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NK Chats To… Louise Pentland

Louise PentlandHello Louise, thank you so much for joining me on Novel Kicks today. Your debut novel is called Wilde Like Me. Can you tell me a bit about it and what inspired it?

It’s so thrilling to be a published author, I feel truly honoured to be involved in the publishing industry which I can tell you has some of the nicest people in the world in it. I feel really excited to write more and have a few more books under my belt!

Wilde Like Me is a love story with a difference. It’s not your typical fair maiden being rescued by a prince on his stead. The book’s heroine is 29-year-old single Mum called Robin Wilde, and when we first meet her, she’s finding the gig of being a single parent really tough and is struggling to keep on top of things. Throughout the book, we see Robin battle with what she calls, The Emptiness, and discover the real key to what makes her happy. It’s fun and exciting but also has some really poignant moments which I love. I can also tell you there are definitely some real life inspirations in this book. When I began writing Robin’s story, I was a single working Mum myself, trying out the dating game again, and I knew first-hand what a struggle it can be!

 

What are the challenges with writing a novel especially the first novel? What’s the best part?

I’ve found juggling my time hardest when writing the first novel. I’m a full-time vlogger and a Mummy to 2 little girls so squeezing it all in has been a bit tricky but so worth it when I hear readers tell me what they thought of the characters or what the book has meant to them- that’s by far the best part.

 

What was the planning process like and how has your writing process evolved since your first book compared to the second?

When I first sat down to write Wilde Like Me I really didn’t know how to put a whole book together. I had all these ideas buzzing around but no real skill in making a story arc or keeping it flowing. My editor Eli taught me how to sew chapters together and how to make sure it kept a good momentum so the second book has been much smoother in that respect- and less phone calls to Eli!

 

What is your typical writing day like? Do you have any rituals or habits?

I write best first thing in the morning before I’ve looked at anything else or I’ve distracted myself with other work like editing videos or updating social media, so I try to do a couple of hours as soon as I wake up.

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News: British Book Awards 2017

British Book AwardsWinners of British Book Awards to be announced on Monday 8th May 2017.

The British Book Awards brings together authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians and literary agents for a night to celebrate the book industry.

Hosted by Lauren Laverne, the ceremony takes place on Monday 8th May at Grosvenor House in London where the winners of the six categories will be revealed.

The categories include children’s, debut fiction and non fiction (which has been further split into Narrative and Lifestyle,) and this year, the awards have further expanded to include Crime and Thriller. There will also be a prize awarded for ‘Overall Book of the Year.’

All the shortlists have six books each.

In the fiction category, nominees include Sebastian Barry, Victoria Hislop, Sarah Perry, Jessie Burton, Maggie O’ Farrell and Paul Beatty.

Debut book of the year includes novels from Joanna Cannon, Emma Cline, Kit de Waal, Garth Greenwell, Barney Norris and Francis Spufford.

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News: Shortlist Announced For Wellcome Prize

WellcomeBookPrize Logo BlackShortlist for Wellcome Book Prize 2017 announced.

Four non fiction books and two fiction books have been shortlisted for the 2017 Wellcome Prize.
The list includes the following:

How To Survive a Plague by David France (non-fiction,) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (non-fiction,) Mend The Living by Maylis De Kerangal (fiction,) The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss (fiction,) The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (non fiction) and I contain Multitudes by Ed Yong (non fiction.)
2017 could mean a posthumous win for Paul Kalanithi.

The Wellcome Prize is an annual award which is open to non-fiction and fiction novels that have been submitted by publishers and that have a central theme that has some aspect of medicine, health or illness.

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News: Baileys To End Women’s Prize For Fiction Sponsorship

logoBaileys to stop sponsoring Women’s Prize For Fiction.

Baileys have announced that they will no longer be sponsoring the Woman’s Prize For Fiction. The prize, co-founded by author, Kate Mosse had been sponsored by Baileys since 2014. They took over from Orange who had previously sponsored the prize for seventeen years.

‘We regretfully decided to make way for a new sponsor,’ said a spokesperson for Baileys.

They will remain sponsors of the 2017 prize before they make way for a new sponsor for 2018. This year’s long list is to be announced in March, the shortlist will be unveiled in April and the winner announced in June.

The Women’s prize for fiction is awarded annually to what the judges consider the best novel of the year in English by a female author. The winning author receives £30,000 in prize money. Previous winners include Zadie Smith and Lionel Shriver.

For more information about the prize, visit www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/

 

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This Week’s Current Book Releases

510lD5bofXLIt’s that time of the week again. I wanted to share some of the new books that have been released today. All of them look great. Which ones are you excited to read?

The Night That Changed Everything by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice (Corgi, 24th March 2016.)

Laura and Jimmy’s book covers are always so pretty. This book sounds great and I can’t wait to read. It’s released today in Paperback.

Here’s the blurb….

Rebecca is the only girl she knows who didn’t cry at the end of Titanic. Ben is the only man he knows who did. Rebecca’s untidy but Ben doesn’t mind picking up her pieces. Ben is laid back by Rebecca keeps him on his toes. They’re a perfect match.

Nothing can come between them. Or so they think.

When a throwaway comment reveals a secret from the past, their love story is rewritten.

Can they recover from the night that changed everything? And how do you forgive when you can’t forget?

 

410KPb8urgLGone Astray by Michelle Davis (MacMillan, 24th March 2016.)

I like a good thriller/mystery so this book looks up my street. Here’s the information…

When Lesley Kinnock buys a lottery ticket on a whim, it changes her life more than she could have imagined . . .

Lesley and her husband Mack are the sudden winners of a £15 million EuroMillions jackpot. They move with their 15-year-old daughter Rosie to an exclusive gated estate in Buckinghamshire, leaving behind their ordinary lives – and friends – as they are catapulted into wealth beyond their wildest dreams.

But it soon turns into their darkest nightmare when, one beautiful spring afternoon, Lesley returns to their house to find it empty: their daughter Rosie is gone.

DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be Family Liaison Officer to Lesley and Mack, supporting them while quietly trying to investigate the family. And she has a crisis threatening her own life – a secret from the past that could shatter everything she’s worked so hard to build.

As Lesley and Maggie desperately try to find Rosie, their fates hurtle together on a collision course that threatens to end in tragedy . . .

Money can’t buy you happiness.
The truth could hurt more than a lie.
One moment really can change your life forever.

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News: Barbara Taylor Bradford Launches Writing Competition

barbara-taylor-bradfordBarbara Taylor Bradford OBE has joined forces with The Sunday Times to help discover the next generation of young female writers.

Barbara is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, an independent UK charity that transforms lives through literacy.

The Write Stuff short story competition is aimed at girls aged 11-18 and who live in the UK. It was launched nationwide on Sunday (22nd March.)

The competition has been initiated following research by National Literacy Trust of more than 14,000 girls revealing that only one in four girls aged 14 to 16 (23%) see writing as cool, and almost half prefer watching TV to reading (49%).

“I feel it’s critical to reach out to girls and young women who want to share a story they have created and inspire a new generation of female writers and readers. It’s really important that female authors like myself take the lead as role models for girls and young women and encourage them to reach their full potential,” says author, Barbara Taylor Bradford who is due to release her 30th novel, The Cavendon Women on 26th March 2015.

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News: Launch of One Book Lane

Final Logo variations no BG-01We wanted to tell you about a fantastic new community for readers. It’s called One Book Lane and it comes to you from all those lovely people over at Orion. It’s here to make sure you’re never short of a good book to get lost in. The website is beautiful. We love it.

Launching today, http://www.onebooklane.co.uk is inviting you to get involved in a variety of ways. We love discovering new books and authors and they want to help us all find great book recommendations and there will be great competitions too.

If you’re a member of a book club, you can also register that on the site and have a chance to win books amongst other things.

As it’s their launch day, you can get involved via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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News: Unseen Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Chapter Released.

charliebook001

Puffin.

Roald Dahl’s classic, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory turns 50 in October.

It is certainly one book that has stayed with me from my childhood and that is why I am excited about the Roald Dahl estate releasing a previously unreleased, unused chapter.

This chapter was not used in the 1964 published book. According to the chapter, there are two new children and another two are referenced but none of which feature in the published novel. These children are Tommy Troutbeck, Wilbur Rice, Augustus Pottle and Miranda Grope.

The characters in this chapter visit the Vanilla Fudge Room in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

The draft chapter which was featured this weekend in the Guardian, reveals that in earlier versions of the novel, there were as many as ten golden tickets and ten children as opposed to the five children we are familiar with – Augustus, Veruca, Violet, Mike and of course, Charlie. Also in early drafts, it’s been indicated that Charlie was accompanied to the factory by his mother and not Grandpa Joe.

Y0u can read this unseen chapter at www.theguardian.com

 

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News: Harper Fiction Launches Digital Imprint

Killer Reads LogoHarperFiction is launching a brand new digital crime and thriller imprint. It’s called Killer Reads and initially, for a limited period, they are opening their doors to un-agented submissions of crime and thriller novels.

Killer Reads is looking for a wide range of submissions from across the genre, ranging from police procedurals to psychological thrillers, to high-concept thrillers and beyond. The selected manuscripts will be the first titles to be published.

‘This is a hugely exciting opportunity for us to discover emerging talent in the crime and thriller area and bring their work to readers hungry for new stories.’  says, Sarah Hodgson, Deputy Publishing Director.

Submissions will be accepted from 29th August until 14th September 2014. From 29th August writers can submit their full manuscript, a synopsis of their novel and an author biography, by emailing: killerreadssubs@harpercollins.co.uk.  

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News – George RR Martin & Robin Hobb in Conversation

harperHarperVoyager has announced this week that they will host an event with two of their highest profile authors.

George RR Martin and Robin Hobb will be in conversation on 19th August 2014 in an event taking place in central London (the exact location will be announced soon.)

If you are a fan of either author (we love Game of Thrones,) this unique event features two of the world’s greatest storytellers, discussing how they build their fictional universes, create their characters and balance fantasy and reality; about their influences and inspirations, their struggles and successes.

This is a uniquely exciting event, bringing together two of the greatest storytellers in modern fiction talking candidly about their writing lives, said Jane Johnson,  HarperVoyager’s Publishing Director.

Tickets will go on sale later this week. They will be £45 each and this includes a hardback copy of Robin Hobb’s latest novel Fool’s Assassin.

For more information about the event, visit HarperCollin’s website.

 

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News – Film Adaptation For Second Ahern Novel

Harper Collins, 2004.

Harper Collins, 2004.

Fans of Cecelia Ahern will soon be able to see her second novel adapted for the big screen.

Love, Rosie is due for release in October. Directing is Christian Ditter and  it stars Lily Collins (The Blind Side, Mirror Mirror,) as Rosie Dunne and Sam Claflin as Alex Stewart. Sam has recently starred as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Love, Rosie is adapted from the novel, Where Rainbows End. It is about two best friends, Alex and Rosie, who have known each other since childhood but are then separated when Alex moves to America with his family. Their friendship carries on through letters and e-mails (well, in the book anyway.)

This is the second 0f Cecelia’s novels to make its way to the big screen. Her debut novel, PS, I Love You was released in 2007 with Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler in the lead roles.

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News -Harper Lee

190px-To_Kill_a_MockingbirdMockingbird to be made available for e-readers.

In a rare public statement, Harper Lee has announced that her iconic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, will be available to buy as an e-book for the first time. Due for release on 8th July, it will also be available in downloadable audiobook.

Harper Lee announced the news on Monday, her 88th birthday in a statement released through her publisher, HarperCollins. She said,  “I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long. This is Mockingbird for a new generation.”

The Pulitzer prize winning novel was first released in 1960 and was later adpated into a movie. The novel has sold more than thirty million copies.

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Sue Townsend Planned New Mole Novel

Puffin: Re-issue Edition, 2002

Puffin: Re-issue Edition, 2002

Author was working on new Adrian Mole novel.

Sue Townsend was working on a new Adrian Mole novel before her death. The new book was provisionally titled Pandora’s Box. The author of the fantastic Mole series died at the age of 68 and had written ‘some wonderful pages’ according to her publisher.

The unfinished book would have been the ninth of the Adrian Mole novels and it was due for release in the autumn.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, was released in 1982 and along with the other novels, Continue reading

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Donna Tartt Wins Major Fiction Prize.

The_goldfinch_by_donna_tartThe Goldfinch wins the Pulitzer for Fiction.

American novelist Donna Tartt has won this year’s Pulitzer prize for Fiction for her third novel, The Goldfinch.

The book is set in modern day New York and tells the story of a young man as he tries to come to terms with the death of his mother. A film adaptation is rumoured to already be in the works after the producers behind the Hunger Games have optioned Tartt’s novel.

The Goldfinch has also been nominated for a Baileys Woman’s Prize for Fiction (formally the Orange Prize.) The winner will be announced on 4th June at the Southbank Centre.

Speaking to USA Today, Tartt said that she was ‘very happy, delighted and surprised’ to win her first major literary prize.

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JK Rowling to be Guest Editor on Woman’s Hour

takeoverFive women to be guest editors on Woman’s Hour for one week.

BBC Radio Four will be handing over Woman’s Hour to five female guest editors for one week.

‘The five guests, including JK Rowling, ‘will explore areas that resonate with them, including personal insights into the changes they would like to see in women’s lives,’ according to the Woman’s Hour website.

The Harry Potter author will be presenting the first day on ‘takeover week,’ which will kick off on Continue reading

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Longlist Announced For Desmond Elliott Award

Nathan Filer’s novel amongst the long list for the Desmond Elliott Prize

Nathan FilerThe Shock of The Fall by Nathan Filer is amongst the ten authors who made the long list for this year’s Desmond Elliott Prize. This award celebrates first time British and Irish authors.

Nathan was also the recipient of the Costa Book of the Year Award in January. Other authors who made the list include Kate Clanchy, Donal Ryan and Eimear McBride for her novel, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing which took nine years to publish after being rejected several times.

The shortlist will be announced on 26th May and the overall winner will be announced on 3rd July and will win £10,000. Good luck to all the nominated authors.

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Romantic Novel of The Year.

Awards ceremony taking place in London this evening.

rna-logo-febThe Romantic Novelists’ Association will be announcing the winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year later on this evening. As well as this award, they will also be revealing the winners of contemporary romantic novel, the epic romantic novel, the historical romantic novel, the romantic comedy novel and the young adult romance novel, as well as the recipient of the RoNA Rose award at a glittering ceremony at The Gladstone Library in London.

Darcey Bussell CBE will be presenting the awards and once she’s revealed all of the category winners, she will announce the winner of Romantic Novel of The Year. The winner of this will receive a crystal trophy and £5000.

President, Katie Fforde said, “the RNA came into being to encourage good writing of romantic fiction in all of its many forms. This year we’ve seen a record number of books submitted for our Awards, and this clearly demonstrates that romantic fiction plays a big part in the UK book industry. Continue reading

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CLIC Sargent’s Get in Character Campaign

New-CLIC-Sargent-Logo-100mmHave you ever wanted your name immortalised in a book?

An amazing selection of authors have joined CLIC Sargent for the ‘Get in Character’ campaign. It’s a chance for you or a loved one to have your name used for a character in a book.

It’s a unique 10-day Ebay auction and the aim is to raise £10,000 to help provide clinical, practical and emotional support to children and young people who are fighting cancer as well as support for their families.

Authors taking part include, Continue reading

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International Book Giving Day – 14th February.

IBGDToday is International Book Giving Day.  

International Book Giving Day is a day dedicated to getting new, used, and borrowed books into the hands of as many children as possible, to share the love of books & the generosity of giving … all on a day synonymous with love. It’s run on a purely voluntary basis by a team of dedicated children’s book enthusiasts from around the world,  highlighting the importance of books for children.

It was built and created by Amy Broadmoore, founder of the American children’s book website, Delightful Children’s Books, in 2012. Inspired by her son’s desire to ‘invent a holiday when people gave books to each other’, the determination to link that with Valentine’s Day was born just 10 days before the day itself!

‘People not only give books to kids in their communities, they also share stories and photos via Twitter, Facebook and International Book Giving Day’s website. Connecting with others who are giving books to kids, is part of what makes this an inspiring holiday,’ says Amy.

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