Thursday, February 18, 2016

Carys Bray: Sweet Home republished



Now re-published by Cornerstone, this book of short stories was begun whilst Carys Bray was a student of the Creative Writing MA, which I tutor. Buy here. Or here.


And here Carys is answering questions about her Costa Prize shortlisted novel, A Song for Issy Bradley which was written as part of her PhD in Creative Writing at Edge Hill (with Ailsa Cox and myself) and has been a great critical success. I watched this again the other day and was deeply moved by it. And I'm glad she was here to witness my birthday (in the background)! I was also there for her local launch of her book in her favourite Southport bookshop here. (Earlier news here.)

Carys Bray's debut collection SWEET HOME won the Scott prize and selected stories were broadcast on BBC Radio Four Extra. Her first novel A SONG FOR ISSY BRADLEY was serialised on BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime and was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards and the Desmond Elliott Prize. It won the Utah Book Award and the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.

Carys has a BA in Literature from The Open University and an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Edge Hill University. She lives in Southport in North West England with her husband and four children. Her second novel THE MUSEUM OF YOU will be published in June 2016. She is working on a third novel (keep up with her on her blog to the right of this post!).