Riot helps Penguin celebrate 85th anniversary
Charlie Mackesy, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Dapo Adeola, Jackie Morris and Vashti Harrison contribute work, with all profits going to charity Penguin turns 85 this year and Riot is helping the publisher celebrate by launching a range of fine art prints, with all profits going to the National Literacy Trust. Specially-commissioned from five leading Penguin artists, illustrators and authors, these beautiful prints – themed […]
Riot Senior Campaigns Manager Hephzibah Kwakye-Saka on how to promote books by black authors
This article first appeared in the Bookseller on 24th July 2020 As a black publicist with more than seven years in culture and entertainment publicity, I have sat in many all-white creative meetings where the genuine answer to making a campaign diverse was to give Stormzy a call (before that it was Tinie Tempah). If you […]
Never-seen-before manuscript by Philip Pullman revealed on 25th anniversary of Northern Lights
“When I wrote Serpentine, I had no idea that I was going on to write another trilogy, showing Lyra as an adult, but she and her world wouldn’t leave me alone.” – Philip Pullman Serpentine, a new book featuring a teenage Lyra Silvertongue, will be published in October 2020 Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman to narrate audiobook edition […]
Derek Owusu wins 2020 Desmond Elliott Prize with “groundbreaking” debut That Reminds Me
Taylor Beidler wins the inaugural UEA New Forms Award and Michelle Perkins receives the first Laura Kinsella Fellowship The National Centre for Writing (NCW) has today (2nd July) announced Derek Owusu’s That Reminds Me as the winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize 2020. The novel-in-verse, praised by judges as a ‘transcendent work of literature’, is […]
Two ‘extraordinary’ books exploring survival and our relationship with nature through short stories win UK’s most prestigious book awards for children and young people
– Third time lucky for British author Anthony McGowan, who clinches the CILIP Carnegie Medal with the fourth book in his series of short novellas Academy Award-winning artist, writer and film maker Shaun Tan is the first illustrator of colour to win the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal carnegiegreenaway.org.uk / #CKG20 / #bestchildrensbooks Today (Wednesday 17th […]
Black Lives Matter. It is not just a hashtag
. This post is taken from our latest issue of The Riot Culture Drop. Sign up for further newsletters below. . Over the past few days, following the horrific murder of George Floyd, I have been troubled by various companies readily using #blacklivesmatter on social media as a sign of ‘solidarity’. In some cases, this […]
Trio of “striking, intimate” coming -of-age stories make Desmond Elliott Prize shortlist
The National Centre for Writing has today (Tuesday 2nd June) announced the three titles shortlisted for the 2020 Desmond Elliott Prize. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney by Okechukwu Nzelu and That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu are all in the running to win the £10,000 […]
Sandi Toksvig narrates Pippi Longstocking audiobooks for 75th Anniversary year
The Astrid Lindgren Company is delighted to announce that award-winning presenter, comedian and writer Sandi Toksvig (Great British Bake Off, QI, The News Quiz) will narrate new audiobook editions of Astrid Lindgren’s classic tales Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard and Pippi Longstocking in the South Seas to mark 75 years since Pippi’s creation. Toksvig, […]
Riot Associate Director Katy MacMillan-Scott on crisis comms: gaining perspective from writers past
. This article was originally published in The Bookseller It’s just over a month since lockdown began. I don’t need to tell you about the uncertainties or worries, but at Riot the crisis has strengthened our raison d’etre: we exist to promote culture, because we know how culture can offer perspective during turbulent times. One of the […]
“These debut writers are as passionate and political as our times demand”
£10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize longlist signals extraordinary strength and breadth of UK and Irish debut fiction The National Centre for Writing (NCW) has today (Tuesday 7th April) announced the 10-strong longlist for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize, for the most outstanding first novels of the past 12 months. For the first time this year, the Prize […]
