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A fast-paced, tender and unflinching depiction of teenage friendship and resilience against the odds. Nicola Garrard has appeared at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, Chichester Festival and Petworth Festival Literary Week and on BBC Radio London. She gives regular talks for schools, libraries and colleges (including for World Book Day), as well as prisons. Her words and poetry have been published in The Frogmore Papers magazine, IRON Press Publishing, Mslexia magazine, The Guardian and the Writers & Artists Yearbook Guide to Getting Published , and by the Poetry Book Society.

Although this story was written using words and expressions from multicultural London, I found it an easy to follow read. I was rooting for Donny from the off, and the unwavering love he had for his mother despite the crappy life she gave him, was heart warming. Now going into its thirteenth year, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize has developed a reputation for attracting first-class writing talent. Judges are seeking entries that combine literary merit with 'unputdownability’, and it has been a catalyst for numerous literary careers. This talk gave us a sobering insight into the lives of inner- city youth, but was presented with a positive attitude and the humble hope that the book will go some way to preventing future tragedies. I’m writing a new novel for teenagers, it’s set in a rundown seaside town with three brothers who are left to fend for themselves. On her interview day she was taken on an unauthorised tour of the school by three scruffy 6 th Formers who demanded to know why she wanted to teach in their …….. school. The school was in Special Measures and had families living in poverty and using food banks. Gangs and drugs featured in the lives of some pupils and unsettled home lives affected student performance. She dedicated the book to one of her students, a Somali who, though not in a gang, was killed on the streets of London. After this tragedy she was moved to write a book about the humour, loyalty and resilience of students disadvantaged by poverty and unsettled home lives. It was also to be a warning to young people against carrying knives and guns. She wrote the book in six weeks but spent a long time in editing. Compromises on the language e.g. toning down the students’ language, had to be made to enable the book to reach a wider audience of young people and students.

About Nicola Garrard

Tim Bates, Head of the Books Department & Literary Agent at Peters Fraser and Dunlop, commented, " Among a very high-quality shortlist, one entry stood out for its originality and confidence. Hannah Stapleton’s BLUE TEARS is a stylish, fresh and, at times, disconcerting debut novel. Hannah has created a fascinating view of the world, and her novel is both provocative and gripping. She is a worthy winner. " The Fiction Prize and its authors Catherine Chanter (2013 winner) The Well was translated into twelve languages. Published in UK by Canongate Books. The novel is now being adapted as a film for direct MGM and Hello Sunshine. I think in YA it’s very strong. School librarians are really on board, they’re wonderful at signposting LGBT+ books. I was always frightened that the librarian would tell my parents I was reading Virginia Woolf looking for the gay bits!

This story was clearly told straight from the heart and I could sense the realness of the story. This is a gritty, harsh story of someone's life who hasn't had it easy and hasn't had the chances a lot of people have in their lives. Hard hitting it brings home the reality of today's world so well. I was living this life with Donny and felt it all too. Juliet West, Author of Before the Fall (Pan Macmillan, 2014) and The Faithful (Pan Macmillan, 2017) The message I took away from the novel was that despite all the inequalities of this world there is always hope for justice. Sometimes you just have to be the one to stand up and make a change. Claire Askew (2016 winner) All the Hidden Truths (2016 winner) was published by Hodder & Stoughton.NICOLA GARRARD has taught English in secondary schools for twenty-three years, including fifteen years Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott Swan Song (2016 shortlist), longlisted for the Women's Prize, was published by HarperCollins is currently being adapted for TV.

Since its foundation in 2010, the Prize has been a starting point in numerous entrants’ success stories giving them the platform to launch successful and ongoing careers as novelists, including: My own agency The Good Literary Agency was set up to make publishing more accessible to underrepresented groups. Having a literary agency that is just for writers of colour, working class, disabled, and LGBT+ writers, shows that publishers are taking on authors and stories in the mainstream, and that is a brilliant change in publishing. We’re celebrating Pride Month here at The Book Network! Why do you think it’s important to support LGBT+ writers? I grew up in the 80s and it was hell in the 80s as a teenager. I was taught in the Section 28 days… everything was wall-to-wall hatred and homophobia. My experience as a teenager was creeping around my local library, honing my research skills looking for LGBT+ books that I could read inside the library because I wouldn’t dare take them out because it might show on my lending record. The talk prompted several questions from the floor about coping in the classroom and what her future plans were. She stressed the importance of giving unconditional positive regard and praise, and, on occasion, giving students some breakfast! The book has been taken up by the Juventus charity which works with young people. Nicola also works with the Outward Bound programme. A second novel is in the pipeline.One of the things that Stephen King said in his book On Writing was “take the plug off your TV.” Writing takes a lot of time. One thing people can do if they’re serious about writing is to throw their TV out and read, or to stop watching mainstream television and just immerse yourself in writing. And read everything! I used several. I’m white, I’m in my 40s, I’m from Sussex, so apart from 15 years of teaching kids in gangs and kids affected by the themes in the novel, I’ve never lived that, so I thought it was absolutely essential. I’ve asked teenagers that I’ve taught in London to read it, teachers, parents. There are British-Nigerian characters in it so I had a Nigerian sensitivity reader look at it. I have an ex-student who has served prison sentences and was recruited into drug dealing when he was 12. He’s now a mentor and working to help boys not join gangs. I taught him when was 14, 15, and he said he never thought he’d read something that showed the way that he lived. Slowing down. I’ve had a history of sending manuscripts off to agents too soon, or to my agent now too soon. I really need to give more time between drafts to let things bed down and approach it as a first-time reader again to see the problems in it. Before writing novels for young adults, my passion was poetry. I was a runner up in the Poetry Book Society poetry competition, judged by one of my heroes, Carol Ann Duffy. Donny’s unwavering love for his mother despite all the time they spend apart touches your heart. His devotion to her through the years of his childhood never falters, even leading him to feel guilt when enjoying the cooking of his foster mother. His belief in his mother through everything is one of the really powerful messages in this book and kept me rooting for him.