David Whitehouse with Kwame Kwei-Armah, Francis Bickmore, India Knight
We feel like the To Hell with Prizes award ceremony last Sunday couldn’t have gone any better (think running out of wine and forcing everyone to drink straight shots of Jack Daniels was an accident? Think again). Our snazzy venue was full of London’s best and brightest literary types, with the welcome addition of a few out-of-towners who wouldn’t let a little volcano stop them from getting to the London Book Fair. We got to listen to fantastic readings by veteran authors DBC Pierre, Andrew O’Hagan, and Hanif Kureishi, as well as the first-ever reading of our new book The Cuckoo Boy by debut author Grant Gillespie.
And of course, David Whitehouse (represented by Cathryn Summerhayes of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment) took the prize for his novel Bed, as judged by our superstar panel: journalist India Knight, Canongate editor Francis Bickmore, Waterstone’s online editor Greg Eden, and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Favourite quotes of the night? India Knight cheekily telling the publishing industry to “try harder” to get risky new authors published, and David admitting that his newly-won £5,000 was the exact amount he owed his mother.
Check out an extract of Bed here, if you haven’t already.
independent publishing just got hotter 