On Tuesday, as followers of this blog well know, Tyler was at the Monmouth Literary Festival performing with poet Anna Lewis. It meant that we at his publicity team were manning the desk on a slow and sunny summer's day. That was when the call came through, and we learned that Tyler's story collection Burrard Inlet had been shortlisted for The International Rubery Book Award. We put away our noon-time G&T and went into 'publicity' mode. First Tyler had to be tracked down - Where is he? - That literature festival! - and after much texting and phone calls we were able to pass on the good news. Then we set about drafting our mailouts, our promo materials, our press release. Tyler, of course, was honoured. The Rubery is the U.K.'s longest running and most well-established book award for independent publishers. The nomination seems extra-exciting as Tyler is nominated alongside his friend and fellow author, Carly Holmes, whose novel The Scrapbook is shortlisted in the novel category. By an amazing coincidence, tonight Tyler will be travelling to Cardigan's Cellar Bar to join Carly for a Cellar Bards event: a distinct and increasingly renowned series of ongoing reading nights. The promo poster for tonight is below and - if you're not put off by Tyler's slightly self-satisfied expression - do come along to share in the celebrations and festivities!
This week, Tyler will be appearing in a joint event with poet Anna Lewis at the Monmouth Literary Festival. It's a special and unique festival, in that it's organized by students in the area: from Monmouth School, HMSG, and Monmouth Comprehesive. This year the students have done a stand-out job, and among others the line-up includes Carole Anne Duffy, Owen Sheers, and Christopher Wakling. The festival brochure is downloadable here. Tyler and Anna's event, with students from all three schools, will take place at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning outside Monmouth Comprehensive.
To be honest, we at Tyler's publicity team were looking forward to a bit of a breather, after announcing the recent successes of Burrard Inlet. There's been the Journey Prize, the Frank O'Connor and Edgehill longlistings, and the Wales Book of the Year shortlisting. We thought that might be it for some time. But then the phone rang again. It looks as if Burrard Inlet has now won an Indepedent Publisher Book Award, also known as the IPPY Awards.
Here's the lowdown on the good news: the IPPY awards are the largest and longest-running American awards for independent publishing, and are differentiated from other major awards by focusing on the overall product. Judges base their decisions on 'quality of content, originality, design, and production with emphasis on innovation and social relevance.' As such, kudos for the award also goes to Tyler's editor, Claire Houguez, his publisher, Parthian, and cover designer Marc Jennings at undercard. The book picked up a silver medal in its regional category for the results of such a great team effort.
