Two brilliant books by JULA authors out today
Cathy Rentzenbrink’s beautiful, tender book Dear Reader and Adam Sharp’s utterly hilarious The Correct Order of Biscuits are both published today. Congratulations Cathy and Adam!
Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
It’s 3rd September. Booker-longlisted novel Who They Was is out today.
We Must Be Brave has sold over 100,000 copies in the US
Congratulations Frances!
Queenie is on the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist!
It’s a wonderful achievement and so well deserved, huge congratulations to Candice!
Becoming Dinah is on the Carnegie Medal longlist
Kit has been longlisted for a Carnegie Medal with Becoming Dinah, a feminist retelling of Moby Dick. A huge achievement, congratulations Kit!
We Must Be Brave is in the US bestseller list for its fourth week
A triumph – well done Frances!
Another accolade for The Million Pieces of Neena Gill!
Huge congratulations to Emma, who has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020.
The Million Pieces of Neena Gill on Branford Boase longlist
We are so pleased to announce that The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, by Emma Smith-Barton, edited by Naomi Colthurst (Puffin), has been longlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2020. Congratulations Emma!
A Strange Kind of Brave on the Irish Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year shortlist!
Congratulations Sarah! The awards are tonight and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Tamsin Grey on BBC National Short Story Award shortlist
Huge congratulations to Tamsin who has been shortlisted on the BBC National Short Story Award with My Beautiful Millenial! You can listen to her fantastic story here.
Queenie and Becoming Dinah on BAMB shortlists
Not one but two JULA authors have been shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Awards 2019. A huge congratulations to Candice Carty-Williams, who has been shortlisted for the Breakthrough Author Award for her debut novel Queenie, and to Kit de Waal whose first YA novel, Becoming Dinah, is on the Young Adult Award shortlist. Time to get voting!
Ayoade on Top out now!
Ayoade on Top – Richard’s ‘funniest creation yet’ (Jesse Eisenberg) – is out now. Listen to Richard talk about the book on Saturday Live
and then get yourself a copy!
Dear Mrs Bird on HWA Debut Crown Shortlist!
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce has been shortlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Debut Crown Award 2019. Congratulations AJ!
Publications, publications, publications!
Five incredible books by JULA authors have been published in the last seven days. Nadia Shireen’s Billy and the Dragon, The Sound of the Hours by Karen Campbell, Emma Smith-Barton’s debut The Million Pieces of Neena Gill, Kit de Waal’s The Trick to Time in paperback AND her debut YA novel Becoming Dinah!
Unmissable books!
The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan and Brian Bilston’s Diary of a Somebody have been named as ‘books you have to read for June‘ by the Reader’s digest. Both books are published this week.
Queenie in best books of 2019 list
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams has been named by the Guardian as one of the best books of 2019 so far – this of course is no surprise to us. See the article here.
Hooray for Jo!
Jo Unwin has been shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year 2019. The winner will be revealed tonight at the British Books Awards. We are all so proud of you Jo!
Stibbe crowned Comedy Queen!
The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2019 has been awarded to our very own Nina Stibbe for her brilliant, warm and hilarious novel Reasons to Be Cheerful. We are so pleased – well done Nina! Read more here.
Emma’s the One to Watch!
Congratulations to Emma Smith-Barton’s whose debut novel The Million Pieces of Neena Gill has been chosen as The Bookseller’s One to Watch for July! UK publication is 11th July.
‘a moving and entertaining portrait of love and race today’
Queenie has been published in the UK and is having the incredible reception it deserves! Read the Guardian review here.
Publication day for Scar!
The explosive finale to the best-selling INK trilogy is out today!
‘A comic novel about love, lust and social angst at the dental surgery vividly evokes English provincial life in 1980’
Reasons to Be Cheerful had its UK publication on 28th March. Read the Guardian’s review here.
‘Liardet is a masterful observer’
Read the Guardian’s review of We Must Be Brave here
‘Every woman should get a copy’
Lucy’s brilliant book is one of Stylist Magazine’s best books of February
Voila!
Take a look at the gorgeous French edition of Paradise Lodge
‘Full of hope and lightness’
Stylist Books vote A Manual for Heartache a summer read
Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award Shortlist
We are delighted that Kit de Waal’s My Name is Leon is one of five novels shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award 2017. A brilliant achievement!
Read more here.
Milly Reilly
I’ve been working at JULA for three years, and I’m actively building a list of non-fiction and fiction authors.
I’m looking for non-fiction that’s informed, personal and tells a story, be that about issues widely discussed or those not talked about enough. Topics that interest me include human behaviour, illness and medicine, art, cultural criticism, comedy, food, and the social and political. I represent memoir and narrative non-fiction, and I’m particularly drawn to writing that interrogates what it means to tell the story of a life. Examples of non-fiction books I admire are Leïla Slimani’s Sex and Lies, Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Juno Mac and Molly Smith’s Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights, and Sigrid Rausing’s Mayhem.
When it comes to novels, for me it is all about people. I’m interested in character-driven stories that are brutally honest, ones that delve deep into inner lives and the ways people reveal themselves in friendships, families, and romantic relationships. I like a story that deals with darkness and complexity but is not without hope, and writing that’s playful, poetic and unjudgmental. Some authors I love are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zadie Smith, Elizabeth Strout, Sheila Heti, Arundhati Roy, Ross Raisin, Helen Oyeyemi, and Meena Kandasamy.
I don’t represent sci-fi, crime, children’s or YA.