Find out what it’s like to put your first novel into the world. Discover three debut novelists at Brighton Festival as they present their new books with readings and discussion.
Author of numerous poetry collections, Rebecca Perry launches her first novel, May We Feed the King this year. Manish Chauhan has been shortlisted for numerous short story competitions and now he presents his first novel, Belgrave Road, and Jon Doyle won the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers’ Prize 2023, and releases his first novel Communion this year.
This event is chaired by Alex Peake-Tomkinson.
**Stage timings are subject to change
Rebecca Perry
Rebecca Perry is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit, both published by Bloodaxe Books (2015, 2021), as well as four pamphlets. Her poetry has been shortlisted for awards including the T. S. Eliot Prize, and her first collection won the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. Her first work of creative non-fiction, On Trampolining, was published by Makina Books in 2023.
Manish Chauhan
Manish Chauhan’s short story Pieces was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. His work has also been shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize and the Exeter Short Story Competition. Early excerpts of Belgrave Road were longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Award and shortlisted for the Daniel Goldsmith First Novel Prize. This is his debut novel.
When not writing, Manish works as a finance lawyer and is now based in London. He aims to reach readers who enjoy the works of Monica Ali and Aravind Adiga. Leicester is his hometown.
Jon Doyle
Jon Doyle is a writer based in Port Talbot, South Wales. He was part of Literature Wales' Representing Wales scheme in 2022/23, and won the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers' Prize 2023. He holds a BSc and MRes in Zoology and MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University, and a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University. His work has appeared in Short Fiction, Hobart, Ploughshares Online, The Rumpus, 3:AM Magazine, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction among other places. Communion is his first novel.
Alex Peake-Tomkinson
Alex Peake-Tomkinson has been a literary critic and journalist for two decades. She currently writes for the Spectator, the Financial Times, Prospect and the Times Literary Supplement. She has chaired events at Edinburgh International Book Festival, the London Book Fair and the Southbank Centre with authors including Sebastian Faulks, Michael Rosen, Jessie Burton, Hari Kunzru, Robert Harris and Jenny Eclair. Prior to this she worked in book publishing and as a bookseller.
