Blake Friedmann Literary Agency

25/09/2025

WINNER: Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Gorski finale A CASE OF MATRICIDE wins the Best International Crime Fiction prize at Australia’s Ned Kelly Awards

Congratulations Graeme!

Out now in Australia from Text Publishing, in the UK from Saraband Books and North America from Biblioasis – and in audio around the world from Bolinda Audio

📚🔦 🔎

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/a-case-of-matricide-graeme-macrae-burnet-wins-ned-kelly-prize

‘A dizzyingly immersive experience. Macrae Burnet’s Gorski novels were already a significant achievement, but the concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction.’ – Martin MacInnes

‘Burnet plays metafictional games, but the book pulls off the rare double of being emotionally involving as well as teasingly tricksy.’ – Jake Kerridge, 5* review, The Telegraph

‘All the Kafkaesque shenanigans, paranoia and observational bathos you could wish for. It’s an incredibly fun, cleverly crafted novel that works on so many levels I can even forgive him for being a postmodernist.’ – Eimear McBride, The New Statesman, ‘Books of the Year 2024’

‘A CASE OF MATRICIDE demonstrates literary talent of the highest order… Details of place are especially rich, and the subtle mores of the small town are reflected in Gorski’s misguided incorruptibility… few writers can rival Burnet.’ – Andrew Rosenheim, The Spectator

‘Macrae Burnet brings a slyly playful quality to his reimagining of the classic police procedural… and here delivers a wickedly funny novel that owes as much of a debt to Albert Camus as it does to Georges Simenon.’ – Declan Burke, Irish Times

We are delighted to announce that Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE has been announced as the winner of the Best International Crime Fiction prize at Australia’s Ned Kelly Awards! Run by the Australian Crime Writers Association, the Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most pre...

19/09/2025

NEWS: Prize-winning poet Romalyn Ante’s lyrical debut novel THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD to be published by Chatto & Windus

Revealing the experiences of Filipino overseas workers, untold in fiction until now, through the story of one family, THE LEFT-BEHIND CHILD will be published in hardback, eBook and audio in the UK on 2 July 2026

🇵🇭❤️💙 📚

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/romalyn-ante-left-behind-child-acquired-chatto

‘Ante is an alchemical wonder of a poet: unparalleled in her image-making, raw to both historical and contemporary damage and rich in cultures.’ – Fiona Benson

‘Captivating, playful, moving, witty and agile... an unforced poet with a lightness of touch and fortitude’ – The Guardian

‘Romalyn Ante is a poet to fall in love with’ – Liz Berry

‘Ante's poems are like embers, pared back to a slow-burning emotional core’ – Times Literary Supplement

‘I felt grateful for the tender attention the poet affords to a hope that many of us hold dear: that as patients – that as people – we may amount to more than just flesh and bone. Thankfully, in the hands of Romalyn Ante the human self far exceeds statistics and the subtotal of all its scars.’ – Jade Cuttle, The Observer

17/09/2025

NEWS: Rachel Blackmore’s ‘powerful and deeply affecting’ COSTANZA longlisted for Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown award

Out now from Renegade Books / around the world

🖋📚 🖋📚 🖋

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/costanza-rachel-blackmore-nominated-hwa-debut-crown

‘Spent my week immersed in this stunning piece of historical fiction, COSTANZA… This gorgeous, intimate portrayal of Costanza herself, reminded me of THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT in its melding of art & artistry with the lives of the women of the time’ – Jennie Godfrey

‘Wonderful… This novel took over my life for the time I was buried in it. Powerful and deeply affecting storytelling bringing us a new perspective on a famous story’ – Paterson Joseph

‘Sumptuous, immersive and bold, Costanza breathes life into a woman frozen in marble for three hundred years, finally giving her a chance to speak… Costanza is both a cathartic cry and a clarion call for justice for generations of forgotten women’ – Hesse Phillips

11/09/2025

NEWS: Karen Campbell’s ‘beautiful, uplifting’ THIS BRIGHT LIFE longlisted for the 2025 Scotland’s National Book Awards

Out now from Canongate Books in the UK – and in audio around the world from Bolinda

🌟📚 🌟📚

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/karen-campbell-this-bright-life-longlisted-scotland-national-book-awards

‘Witty and incisive, this is a quirky and compassionate novel centred on a brilliantly realised child character. A deft and empathetic exploration of lives fallen between the cracks.’ – Scotland’s National Book Awards, judges’ statement

‘A moving, haunting portrait of childhood and the jagged reflections of one tiny action in the kaleidoscope of humanity… Ultimately life-affirming, this gritty novel will take you to dark places, but it’s one beautiful, uplifting journey.’ – Janice Hallett

‘Karen writes with such a rare and deep understanding of people and every word of her stories earns its keep. THIS BRIGHT LIFE is dark, moving and compassionate… it makes you feel hopeful, like a handrail in the dark. I adore it’ – Joanna Cannon

12/08/2025

NEWS: Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Gorski finale A CASE OF MATRICIDE shortlisted for Best International Crime novel at the Ned Kelly Awards

Out now in Australia from Text Publishing, in the UK from Saraband and North America from Biblioasis – and in audio around the world from Bolinda

📚🔦 🔎

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/a-case-of-matricide-graeme-macrae-burnet-ned-kelly-shortlist

‘A dizzyingly immersive experience. Macrae Burnet’s Gorski novels were already a significant achievement, but the concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction.’ – Martin MacInnes

‘Burnet plays metafictional games, but the book pulls off the rare double of being emotionally involving as well as teasingly tricksy.’ – Jake Kerridge, 5* review, The Telegraph

‘All the Kafkaesque shenanigans, paranoia and observational bathos you could wish for. It’s an incredibly fun, cleverly crafted novel that works on so many levels I can even forgive him for being a postmodernist.’ – Eimear McBride, The New Statesman, ‘Books of the Year 2024’

‘A CASE OF MATRICIDE demonstrates literary talent of the highest order… Details of place are especially rich, and the subtle mores of the small town are reflected in Gorski’s misguided incorruptibility… few writers can rival Burnet.’ – Andrew Rosenheim, The Spectator

‘Macrae Burnet brings a slyly playful quality to his reimagining of the classic police procedural… and here delivers a wickedly funny novel that owes as much of a debt to Albert Camus as it does to Georges Simenon.’ – Declan Burke, Irish Times

Graeme Macrae Burnet’s acclaimed conclusion to the Inspector Gorski trilogy, A CASE OF MATRICIDE, has been shortlisted for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards. Run by the Australian Crime Writers Association, the Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious honours for the best crime ...

04/08/2025

NEWS: Ivan Vladislavić longlisted for top South African prize for ‘cinematic, masterful’ portrait of Johannesburg THE NEAR NORTH

Out now in South Africa from Picador Africa – read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/the-near-north-ivan-vladislavic-longlisted-sunday-times-literary-award

📚 🏅 📚 🏅

‘Ivan Vladislavić occupies a place all of his own in the South African literary landscape: a versatile stylist and formal innovator whose work is nevertheless firmly rooted in contemporary urban life.’ – J.M. Coetzee

‘Mysterious, lyrical and wickedly funny… Ivan Vladislavić is one of the most significant writers working in English today. Everyone should read him.’ – Katie Kitamura

‘In a country obsessed with social realism, Vladislavic has always tried to find less obvious ways to approach the world.’ – Damon Galgut

We are delighted to announce that Ivan Vladislavić – one of South Africa’s foremost writers of both literary fiction and non-fiction – has once again been longlisted for South Africa’s prestigious Sunday Times Literary Awards, with his latest work THE NEAR NORTH recognised among the nominee...

28/07/2025

COVER REVEAL: ‘It is dark now and my window onto the world is a small one. I do not know how much longer I will be here…’

Introducing BENBECULA by Graeme Macrae Burnet – out in the UK on 2 October 2025 from Birlinn 📚 🌑🌕🌑✨

Pre-order now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/benbecula/graeme-macrae-burnet//9781846977312

On 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Liniclate on the island of Benbecula, murdered his father, mother and aunt. At trial in Inverness he was found to be criminally insane and confined in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison.

Some years later, Angus’s older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Malcolm is living in isolation, ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode in his past.

From the Booker-shortlisted author of HIS BLOODY PROJECT comes a dark, psychological thriller, leavened by moments of black humour and absurdity.

‘Maddeningly brilliant.’ – Hannah Kent

‘A writer of great skill and authority.’ – Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

‘Extravagantly talented.’ – Mark Lawson, The Guardian

‘He is an uncommonly interesting and satisfying novelist.’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘A voice that sounds startlingly authentic.’ – Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph

10/07/2025

NEWS: PASSIONTIDE by Monique Roffey nominated for the inaugural CARICON Prize for Caribbean Literature!

PASSIONTIDE is out now from Vintage and AA Knopf

📚🏝️ 📚🏝️

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/passiontide-monique-roffey-caricon-prize

‘Roffey is channelling a woman story so deep and old it feels foundational to who we are and can be. Raw and beautiful and in your face, this novel is a liberating read.’ – Julia Alvarez

‘PASSIONTIDE is a bold rallying cry of a novel. Vital, enraging and brilliant. I loved it.’ – Sarah Winman

‘Beautiful and important… By the end of this book, I was ready to join the revolution.’ – Safiya Sinclair

‘PASSIONTIDE has scale, politics and power – a thrilling read, I loved it’ – Sadie Jones

‘The best book I have read in years. It’s so wonderful: so rich, inspiring, funny, moving. A true chronicle of hope, in sisterhood, community, faith and men’ – Rosie Boycott

‘The spirit of carnival itself is in the writing. A powerful and electrifying novel’ – Jason Allen-Paisant

‘A vital novel that addresses a grossly normalised horror – it’s also fiery, funny and ferociously feminist, written with a singular rhythm and style, a beautiful ease.’ – Diana Evans

08/07/2025

NEWS: Congratulations to Sally Andrew for winning the prestigious 2025 Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the Acknowledgements category with her delightful cookbook, RECIPES TO LIVE FOR, published by Penguin Books South Africa.🏆🎉

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/sally-andrew-recipes-to-live-for-gourmand-award

Sally Andrew’s delightful cookbook, RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR, has been announced as the winner for the 2025 Gourmand World Cookbook award in the Acknowledgements category. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards is one of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointre

04/07/2025

NEWS: Kat Lister’s beguiling exploration of art, FRAGILE BODIES: Art Born of Bodily Trauma, won at auction by Weidenfeld & Nicolson for publication in Spring 2027

🎨🖌🏺🖌

Read more: https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/kat-lister-fragile-bodies-auction-weidenfeld

‘Art can be a response to pain, a way of making sense of the body when it turns against itself. From Henri Matisse’s cut-outs, created when he was no longer able to hold a paintbrush or stand at his easel, to the fragmentary hope of Derek Jarman’s garden in the years he spent living with HIV, via the ephemerality of Eva Hesse’s tragically curtailed sculptural life, these stories illuminate the fragile interplay between the body’s betrayals and the soul’s resilience. Through biography, cultural criticism and personal reflection, Lister explores how bodies in crisis can yield unexpected beauty – and how art can offer resistance when words or medicine fall short.’

17/06/2025

Exciting news! Sheena Lambert’s Báite to receive premiere at the Galway Film Festival in July 2025.

For more details please read our news story here:
https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/baitepremiere

Listen to Sheena's interview with RTE's Arena program here:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22521069/

Dublin based screenwriter, playwright and novelist Sheena Lambert’s debut feature film Báite is set to premiere at the Galway Film Festival in July 2025. Báite is an adaption of Lambert’s own novel THE LAKE (HarperCollins, 2015). The story is set in the rural village of Glanaphuca and follows ...

09/06/2025

NEWS: We’re delighted to announce that Kathryn Faulke is this year’s winner of the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize, recognising exceptional works by debut authors over the age of 50, for her ‘riveting and truly heartwarming’ memoir EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE!

Congratulations Kathryn! 🏆 🥳📚🎉🏆

For more details, read our news story:https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/kathryn-faulke-christopher-bland-prize-winner 🗞️

‘A riveting book that treats elderly, infirm and irritable people as the lively and extraordinary human beings they really are. Kathryn Faulke is a shining example to us all… EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is truly heart-warming and will be in pride of place on my bookshelf of very special books.’ – Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Chair of the Judges

‘EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE reminds us that wonderful kindness and comedy and compassion abound in the care sector, the bourne to which so many of us are destined and for which so few are prepared.’ – Rev. Richard Coles

‘Beyond being a vivid and consistently engaging memoir, it delivers a powerful lesson in humanity that needs to be shared.’ – Margaret Busby