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The Society of Authors has announced that a prize encouraging greater positive representation of disability in literature has re-opened for submissions. The Authors with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses (ADCI) Literary Prize is open to authors with a disability and/or chronic illness. Submissions must contain a disabled or chronically ill character or characters and the overall…
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The Society of Authors has issued advice to help authors protect themselves against scammers. It says that it has have received numerous reports recently of authors being sent scam emails, either pretending to be from the Society of Authors, or from other organisations promising marketing, festivals and much more. To try to minimise the risk,…
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I am delighted to say that the hardcover and paperback editions of The Informer, the latest Blizzard crime novel (The Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint), are now out on Amazon.
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The Society of Authors has launched a toolkit to help writers when they take in school visits. The toolkit created by the Society’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) contains advice both for authors undertaking in-person school visits, and school librarians and other staff responsible for organising these visits. Authors Aloud UK has also provided…
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Picture: The North Pennines (setting for my DCI Jack Harris crime novels) by Frances Griss I am sensing an interesting, and hugely encouraging, change in the way many publishers react to their readers when it comes to the way description of place is used. Sense of Place is important to me, as a writer, because…
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I have finished my edits on the latest Jack Harris novel (due out November 2026) and thought it was worth reminding emerging writers of the importance of the process. Editing has meant working with the excellent team at Joffe Book (Polly and Tarek) and I always ask myself the same questions as part of the…
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Myself, pictured here, and fellow crime writer Ian Robinson, pictured below, recently staged an ‘in-conversation with’ event at the Selkirk Arms in Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway. The theme was ideas and we based it on a comment by Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, playwright, and critic, who said when asked where he found his ideas:…
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Authors (from left) May Rinaldi, Linda Duncan McLaughlin, Denise Mina, Frances Crawford and Kirsty Lockwood launch Bloody Scotland 2026 (Picture: Paul Reich) Crime fiction fans will head for Stirling on Friday 18 September for the Bloody Scotland festival. Last year, the festival introduced a guest programmer, in the shape of Sir Ian Rankin; this year…
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As the debate rages about the malign influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), two Freelance Champions have been appointed to speak on behalf of more than 700,000 self-employed freelancers in the shaping of future government policy. Among the organisations welcoming the appointment of Leila D’Aronville and Lizzie Crump are the Society of Authors (SoA); many authors…
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I am delighted to see more and more authors joining literary agents, publishers, booksellers and editors in the campaign through articles on their websites and social media to educate the public about the risks presented by fraudsters at work in the industry. Scammers can be plausible so are difficult to spot and I am sure…
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