Fine news this week for some of our favorite authors: The American Academy of Arts and Letters named William T. Vollmann one of two winners of the 2008 Strauss Livings. Awarded for literary excellence, the Livings provide for a $50,000 annual distribution to each writer for a period of five years, the intent being to provide them the freedom to devote time exclusively to writing. Madison Smart Bell was this year’s other winner. To find out more about the American Academy of Arts and Letters, please visit here.
Sarah Hall has won the 2007 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Daughters of the North (the Faber UK title of the novel is The Carhullan Army). The award, which comes with a £5,000 prize, is presented by the UK’s Booktrust and named for the late writer John Llewellyn Rhys, who was killed in action during World War II. For more information on this award, please visit here.
The author of This Little Britain (Fourth Estate, 2007), Harry Bingham, runs an outstanding “manuscript assessment and editorial service” called The Writer’s Workshop, which offers valuable feedback for serious writers. You can also visit his blog: Toasting Napoleon.
And I’m happy to see that The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery is now out in paperback! I was lucky enough to interview Ellis when the hardcover released. Read the interview here.
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