My as-yet-unpublished novel, The Everlasting Knock, has been shortlisted for this year’s Pageturner Prize. Coming so soon after my London Magazine news, this is a double thrill. I am really liking 2017 so far.  The winner was announced earlier this week, along with details of the shortlist:

‘Tibor Jones are thrilled to announce the winner of the Pageturner Prize 2017 as Leaf Arbuthnot, author of An Unmaimed Man.

An Unmaimed Man is about loneliness and the necessity, joys and difficulties of forming meaningful human connections. Set over twelve hours in London, the novel follows the footsteps of Julian Whitby, an unpredictable sixty-year-old who is unwilling to confront the memory of his son’s suicide.

Tibor Jones said that they were delighted with the quality and quantity of entrants for the fourth edition of the Pageturner Prize and offered a huge congratulations to Leaf Arbuthnot, along with the five other shortlisted authors. Arbuthnot was selected from a six-strong shortlist including Amy J. Kirkwood (Blazers), Evan Mann (The Boy, The Blackshirt, and the Dead Body in The Dining Room), Jane O’Connor (Needlemouse), Dan Powell (The Everlasting Knock), and Paul Warnes (The Society of Unexampled Brilliance). Jane O’Connor was selected as the runner-up, whilst Amy J. Kirkwood was given a special commendation.’

Congrats to Leaf Arbuthnot, on being named winner, and to all my fellow shortlistees. Here’s hoping it isn’t too long before our many and varied novels are on bookshop shelves.