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Bad Ideas\Chemicals, Betty Trask Prize, Debuts, Lloyd Markham, Novels, Prizes, Wales Book of the Year - June 13, 2018

Bad Ideas\Chemicals Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize 2018

$Bad Ideas\Chemicals Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize 2018$

Congratulations to Lloyd Markham, Bad Ideas\Chemicals is one of six debut novels by writers under 35 shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize 2018, announced today. The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Past winners include Zadie Smith, David Szalay, Hari Kunzru and Sarah Waters. Total prize and award fund is £26,250. The Authors’ Awards, presented by Stephen Fry, will take place at RIBA on the evening of Thursday 19 July. The 2018 shortlist: Mussolini’s Island by Sarah Day (Tinder Press) All the Good Things by Clare Fisher (Viking) Strange Heart Beating by Eli...

The Library of Wales at Hay Festival

The Hay Festival is one of the premier international book festivals that takes place annually in the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. This year, an event centred on the Library of Wales was pannelled by Phil George, chair of Arts Council of Wales, author Rachel Trezise, and Cardiff University's Tomos Owen. The trio discussed the merits of the series, representation of women, and the depth of Welsh writing.

First Thursday: Latvian poet Krišjānis Zeļģis reads from 'Beasts'

Next Thursday see Latvian poet Krišjānis Zeļģis read from his recently translated poetry collection Beasts (Parthian Baltic, 2018). First Thursday also features guests Elizabeth Parker reading from her debut poetry collection, In Her Shambles (Seren 2018), and Poet/Novelist Christopher Meredith reading from his new short story collection, Brief Lives (Seren 2018). Plus open mic. £2.50 (on the door), Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Thurs 7 June, 7.30pm

'Breathtaking', The Morning Star Reviews Ironopolis

Working class voices are not going unnoticed. On Tuesday, Glen James Brown's debut novel Ironopolis was acclaimed as an 'extraordinary novel' in The Morning Star. Reviewer Paul Simon described the Middlesbrough-set book as 'breathtaking in its ambition and delivery.'

'Accomplished and vibrant', Planet reviews Rebel Sun

'Sophie McKeand's Rebel Sun is no dying star, but a fiery tour de force, full of surreal and ingenious imagery. [...] a passionate and heartfelt book, a collection of modern agitprop poetry in which Marxism and landscape rub easy shoulders, and the Rebel Sun acts as an agitator, its manifesto calling for a reconnection with the natural world [...] Accomplished and vibrant, this is a collection to cherish.' – Kathy Miles, Planet

You can read the full review in the summer issue of Planet (230) and online, if you are a subscriber.

Buy Rebel Sun from our online bookshop for £10

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