Darwen author shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Darwen author shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award
4:30pm Friday 6th July 2012 in News
By John Anson, Features editor
AWARD Sharon, and right, her novel
A DARWEN-born thriller writer has been shortlisted for the crime novel of the year award.
Former Darwen Moorland High School pupil Sharon Bolton, who writes under the name S J Bolton, is one of six authors competing for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2012.
Sharon’s novel Now You See Me is up against titles by established crime writers such as John Connolly and newcomer S J Watson.
It is the second year running that she has been on the prestigious shortlist, after narrowly missing out on the award last year to best-selling author Lee Child.
The overall winner will be decided by a public vote and a panel of experts which comprises actor David Morrissey, Theakston’s crime writing festival chairman Mark Billingham, Daily Mirror literary editor and crime novelist Henry Sutton, Asda fiction buyer Ruth Lewis, and Simon Theakston, executive director of Theakston’s.
A promotional campaign will highlight the six finalists with the books being available in Asda stores nationwide.
Members of the public have until Tuesday, July 17, to cast their vote before the winner is announced on Thursday, July 19.
The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston brewery.
The award was created to celebrate the best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback from June 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012.
Simon Theakston said: “It’s great to see crime writing in such rude health, although it doesn’t make the job of picking a winner any easier!”
Sharon Bolton, who trained as an actress and dancer, and later went on to pursue a career in public relations and marketing, now lives near the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border with her husband and son.
She has written five thrillers. Now You See Me features a detective on the trail of a Jack the Ripper-style serial killer.
To vote in the awards, visit www. theakstons.co.uk.
Comments(7)
S J Bolton
says...
6:07pm Fri 6 Jul 12
The article above states, reasonably accurately, that I was Darwen born. Strictly, I was born in Blackburn, at the Queen's Park Hospital, as were most Darwen babies back in the early sixties. I lived in Darwen until I left to attend university, as did several of my contemporaries.
My parents still live in Darwen, I visit frequently, and I am still in touch with a number of friends from my school days. I am currently working on a story that is set in Darwen, and I am finding the Facebook page Darwen Days extremely helpful as resource material. Darwen is my hometown, the place where I was brought up, the town with which I still feel a strong connection, and no amount of doubting or mockery on your part can change that.
I live in the South now, because my husband's job is based in London and this is not a matter over which I have any choice or control. It is an economic fact of life in the 21st century, that people follow employment and must be prepared to relocate when necessary.
Any number of people who were born in Darwen will live elsewhere now, either due to the demands of their own, or their partner's employment and it seems hardly fair, on those grounds alone, to question the pride, that they are still very much entitled to feel, in their roots.
On a closing note, I have attached my real name to this comment. I am proud enough of my views, not to seek to hide behind an alias.
sean_brfc
says...
6:24pm Fri 6 Jul 12
Little Diamond
says...
6:27pm Fri 6 Jul 12
Miss_Redd
says...
7:00pm Fri 6 Jul 12
Cheers from a California girl living in Darwen.
:)
madmurphy
says...
7:01pm Fri 6 Jul 12
I can agree with you though Sharon. I have lived over here for over 25 years now, but regard Ireland as my true home. I bet they call you a northerner down there lol.
S J Bolton
says...
9:20pm Fri 6 Jul 12
The Darwen story is in very early stages, but I'm quite excited about it and hope to have a first draft before the end of the summer. Perhaps, when it's done, I can persuade the library to hold a signing event for me. In the meantime, Blood Harvest is set in Lancashire, in a very spooky moor-top town. Hope the weather is kind to you all this weekend. :-)
enuff_izanuff says...
5:06pm Fri 6 Jul 12