Philippa Holloway: The Half-Life of Snails

Schedule

Thu May 26 2022 at 07:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Location

Everyman Theatre | Liverpool, EN

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The launch of Phillipa Holloway’s new debut novel with readings from Pulp Idol Winners 2021-22 – Melissa Grindon, Damian Jones, Jah Jussah.
About this Event

Book Launch: Thursday 26th May. Everyman Bistro, 7pm.

Philippa Holloway

THE HALF-LIFE OF SNAILS

Philippa Holloway was a finalist in WoW’s acclaimed Pulp Idol novel writing competition. We’re delighted to announce that Philippa’s debut novel The Half Life of Snails, was snapped up by Parthian Books, and we are honoured to be holding the launch at WoWFEST 22. The setting and themes of the novel couldn’t be more prescient – set in Ukraine, with a character beset with anxieties of nuclear fall-out from Ukraine – this is a novel that speaks to our times.

Two sisters, two nuclear power stations, one child caught in the middle…

When Helen, a self-taught prepper and single mother, leaves her young son Jack with her sister for a few days so she can visit Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, they both know the situation will be tense. Helen opposes plans for a new power station on the coast of Anglesey that will take over the family’s farmland, and Jennifer works for the nuclear industry and welcomes the plans for the good of the economy.

But blood is thicker than heavy water, and both want to reconnect somehow, with Jack perhaps the key to a new understanding of one another. Yet while Helen is forced to face up to childhood traumas, and her worst fears regarding nuclear disaster, during a trip that sees her caught up in political violence and trapped in Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone during the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, Jennifer too must discover that even the smallest decision can have catastrophic and long-lasting effects, both within the nuclear industry, and within the home.

And Jack isn’t like other five-year olds... as they will both discover with devastating consequences.

The Half-life of Snails received a 2nd place prize in the Writers & Artists Working Class Writers Prize 2020.


Philippa Holloway is a writer and senior lecturer at Staffordshire University, living in England but with her heart still at home in Wales. Her short fiction is published on four continents. She has won prizes in literary awards including the Fish Publishing Prize, The Scythe Prize, and the Writers & Artists Working Class Writer's Prize. She is co-editor of the collection 100 Words of Solitude:Global Voices in Lockdown 2020 (Rare Swan Press). Twitter: @thejackdawspen


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Where is it happening?

Everyman Theatre, 5-11 Hope Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

GBP 3.00

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