13 Apr Write Now
This item was originally posted on my old blog, The January Papers. It’s been transferred here to give a bit of background to my journey through the Write Now prize.
Things have been quiet on the January Papers front, I know. Mostly because it’s no longer January (though I think someone forgot to tell the British Weather Gods* that) and I only really created this blog for that project.
About halfway through the ‘Papers, I got news that something exciting was possibly going to happen, and then a while after that I heard that it was definitely happening, but that I couldn’t tell anyone. And yesterday I got permission to blab, so it seems fitting that I share it on The January Papers.
Here goes…
Remember back in my first post, when I referred to my ‘spectacularly unpublished novel’?
It is no longer spectacularly unpublished.
That is, it’s still unpublished, but no longer spectacularly, because I am so proud to be able to announce that The Box of Demons has been longlisted for the first ever Write Now prize, which is run by Pan Macmillan. The winner will be published in hardback and sold exclusively through independent bookshops. There will also be an ebook.
You can read all about the prize – which is for debut children’s fiction for readers aged between nine and sixteen – here.
At the time of writing they’ve not yet updated the website to include the longlist announcement, but it has been published in The Bookseller and put out on the @writenowprize Twitter account.
The full list, as tweeted in ‘no particular order’, is:
1. The Box of Demons by Daniel Whelan
2. The Marionette by Martin Stewart
3. Hinterland by Lorna Fergusson
4. Kedric by Kirsty Applebaum
5. Led Astray by Lindsay Mountford
6. The Game by Clare Sandling
7. Dylan and the Deadly Dimension by Mark Cockshutt
8. The Treasure Hunters by Jodie Parachini
I can’t wait to find out what the other books are about, and I’m looking forward to popping into one of my local independents to purchase the eventual winner.
Now I don’t believe that I’m actually going to win this thing, but it is such a confidence boost just to get this far. When I first heard that the book was being considered, the news came at just the right moment. I’d started to question my sanity in starting The January Papers, and The Box of Demons was all but forgotten. So whatever happens next (there’s a shortlist stage before the winner is decided) I’m just really really happy to be on that list.
I’ll post again when more news comes through. In the meantime, why not follow me on Twitter – @dwhelanwriter – and the prize itself, @writenowprize ?
Yours,
Daniel
*British Weather Gods are totally ‘a thing’ that I just invented and will probably soon concoct a highly unlikely story about them.
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