The Unlit Festival returns November 9th!

Having recently been named as UNESCO city of literature, it is unsurprising that Norwich continues to be a beacon of fresh creative writing talent that continues the legacy that was started by Sir Malcolm Bradbury’s influential creative writing course back in 1970.

This potential has been championed by the Norwich-based publishing agency Unthank Books, who have had an incredible amount of success in a short space of time when it comes to publishing literary fiction and short stories.

The beautiful cover art for Unthology 3

On November 9^th, at the Unlit Festival in Norwich, they will be releasing two new books to add to their growing roster. The first of those is the debut novel of Sarah Dobbs entitled Killing Daniel about the stories of two friends told in parallel, one who is suffering from the murder of her boyfriend, and the other who is stuck in a loveless marriage.

The second book to be released is the third volume of Unthank’s Unthology series, a series of books that are dedicated to resuscitating the faltering short story form, which some critics have already said is pretty much dead in the water.

Unthology houses the work of seventeen emerging writers who provide eighteen stories that range from a marriage that is suffering because of astrology to a satirical look at the current state of the UK publishing industry.

Both Unthology 3 and Killing Daniel are currently available for pre-order on Amazon. They are also available as e-books both for the Kindle and the iTunes bookstore.

Cover art for Sarah Dobbs’ debut novel ‘Killing Daniel’

The stories in Unthology 3 have been chosen partly for their variety, so there should really be something for everyone.

I particularly enjoyed Debz Hobbs-Wyatt’s The Theory of Circles, which captures the obsession modern people have with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, managing to weave a complex mystery through Facebook and Twitter updates that move backwards in time.

One story in particular, entitled A Publisher Surveys the Changing Literary Scene by CD Rose, will, I’m sure, capture the mood of many of Unthology’s readers regarding the state of the publishing industry, giving us a satirical look at some of the larger publishing houses by mixing up publishing jargon with the plot devices we would expect from typical crime and gangster films. And the ending is especially breathtaking and surprising, if you like twists!

With the current economic climate and the fate of small, independent publishing houses seeming rather bleak, it is uplifting to see Unthank’s success and their ever-growing catalogue of publications.

Unthology 3 and Killing Daniel will be launched 9th November 2013, York Tavern, Norwich 7.30. Sharon Zink and Tim Mitchell will also be reading their stories from Unthology 3 at Bullet Cafe, Hastings on Friday 23rd November at 7.30pm, for a £3 entry fee.

Live music from Transept, My Dark Aunt, the Raw and the Cooked and Horses Brawl is happening on Saturday 10th with tickets costing £5 in advance, £7.50 on the door.Cabaret is happening on Sunday 11th and costs £7.50 in advance, £10 on the door.

Tickets for Saturday and Sunday’s events are available from [email protected]. All of the UnLit events are being held at the York Tavern, Norwich, from 7:30.