A heartwarming tale for writers: Stephen Kelman's book, Pigeon English, was spotted on an agent's pile of unsolicited submissions, and went on to be hotly fought over by no fewer than 12 publishers, before being snapped up by Bloomsbury.This story of violence on a council estate is narrated by a 12-year-old boy, and in an interview on Radio 4 yesterday, Kelman said he felt this was such an interesting age, on the cusp of adulthood, but with the naivety of childhood still.
Publishers do look for something outside of the ordinary, and this has obviously captured their imaginations. I look forward to reading it when it comes out.
In the meantime, good luck to the rest of you!
Cressida Downing
(editorial consultant)
Stephen Mcdaid on February 19, 2010
This book has a great premise; it's rare for an agent to nurture a debut writer for 6 months nowadays. Stephen wrote 'what he knew' as a youngster in a similar setting and applied it to a cracking plot - I think that's good advice for emerging writers.
Fran on February 19, 2010
Ah, so there is hope. This is good news.