Russ Litten

The prose poems in I Can See The Lights are earthy and raw, but also incredibly sensitive. More than one of them could bring you to tears. Characters are vividly brought to life, and stark but warm environments evoked in a down to earth, yet almost painterly manner by Russ Litten's uncompromising voice. Tales of home, of un-belonging, of strife at sea; of a northern city's beating heart, told in a mesmeric, stripped-down tone: this collection is a work of understated genius.

We Know What We Are is the debut short story collection from novelist Russ Litten, author of Scream If You Want To Go Faster, Swear Down and Kingdom. This batch of tense and edgy tales are all centered in and around Hull in the year 2017 and feature a cast of citizens whose lives play out in the furthest edges of the City of Culture spotlight.

Hull Fair, October 2007. A city still drowning in the aftermath of summer floodwater prepares to wave farewell to Europe's biggest travelling carnival. For six-year-old Billie, Walton Street is a magical playground of wide-eyed adventure. For David and Denise, the fading lights of the Fair signal the birth of a brand new kind of freedom. Rose, a sixty-year-old widow seeking a kindred spirit online, is dealt a hand she hadn't bargained for, while for Michelle and Darren it's the beginning of a haunted love affair that's struggling to escape its own past.As the big wheel turns above them, and the sky comes alive with noise and colour, ten ordinary lives are brought together over a single weekend in the rain-soaked city below. Perfectly capturing the frenetic pace, heartbreaking poignancy and simmering aggression of modern urban life, Scream if You Want to Go Faster is a dark, funny and abrasive novel from a stunning new voice in British fiction.