TLC News
The Literary Platform is dedicated to showcasing projects experimenting with literature and technology. They are also one of the exciting associate partners including Arvon Foundation, Commonwealth Writers, and the Free Word Centre, whose combined expertise, broad reach and understanding of the issues is set to culminate in a first-rate series of discussions, case studies and debates at TLC’s Literary Conference: Writing in a Digital Age 8th-9th June 2012.
January 18 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.
February 1 Radio 4′s Jolyon Jenkins investigates “Operation Julie” and interviews TLC client Leaf Fielding about his involvement and recently published book To Live Outside the Law (Serpent’s Tail, 2011). The half-hour programme on Operation Julie is part of Radio 4′s series ‘In Living Memory’. The programme airs at 11am GMT on Radio 4.
In 1977, police forces from across England and Wales closed down a multi-million pound LSD manufacturing ring, in “Operation Julie”. The criminals involved were given stiff jail sentences and it marked the beginning of the end for the British underground. Jolyon Jenkins will investigate both sides. Click here to find out more about the “Operation Julie”.
Signal Books of Oxford will publish Terry Cudbird’s Walking the Hexagon: an escape around France on foot in Spring 2012. Terry had an assessment of his book by TLC readers John Harrison and Karl French in 2010.
Terry’s journey through France starts in the Pyrenees, traces around all six corners of the ‘Hexagon’, and concludes in the Pyrenees. The book is a fine example of travel writing which reveals one man’s obsession with long distance walking -the intoxicating freedom to go where you want, the escape from the complications and paraphernalia of everyday life, and the unpredictable encounters. It is also the more personal story of how the endless new horizons enable him to accept the past and its loss.
In addition to his manuscript, Terry also developed a website that thoroughly exhibits his journeys with useful links and maps.
Click here to view Terry Cudbird’s website.
Kawzia Kane, a former TLC mentee, has published her collection of poems titled Tantie Diablesse that she developed during her time as a mentee. Waterloo press will launch the poetry collection at the end of January, a collection of poems that ‘range over Borgesian fantasies to historically informed evocations of the poet’s native Trinidad and Tobago’.
Fawzia Muradali Kane was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago and the poems reflect not only her own experiences as a child in Trinidad and Tobago, but also draws on the history of the area and the country’s changeover from being a colony to independence. Kane came to the UK on a scholarship to study architecture and now lives in London.
Kane’s poetry has been published in several journals including Agenda, Brittle Star, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Poetry Wales, and Rialto.
Click here to learn more about this collection by Fawzia Kane.
If you book for The Literary Conference before April 30th, you will be eligible to receive a TLC manuscript assessment at 50% off on 50 page extracts. Submissions for the 50% discount must be submitted before the 8th June. For more information about our special offer or how to submit your 50 page extract, please contact the TLC office at info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk or call us at 020 7324 2570.
Click here to book.
June 8-9th 2012, TLC offers an up-to-the-minute conference to make sense of the many possibilities open to writers today, with practical sessions, workshops, case studies, working examples, debates and networking.
Speakers include leading authors and industry figures: HARI KUNZRU, KATE MOSSE, NICOLA MORGAN, SIMON TREWIN, MARIA REJT, CATHRYN SUMMERHAYES, LINDA GRANT, DAVID GODWIN, ROBERT KROESE, plus many more!
The discussions will explore the key issues facing writers, such as making and selling ebooks, choosing to self-publish or go via traditional routes, an exploration of the emerging international markets, how technology changes literary forms, social media and other promotional tools.
In addition, the second day will offer a fast-paced presentation hosted by ten of the most exciting and engaged publishers and agents in the country, who will talk about the stories behind the books and what drives their own work in the industry. To top it off, the conference also sees the introduction of our very own “PEN FACTOR”, an open panel critique of six fictional projects, submitted by delegates.
In association with Free Word, Arvon, The Literary Platform and Commonwealth Writers.
For more detailed information about the conference see our events page or email TLC at: info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk.
EARLY BIRD OFFER – If you book for The Literary Conference before April 30th, you will be eligible to receive a TLC manuscript assessment at 50% off on 50 page extracts. Click here for more information.
Click here to book for the conference.
Earlier this year, TLC client Tessa Harris secured a three-book deal with Kensington Books. The first of three books, The Anatomist’s Apprentice will be published 27th December, available in the US and Canada. The Audio version will be available shortly after in January 2012.
Tessa writes that TLC played an integral role on the road to publication, ”
Having my novel critiqued by TLC gave me the confidence to carry on. I found the suggested revisions enormously helpful, but, above all, I knew I had created something worthwhile when your reader told me there was actually no reason why I should not be published, provided I undertook a few stylistic revisions, which I duly did. Armed with that knowledge, I set about resubmitting to agents with renewed vigour and finally found one who landed me a three-book deal with a major US publisher. It has also been bought by the Mystery Guild of America. I would urge any serious writer to engage TLC’s services for a frank and professional appraisal.”
This first book, which is part of a mystery series set in eighteenth-century England, introduces the character Dr. Thomas Silkstone, young anatomist and pioneering forensic detective from Philadelphia.
TLC is delighted on Tessa’s behalf and we can’t wait to hear about the next two books in the series.
This December TLC offers a 5% discount on gift vouchers purchased for any single assessment, including extracts and full manuscripts. Giving a TLC read to someone who writes can help them think more professionally about what they do, whilst they continue to do what they love. Our e-vouchers can be made for fiction, memoir, non-fiction, children’s writing, poetry or scripts. We can make up e-vouchers in any denomination.
For full fee structure, see Fees and Submissions. The e-voucher will be emailed or posted directly to the recipient or you. To order an e-voucher, just send an email to info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk letting us know the denomination you wish to give. Payment will be requested once the e-voucher has been created.
Please do make sure you have read our terms & conditions before making this purchase, as TLC is an honest service and not for those seeking undue flattery. Don’t hesitate to ask us for suggestions or advice.
Happy Holidays from TLC!
15th November the Costa Book Awards announced the shortlist for 2011, which includes Kerry Young’s new novel Pao. Pao is the story of a young Chinese boy and his family who move to Jamaica escaping the revolution at home. The Costa award is one of the UK’s most prestigious and popular literary prizes and recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year written by writers based in the UK and Ireland.
Kerry Young had a TLC assessment in October 2007 by TLC reader Chris Wakling and says, “the TLC read gave me a completely independent view of the book……not a friend or family member….but somebody completely outside of the process and my emotional journey who could be absolutely honest about the book and my abilities. It was feedback from someone who was really focusing on the work and whose only agenda was to offer constructive criticism that would help me to improve the book. It was fresh, it was honest, it was insightful. It was from someone ‘in the know’ about writing and publishing and that was important also.”
In February 2010 Kerry signed a deal with Bloomsbury. Guardian books describe Kerry “as a gifted new writer. Her novel is a blindingly good read in parts, both for its mesmeric story-telling and the quality of its prose.”
Click here to read the Guardian review of the shortlisted writers. TLC is delighted that Kerry is now working as a reader for TLC. We’re crossing our fingers that this powerful new novel leaves an impression in the minds of the Costa judges.
Click here to see a YouTube clip with Young talking about her new novel.
Radio 4 recently commissioned one 45-minute play and a five-part Woman’s Hour Drama from TLC reader Jane Purcell.
The play, titled Ambassadors, is a comedy about a disastrous school trip in the 1970s before risk assessment, or basic safety standards. A group of school children, or so-called “ambassadors” by their teachers in a vain attempt to encourage good behavior, are lost half way up a mountain.
The five-part Woman’s Hour Drama is based on the lives of Ida and Louise Cook. Both were avid opera lovers and during their travels to Europe in the 1930s became aware of the persecution of the Jews. When Ida started writing successful romances for Mills and Boon and Louise learned German, they used the money to sponsor and rescue dozens of Jewish families, right under the noses of the Nazis.
TLC will post the publication dates for both pieces.