Dan Brockington from Glossop has been shortlisted in the Page Turner Awards Writing Award for his action adventure manuscript, The Grymcat Conspiracy.
Dan, an anthropologist working at the University of Sheffield, entered the Page Turner Awards, where published authors and unpublished writers of fiction and non-fiction from all genres can enter their writing to get discovered by high-profile judges from the literary world.
The Grymcat Conspiracy is set in a remote East African forest reserve where Samti’s low-level poaching is disrupted by a mysterious new species. As criminal gangs and misguided conservation schemes converge upon her, Samti must fight to protect her family from collateral damage and protect the forest she loves.
The Grymcat Conspiracy is, primarily, an exciting adventure full of humour and awesome plot twists. It also deals with tricky environmental and social issues that he has been studying for some time as an academic, because it tries to tell a story about poaching in East Africa, but from poachers' points of view.
For readers based in the UK and US it may help to see that this as a re-telling as one of the oldest stories in the English language, about the most famous and popular poacher in our folk tales.
It is the tale of Robin Hood, with the added twist that the author is telling this version to the Sheriff of Nottingham's friends and relations and trying to win them over to Robin's side.
The worlds Dan describes in The Grymcat Conspiracy, the families, their ambitions, and livelihoods are based on his experience of spending several years living in remote areas of Tanzania and working as an anthropologist. In particular Samti’s world (the book's main character) is based on a year spent living in his wife’s village in central Tanzania on the lower slopes of a large extinct volcano. Some of this book amalgamates stories of her childhood and their children’s experience growing up and going to school there.
Dan said, “The Page Turner award has attracted a full range of experience from new authors to established writers and a wealth of judging talent and prizes that make it a tremendous privilege to take part. I am over-joyed - what an honour to be shortlisted! Huge thanks to the judges and organizers. Many congratulations to the other prize winners and participants. This has been such an exciting competition.”
Read more about Dan and his story:
https://pageturnerawards.com/writing-award-finalists/dan-brockington
The Page Turner Awards, sponsored by ProWritingAid, gives writers and authors the chance to enter unpublished or published fiction and non-fiction books, where a group of literary agents and publishers will read the work.
Judges are carefully selected literary agents and publishers who are looking for writers to represent and publish, plus influencers in the publishing industry.
Founder of Page Turner Awards and award-winning novelist, Paula Wynne said: “There are writers from all walks of life, from manual laborers to academics. All with stories to tell, most of them heart-warming and moving. We’re proud that our Awards celebrates excellent writing and helps writers and authors to get their stories discovered.”
Success stories from this year’s awards include three writers winning literary representation, six writers winning a writing mentorship, five writers winning a publishing contract and thirteen independent authors winning an audiobook production.
Find out more about The Page Turner Awards: https://pageturnerawards.com. Submissions for 2021 will open on the 1st of January 2021.
