year, debut fiction dominates our list, with only the precociously talented Richard Milward two novels into his career,” said Waterstone’s fiction buyer, Janine Cook, who helped choose the list.”

Ten Torey Love Song by Richard Milward, only his second book, is a novel written in a single, 286-page paragraph by the 24-year-old.

Cook went onto to say: “The writers may be new, but they have huge talent and these books deserve to compete with those from more established writers for both the attention of readers and for the big prizes.

“This is an invaluable opportunity for these authors to reach the widest possible audience. The Outcast and The White Tiger have gone on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies between them since inclusion in New Voices 2008, so the rewards can be very high.”

Waterstones’ New Voices will be featured in Waterstones’ stores and online at Waterstones.com from 5 March.

The titles are:

• A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth
• Ablutions by Patrick DeWitt
• An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay
• Black Rock by Amanda Smyth
• Days of Grace by Catherine Hall
• Guernica by Dave Boling
• The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin
• Ten Storey Love Song by Richard Milward
• The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
• The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee
• The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn
• The Vagrants by Yiyun Li

Watch a Richard Millward talk about his New Voices of 2009 highlighted novel Ten Storey Love Song below:

Discussion:
So then, has anyone read any of these new offerings? Will anyone be looking into any of these books now they have received the titles of New Voices of 2009? It’s gotta be a good thing right?

Words: Dean Samways

Keep coming back to The Scribbler for interviews with the New Voices of 2009 in the coming weeks

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Booker Prize and Costa Awards judging panels announced

Aravind Adiga with his Man Booker Prize winning novel White Tiger

The organisers behind two of the biggest book awards have announced the judging panels for their 2009 awards. The Man Booker Prize and The Costa Book Awards are some of the most respected in the literary world and anyone asked to judge these awards must see it as a great honour.

The judging panel for The Man Booker prize has been announced with the powers that be opting for a more ‘serious’ line-up. Heading up the critics is Today Program (BBC Radio 4) presenter Jim Naughtie providing some serious journalist clout and is definitely a more suited judge than last year’s choice Michael Portillo.

The remaining seats on the judging panel will be filled by literary editor of The Sunday Telegraph Michael Prodger, the writer Lucasta Miller, who has written a critically acclaimed book on the Bronte’s. Every literature judging panel has to include the token celebrity personality and this year that great honour has fallen to Sue Perkins of Mel and Sue fame. Check out the full panel right here.

The Costa Book Award has announced its judging panel (already touched on by The Scribbler) leaning towards a more broadcasting friendly collective. The judges include world renowned reporter Michael Buerk and comedian/actor Alexander Armstrong. The panel is headed up by columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris. To see the full line-up and biographies of the judges click here.

Watch last year’s Man Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga talks about his award winning book White Tiger:

Discussion:
Are the personalities listed here qualified enough to decide which piece of writing should win over another? Who would you like to see on a book award judging panel?

Words: Seamus Swords

Books of 2008 – The Scribbler Readers’ Poll

Is Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk your book of the year?

As the 2008 slowly eases through its final chilly days and colder nights we wanted to ask you the question that has been on our lips since starting this humble blog.

What have been your books of 2008? As you hopefully saw earlier today, The Guardian has asked public figures but now we are asking you, the Great British fiction fan.

This year has been a healthy one for releases of great fiction but which have particularly enchanted you? Have there been any that have prompted moments of deep thought, a revelation, a tear, a smile, a giggle, a spell of nausea or, more interestingly, a great deal of self-reflection?

We’ve listed 2008’s most notable new novels (disclaimer: it’s not necessarily what we’ve enjoyed) to provide you with some inspiration. It’s out hope that this feature will generate lots of debate and discussion not only about the books of the year but also what makes a good piece of fiction. Uses the comments box accordingly.

So, come on then, what will it be?

The year in literature:

• The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte
• The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss Jr.
• The Expeditions by Karl Iagnemma
• Beautiful Children by Charles Bock
• How the Dead Dream by Lydia Millet
• Song Yet Sung by James McBride
• The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
• The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
• Feuchtgebiete by Charlotte Roche
• Lush Life by Richard Price
• Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
• Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff
• The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt
• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
• All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen
• Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
• Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
• My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates
• Home by Marilynne Robinson
• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
• Indignation by Philip Roth
• The Believers by Zoë Heller
• Le violoncelliste sourd by Francis Malka
• Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
• The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike
• Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
• A Mercy by Toni Morrison
• Ralph Ellison‘s posthumously published manuscript Three Days Before the Shooting, edited by John F. Callahan

Watch Chuck Palahniuk interview the protagonist of his book Snuff, porn priestess Cassie Wright below:

Discussion:
Come on then? What was your favourite book of 2008 and why? Why that book and not another? We want a full blown discussion going on.

Words: Dean Samways