Discovering Anakana Schofield's Malarky

Though it will not yet be published for more than a month in Canada -- and nearly a month later in the U.S. -- we've had some great news in the past week about Anakana Schofield's first novel Malarky in the US, which we thought we would share with Thirsty readers.  The book has been picked as one of a handful of fiction and nonfiction selections for Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Program for the summer of 2012.  Not only does this mean that it will receive great exposure through B&N stores and online, but it is also eligible for the $10,000 B&N Discover Great New Writers Award.

More details will follow as they become available.

If this is the first you've heard of Malarky, trust me when I say that it will not be the last.  It's a black and madly comic novel about a wife and mother come face-to-face with the mad agony of longing.  Set in rural Ireland, it spans the globe and grapples with the question (among many others: it continues to surprise me the range of subject this novel can contain without becoming overwhelmed by it): can we love something so much that we kill it?

It comes garlanded with some exceptional early praise.  My favourite may be this one, from Lynn Coady:

This is the story of Anakana Schofield's teapot-wielding 'Our Woman': fretful mother, disgruntled farmwife, and—surprisingly late in life—sexual outlaw/anthropologist. Everything about this primly raunchy, uproarious novel is unexpected—each draught poured from the teapot marks another moment of pure literary audacity.


Or how about this one, from Annabel Lyon:


Malarky spins and glitters like a coin flipped in the air—now searingly tragic, now blackly funny. The language is joyful and exuberant, the characters thoughtful and deeply felt. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.


For more information about Anakana Schofield and Malarky please check out the page on Biblioasis's website here.   You can also follow the link to Anakana's blog over on the author sidebar.  We'll be launching a Malarky website in the coming weeks as well.  Further details on launches and other promotion to follow.