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Media roundup | Awesome options The Last Wave

22 March 2018

Press coverage of the option deal announced 20 March 2018.

The Bookseller "The novel by Bristol-based Best was published in North America by Canadian publisher by House of Anansi Press and has become a book club favourite, according to an Awesome spokesperson, “establishing its author as a bold new voice in literary fiction”.

The deal marks Awesome’s first literary acquisition since taking investment from global content company Kew Media Group in October last year. With Kew’s backing, Awesome is “ramping up its scripted development of book-based IP” according to a spokesperson."

TV Wise “Awesome is an author-founded company and we want to be the home for the world’s most creative storytellers”, Jeff Norton, executive producer and founder of Awesome said in a statement. “Gillian Best’s novel is heart-breaking yet ultimately heart-warming tale that is at once a feminist story, a novel about a marriage and a narrative about one woman’s self-empowerment and liberation from domestic life.”

Deadline.com  "Awesome Media & Entertainment, the production company set up by author Jeff Norton, is developing novel The Last Wave into a television series."

Worldscreen "Norton said: “Awesome is an author-founded company and we want to be the home for the world’s most creative storytellers. Gillian Best’s novel is heart-breaking yet ultimately heart-warming tale that is at once a feminist story, a novel about a marriage and a narrative about one woman’s self-empowerment and liberation from domestic life.”

The Fan Carpet "Jeff Norton’s London-based company to develop book for television. Written by award-winning, Bristol-based Gillian Best and published by House of Anansi Press, ‘THE LAST WAVE’ won rave reviews in North America and has become a book club favourite, establishing its author as a bold new voice in literary fiction.

Awesome will immediately begin developing ‘THE LAST WAVE’ for television, with Norton and ex BBC Worldwide and ITV Studios executive Fraser Robinson attached as Executive Producers.

 

The Last Wave optioned by Awesome Media

20 March 2018

In truly exciting news, I'm thrilled to say that Awesome Media have optioned The Last Wave. 

Awesome will immediately begin developing the book for television, with Jeff Norton and ex BBC Worldwide and ITV Studios executive Fraser Robinson attached as Executive Producers.

The deal marks Awesome’s first literary acquisition since taking investment from global content company Kew Media Group. With Kew’s backing, Awesome is ramping up its scripted development of book-based IP. Awesome previously optioned TV rights in Jay Gunn’s cult-hit graphic novel ‘Surface Tension’ and is co-developing that franchise with Wall to Wall Television (part of Warner Bros. UK).

Speaking on the association, Executive Producer Jeff Norton said, “Awesome is an author-founded company and we want to be the home for the world’s most creative storytellers. Gillian Best’s novel is heartbreaking yet ultimately heart-warming tale that is at once a feminist story, a novel about a marriage and a narrative about one woman’s self-empowerment and liberation from domestic life.”

To read more, please click here. 

Lovely review in the Ottawa Review of Books

16 March 2018

Here's an excerpt. The full review is available here. 

"Best’s descriptive abilities are acute. She is able to convey to the reader the full passion of Martha’s swimming, from the physical sensations of the very act to the visceral release from the world on shore. Effective too is her description of dementia. John’s condition is portrayed thoroughly and accurately, but also sensitively, allowing his humanity to come through at the same time."

Review by Timothy Niedermann

Review | Canadian Notes and Queries

19 February 2018

It's a really special moment when you encounter a reader really understands your characters and your book.

This review by Rohan Maitzen is one of those: "Best tells a story of struggle and resistance with neither heroes nor villains—in which genuine errors, even ones that can’t be easily excused or forgiven, coexist with genuine virtues."

Read the full review here.

Teachers make all the difference

10 January 2018

I was an incredibly lucky high school student because I had a creative writing teacher named Sue McEwan who encouraged me. She was kind enough to introduce me at my hometown book launch this past August, and more importantly she was wise enough to see that I might one day become a writer. Without her encouragement I've no idea what I might have become.

To read more about how influential and important she was in my life, you can check out this article I wrote for the Globe and Mail.  

“My teacher, Sue McEwan, also made me feel quite a bit different than I usually did in class – she made me feel special.”

Libraries are great

26 November 2017

But one library in particular: the Waterloo Public Library. I spent years here as a child listening to stories and checking out as many books as I could. Most of which were returned. Most of which incurred a fine. Some fines were bigger than others... such as the fine I paid when I returned home from studying in Glasgow, and got a new library card. Apparently there was a book overdue from sometime in my high school days. 

How lovely, then, to see that the library featured The Last Wave in their promotional flyer. Also, how great is it that, in with all the adverts for big screen TVs and washer-dryers, there's an advert for the library? 

the last waave from paul wallace.jpg