Shortlisted for the Guardian's Not the Booker prize 2020
Praise for HELLO FRIEND WE MISSED YOU:
'After a decade, the Not the Booker prize still has the ability to
produce surprises. I would never have predicted that the most
interesting and original book on this year’s shortlist would be
something like Hello Friend We Missed You, because Richard Owain
Roberts’ book is wonderfully unlike anything else ... I do believe
we’ve found a gem.' The Guardian
'This is so, so good. You will no doubt read this book, as I did,
with an ever-growing sense of appreciation and admiration for its
wit, warmth, rhythm, poetry, and virtuoso display of a writer in
complete and audacious command of his material. What is at root a
simple boy-meets-girl story is transmuted into something uniquely
astonishing through a wild and intrepid imagination. To repeat:
this novel is so, soooo good.' – Niall Griffiths
An English Literature graduate of Manchester University and LJMU's Writing MA, Richard's debut short fiction collection, All The Places We Lived, was published by Parthian Books in 2015 and he is the subject of the forthcoming film ULTRA: a documentary covering the promotional tour for the collection's Serbian translation. Born and raised on Ynys Mon, Richard lives in Cardiff with his wife, daughters, and cat, Abi The God. He recently won the PENfro Short Story Prize 2019, judged by Niall Griffiths. HELLO FRIEND WE MISSED YOU is Richard's debut novel.
'Richard Owain Roberts is one of the most distinctive and exciting voice in literature today. In Hello Friend We Missed You we get to see that not only is he a writer of exceptional stylistic talent but one who manages to bring characters and places into vibrant life. This is an undeniably cool book but it also has a great deal of soul. He could be the voice of our generation, I hope people are reading.' - Amy Lloyd, One More Lie (Penguin)
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