Candia McWilliam

Nicola Hicks’s sculpture and drawing practice has focused upon heroic, humanized animals and mythic, beast-like humans. From the moment she burst on the wider public stage, there has been no doubting her remarkable talent. Picked out while still at the Royal College of Art by the late Elisabeth Frink as a fellow spirit, she quickly established an immediate presence among the artists of her generation as a serious and substantial figure. She was remarkable on every count, for she flew in the face of the critical expectations of the day, not just in the nature of the actual imagery she celebrated — figurative, romantic and expressive — but also in the direct and gleeful joy she took in the physical making of these things. This book is a visual celebration of her work and features essays written by Will Self, Max Porter, Candia McWilliam and David Mamet. Keep Dark is published by Elephant in association with Flowers Gallery.

Candia McWilliam had just joined the judging panel of the Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2006 when she started to lose her sight.

_______________________A SHORT STORY COLLECTION FROM THE AUTHOR OF WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN WINTER_______________________'The flaunt of the writing asks for admiration ... this is Candia McWilliam at her remarkable best' - Helen Dunmore, The Times'McWilliam is a magically original writer, arranging words like sweets, making phrases sumptuously fortuitous' - Julie Myerson, Mail on Sunday_______________________A woman sleeps rough on the step of a bank, eating soap to keep herself clean inside while the flowers on her blanket talk to each other; two children at a wake discover friendship over forbidden food; a husband and wife eat fish and chips in their car with the windscreen wipers on high speed just for the fun of it. Carrying the reader from the landscape of the author's native Scotland to the rivers and woodlands of England, these twenty-four stories are tales of unremarkable lives and loves, remarkably told. _______________________'For sheer writerly distinction this year, my palm goes to Candia McWilliam for her collection of short stories' - Joanna Trollope, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year

______________________SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARDWINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK AWARD______________________'A first novel of formidable accomplishment ... a debut of the highest promise' - Sunday Times'No new writer can make a more stunning entrance than Candia McWilliam' - Daily Mail'An incisive debut, intelligent, scrupulously planned and full of echoes ... fascinating' - Spectator______________________Lucas Salik is a heart surgeon, renowned for performing bold experiments on other people's hearts. Ostensibly chilly, he harbours a secret obsession for his reckless and charismatic friend Hal. When Hal announces his intention to find a wife, Lucas is forced to carry out his most complex operation yet: to engineer the marriage, setting it on a perilous path to failure. But just as things appear to be working out, Lucas starts receiving ominous letters that threaten to jeopardize his intentions, his career - and his life. ______________________'Poised, startling and innovative, A Case of Knives marks the debut of an astonishingly accomplished new writer' - Anita Brookner

Daisy needs to hire a new nanny for her son; the efficient and capable Margaret Pride appears to be the perfect candidate. But as Daisy becomes increasingly removed from family life and the nanny becomes more prominent, oddities in Margaret's behaviour soon surface. Masterfully constructed and crackling with tension, A Little Stranger reveals that self-deception can be just as dangerous as the deceit of others.

_______________________WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FICTION PRIZE_______________________'McWilliam is an astonishing wordmaster who time and again dazzles the reader' - Penelope Fitzgerald, Times Literary Supplement'A very distinguished examination into stability and instability, pattern and memory, and the drifting terror of our lives' - Guardian'By far the most enjoyable novel I have read this year' - Spectator_______________________Set on a sailing boat as it travels from Tahiti to New Zealand, Debatable Land is a story of memory, childhood and longing. On board Ardent Spirit are the painter Alec Dundas, escaping a destructive, failed relationship; Logan Urquhart, the restless skipper; his troubled second wife Elspeth, who fears Logan is slipping away from her; Nick and Sandro, two marine nomads; and Gabriel, an attractive young woman who captivates the men.As the ship sails from island to island, the inner dramas of these six disparate individuals spill over into their relationships with one another. But when a storm arrives, they are wrenched from the personal and forced to face the present danger._______________________'A very distinguished examination into stability and instability, pattern and memory, and the drifting terror of our lives' - Guardian