Francis Spufford Wins Costa First Novel Award for Golden Hill

Francis Spufford has won the prestigious Costa first novel award for Golden Hill, a “dazzlingly original tale” set in 18th-century New York. Read more about his brilliant novel and the other winners here. Golden Hill was also named Sunday Times Novel of the Year. Selected praise for Golden Hill: “A cunningly crafted narrative that, right up to its tour de […]

Golden Hill is Sunday Times Novel of the Year

Congratulations to Francis Spufford whose novel Golden Hill has been shortlisted for the 2016 Costa First Novel Award. Read more about the award and shortlist here. Golden Hill is also Sunday Times Novel of the Year. Selected praise for Golden Hill: “A cunningly crafted narrative that, right up to its tour de force conclusion, is alive with tantalising twists […]

Danielle McLaughlin revisits ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ for The Paris Review Daily

In the summer of 1986, I finished secondary school, and that autumn I enrolled in a secretarial course in Cork City. It was a course of a kind that I suspect no longer exists, with bookkeeping exercises involving sheets of carbon paper, classes in shorthand, typing learned on manual typewriters. I have a hazy recollection […]

An interview with Rowan Hisayo Buchanan on writing ‘Harmless Like You’

The harm we cause one another – casually, accidentally, deliberately, unknowingly – haunts Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s mind. Her debut novel, Harmless Like You, which sparked a fierce bidding war among publishers, takes its title from a photography series that Yuki, one of Buchanan’s main characters, puts together in the early 1970s. The series is made […]

On the road again: Sara Taylor on remaking the US road novel

The year I was born, my grandparents moved to Nova Scotia. The year my younger sister was born they moved to Florida. I’ve been assured that none of these events are related. We lived in Virginia, halfway between the two. Once a year or so my parents would load my brother and sister and I […]

Five Aitken Alexander Authors Up for the Edinburgh Festival First Book Award

What is the First Book Award? The First Book Award celebrates the wealth of new writing included in the Edinburgh International Book Festival programme each year. Unlike other literary prizes, the winner of the First Book Award is selected by the readers who champion new writing and who are responsible for making superstars out of debut […]