UKLA Award Ceremony and Party
On 5th July I headed to Liverpool for the UKLA Book Award Ceremony, since A Face Like Glass was one of the shortlisted books for the 7-11 category.
All the shortlisted books (A Face Like Glass is on the left and at an angle)
With my editor Rachel Petty
I didn’t win the award, but all the authors on the shortlists were presented with certificates and had a fuss made of us. The prize for my category went to the excellent The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan. (The Weight of Water is a verse novel, which makes it particularly unusual. It’s good to see the prize going to such an adventurous and interesting book!)
With winner Sarah Crossan (left) and Nicky Singer (right), author of the brilliant The Flask
After a lovely dinner spent gossipping with some of the judges (who were all exceptionally good fun) I headed to the bar for the poetry readings. There were some excellent offerings from the talented Claire Kirwan of the Dead Good Poets Society (great name), but lots of other people also stepped up to read poems, including a show-stopping demonstration of ‘baby rap’ by Rebecca Patterson.
I can neither confirm nor deny rumours of a late night slumber party involving giggling and false moustaches.
