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We spoke to Katharine Grant, chair of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction judges, about their six-strong shortlist for the title of the best historical novel of the year

fivebooks.com/best-books/the…

‘Most of what we know about gay life, gay sexuality in the past derives from court records. It is actually the people who have been caught that give us those insights.’

Tom Crewe on the LRB podcast – listen here or through your podcast provider of choice: lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-v…

On the latest episode of the LRB podcast, Tom Crewe joins Thomas Jones to discuss the case of James Pratt and John Smith, the last men to be hanged in England for the crime of sodomy.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-v…

A fascinating and poignant podcast about the trial + execution of James Pratt + John Smith, the last men to be executed for sodomy in England in 1835 with ⁦Tom Crewe⁩ following his review of Chris Bryant’s book in the ⁦London Review of Books⁩ podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

We couldn't be more thrilled to see Absolutely & Forever, My Father's House and The New Life on the shortlist for the #WalterScottPrize !

Tom Crewe’s The New Life and Rose Tremain’s Absolutely and Forever, both published by Chatto & Windus, are among the six titles shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 👇 thebookseller.com/news/double-no…

‘The point about homosexual offences in 19th-century Britain is precisely that they were not exceptional.’

Tom Crewe on the last death sentences for sodomy in Britain:
lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Great to see #TheNewLife , winner of The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2023, on the shortlist for this year's Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction! 📚

Look out for the winner on 13th June 2024... 📅

Tom Crewe Simon & Schuster UK

Enormously pleased and grateful that THE NEW LIFE has made the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize, among some great writers.

‘The clear obstacle facing any potential reformers of the laws on homosexuality was finding men “hardy” enough to risk the implication that the reason they cared about the rights of homosexuals was because they were homosexuals themselves.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

‘It was far from being the case that the law was always out for blood: significantly more homosexual offences were dismissed, or treated with fines, or noted only as “known to the police”, than were translated into committals.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

‘Homosexuality was a well-known social reality, framed in the language of everyday life and in the language of the law. What was missing was a political language in which the subject could be discussed by respectable parliamentarians.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Why not spend some of Saturday with my London Review of Books piece about James Pratt and John Smith, the last men executed for sodomy in Britain, which considers where their case fits in the history of homosexuality and the law between c.1780 and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Why not spend some of Saturday with my London Review of Books piece about James Pratt and John Smith, the last men executed for sodomy in Britain, which considers where their case fits in the history of homosexuality and the law between c.1780 and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Please spread the word as widely as possible. Calling all English teachers but everyone else too! Theme: A Secret. Judge: Philip Pullman

'The 1890s...were actually a period of optimism about what we would now call gay rights. We don’t remember this because what happened to Wilde changed the story.' Read Tom Crewe on the origins of his #WalterScottPrize longlisted debut novel, THE NEW LIFE
waterstones.com/blog/tom-crewe…

‘It took a private bill – and a lot of cultural change around ideas of masculinity, even more than around sex and religion – for homosexuality to finally be legalised in 1967 (though only in England and Wales).’

Tom Crewe on homosexuality and the law: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Delighted, and honoured, to have won an O. Henry Prize for my short story ‘The Room-Service Waiter’, selected by the 2024 editor amor towles, and first published in Granta:

lithub.com/announcing-the…

‘There was to be an exhibition. There were lots of pictures like his, apparently – of waiters, pastry cooks, valets, bellboys.’

Congratulations to Tom Crewe whose story ‘The Room Service Waiter’ has been selected for an O. Henry Prize by amor towles!

granta.com/the-room-servi…

Delighted, and honoured, to have won an O. Henry Prize for my short story ‘The Room-Service Waiter’, selected by the 2024 editor amor towles, and first published in Granta:

lithub.com/announcing-the…