Conville & Walsh

Stephen Kelman appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last Thursday, speaking about the success of his debut novel, PIGEON ENGLISH, which was recently sold by agent Jo Unwin in a twelve-way auction to Bloomsbury. Stephen also appeared on the News at Ten was interviewed by BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz about the book, and his experience of the submissions process as a first time author.

PIGEON ENGLISH is the story of five months in the life of twelve year old Harrison Opoku. Newly arrived from Ghana, he lives on an estate with his mother and sister, where he skips through his new life, blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him. With equal fascination for the local gang, the Dell Farm Crew, and for the different shapes of Haribo, Harrison tries to get used to England, watching, listening, and merrily attempting to learn the tricks of inner-city survival.  But when he and his friend, Dean Griffin, see the police tape around a dead boy, they start a murder investigation of their own, and the Dell Farm Crew are not amused…

PIGEON ENGLISH has now been sold in Brazil (Rocco), Canada (Anansi), France (Gallimard), Germany (Berlin Verlag), Israel (Kinneret), Italy (Piemme), Netherlands (Busy Bee), Simplified Chinese (Shanghai99), Spanish & Catalan (Salamandra) and the USA (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). If you missed the Radio 4 interview last Thursday, you can listen again below.