Picador recently acquired Sarah Butler‘s first novel Learn Ten Things About Love.  Picador has made a two book deal with Sarah, who originally came through TLC as part of the ACE Free Reads Scheme via Spread the Word. The novel was assessed by TLC reader Evie Wyld.

Sarah writes: ”I was lucky enough to be offered a ‘free read’ from TLC via Spread the Word. I had just done a significant restructure of my novel (which I had been working on for the previous 4 years) and the TLC read was a brilliant opportunity to get detailed and useful feedback before sending it back to a contact I had at Picador. Because I was in a position to approach Picador directly, rather than through an agent, I knew I had to get my final draft spot on before sending it to them. Evie Wyld’s report was comprehensive and thought provoking. I didn’t do everything she suggested (!) but it was so useful to have a fresh pair of eyes on the novel and to really think through my decisions on what to change and what to leave.”

“…the balance between action and introspection can too often be weighted in favour of frantic activity. Yet there are times when third person reported speech or an objective narrative stance in an extended passage, would offer the reader more insight into a character’s development. It might be ‘realistic’ that a woman who discovers an unwanted pregnancy would first cry, then rush about tidying her house, then visit the doctor and speak to her friends – as in one manuscript I read recently – but what the reader wants to know is why she doesn’t want the baby. What are the emotional and psychological complexities of her situation?”

Rose has worked for many years as both a reader and a mentor for The Literary Consultancy. In addition, she has also worked as an agent at the Wylie Agency, where she worked with Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, Paul Theroux and others. In addition to TLC, Rose now works for publishers and literary scouts, including HarperCollins and Virginia Marx.

Click here to read her article.

TLC reader Cynthia Rogerson’s latest Book, I love you Goodbye, will be a Woman’s Hour series this April. The novel was shortlisted for the Scottish Novel of the Year 2011. In addition, Cynthia also has a collection of short stories out in April, called Stepping Out and another novel out in August, titled I Touched the Earth.

Women’s Hour is on Radio 4 at 10-11am GMT weekdays and 4-5pm GMT Saturdays. It aims to broadcast stories that celebrate, inform and entertain women. The programme is also available as a Podcast.

TLC Reader Stephanie Cross writes interviews for different magazines and papers.  In one of her latest interviews, she talks to Kate Grenville, the Sydney-born novelist, about Australian history and language.

In the interview Stephanie writes: One particularly striking moment comes when Grenville’s heroine is suffering the inexpressible agony of labour. “Men are the ones in charge of the words,” Sarah thinks: “that’s why there isn’t one for this pain that only a woman can feel.” When I ask Grenville about this, she seizes on it: “I think with all my books, language has been their subject as much as anything else.”

Click here to read the interview.  If you would like to hear more about Stephanie’s interviews in the future, you can receive updates via her twitter link: @StephanieDCross.

Writing about the Canon Tales event, which is a key part of the conference, Publishing Perpectives writes, “The Japanese practice of “Pecha Kucha” (literally “chit chat”) in which architects rapidly present their work in 20 images for 20 seconds each, will be adopted at a new digital conference in London this summer. And  that won’t be the only aspect of this conference that is different. Unlike so many previous events, Writing in a the Digital Age is aimed at authors, both those hoping to find a publisher and those writers who are already published but who need advice about the new digital landscape.”

Click here to read the full article.

Fleeting Magazine recently published two new short stories by TLC reader Ashley Stokes. ”A Popular Novelist Foresees His Death” came out in January and “Forever Breathes the Lonely Word” is out this month.

‘A Popular Novelist Foresees His Death’ is an excerpt from Fleeting’s forthcoming fictional biography, i.e: The Life of India Emmott and is nominated by Fleeting for the Pushcart Prize 2012.

2012 TLC reader Lucy Hannah launched the Commonwealth Writers website for the Commonwealth Foundation. The main purpose for the site is to discover and develop fiction writers from across the Commonwealth. The organisation will offer activities and competitions specifically for Commonwealth writers and hopes to enable those with an original voice to tell their stories.

Commonwealth Writers is one of TLC’s exciting associate partners at the TLC Literary Conference in June, where they will provide insight into international publishing perspectives and look at how the internet is affecting the market reach of authors around the world.  Click here to learn more about this event.

The Canon Tales event will include ten of the most exciting publishers and agents in the UK, who will present their love of literature and what excites them, and the stories behind some of their favourite discoveries, through a series of rapid-fire visual images. A unique and hugely entertaining experience that will get you up close to the key people behind the slush pile. Click here to read about a previous Canon Tales event.

May 2011 the Karolina held a live webchat session with Guardian readers. Click here to read her frank and concise answers about what goes into literary agenting.

18th January, Mobylives also posted an article about TLC’s upcoming Literary Conference in June.  Ellie Robins, who blogs for Mobylives,  writes “There’s a world of opportunity for authors now, but there’s also very little guidance and rather a lot of unscrupulous souls. Any event that seeks to redress that balance gets our vote.” Click here to read the article.

Recently The Literary Platform wrote about TLC’s Literary Conference in an article that reviewed all the highlights of the conference.

Click here to read the full article.