Monmouth Literary Festival

This week, Tyler will be appearing in a joint event with poet Anna Lewis at the Monmouth Literary Festival.  It's a special and unique festival, in that it's organized by students in the area: from Monmouth School, HMSG, and Monmouth Comprehesive.  This year the students have done a stand-out job, and among others the line-up includes Carole Anne Duffy, Owen Sheers, and Christopher Wakling.  The festival brochure is downloadable here.  Tyler and Anna's event, with students from all three schools, will take place at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning outside Monmouth Comprehensive. 

Burrard Inlet Wins IPPY Award

To be honest, we at Tyler's publicity team were looking forward to a bit of a breather, after announcing the recent successes of Burrard Inlet.  There's been the Journey Prize, the Frank O'Connor and Edgehill longlistings, and the Wales Book of the Year shortlisting.  We thought that might be it for some time.  But then the phone rang again.  It looks as if Burrard Inlet has now won an Indepedent Publisher Book Award, also known as the IPPY Awards.

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Here's the lowdown on the good news: the IPPY awards are the largest and longest-running American awards for independent publishing, and are differentiated from other major awards by focusing on the overall product.  Judges base their decisions on 'quality of content, originality, design, and production with emphasis on innovation and social relevance.'  As such, kudos for the award also goes to Tyler's editor, Claire Houguez, his publisher, Parthian, and cover designer Marc Jennings at undercard.  The book picked up a silver medal in its regional category for the results of such a great team effort.

Burrard Inlet Shortlisted For The Wales Book of the Year 2015

They say good news comes in threes, and it seems that's the case for Tyler this month.  His story collection, Burrard Inlet, was recently longlisted for both the Edgehill Short Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.  Now, we at his publicity team have heard that the book has also been shortlisted for The Wales Book of the Year 2015.  This year, the other English language fiction nominees are Cynan Jones for The Dig, and Carys Davies for The Redemption of Galen Pike.  It is the third time Tyler has been nominated for the award.  Secretly we were hoping he would say something hubristic or overconfident about that (the backlash would be great for publicity purposes) but he acted typically humble about the news:

'It was a real surprise, when I'd heard.  I have to say it means a heck of a lot to be on a list with so many other talented authors.  Cynan Jones's book was definitely one of my picks of the year - it's hardhitting and unforgettable.  And then there's Jonathan Edwards, of course - who's nominated in the poetry category.  Jonathan won the Terry Hetherington Award the year I was a finalist, back when we were both young enough to qualify for it.  Basically, I'm just flattered and grateful to be in the running again.'

Fair enough, Tyler.  Readers can check out the official announcement video, and hear what the judges had to say about all the nominees, at the Wales Book of the Year website, or by clicking below...

Cyhoeddi Rhestr Fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2015 - Annes Glynn ac Alex Clark , dau o'r beirniaid, sy'n ymuno hefo Lisa Gwilym i ddatgelu pa naw llyfr - tri llyfr ffuglen, tair cyfrol o farddoniaeth a thri llyfr Ffeithiol-Greadigol - yn Gymraeg a Saesneg, sydd wedi cael eu dewis.