NOVEL LISTED FOR AWARD

Fellow ABC writers may be interested to hear that my novel, Alby And Me, has been long-listed for the Waverton Good Read Award for the best British debut novel of 2007-08. The books are chosen by the residents of Waverton, a village near Chester. A team of up to 80 readers plus a small group from Styal women's prison read and allocate scores to each nominated book. The long list of 20 books was chosen from nearly 60 nominations. A short list of five books will be agreed in April and the winner announced in July. The Waverton award was inspired by Le Prix De La Cadiere, a prize awarded annually for the French debut novel of the year by residents of La Cadiere, a village in the Provencal region. Alby And Me, which has received enthusiastic press reviews, is a story about growing up on a tough Birmingham housing estate in the 1940s. An excerpt from the novel can be read on my website: www.johncbird.co.uk