International Adventure Writing Prize nomination

Multi-award-winning writer shortlisted for latest novel

Cardiff Creative Writing lecturer Tyler Keevil’s fourth book, No Good Brother, has been shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize .

Now in its third year, the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.  Organized by the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, the £15,000 prize recognizes books that take readers on an epic journey, exploring new horizons, as well as themes of courage, endurance, and resourcefulness, while enabling readers to connect with a different reality or culture.

Tyler made the 2018 shortlist of six alongside established authors Rory Clements; Jane Harris; Abir Mukherjee; Maggie Ritchie; and James Wilde.

The Canadian-born writer and lecturer is twice winner of the Wales Book of the Year People’s Prize for Fireball and the epic road-trip adventure The Drive, his first two novels.

He previously collected the Writers Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for Sealskin from his first short fiction collection Burrard Inlet.

Recently interviewed about the adventure-writing genre, the inspirations behind No Good Brother, and his own journey to becoming a writer and lecturer, Tyler Keevil adds:

“It’s a great honour to be nominated in such esteemed company. With this novel I had a lot of fun combining elements from different genres, including journey narratives, family dramas, and classic westerns; more than anything, though, I wanted to take readers on a grand adventure – and I’m delighted that aspect of the story has resonated with people.”

Out this year with The Borough Press and HarperCollins, No Good Brother tells the story of central character Tim Harding, who’s spent the fishing season in Canada working as a deckhand, making an honest living. When his hot-headed younger brother tracks him down at the shipyards in Vancouver, Tim senses trouble. Jake is a drifter, a dreamer, an ex-con, and now he needs help in repaying a debt to the notorious Delaney gang.

So begins an epic, unpredictable odyssey across land and sea as the brothers journey down to the Delaney’s ranch in the U.S., chased by customs officials, freak storms and the gnawing feeling that their luck is about to run out. But while they may be able to outrun the law, there’s no escaping the ghosts of their tragic family past and neither is prepared for who and what awaits them at the other end.

The 2018 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing prize is announced at a special awards ceremony at Stationers’ Hall in central London on 20^th September .