We’re delighted to welcome Ki Agency’s newest client, Marianne Nield, to the newsletter today - what better way for her to introduce herself than by telling us what she’s reading?
By day, Marianne works as an Editor for Law books at Cambridge University Press, and by night she loves to write fiction. When she’s not reading or writing she enjoys cooking, quilting or sewing, or riding around the countryside on her motorbike.
What are you reading right now?
I have a terrible habit of reading a lot of things at once, but at the moment I’m really enjoying Ted Chiang’s Exhalation. The stories are so imaginative and surreal, but at the same time they maintain a link with everyday Earth so the narrative stays nuanced and pertinent.
What's the last great book you read?
Last great book I read was probably Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. You have no idea what’s going on for a large part of the book but your curiosity is just piqued. It’s so heartfelt; the main character has no idea who they are but you still love the way they think, how they view the ethereal world and interact with it. It’s beautiful!
What's the most interesting fact you've learned recently?
In 2009 they actually conducted a search for the Loch Ness monster and/or evidence of how the myth could have originated. They didn’t find Nessie, but they did find over 100,000 golf balls.
A duel between three people is actually called a truel.
What's your best advice for aspiring writers?
1. Read as much as you can; reading is training, it teaches you what you like or dislike and what you want to emulate.
2. Keep going! Don’t give up!
If you could transport yourself into any book universe, which would it be?
The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon had the most wonderful universe, I’d have loved to have been a Bard when I was a kid!
Thanks, Marianne! Please help us welcome her to the agency by saying hello on Twitter!
And in agency news… June marks our tenth birthday! Ki Agency began life in 2011 with six clients. Today we represent 51 clients from around the world (and counting!) Thanks for being part of this brilliant journey!
In other agency news…
Robin Norwood's perennial bestseller Women Who Love Too Much has been re-licensed in Germany to Rowohlt, and is now being translated into Arabic for the first time.
Tiarna Armstrong will be joining the BBC Northern Irelands Writers Room in September.
Louise Carey has delivered the second book in her Inscape trilogy. Outcast follows the fortunes of Tanta as part of the stateless rebels, and will be published by Gollancz in January 2022.
HarperCollins NZ have commissioned Joanne Drayton's frightening memoir about leaving her husband for another woman, and the subsequent legal battle they fought over their children.
Angela Slatter's Sourdough and Other Stories has been published in Spanish by Saga. Her new novel with Titan, All the Murmuring Bones, has now been sold in Hungary and Italy. Her The Heart is a Mirror is shortlisted as Best Collected Work in the Australian Shadows Awards, and she is also up for another Aurealis Award.
Thanks so much, and have a great weekend!