MSt alumni Daisy Johnson and Kiran Millwood Hargrave have been shortlisted for Blackwell’s Book of the Year for Daisy’s Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Everything Under (Jonathan Cape) and Kiran’s The Way Past Winter (Chicken House).

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/johnson-and-millwood-hargrave-battle-it-out-blackwells-book-year-885076

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MSt alumni Majella Kelly and Art Allen have won First and Third Prizes respectively, in the Ambit Poetry Competition. The poems, on the theme of ‘Home’ and judged by Malika Booker, are available to read online.

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(from The Guardian)

The Guardian’s podcast with MSt alumna Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Jessie Burton talking about feminist fairytales is available online.

From the announcement:

“On this week’s show, we’re talking feminist fairytales with Jessie Burton and Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

Burton’s latest book, The Restless Girls, is a feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm story The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In the Grimms’ original, a dozen nameless sisters are punished and forced into marriage because they love to dance. Among many changes, Burton gives each of the 12 women at the heart of the story a name – and a racing-driver mother.

Millwood Hargrave’s third book, The Way Past Winter, is not a retelling of a particular fairytale. Inspired by Scandinavian and Slavic folklore, Hargrave tells the story of three sisters who go searching for their missing brother in a magical and dangerous land. Both authors explain the importance of giving their female characters agency, the details they changed to subvert traditional fairytales, and how they deal with male readers who hesitate to read their books.”

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MSt alumna Daisy Johnson’s Everything Under has been shortlisted for 2018 Man Booker Prize, 2018.

From the announcement: “The Man Booker Prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English and published in the UK and Ireland. This year’s shortlist recognises three writers from the UK, two from the US, and one from Canada.”

… The 2018 winner will be announced on Tuesday 16 October in London’s Guildhall, at a dinner that brings together the shortlisted authors and well-known figures from the cultural world. The ceremony will be aired by the BBC, the prize’s broadcast partner.

In the meantime, there will be a number of public events featuring the shortlisted authors. These include an event at The Octagon Centre at the University of Sheffield, as part of the Off the ShelfFestival of Words on Friday 12 October and a discussion at The Times & Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday 13 October. This forms part of a day of Man Booker celebrations, which includes the Cheltenham Booker: 1958, and a live performance of the 1983 Booker winner The Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee. The traditional Man Booker Prize shortlist readings at the Southbank Centre will take place on Sunday 14 October, hosted by Damian Barr.”

You can read the Man Booker announcement here, and articles in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The New York Times .

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