The Novel Voices series features Ellah P Wakatama (Senior Research Fellow) in conversation with debut authors about their craft and the journey to shaping their first, published full body of work. These works will span across genres as the series seeks to explore a range of narratives that reflect the new voices that have and will be shaping the literary landscape of 2021.

Tickets are £3 or free for students. Discounted copies of the books (with the exception of Heba Hayek's Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies) can be purchased directly from the Manchester branch of Blackwell's Bookshop either instore or over the phone on 0161 274 3331. Shipping is included to the UK only.

25th October: Novel Voices: Heba Hayek in Conversation with Ellah P. Wakatama (ONLINE)

The first online event in the series welcomes Heba Hayek. Heba is a London-based writer born and raised in Gaza, Palestine. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Miami University, Ohio, and is studying for an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS University of London, where she is working on an autoethnography about Gazan women in the US and the UK. Heba has been involved in several activist movements, including for BDS, prison abolition and demilitarisation.

https://www.hajarpress.com/books/sambac-beneath-unlikely-skies

8th November: Novel Voices: Micaiah Johnson in Conversation with Ellah P. Wakatama (ONLINE)

The second online event in the series welcomes Micaiah Johnson. Micaiah was raised in California's Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories. She received her Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside and her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from Rutgers-Camden. She now studies American Literature at Vanderbilt University where she focuses on critical race theory... and automatons. Her debut novel, The Space Between Worlds​, from Hodder in the UK and Crown in the US, is a science-fiction novel that uses the concept of the multiverse to examine privilege.

22nd November: Novel Voices: Nicola Garrard in Conversation with Ellah P. Wakatama (ONLINE)

The third online event in the series welcomes novelist Nicola Garrard and editor, Joan Deitch. Nicola has taught English in secondary schools for twenty-three years, including fifteen years at an Islington comprehensive. Shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Mslexia Children’s Novel competition, 29 Locks is Nicola’s first book, and is dedicated to the memory of her former pupil, Mahad Ali, who was brutally murdered by a gang in 2017 at the age of 18. Nicola lives in Sussex with her wife, three children and a Jack Russell terrier called Little Bear.

Her family is typical of modern Britain, with roots in England, Scotland and Trinidad. Joan Deitch’s first publishing job was as a lowly editorial assistant for WH Allen, now part of the Virgin publishing empire, and it was there that she started to learn her trade. After becoming a freelance, Joan worked for several big publishers as a regular copy editor and proof-reader, specialising in crime and ‘women’s fiction’. While volunteering at Women in Publishing, Joan met Rosemarie Hudson, pioneering publisher of Black and Asian writers since the 1990s, and the founder and publisher of HopeRoad. They became friends and collaborators, and early on were proud to publish beautiful titles like One Bright Child by Patricia Cumper, and the seminal Brixton Rock by Alex Wheatle CBE. Joan copy edited those books and went on to work with Rosemarie on many others, including the very recent - and unforgettable - In the Company of Men by Veronique Tadjo, and 29 Locks.

6th December: Novel Voices: Femi Kayode in Conversation with Ellah P. Wakatama (ONLINE)

The fourth and final online event in the series welcomes Femi Kayode. Femi trained as a clinical psychologist in Nigeria, before starting a career in advertising. He has created and written several prime-time TV shows. He recently graduated with a distinction from the UEA Creative Writing programme and is currently a PhD candidate at Bath Spa University. He lives in Windhoek, Namibia with his wife and two sons.

Please note: this event will be live-streamed. You will be sent a link to join this online event when ticket sales end at 5.30pm on the day. Please note you must log into Zoom before clicking the joining link and use the same email address to book your tickets as you use for your Zoom login.

These events are presented in partnership with Creative Manchester and the Centre for New Writing.

The full Blackwell's Manchester programme can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/blackwells-manchester-11315868456