WH Smith readies Fresh Talent promotion for take-off at Terminal 5

WH Smith Travel is holding a book signing at London Heathrow Terminal 5 on Friday (8th January) as part of its 'Fresh Talent' campaign promoting new and emerging writers.

The campaign, launched in February of last year, works in cooperation with publishers to curate a selection of key titles to help "break" new authors by "actively" promoting their books in stores through special offers, point of sale information and placement.

Passengers travelling through the airport on Friday (8th January) will be given the opportunity to meet six of the latest selected authors in this season’s campaign and to pick up a signed copy of their book. The retailer's latest selection comprises 12 new titles, boasting "something to suit everyone's taste" with a diverse range encompassing literary novels, thrillers and romances.

Authors attending the signing are Tasha Kavanagh, author of Things We Have in Common (Canongate); David Whitehouse, whose breakout second novel is Mobile Library (Picador); Ayisha Malik, author of romantic comedy Sofia Khan is Not Obliged (twenty7); Holly Seddon, author to Try Not to Breathe (Corvus), Benjamin Wood, author of The Ecliptic (Scribner UK) and Jax Miller, whose debut thriller is Freedom's Child (HarperCollins).

The remaining titles in the promotion are Nobody is Ever Missing (Farrar Straus Giroux), a book about a woman's attempts to vanish from married life by Catherine Lacey; offbeat comedy Glass (Serpent's Tail) by Alex Christofi; detective novel Dead Man’s Hand (Accent Press) by Mark Lock; an originally self-published sci-fi debut by Becky Chambers A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Hodder & Stoughton); Glorious Heresies (John Murray) by Irish blogger turned novelist Lisa McInerey and Afghanistan war novel Rain (Penguin Books) by former British Army soldier Barney Campbell. 

WH Smith travel fiction books buyer, Matt Bates, said: "We’re delighted to be hosting such a great event to kick start the new year following the success of ‘Fresh Talent’ in 2015 and remain committed to making this promotion a destination stop for our book reading customers as they travel through the airport.”