Conville & Walsh

We’re delighted to announce that two Conville & Walsh authors have been nominated for the Anobii First Book Award in the run up to Edinburgh International Book Festival: Lisa O’Donnell for The Death of Bees, and S J Watson for Before I Go to Sleep.

Despite The Death of Bees being Lisa O’Donnell’s first foray into fiction she is no stranger to success when it comes to writing. In 2000 she won the Orange Screenwriting Prize for her screenplay The Wedding Gift and was nominated, in the same year, for the Dennis Potter New Screenwriter’s Award. Following these enviable accolades, O’Donnell took the plunge and moved from her home in Scotland to start a new life in LA. But it is her homeland which has made the biggest impression on her imagination, and the Death of Bees opens in a small estate in Glasgow, with two sisters, burying their parents in the back garden…

One of the first pupils to be accepted onto the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course, S J Watson has not disappointed. His first attempt at novel writing, Before I Go to Sleep, was one of 2011’s international success stories: with rights sold in 42 territories, the thriller fast became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. It’s now the winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Award for Best Debut Novel and the Galaxy National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year. It has been shortlisted for a Crimefest Award; longlisted for both the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year; and been voted the most popular title from Channel 4’s TV Book Club. Now with the film rights purchased by Ridley Scott’s production company, and Rowan Joffe set to direct, the success of the book is set to continue.

The nominations come as S J Watson is named a finalist for the Best First Novel at the Anthony Awards, one of the most prestigious awards for mystery writers, which will be presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. The awards are named for the late Anthony Boucher, a well-known writer and critic from the New York Times and one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.

We couldn’t possibly tell you who to vote for at the Anobii Awards, but you can do so here.