I am delighted to announce I will be writing a memoir for the W&N Books series of books ‘HOMETOWN TALES’ celebrating regional voices. Also featuring the comedian and writer Stewart Lee, Gemma Cairney, Kirsty Logan and many others. Meantime, I am also working on my second novel.

You can read more below from W&N Books!

Celebrating Regional Voices:

Hometown Tales: Highlands and Hebrides: this book will include an account of growing up on the Isle of Mull by Colin MacIntyre, author of The Letters of Ivor Punch, which won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award in 2015. Colin is also an award-winning musician who records and performs as Mull Historical Society. His piece will appear alongside a bold and inspiring coming-of-age story set in Inverness by new voice Ellen MacAskill.

The first initiative of its kind to focus on regional diversity, Hometown Tales will provide a platform for new writers, helping them to launch the first step of their careers, edited and mentored by our team. The books will be published in paperback and ebook in June 2018 – keep up to date with news on #HometownTalesUK or by following us on twitter.

More of the announcement from W&N Books here, also copied below.

We are delighted to announce the first four books in our Hometown Tales series, which aims to celebrate regional diversity by publishing voices from across the UK. Each book will feature work from two writers – one established and one previously unpublished, found through open submissions – both writing about the places they think of as home. But we’re not finished at four – read on to find out how to submit your writing!

Hometown Tales: Glasgow will include a moving account of growing up in the shadow of Woodilee Hospital by acclaimed short story writer and author of The Gracekeepers Kirsty Logan, and a deeply personal portrait of the city by new voice Paul McQuade.

Hometown Tales: Yorkshire will feature bestselling author of The Last Act of Love and A Manual for Heartache Cathy Rentzenbrink writing about her childhood home in Snaith, and new voice Victoria Hennison on village life in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

Hometown Tales: Midlands will pair a story about a Jamaican girl adopted by a couple living in Fleckney, Leicestershire, by author of the Costa- and Commonwealth-shortlisted Pao by Kerry Young, with new voice Carolyn Sanderson’s tale of young love in Milton Keynes.

Hometown Tales: Highlands and Hebrides will include an account of growing up on the Isle of Mull by Colin MacIntyre, author of The Letters of Ivor Punch, which won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award in 2015. Colin is also an award-winning musician who records and performs as Mull Historical Society. His piece will appear alongside a bold and inspiring coming-of-age story set in Inverness by new voice Ellen MacAskill.

The first initiative of its kind to focus on regional diversity, Hometown Tales will provide a platform for new writers, helping them to launch the first step of their careers, edited and mentored by our team. The books will be published in paperback and ebook in June 2018 – keep up to date with news on #HometownTalesUK or by following us on twitter.

In more exciting news, we are now extending the Hometown Tales series to include four more titles, and are looking for writers to feature in:

Hometown Tales: Birmingham, with BAFTA award-winning comedian, writer and author of four full-length works, including the bestselling How I Escaped My Certain Fate, Stewart Lee, who will write about the post-punk scene in Birmingham and how music has shaped his memories of the city.

Hometown Tales: Wales, with Tyler Keevil, a writer originally from Canada, now living in Wales, who will explore the idea of migration. Tyler is the author of three books and numerous short works, and has received several awards for his writing, including the Journey Prize and the Wales Book of the Year People’s Prize. He is one of the judges for the Wales Book of the Year 2017, and his new novel, No Good Brother, will be published by The Borough Press in February.

Hometown Tales: Lancashire, with award-winning novelist Jenn Ashworth, who will pen a story set over a pub crawl one night in Preston. Jenn is the author of A Kind of Intimacy, which won a Betty Trask Award in 2010, Cold Light, The Friday Gospels and Fell, and lectures in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

Hometown Tales: South East, with award-winning BBC broadcaster, founder of Boom Shakalaka Productions, and life enthusiast, Gemma Cairney writing about her home town of Margate, where she holds a monthly club night. Gemma is the author of Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be and recently judged the Wellcome Prize.