And then I reconnected with the SI Leeds Team

Actually, that’s a lie. It can hardly be called reconnecting when you talk/meet/tweet regularly anyway. A year ago, my short story collection won the SI Leeds Literary Prize. Since then, the six wonderful women on the short-list Jamillah, Stella, Harkiran, Fran and Winnie have met every couple of months for lunch – a definite, decided perk and unexpected outcome of the award. Last time we met – just last month – we talked about all things writing, and partners, kids, jobs, travelling, strange people you see on the tube, and more! Oh, did I mention writing? Yes, now that I think of it, we did talk about writing and how everyone is charging ahead with plans for writing and publishing. How exciting!

Since the award I’ve also seen the lovely Fiona Goh again, when Jamillah, Winnie and I went up to Bradford to deliver a writing workshop for Aspire-Igen a few months ago. And now, with the Harper Collins news to share, I’ve been chatting with them again on Twitter, and with the beautiful and fiercely talented Irenosen Okojie, the previous multi-talented winner Mahsuda Snaith, whose The Things We Thought We Knew has come out this year, and the folks at Peepal Tree Press.

 

I just read a wonderful debut

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the offices of Harper Collins and meet their gorgeous, fun, talented editors. The meeting was memorable was a lot of different reasons, the biggest of which was that the team just blew my agent Samar and I away with their passion for books – but also for their courage in championing a new author (with one of those “diverse” names and faces that are so in debate in the publishing industry at the moment)!

Samar and I had a lovely chat with my brand new editor Charlotte Brabbin, and discussed the ins and outs of Frozen, sisters and funny books with the rest of the team – all with the backdrop of panoramic London singing a romance-and-concrete aria for us as we sipped our chai lattes (well, I did anyway, Samar was drinking a mocha latte.)

Best of all, there were beautiful books everywhere. I mean, everywhere. I got so many freebies that they had to give me a bag – that’s all I can say. In any case, in this haul was Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant, which I’ve really enjoyed reading. I’d say for anyone who’s ever been gut wrenchingly lonely, at perpetual war with their parents’ and their persistent voices, or just someone who likes reading about people going into battle against their past – well, this is a book for you.