🥳To finish off my celebration of 18 months of Tweetables, I'm revisiting the talented Simon Van Der Velde. I last chatted to him in November 2022 but I know he's had an exciting time, so lets find out what's happened since our chat.
'Well Jane, it's been a slightly crazy few months since we last spoke - mostly, in a good way. My debut literary crime thriller, The Silent Brother was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger in April. I was delighted, of course - but I didn't quite realise the significance of the Daggers - and the Gold Dagger in particular, which has since been described to me as the premier English language crime writing prize in the world. So - wow! Then in May, they announced the shortlist, and I was on it alongside some of the greats of modern crime writing.
Within a few weeks I
had signed with my dream agent, Sara O'Keeffe from the Aevitas Creative Agency,
who amazingly, in only a couple of months, is on the cusp of securing me a two
book deal with a truly great crime publisher. At the time of writing the deal
is not quite done, so my lips are sealed, but you can be sure my heart is
beating hard. Not only that, but I've even been approached by literary scouts
touting my book to TV companies, so - watch this space...'
Like I said, it's been a pretty crazy summer.
Oh wow, he's not wrong there! I imagine that's every writer's dream! What's next for Simon?
I had a great day out at Waterstones Newcastle a few weeks ago, chatting to some lovely staff and customers, almost all of whom were kind enough to buy my book. Hope you all enjoyed it!
Since then though, I've had to put signings on the back burner and focus on working up ideas for my next literary thriller. As Sara, my agent says, The Silent Brother has opened a lot of doors, but I need a great follow up book to carry me through them. No pressure there then! At least, with Sara's help, I've got some hot ideas bubbling away.
So it's head down for me, and I'll surface again next summer with something worthwhile to show for it. I hope.
Best wishes, and many, many thanks to you and all the fabulous bloggers who give their time in the honest promotion of good literature. Both writers and readers owe you a debt.'
Aww, what a sweetie, albeit a super-successful one! If you'd like to find out more about Simon, you can read our original interview here or follow his links below:
Website: www.simonvandervelde.com
Twitter: @SimonVdVwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simonvdvelde
Instagram: Simonvdvwriter
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