Joanne Harris hails ‘writing as a force to be reckoned with’ as she introduces the Winners of the 2021 Society of Authors’ Awards

from The Lancashire & North West Magazine | September 2021

by The Lancashire & North West Magazine

Presenting: Edward James Furniture Ltd

Novelist Joanne Harris presents the 2021 Society of Authors Awards from her home in Yorkshire

The Society of Authors has revealed the names of the winning writers, poets and illustrators from around the world who will share in the UK’s biggest literary prize fund, worth over £100,000, in an online ceremony.

“Graeme Armstrong: ‘I hope this prize speaks volumes to the young men and women in my community about the distinct possibility of their impossible.”

The acclaimed author of Chocolat Joanne Harris invited an international audience to celebrate the 2021 Society of Authors’ Awards run digitally for the second year because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Speaking from her home in Yorkshire, Harris previous award recipients to announce the 2021 winners of ten prizes for debut novels, poetry, historical biography, illustrated children’s books, and lifetime bodies of work. The trade union - which counts such household literary names as Philip Pullman, Hilary Mantel, Kazuo Ishiguro, Neil Gaiman and JK Rowling among its members, as well as 11,500 jobbing writers, translators, illustrators and journalists - shared £105,775 between 35 writers, poets and illustrators in a celebration of the ‘phenomenal depth and breadth of books and words’

The winners included Thomas McMullan, who won the £10,000 Betty Trask Prize for his dark dystopian debut The Last Good Man; poet Paula Claire who this week celebrates 60 years of creating poetry as well as her Cholmondeley Award; Graeme Armstrong, who won both a Betty Trask Award and a Somerset Maugham Award for The Young Team; lawyer turned children’s writer Rashmi Sirdeshpande and illustrator Diane Ewen who won the Queen’s Knickers Award, now in its second year, for Never Show a T-Rex a Book; Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and British Book Awards winner Kiran Millwood Hargrave who won a Betty Trask Award for her debut adult novel The Mercies; and Pulitzer Prize winner Fredrik Logevall who won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography for JFK Volume 1.

Gboyega Odubanjo, Milena Williamson and Cynthia Miller were among the young poets celebrated in the Eric Gregory Awards, while other award recipients included Forward Prize winner Kei Miller, award-winning columnist Lola Okolosie, playwright and education worker Lamorna Ash, and short fiction author and literary reviewer DM O’Connor.

Introducing the Awards, Harris reflected on the current challenges facing the author community, saying, ‘for authors, whose careers are precarious at the best of times, the challenge to sustain themselves right now is more acute than ever.’

She continued, ‘that is why all of us are here to celebrate the phenomenal depth and breadth of books and words. Authors at the very beginning of their careers. Authors that are well established. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and everything that lies in between. Literature as a treasure at the centre of society. Writing as a force to be reckoned with.’

In his acceptance speech, Kei Miller described his Cholmondeley Award as ‘a wonderful reminder that we belong to so

many societies and so many countries’. McKitterick Prize winner Elaine Feeney spoke of the ‘lovely boost’ the prize has given her, confirming ‘signs of life off the West coast of Ireland!’

Queen’s Knickers Award winner Rashmi Sirdeshpande thanked ‘everyone who has helped [Never Show a T-Rex a Book] find its way into the hands of a child’. And Graeme Johnson whose novel The Young Team mirrors his own experiences of addiction and Scottish gang culture said he hopes his two awards will ‘speak volumes to the young men and women in my community about the distinct possibility of their impossible.’

As she closed the ceremony, Joanne Harris said, ‘There’s no better way to support authors than to read them, so I urge you all to pick up tonight’s winners from your local bookshop and discover their worlds.’

THE WINNERS FOR EACH AWARD ARE:

The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award

Sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award is awarded for a short story by a writer who has had at least one short story accepted for publication. Judged by Claire Fuller, Sophie Haydock, Billy Kahora, Ardashir Vakil and Mary Watson. Past winners include Benjamin Myers, Lucy Wood, Grace Ingoldby and Claire Harman. Total prize fund: £1,575. • Winner: DM O’connor for I Told You

Not to Fly So High Awarded £1,000 • Runner-Up: Sean Lusk for The

Hopelessness of Hope Awarded £575

Betty Trask Prize & Awards

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Judged by Sara Collins, Elanor Dymott and Vaseem Khan. Past winners include Zadie Smith, David Szalay, Hari Kunzru and Sarah Waters. Total prize and award fund: £26,200.

Betty Trask Prize Winner

• Thomas Mcmullan for The Last Good

Man (Bloomsbury) Awarded £10,000.

Betty Trask Awards Winners

Five winners, each awarded £3,240. • Maame Blue for Bad Love (Jacaranda

Books) • Eley Williams for The Liar’s Dictionary (William Heinemann/Cornerstone Prh) • Kiran Millwood Hargrave for The

Mercies (Pan Macmillan/Picador) • Nneoma Ike-Njoku for The Water House (Unpublished) • Graeme Armstrong for The Young Team (Pan Macmillan Picador)

Cholmondeley Award winners

5 winners each awarded £1,680

The Cholmondeley Awards are awarded for a body of work by a poet. Judged by Moniza Alvi, Grace Nichols and Deryn Rees-Jones. Past winners include Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, John Agard and Andrew Motion. Total prize fund: £8,400 • Kei Miller • Paula Claire • Maurice Riordan • Susan Wicks • Katrina Porteous

Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography

The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography is an annual award for historical biography which combines scholarship and narrative drive. Judged by Roy FosterFlora Fraser, Antonia Fraser, Richard Davenport-Hines and Rana Mitter. Past winners include D.W. Hayton, Anne Somerset and Philip Ziegler. Total prize fund: £5,000. • Winner: Fredrik Logevall for JFK Volume 1 (Viking)

Eric Gregory Award winners

7 winners each awarded £4,050

The Eric Gregory Award is presented for a collection of poems by a poet under 30. Judged by Vahni Capildeo, Andrew McMillan, Sarah Howe, Jamie McKendrick and Roger Robinson. Past winners include Carol Ann Duffy, Helen Mort and Alan Hollinghurst. Total prize fund: £28,350. • Phoebe Walker for Animal Noises • Michael Askew for The Association

Game • Gboyega Odubanjo for Aunty Uncle

Poems • Kandace Siobhan Walker for Cowboy • Cynthia Miller for Honorifics • Milena Williamson for The Red Trapeze • Dominic Hand for Symbiont

McKitterick Prize

The McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40. Judged by Sabrina Mahfouz, Nick Rennison and Christopher Tayler. Past winners include Helen Dunmore, Mark Haddon and Petina Gappah. Total prize fund: £5,250. • Winner: Elaine Feeney for As You

Were (Harvill Secker, Vintage)

Awarded £4,000 • Runner-Up: Deepa Anappara for

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Chatto & Windus, Vintage) Awarded £1,250

Paul Torday Memorial Prize

Now in its third year, the Paul Torday Memorial Prize is awarded to a first novel by a writer over 60. The prize includes a set of the collected works of British writer Paul Torday, who published his first novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen at the age of 60. Judged by Paul Bailey, Roopa Farooki and Anne Youngson. Past winners are Anne Youngson and Donald S Murray. Total prize fund: £1,000. • Winner: Kathy O’shaughnessy for In

Love with George Eliot (Scribe Uk)

Awarded £1,000 • Runner-Up: Karen Raney for All the

Water in the World (John Murray/Two

Roads)

The Queen’s Knickers Award

Now in its second year, this annual prize, founded by Nicholas Allan, author of The Queen’s Knickers, is awarded for an outstanding children’s original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It recognises books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement. Judged by Alexis Deacon, Patrice Lawrence and Tony Ross. The inaugural winner of this award in 2020 was Elena Arevalo Melville for Umbrella

Total prize fund: £6,000. • Winners: Writer Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Illustrator Diane Ewen for Never

Show a T-Rex a Book (Puffin) Awarded £5,000 • Runner-Up: Alex T. Smith for Mr Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise (Hachette)

Awarded £1,000

Somerset Maugham Award winners

4 winners each awarded £4,000

The Somerset Maugham Awards are for published works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by writers under 30, to enable them to enrich their work by gaining experience of foreign countries. Judged by Fred D’Aguiar, Nadifa Mohamed and Roseanne Watt. Past winners include Helen Oyeyemi, Julian Barnes, Zadie Smith and Jonathan Freedland. Total prize fund: £16,000. • Lamorna Ash for Dark, Salt, Clear (Bloomsbury Publishing) • Isabelle Baafi for Ripe (Ignition Press) • Akeem Balogun for The Storm (Okapi

Books) • Graeme Armstrong for The Young Team (Pan Macmillan Picador)

Travelling Scholarships

5 winners each awarded £1,600

The Travelling Scholarships are awarded to British writers to enable engagement with writers abroad. Judged by Tahmima Anam, Aida Edemariam, Anne McElvoy, Adam O’Riordan and Gary Younge. Previous recipients have included Dylan Thomas, Laurie Lee and Margaret Drabble. Total prize fund: £8,000. • Clare Pollard • Guy Gunaratne • Yara Rodrigues Fowler • Tom Stevenson • Lola Okolosie

Nightfall in New York

By Lancaster author Katherine Woodfine

Lancaster author Katherine Woodfine tells us how she approached writing and researching a children’s book set in New York City at the height of the pandemic.

When I first set out to write

Taylor & Rose Secret

Agents, I knew that travel would be a key element to the series. Set in the years just before the First World War, the books are inspired in part by the early spy and espionage adventures of the 1900s and 1910s. Written by authors like John Buchan or Erskine Childers, these stories usually centred around brave young men, but in my books, it would be two intrepid teenage girls - Sophie Taylor and Lil Rose - who would be at the heart of the story.

I’d already written about Sophie and Lil in a previous series of books, The Sinclair’s Mysteries - detective stories set in Edwardian London, inspired by the likes of Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this new series beginning in 1911, my heroines would now be putting their detective skills to work as secret agents for the mysterious British Secret Service Bureau.

This scenario is not perhaps quite as unlikely as it might at first seem. The real-life Secret Service Bureau really was set up by the British government in 1909 - and although initially small, it soon grew, going on to become what we know today as MI5 and MI6. In its early days, the Secret Service Bureau often hired private detectives to help with its important work - and in this period, there were quite a number of ‘young lady detectives’ operating in London, including Kate Easton and Maud West. While there’s no evidence she ever worked for the Secret Service Bureau, Maud West certainly hinted that she was involved in important government work.

In their new role, my young detectives would be plunged into the thrilling world of Edwardian espionage. Like James Bond and so many other spies before them, I knew their secret missions would take them to a variety of exotic locations - travelling in disguise by plane, train and automobile, encountering all kinds of dangers along the way.

The first three books in the series took Sophie and Lil to Paris, St Petersburg and Venice. For each new location, I immersed myself in research - seeking out books and visiting museums and art galleries. I looked at images ranging from old photographs and paintings to fashion illustrations and advertisements, and spent spent time at the British Library studying materials from the period, including travel guides, maps and even railway timetables.

A hugely important part of the research process was a visit to each city. Although I already knew Paris reasonably well, I spent a few days there scouting out specific locations for Peril in Paris, which takes my characters all over the city, from a grand hotel to a shabby Montmartre cafe and even a glamorous nightclub inspired by the legendary Moulin Rouge. Spies in St Petersburg required more in-depth research - I’d never visited St Petersburg before, so I spent a memorable week in St Petersburg getting to know the city and visiting as many different places as I could. Even more important was soaking up the atmosphere, taking in all the key details from the precise colours of the buildings to the tastes of Russian food. In Venice, a boat trip out to the cemetery island of San Michele inspired the final climactic scenes of Villains in Venice, which take place in an underground tomb beneath the lagoon. Although the modern-day cities were of course very different from their early 20th century counterparts, these visits gave me valuable opportunities to imagine what they would have been like over 100 years ago. What’s more, walking the streets allowed me to work out all the twists and turns of each action-packed adventure.

But when it came to writing the fourth and final book in the series, Nightfall in New York, things were very different. In the midst of the

Taylor & Rose; NIGHTFALL IN NEW YORK by Katherine Woodfine

(8th July, Farshore, £6.99, paperback)

Covid-19 pandemic, I knew there would be no chance of a research trip to New York. What was more, museums and galleries were closed, as was the British Library where I’d done so much of my research. Sitting at my desk in my home in Lancaster, how could I possibly expect to conjure up the streets of New York in 1912?

Of course, it was books that came to my rescue - often ordered from one of my favourite Lancashire independent bookshops, Storytellers Inc (Lytham St Annes) and Ebb & Flo (Chorley). There are of course, a wealth of books about New York City, including some wonderful books for young readers - such as Robin Stevens’ The Guggenheim Mystery which centres around a puzzling art theft, or Katherine Rundell’s The Good Thieves which takes us back to the 1950s for a thrilling heist. I read classics like The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E L Konigsburg, and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, as well as books by contemporary children’s authors such as Rebecca Stead and Renée Watson. Meanwhile Libba Bray’s spooky and supernatural young adult series The Diviners, set in the 1920s, helped me imagine the New York of the past. I also turned to books for adults, including novels by everyone from Edith Wharton and Henry James to Alice Hoffman and Elizabeth Gilbert. It was in fact, Alice Hoffman’s novel The Museum of Extraordinary Things that gave me the idea of setting part of my story at Coney Island.

Immersing myself in reading both fiction and non-fiction about New York provided lots of inspiration. There was more help to be found online, where I scoured Youtube for early film clips of New York, and used Pinterest to collect dozens of images. The websites of some of New York’s cultural institutions, such as the Tenement Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America, offered valuable information, and I discovered podcasts such as ‘The Bowery Boys’, which allowed me to delve more deeply into specific aspects of New York’s history, discovering intriguing facts and unusual details along the way. Meanwhile, Google Maps allowed me to work out routes and distances - and while I couldn’t explore the streets of New York myself, as I went for my daily lockdown walk, I found I could still think out the details of my story, by imagining that I was walking through Manhattan. Soon, the story began to evolve.

Nightfall in New York sees Sophie and Lil travelling across the Atlantic on a grand ocean liner, before arriving in New York and embarking on a mission which takes them from the elegant Waldorf-Astoria to the enticing amusement parks of Coney Island. As they follow the twists and turns of Sophie and Lil’s adventures, I hope that young readers will feel they too have been whisked away across the ocean to New York - which is perhaps more important than ever, at a time when travelling remains unavailable to most of us. While reallife globe-trotting is impossible, books like Nightfall in New York can offer children the chance to experience some of the joy of travelling and discovering new places, through the power of stories and imagination.

In the end, while writing the book in a pandemic was certainly a challenge, researching New York certainly provided a great imaginative escape. When I’m able to go back and visit New York again, I know I’ll be doing so with a new-found knowledge of and appreciation for the city. Yet whilst I loved writing Nightfall in New York, staying close to home over the last year has also given me a new-found appreciation for what’s right outside my front door. During the first lockdown, I wrote a short piece ‘The Green Road’ for the anthology The Book of Hopes edited by Katherine Rundell - a collection of words and pictures intended to comfort, inspire and entertain children, with proceeds donated to NHS Charities Together. Far from distant cities, my contribution was instead inspired by my the daily lockdown walks I’d been taking along local footpaths. I’d love to see more children’s books with a northern setting, and Lancaster is a city full of fascinating history, surrounded by beautiful landscapes. So perhaps for my next children’s book, I may find myself taking inspiration from somewhere a little closer to home…

DUTY OF THE GODS

By Dr Vishal Sahni

• A fast-moving medical thriller set during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and written by a UK-based surgeon, that invokes the real-life turmoil and dedication of the medical community. • An expert epidemiologist’s hunt for a cure uncovers an evil plot by a ruthless organization that places money above the lives of millions.

Moving quickly from London to

Wuhan, China to the prisons of Iran and beyond, nowhere is safe and everything is at stake.

Aruthless organization is determined to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of millions of lives, but two doctors refuse to give up and race to find the answers.

Dr Rebecca Hartley-Jones, an expert epidemiologist of the GHO, is used to dealing with unknowns. But when her professor sends her to Wuhan, China, she is stunned by what she finds and even more troubled by what it could mean for millions of innocent people around the globe. Her hunt for answers takes her to Iran, where she is thrown behind bars and subjected to spinechilling torture.

Indian virologist Dr Raj Kumar, who also seeks answers about the lethal coronavirus, accompanies her on her quest. Will their mission to find a cure and root out the truth lead to disaster? Or will they find the answers they seek and find love? ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vishal Sahni is an orthopaedic surgeon and author based in the Manchester area. In 2017 he won the best innovation in health care award for developing and performing the firstever Robot-assisted keyhole surgery on the shoulder joint. He was born and raised in Nagpur, India, known as the tiger capital of the world. Vishal Sahni is anguished by loneliness amongst the elderly and organises regular tea parties at his residence for them to share stories and sing songs from the 1950s like Que Sera Sera. So far he has resisted their calls to dress as Doris Day though! He lives with his wife and little daughter in a charming seaside village in the North West of England.

Dr Vishal is a wonderful man of many talents and with his own unique blend of science and heart he has created a story of hope for our time.

We have missed the book since we all finished reading it so quickly and it is our hope that there is a soon a sequel, if he can find the time! it would also be great to see his book progress on in other forms.

All of us in the office have found it to be an inspiring read and all of us have appreciated different elements. There isn’t a page that doesn’t keep you guessing and wondering, there is something inside both of the main protagonists that we can all identify with so we were rooting for them the whole way through.

When discussing Duty of the God’s with Dr Vishal, what shone through the most was his love of the North of England and how he considers it to be home. His respect and admiration for the Northern grit and determination, especially the Doctors and nurses showing extreme bravery in the face of severe adversity was something that he wanted to include.

Dr Vishal’s inspiration for his feisty and big hearted character Rebecca comes form all of these women he has met locally and who have helped in the fight against the pandemic. The Inspiration for Raj is not hard to see either as Dr Vishal pays homage to his other home and roots and merges cultures and personalities beautifully.

Take the time to read this book, it will make you cry but it will make you laugh as well, the balance is just right and feel free to send us your thoughts and feedback as we will be recommending more good reads from the team soon:

info@lancashiremagazine.co.uk

Duty of the Gods is available in paperback (£9.99) and ebook (£3.36) at all good bookshops and online retailers.

Aiming Higher

YOU CAN DONATE TO AIMING HIGHER USING THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

WEBSITE | www.aiminghighercharity.org.uk/donate JUST GIVING | www.justgiving/aiminghigher/donate/ PAYPAL | Found on Aiming Higher website or call to make donations by phone POST | Aiming Higher, 231 – 233 Church Street, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 3PB. To see more of what we do please visit our website www.aiminghighercharity.org.uk or follow us on facebook @aiminghighercharity.

Please ring us on 01253 206447 for further information.

Fundraising @ Aiming Higher

After a year and a half of lockdown, the Charity Sector has seen a huge downturn in donations and fundraising events and Blackpool based Aiming Higher is no exception.

The charity supports families with children who have disabilities in Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre and has remained pro-active with activities and support throughout the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the normal sponsored events like fun runs and marathons have been cancelled for some time and large fundraising events such as the Aiming Higher Annual Ball have obviously not been allowed due to Covid-19 restrictions. This has meant a substantial reduction in the amount of money raised for the charity who are keen to get fundraisers on board again and ensure that all their services are able to continue. Charity Manager Hayley Kay said: “If you’d like to raise money for Aiming Higher then we’d be delighted to hear from you. Over the years our fantastic supporters have undertaken a wide and varied range of fundraising activities that raise vital funds for the children and families we support. We’re also happy to supply collection tins to small businesses who wish to fundraise for us on their countertops.” There’s an endless number of ways to raise money for Aiming Higher, but if you’re looking for inspiration, may we suggest:

Sponsored: Walks, Runs, Cycles, Silences Daytime Activities: Coffee Morning, Cake/Bake Sale, Dress-Down Day, Raffle, Tombola, Baked Bean Bath, Charity Car Wash, Charity Lunch, Supermarket Bag Packing, Car Boot Sale Quitting Something: Smoking, Chocolate, Alcohol or Technology for 24 Hours! High Energy Challenges: Skydiving, 3,000-Mile Trek or Distance Challenge Evening Activities: Quiz Night, Disco, Bingo, Karaoke Night A-thons: Swimathon, Spellathon, Danceathon, Stepathon, Readathon Whatever your idea, we’d be delighted to talk to you about it, call any of our team on01253 206447or emailinfo@ aiminghighercharity.org.uk Two brave individuals who didn’t let lockdown stop them from fundraising were Katie Gledhill and Vitalka Wilson who both undertook a skydive for us at Black Knights Parachute Centre in Cockerham. Aiming Higher is one of the charities that Black Knights promote on their website to those wanting to do something for a good cause whilst skydiving. Vitalka’s jump was delayed several times due to weather and restrictions but he described it as an “absolutely amazing” experience when he completed it in August. Katie finally jumped in October and said it was “literally one of the best things I’ve ever done!” The team at Aiming Higher are also making plans for another fundraising ball in 2022 – three years since the last 1950’s themed event in May 2019. Over the years these have proved very popular and have raised significant sums for the charity. If you would be interested in purchasing a table, donating prizes or sponsoring any aspect of the event please contact the team who will be happy to speak to you.