BFLA Authors in best of 2015 lists

It’s that time of year again when everyone's sharing their ‘Best of’ lists, and we’re extremely proud that our authors have been included in many of them. Below is a summary of the great places they were included and the great quotes that accompanied their pick.

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER by Sally Andrew

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2015:
"A delightful debut, tender and funny. The mystery takes on the worldwide problem of abused women while revealing both the beauties and problems of South Africa. And the recipes will make you want to drop everything and start cooking."

Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book of 2015:
“The exotic locale, the lovely patois and the heroine’s unique sensibility make Ms. Andrew’s “Recipes” a blue-ribbon winner.”

Samantha Gibb, Sunday Times SA Best book of 2015:
“The quintessential feel-good SA whodunit, complete with recipes and advice. A must read.”

LUNGDON by Edward Carey

NPR Guide to 2015’s Great Reads:
“A magnificently engrossing indictment of our late capitalist modernity.”

THE FETCH by Finuala Dowling

Margaret von Klemperer, Fiona Snyckers & Helené Prinsloo, Sunday Times SA Best book of 2015:
‘A sparkling comedy of manners, but under the froth there are serious issues, and it is Dowling’s sensitive handling of them that makes this such a lovely book’ – Margaret von Klemperer

‘Comparisons with Jane Austen are not misplaced.’ – Fiona Snyckers

‘The characters from THE FETCH by Finuala Dowling haunted my dreams. The story led me to a garden cottage in the deep south where I kept waiting to happen upon someone like William.’ – Helené Prinsloo

THE DARKEST HOUR by Barbara Erskine

Books Covered, Favourite Book Covers of 2015:
‘Tender, romantic, and earnest, just like the brilliant story within. The gold foil adds a luxuriousness without being flashy and the whole designs speaks of the era so perfectly. This is a standout cover in this area of the market.’

JELLYFISH by Janice Galloway

Zoe Strachan, The Herald:
‘Janice Galloway prefaces her new collection of stories, JELLYFISH (Freight, £12.99), with a quote from David Lodge: “Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children; life’s the other way round.” In fact she gives us plenty of both, but it’s the stories about mothers and children that really cut to the quick.’

Sara Crowley and Kaite Welsh, Bristol Prize Best Short Story Reads of 2015:
‘My most eagerly awaited publication of 2015 was Janice Galloway’s JELLYFISH (Freight) which I am reading very slowly so as to savour each brilliant word.’ – Sara Crowley

‘Galloway has hit a rich seam of imagination as she returns to the short story as a form. It’s perfect for her style – wry, slightly off-kilter and always returning to the theme of parent and child, the kind of subject matter that offers Galloway the chance to delve once more into the murky depths of human relationships.’ – Kaite Welsh

Scots Whay Hae! Best Books of 2015:
‘Janice Galloway has always been an innovative and playful writer, but never to the detriment of her prose… JELLYFISH is a timely reminder that she is one of the finest writers around. Each story, each sentence, is beautifully crafted by someone who cares enough to take such care… If you read a better book than Jellyfish this year you are a very lucky person indeed.’

THE NEED FOR BETTER REGULATION OF OUTER SPACE by Pippa Goldschmidt

Alice Thompson, The Herald:
‘In these stories, the powerful juxtaposition of scientific intellect and emotional frailty is played out engagingly. The stories also imply no matter how objective scientific genius is, the scientists themselves, like the rest of us, are subject to moral failings.’

YOU ARE DEAD by Peter James

Guardian Best Crime and Thriller books of 2015:
‘Peter James showed that a diversion this year into ghost stories with THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL had not diverted energy from his consistently impressive sequence of DS Roy Grace policiers, the 11th of which, YOU ARE DEAD (Macmillan), confidently combines a cold case with a very hot one.’

THE LAST PILOT by Benjamin Johncock

Isabella Costello Literary Sofa ‘My Year in Books’:
‘Ben Johncock’s debut has all the things I love about American fiction and he’s not even American. Gorgeous spare prose, authentic sense of time and place, a poignant story told with sensitivity and restraint – I have raved about this book so much it’s embarrassing.’

Reading Groups’ Staff Picks for 2015:
‘With echoes of Tom Wolfe’s THE RIGHT STUFF and Richard Yates’ REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, THE LAST PILOT re-ignites the thrill and excitement of the space race through the story of one man’s courage in the face of unthinkable loss.’

Ian Rankin’s End of Year Roundup

Utter Biblio, Top 10 of 2015

ICARUS by Deon Meyer

Financial Times’ Crime Books of the Year

Boston Globe's Best Mystery Books of 2015:
‘An ashleymadison.com-style website-related murder and a parallel plot that delves into the dregs of South Africa’s wine industry keep Benny Griessel and his cadre of Cape Town coppers on their toes.’

GREEN LION by Henrietta Rose-Innes

Ben Williams, Fiona Snyckers & Jennifer Malec, Sunday Times SA Best book of 2015:
‘And if readers missed Henrietta Rose-Innes’s GREEN LION (Umuzi) … they’d best not let 2015 expire without acquainting themselves’ – Ben Williams

‘Rose-Innes goes from strength to strength, refining her craft with each new book.’ – Fiona Snyckers

‘Masterful’ – Jennifer Malec

THE FOLLY by Ivan Vladislavic

Flavorwire’s 15 Worthwhile Books You Might Have Missed in 2015:
‘Praised by the likes of Coetzee and others — it’s not hard to see why…’

101 DETECTIVES by Ivan Vladislavic

Michelle Magwood, Jennifer Malec & Sophie Kohler Sunday Times SA Best book of 2015:
‘Mordantly funny, acutely perceptive and exquisitely styled, this collection of short stories is a definitive showcase of Vladislavic’s talents.’ – Michelle Magwood

‘Witty, enthralling and pleasurably disorientating.’ – Jennifer Malec

‘The stories are bewildering in their refusal to provide a clear resolution, but this is to their credit, in that each leaves a mystery to be solved.’ – Sophie Kohler

THE A WONG COOKBOOK by Andrew Wong

 Rose Prince, Spectator Best New Cookery Books 2015:
‘There is food in A Wong: The Cookbook (Mitchell Beazley, £25) for home cooks, but it is also a chef’s book. May every aspiring one buy it. If they did, Chinese food in Britain would go through a true revolution.’

Observer 25 best food books 2015:
‘At his Pimlico restaurant, Wong is keen to prove that Chinese food can be just as considered as other, more revered cuisines.’

101 DETECTIVES by Ivan Vladislavić published by And Other Stories

101 DETECTIVES by Windham Campbell prize winner Ivan Vladislavić’ is published today by And Other Stories in the UK. Penguin Random South Africa’s Umuzi imprint have published in South Africa, and the collection has been longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Prize 2015.

You can read ‘Exit Strategy’ from the collection here, and a feature with Vladislavić and S. J. Naude in conversation here, both published by Granta Online.  An extract from the title story ‘101 Detectives’ appears in the Mail and Guardian South Africa and can be read here.

101 DETECTIVES follows a private-eye convention and a tussle over a Pierneef. A young man’s unsettling experience in the American South and a tragedy off the coast of Mauritius. A bizarre night of industrial theatre and a translator at a loss for words. These are but a few of the fictions in 101 DETECTIVES, a new collection of short stories by Ivan Vladislavić, one of South Africa’s most celebrated authors.

A collection of short stories launched his career as a writer. Twenty-six years and a whole oeuvre later, 101 DETECTIVES showcases Vladislavić’s virtuosity as he bends and recasts this literary form in spectacular fashion.

Later this year And Other Stories in the UK and Archipelago in the US will publish his debut novella THE FOLLY, while Tranan in Sweden and A1 in Germany will publish his novel DOUBLE NEGATIVE.

Ivan Vladislavić is the award-winning, critically-acclaimed author of a prestigious body of literary work.  Published in ten international markets, Ivan lives in Johannesburg, where he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has won and been shortlisted for South Africa’s most prestigious prizes and was awarded the Windham Campbell Prize 2015.  His work is included in the GRANTA BOOK OF THE AFRICAN SHORT STORY and Sylph Editions published A LABOUR OF MOLES in the prestigious Cahiers Series.

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić:

‘One of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today.’ – André Brink

‘Ivan Vladislavić is the most significant writer in South Africa today.’ –  Focus on Africa

'One of South Africa's most finely tuned observers' – Ted Hodgkinson, The Times Literary Supplement

'He is a deeply affecting writer. He prods and troubles the reader. You do not finish a Vladislavić book unchanged.' - Michele Magwood, BooksLIVE 

JANICE GALLOWAY, PIPPA GOLDSCHMIDT AND IVAN VLADISLAVIC LONGLISTED FOR THE FRANK O’CONNOR SHORT STORY PRIZE LONGLIST

Three Blake Friedmann authors have been longlisted for the prestigious Frank O’Connor Short Story Prize Longlist. The international short story award in the memory of Frank O’Connor is the single biggest prize in the world for a collection of short stories. The shortlist will be decided towards the end of May and made public in early June.

Janice Galloway is longlisted for JELLYFISH, published by Freight Books in June, Pippa Goldschmidt for THE NEED FOR BETTER REGULATION OF OUTER SPACE, published by Freight Books this summer and Ivan Vladislavić for 101 DETECTIVES, published by Umuzi in South Africa and And Other Stories in the UK.

The 2015 Jury members  for the award are Ladette Randolp, American novelist and editor-in-chief of Ploughshares, Clive Sinclair, British novelist, and Eibhear Walshe, Irish novelist and director of Creative Writing at the School of English, University College Cork.

‘EXIT STRATEGY’ BY IVAN VLADISLAVIĆ PUBLISHED BY GRANTA ONLINE

Ivan Vladislavić’s story ‘Exit Strategy’, from his new collection 101 DETECTIVES is published today by Granta Online. You can read the story here http://granta.com/exit-strategy/.

101 DETECTIVES is published by Umuzi in South Africa on 20th April, and in the UK and US by And Other Stories in June. A private-eye convention and a tussle over a Pierneef. A young man’s unsettling experience in the American South and a tragedy off the coast of Mauritius. A bizarre night of industrial theatre and a translator at a loss for words. These are but a few of the fictions in 101 DETECTIVES. A collection of short stories launched his career as a writer: now twenty-six years later, 101 DETECTIVES showcases Vladislavić’s virtuosity as he bends and recasts this literary form in spectacular fashion.

Ivan spoke about the collection on Classic FM last week. Ivan will be appearing at Franschhoek Literary Festival, taking part in the following events:

Friday 15 May

1pm Writers’ libraries Justin Fox asks Belinda Bauer, Imraan Coovadia and Ivan Vladislavić about the books that have influenced them throughout their lives, their reading preferences in general — including how these may have changed at different stages in life, and what influence their reading has had on their writing.

Saturday 16 May

10am Exploring the short form Helon Habila, Jackie Kay, SJ Naude and Ivan Vladislavić talk about the of the short story form, its challenges and rewards, the skills required to master the form, and how they individually have challenged expectations with the stories they’ve written and/or edited.

4pm Authors talking An open discussion, with four authors sitting around a camp fire sharing anecdotes about the writing life. Deon Meyer will lead the discussion, alongside Ivan Vladislavić, Imraan Coovadia and Israeli writer, Eshkol Nevo. 

Sunday 17 May

11.30am The global audience: Who’s reading what you’re writing A discussion about how writing for a global audience influences a writer's choice of subject, style of writing, use of language, etc.

Vladislavić is a novelist, essayist and editor. He lives in Johannesburg where he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. His work has won several prizes, including the University of Johannesburg Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction. He was recently awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction.

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić:

‘Ivan Vladislavic is the most significant writer in South Africa today.’ – Focus on Africa

'One of South Africa's most finely tuned observers' – Ted Hodgkinson, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Over the past two decades Ivan Vladislavić’s varied oeuvre has cemented his position as one of the most critically respected novelists currently at work in South Africa.’ – Danny Byrne, Music and Literature