AUGUST 2009

Feeling quite giddy/anxious/exhausted having just finished my next (adult) novel. I really feel unusually optomistic about this one and genuinely think I put as much as I've got into it. Will keep you posted. Norman Mailer once said writing a novel is the closest a man ever gets to actual childbirth. Which might be true, but having seen chidbirth at first-hand this year I am quite glad novel writing doesn't involve getting naked in front of a room of strangers, stepping into a lukewarm NHS bath and howling in agony as a 400 page manuscript squeezes its way out from between my legs. Though, to balance out the novel versus childbirth argument, childbirth is definitely SHORTER and no redrafts are generally involved.

Also, I've just completed a screenplay for the UK Film Council, which I'm really, six-year-old boy excited about although I can't reveal too many details at the moment.

And Shadow Forest has won two other awards - the Lancashire School Library Service Fantastic Book Awards and the Calderdale Book Awards. Which is great for Shadow Forest but my other books are starting to feel a bit insecure about themselves.

JUNE 2009

Shadow Forest has won the East Sussex Children's Book Award! Which meant a nice excuse to visit Brighton again, and for us to take Lucas and Pearl for a stroll down the pier. (Note to new parents: Hotel du Vin Brighton is to prams what swimming pools are to cardigans. Unlikely it will be renamed Hotel du Pram any time soon.)

Also, I've just heard that the very talented Brock Norman Brock has been commissioned to write the screenplay for The Possession of Mr Cave.

Plus I'm going to be faced with the task of reading 90 kids books later this year as I've been asked to be a judge for next year's Blue Peter Book Awards. Crikey. That's about as many as I've read in my life I think.

MAY 2009

The Possession of Mr Cave UK paperback has just launched. The Times called it a 'dark, compelling read', which was nice of them.

Sad news. My wonderful UK editor for my children's books, Charlie Sheppard, is moving onto Andersen Press. Editors like this one don't grow on trees (well, I've just had a walk through the editor orchard and couldn't see any) so she'll be sorely missed.

And Shadow Forest has won the Leeds Book Award 9-11 category, which as a former Leodesian fills me with Yorkshire pride. Not that I subscribe to geo-psychological theories of regional emotions or anything...

APRIL 2009

My children's novel Shadow Forest has won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award! The Blue Peter crew turned up to surprise me at a school event and I managed to look like a bumbling idiot on BBC1 which is always fun.

And Shadow Forest's sequel, The Runaway Troll, has just come out to kind reviews in the Daily Mail and Telegraph.

MARCH 2009

The Possession of Mr Cave has just been launched in America. Cracking reviews in the New York Times and Hollywood Today

DECEMBER 2008

***Shadow Forest shortlisted for the BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD (in the Book I Couldn’t Put Down category)***
A panel of young judges will now read the shortlist to decide the winners, which will be announced on Blue Peter in February/March 2009. The overall winner of Book of the Year will be announced on World Book Day, 5 March. My three decade quest for a Blue Peter badge is nearing its end, ye Gods!

***The Dead Fathers Club has been launched in Italy***
The book is published by Einaudi Stile Libero. As my Italian vocabulary is confined to coffee terms and 'portfolio' the book's translator was also nice enough to translate what Primo Stigia (Italy's Booker Prize equivalent) winner Paolo Giordano said of the book: 'Once we have grown up, we tend to forget the emotions, the extreme happiness, the hatred, and the lights and the sounds of the time when we were children. That is why, when a book takes us back into this world - and does it in a genuine way- the experience can be amazing and painful at the same time." Thanks Paolo!

***And more Book Award shortlists for Shadow Forest***
Shadow Forest has been shortlisted for the Leeds Book Award in the 9-11 category and the Calderdale Book of the Year 2009.

NOVEMBER 2008

***THE POSSESSION OF MR CAVE PUBLISHING DATES PAPERBACK***
My latest adult novel, The Possession of Mr Cave, will be published in paperback in the UK (Vintage) in May 2009 and in March in hardback in America (Viking).

US COVER

UK COVER

OCTOBER 2008

***SHADOW FOREST WINS SEFTON SUPER READS***
You can read about the award and the other books in the shortlist here.

***SHADOW FOREST NOMINATIONS***
Shadow Forest has been nominated for a number of awards:

SEPTEMBER 2008

***SAMUEL BLINK AND THE RUNAWAY TROLL IS LAUNCHED IN AMERICA***
You can read the first few pages here or order it here.

*** THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB MOVIE NEWS***
The project has been set up at Film Four with Terry Johnson writing the screenplay.

***THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB IN CZECH***
Argo are going to publish the Czech edition.


***THE POSSESSION OF MR CAVE IN NORWEGIAN***
My latest novel will be published in Norway in 2009 by Tiden Norsk. It will be titled ”Den gode faren”. Directly translated that means ”The good father”, but in Norwegian, ”faren” also means ”the danger”. So it fits pretty well, I think.

***THE LADBRADOR PACT IN AMERICA***
The paperback edition of the The Labrador Pact will be launched in February 2009 in America.

***MY BOOKS IN ROMANIA***
The Last Family in England and The Dead Fathers Club will both be published by Leda in Romania.

MAY 2008
The Possession of Mr Cave, has just been launched in the UK (Jonathan Cape). Read about it here or order it here.


APRIL 2008

***THE LABRADOR PACT***
The Labrador Pact has been called 'dark, comic and quite brilliantly adult' by the New York Times. Read more reviews here.




***THE RUNAWAY TROLL IN AMERICA***
The Runaway Troll (Putnam) will be out in America on September 4th 2008.

***BOYS INTO BOOKS***
Shadow Forest has been chosen for the ‘Boys into Books’ scheme (commissioned by the School Library Association). The website is at www.boysintobooks.co.uk

***ITALIAN SHADOW FOREST AVAILABLE***
La Foresta d'ombra (De Agostini) is out now in Italy. See here.

***LAST FAMILY IN ITALY***
Einaudi Stile Libero will be publishing The Last Family in England in Italian.

***SHADOW FOREST IN KOREA AND CHINA***
Shadow Forest will be published by Daehan Printing in Korea and Shanghai 99 Culture Consulting Co in China.

***AUDIO EDITION OF SHADOW FOREST IN UK
An audio edition of Shadow Forest is available from W F Howes. See here or you can listen to a sample here.



***LARGE PRINT EDITION OF MR CAVE***
A large print edition of The Possession of Mr Cave will be soon published by W F Howes.

***AUDIO EDITION OF SHADOW FOREST IN GERMANY***
An audio edition of Shadow Forest is now available in German (Im Schattenwald, Jumbo). See here.

***AUDIO EDITION OF THE LAST FAMILY IN ENGLAND IN GERMANY***
An audio edition of The Last Family in Engalnd is now available in German (Fur immer, euer Prince, Delta). See here.




***THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB IN GERMAN***
The Dead Fathers Club is called Nachricht von Dad in Germany and will be published in September 2008 by Goldmann.




***THE LABRADOR PACT PLAYLIST***
Read The Labrador Pact playlist here.


JAN/FEB 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

***THE LABRADOR PACT IN AMERICA***
The Labrador Pact is out in America. It's published by Viking/Penguin. Visit The Labrador Pact website here. There is also an audio version of the book. Simon Jones, the British actor who played Arthur Dent in the BBC Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio and TV-series is narrating it. You can listen to it here.

***THE LAST FAMILY IN ENGLAND IN NORWAY***
The Last Family in England is published in Norway by Tiden. The Norwegian title is "Det går så bra så".

***PENGUIN BLOGGER OF THE WEEK***
Read my blog on the Penguin website.






***THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB AUDIO WINS AWARDS***
Publishers Weekly cited The Dead Fathers Club for a Listen Up Award and Booklist furthered honored The Dead Fathers Club with an Editors Choice Award.



***INDONESIAN THREE BOOK DEAL***
Maroon Books in Indonesia will be publishing The Dead Fathers Club, Shadow Forest and the Runaway Troll.


DECEMBER 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!

***NESTLE CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE GOLD AWARD WINNER***
Shadow Forest won gold in the 9-11 category at this year’s Nestlé Children’s Book Prize. Read more about the prize here. Or go to the Shadow Forest website here. The paperback has just been launched.


***THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB PAPERBACK OUT IN AMERICA***
The Dead Fathers Club USA has just been launched. See here.





***WATERSTONE'S SHORTLIST***
Shadow Forest has been shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Prize!

***CARNEGIE NOMINATION***
Shadow Forest has been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie medal.


***THE POSSESSION OF MR CAVE MOVIE OPTION***
The Possession of Mr Cave has been been optioned by Parallel Films.

***BRAZILIAN TWO BOOK DEAL***
Record in Brazil will be publishing The Possession of Mr Cave and The Dead Fathers Club.

***JANUARY EVENTS IN NORWAY***
The Last Family in England will be published in Norway by Tiden on Monday 28th January. The Norwegian title will be "Det går så bra så". I'll be over in Norway to promote the book - I'll add further information when I get it. This is probably the best cover I've ever had.


***SHADOW FOREST AUDIO IN GERMANY***
Jumbo will be producing an audio edition of Shadow Forest in German




***AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST OUR FIRST CHILD IS BORN***
My wife gave birth to a baby boy called Lucas, three weeks early, refusing to wait for our new bathroom to be fitted.




OCTOBER

***NESTLE CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE***
Shadow Forest has been shortlisted for the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2007 in the 9 - 11 category. Read more about the prize here. Or go to the Shadow Forest website here.



***BOOK COVER FOR 'THE POSSESSION OF MR CAVE'***
Here's the new cover for my next adult book. It will be published 1st May 2008 by Jonathan Cape, UK. It will also be published in America by Viking/Penguin.

SEPTEMBER

***ROMANIAN EDITION OF SHADOW FOREST***
Corint Junior will be publishing a Romanian translation of Shadow Forest.

AUGUST

***Waterstones longlist***
Shadow Forest has been longlisted for the Waterstones Children's Prize.

***Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest audio available***
An audio CD has just been launched by Scholastic in America of Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest. It's read by Simon Vance.

***Shadow Forest to be published in Dutch***
The Dutch rights to Shadow Forest have been bought by Clavis and will be published under their Facet imprint.

JULY

***Flash anthology***
I have a short story in The Flash anthology. All proceeds go to Amnesty International.

JUNE

***Samuel Blink launched in America***
Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest is out now in America. It's published by Putnam.

MAY

***Shadow Forest UK hardback launch***
My debut kids' book has just been launched and you can check out the website dedicated to it here. There's a chance to win 2 signed copies at the site.

APRIL

***The Dead Fathers Club paperback launch***
The Dead Fathers Club is out in paperback this month in the UK (published by Vintage). All the reviews are here and if you sign-up for my newsletter, you'll be in the running to win one of the three free signed copies I'm giving away this month. Or you could always order it here.



***Two new websites
launched for my childrens' book***
My childrens' novel, called 'Shadow Forest' in the UK and 'Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest' in the US, now have online homes. Click here for the UK and here for the US.


***Shadow Forest out in Germany***
Im Schattenwald is out now in Germany. You can visit the publisher, Bertlesmann, or order it here.






***The Czech edition of Last Family in England out now***
The Last Family in England has been published in Czech by Argo. It's available here.





***The Dead Fathers Club large print book available in UK***
A large print edition of The Dead Fathers Club is now available from W. F. Howes. The publisher's website is here.




***The Dead Fathers Club in Italian***
The Dead Fathers Club will be published in Italy by Stile Libero.

*** UK audio edition of Shadow Forest***
An audio edition for the UK will be available from W. F. Howes.


MARCH 2007

My new adult novel, The Possession of Mr Cave, about a man obsessed with his daughter's safety has just been acquired by Cape (UK) and Viking (US).


FEB 2007

The Dead Fathers Club was launched in America by Viking/Penguin in February and has been receiving some great reviews - take a look here if you're interested. To read a blog I posted about my time in America click here.

JAN 2007

I'm going to be in America for the launch of The Dead Fathers Club. I'm doing some events while I'm over there:

I hope to see some of you there!

Click here for 2006 news