We’re thrilled for Kirkland Ciccone, whose debut Conjuring The Infinite has followed in the footsteps of Linda Strachan‘s Spider, which won the Catalyst Book Award in 2011.
Kirkland dons the Catalyst crown…
We don’t normally post full media releases here, but Kirkland is always good for a quote. Plus, this way you can find out what’s next from him. It has an extraordinary title! (More details will follow soon.)
Kirkland Ciccone’s debut Young Adult novel Conjuring The Infinite, published by Strident, has won the 2014 Catalyst Book Award ahead of Kevin Brooks’ Carnegie Medal-winner The Bunker.
The Catalyst Book Award is voted for by the pupils of North Lanarkshire’s secondary schools.
Conjuring The Infinite tells the story of the dazzling and outwardly faultless Seth Kevorkian. No ordinary teenager, Seth’s fixation with an ethereal power has driven him to terrible acts against those closest to him.
But now the Eyes of the Sky have opened; and the story begins with Seth’s funeral. Have his antics driven someone to take revenge? Can his housemates trust each other? And why is the rain seething with life?
Commenting on winning the award, Kirkland said, “This feels amazing. Over the last few weeks I’ve spent hours posing gracefully in my roller skates with pretend Catalyst Book Award trophies – it was a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes the other day – just in case. And now it turns out that my practising wasn’t in vain. I’m thrilled.
“A huge thank you to all the teenagers around North Lanarkshire, so many of whom voted for me, and also to all the school librarians who allowed me to appear in person.”
Strident Publishing’s Keith Charters, says, “I was knocked out by the manuscript – the story is deviously clever and intriguing, and kept me on tenterhooks right to the last page. But what makes this book is that Kirkland tells the tale as only he could, in an accessible – sometimes outrageous – satirical style. He’s really funny in person and that comes through strongly in his writing.”
Kirkland’s second novel will hit the shelves in late October. “It has a short title, but the subtitle is everything,” he says. “Endless Empress: A Mass Murderer’s Guide to Dictatorship in the Fictional Nation of Enkadar. It features nurses smuggling potatoes, as well as evil unicorns, mass murder and bingo. Though not necessarily in that order.”
(See, we told you it’s an extraordinary title!)