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'Set in partition India, IF YOU LOOK FOR ME, I AM NOT HERE is a family saga about history, identity & loyalty. So far so RUSHDIE you may well think but what sets this apart is the deftness of touch, a true intimacy, and characters who are so much more than mere cyphers or symbols.'

Fantastic News!

Massive congratulations to Ben, because he's done it again. He's now a serial prize winning author. BEASTINGS, which we published in July 2014, has won The Portico Literature Prize 2015. He's joining some famous previous winners in Anthony Burgess, Sarah Hall and Val McDermid. Many thanks to the judges, The Portico, Val McDermid for hosting, and The Portico for their continued support for writers and writing. Without the attention to detail and their brilliant editorial eyes, Bluemoose wouldn't be where we are today. I would like to thank Leonora Rustamova, Hetha Duffy and Lin Webb for making BEASTINGS the best book it could possibly be, including talking to Ben in the middle of a Northumbrian forest a couple of days before the book went to the printers.

PIG IRON winner of the inaugural GORDON BURN Prize 2013.

Ben Myers awarded the Society Of Authors Tom Gallon Prize 2014.

Ben Myers winner of The Northern Writing Award 2014.

BEASTINGS short listed for The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2015.

BEASTINGS winner of The Portico LIterature Prize 2015.

BEASTINGS by Benjamin Myers has been short listed for the £10,000 Portico Literature Prize 2015. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner hosted by Val McDermid in Manchester on November 26th. Previous winners of the prize are, Anthony Burgess, Val McDermid and Sarah Hall. One of the short listed authors is the brilliant Alan Garner.

This is the second time this year that Ben has been short listed for a major literary prize. Earlier in the year BEASTINGS was short listed for THE JERWOOD FICTION UNCOVERED Prize. In the past two years Ben has won and been short listed for several literary prizes which include winning the inaugural GORDON BURN Prize 2013 with PIG IRON, The Society of Authors' TOM GALLON Prize 2014 and The Northern Writers' Award 2014 for Beastings. Congratulations to Ben.

The Arts Council Fiction Group Book of The Month is:

THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden. Congratulations to Colette.

September 1st was a momentous day in the short history of Bluemoose Books. It is the first time a Bluemoose Book, NOD by Adrian Barnes, will be published and available in the United States and Canada, the biggest book market in the world, and we're all chuffed to bits. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our brilliant editors. Hetha Duffy, Lin Webb, Leonora Rustamove, Janet Oosthuysen and Pippa MacCarthy and to Stephen May for introducing Adrian to us. It goes without saying congratulations go to Adrian and I hope it is an enormous bestseller in North America. He deserves it, it is a brilliant story. NOD was long listed for The Commonwealth Writers Prize, short listed for The Arthur C Clarke Award. It as been translated into Turkish, Hungarian and Romanian and 20th Century Fox have bought the Film & TV rights. The story of how we managed to read NOD is a bestseller in itself and a blog for another day, suffice to say, the manuscript left Rossland BC in Canada four years ago landed in Hebden Bridge and has travelled via London, Budapest, Sofia, Ankara and has returned back to Rossland BC via New York. Very Exciting. If you're in the States or Canada, drop into the local bookstore and buy a copy.

Here's a wonderful quote from The Guardian about Colette Snowden's debut novel THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING.

"A powerfully resonant portrait of abuse in a suburban marriage - and everything rings true."

The Guardian announced the 10 books on the longlist for their First Book Award and there's no surprise that Independent presses dominate. The literary editor of The Guardian said. 'It is the smaller presses that are driving innovation.' Indeed it is. It sometimes feels as if we the independents are the R&D departments for the conglomerates. But how many really great stories are still out there?

I have been saying for a long time due to the sensibilities of corporate publishers whose allegiance is first and foremost to their shareholders, that they have become risk averse and their lists refelct this.

Viva Independence.

The wonderful Bluemoose writer Mark A Radcliffe will be joining several other writers at The University of Brighton on Wednesday 21st October from 19.30 onwards. The topic of discussion is

'ON BEING HUMAN.' Please do go along and listen to some great stories and join in the debate.