Representation
I’m delighted to announce that I’m now represented by Carolyn Forde, at Transatlantic!
https://www.transatlanticagency.com/2021/09/09/welcoming-gillian-best-to-transatlantic/
Blog
Author Afternoons: Join me for a FREE workshop 3 August 2019!
I’m really excited to have been selected to run a workshop in Waterloo, Canada this summer. And I’d love it if you joined me!
On 3 August, at the Visitor and Heritage Information Centre (10 Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo) I’ll be running a workshop called Where Do Ideas Come From? We’ll look at how to get inspiration for your own writing and do some fun activities that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
It’s free to take part, just sign up here.
Looking forward to seeing you!
The Last Wave in the wild...
An old friend of mine happened to e in Melbourne, Australia just as my book was published and managed to capture a photo of it in the wilds of a bookshop. Always fantastic to see your book out in the world, and oh my goodness, the company it’s keeping!
Coming soon to Australia and New Zealand
I’m delighted to say that The Last Wave will be available from Text Publishing in Australia and New Zealand from 8 January 2019. I’m also incredibly jealous that my book will be enjoying the beautiful summer weather, while I struggle through the rain and gloom in the UK.
Rights sold to Text Publishing
I'm really thrilled to say that Text Publishing (Melbourne) have bought the Australian, New Zealand, and UK rights to The Last Wave!
Text Publishing is an independent, Melbourne-based publisher of literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction. Text has been awarded the ABIA Small Publisher of the Year three times and won the inaugural Leading Edge Books Small Publisher of the Year in 2018.
Swimming
At the beginning of May, I went to visit a dear old friend in Cayman. And I swum in the kind of sea I thought only existed in travel brochures. It was lovely to be out of the pool. Martha would approve, surely.
German rights sold to Droemer
I am thrilled to say that German publisher Droemer will be publishing The Last Wave in 2019!
The Last Wave shortlisted for Kobo Emerging Writer Award
Amazing news!!
Fourth Annual Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Shortlist Announced
Canada’s hottest new books have been selected in three genres: Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction and Mystery
Toronto, ON – May 1st 2018 – Rakuten Kobo, in search for the best new books written by debut Canadian authors, today announced the shortlist for its fourth annual Emerging Writer Prize. The award was created with the goal of kick-starting the careers of debut authors, with a $10,000 CAD cash prize awarded to a book in each of three categories: Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, and Genre Fiction (Mystery this year). In addition, each winning author will receive promotional, marketing, and communications support through 2018.
The 2018 shortlist, selected by Kobo’s team of booksellers and booklovers—with book completion rates, customer ratings and reviews considered—comprises six books from each genre. The shortlist will now move on to the final selection process led by top Canadian authors: Lori Lansens for Literary Fiction, Jay Ingram for Non-Fiction and Linwood Barclay for Mystery. The winners will be announced on the evening of June 19th, 2018.
Literary Fiction
The Church In The Wildwood by Alanna Rusnak - Alanna Rusnak Publishing
Death and the Intern by Jeremy Hanson-Finger - Invisible Publishing
American War by Omar El Akkad - McClelland & Stewart
Uncertain Weights and Measures by Jocelyn Parr - Goose Lane Editions
The Last Wave by Gillian Best - House of Anansi Press
Dominion by Shane Arbuthnott - Orca Book Publishers
Lovely review from Forward Reviews
"The novel is beautifully poignant. Its emotional undercurrents are presented in a quietly powerful style, free of manufactured melodrama. Details are carefully chosen and breathe life into depictions of Dover and France. Martha’s myrtle bush, a plant usually found near the sea, is a lovely recurring symbol of the connections, however loose, that hold her family together. It takes on human form in Harriet’s daughter, Myrtle, an eager young swimmer who establishes a link between Harriet’s wife, Iris, and Martha."
By MEAGAN LOGSDON (March/April 2018)
To read more, click here.
Interview with Ben Rybeck of Brazos Bookstore
At the Winter Institute, in Memphis, TN, I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of really cool, really interesting indie booksellers. Last weekend, I caught up with one of them: Ben Rybeck, of Brazos Bookstore (and himself an author), and had a nice chat about zombies, TV adverts, and The Last Wave.
Here's a wee extract:
“The sea,” author Gillian Best tells me, “is just like zombies. It’s everywhere, and it’ll kill you if you don’t pay attention.”
But I’ll get to that in a moment.
First, let me back up here and confess something: I write this article for BrazosBookstore.com with absolutely zero pretense toward anything resembling journalistic objectivity. I met Best in January, at the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute in Memphis, Tennessee—imagine summer camp, but for booksellers in the winter and with a lot more drinking—when I had dinner with her and her publisher, House of Anansi Press, a venerable Canadian publishing house with a connection to pretty much every major author from that country you can think of (including, yes, giants like Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje).