Courttia Newland Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Courttia Newland
Courttia Newland was born August 25, 1973 in London, England. He is a British writer of Barbadian and Jamaican heritage. He grew up in Shepherd’s Bush, where he became a music producer and rapper that, together with his friends, released a Drum n’ Bass white label record.

He has toured extensively for the British Council, and has been writer-in-residence for Trinity College, Dublin, and Georgetown University. He’s also been a writer-in-residence for the charity First Story. Courttia has taught creative writing workshops and has performed readings in countries as diverse as Singapore, Russia, and Gambia. He was a Literary Fund Fellow at the London College of Communication (2003-04).

He was awarded the Tayner Barbers Award in 2016 for science fiction writing and the Roland Rees Bursary for playwriting. Courttia’s also been shortlisted for the 2007 Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library Award, the 2010 Alfred Fagon Award, and longlisted for the 2011 Frank O’Connor Award.

“The Scholar” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 1997. Cory goes to live with Sean, his cousin, after his dad dies under police arrest after a pub brawl. By their late teens, these cousins have chosen different paths, despite remaining close. Sean is attempting to improve his life through education, and instead Cory has already gotten involved in petty crime, dealing E and burglary.

But it all changes once Cory stabs this man named Roger after a rave, putting the man in the hospital. This has some grave repercussions for Cory, as Roger was supposed to be taking part in this armed robbery with Levi, this notorious crack dealer.

Levi is now expecting Cory to take part in Roger’s place. However Cory breaks his leg during a football match and Sean, who is unable to find a replacement for his cousin, and is desperate to help him, agrees to join the robbery himself. But having entered a world of (seemingly) easy money and hard drugs, Sean finds it tougher and tougher to just return to his old life as The Scholar.

“Society Within” is a story collection and was released in 1999. This takes us back to the Greenside Estate, West London, which is the scene of “The Scholar”. Newly arrived on the estate is a sassy, bright, and just eighteen Elisha.

While Elisha negotiates some new territory with more than its fair share of dark corners, we take in the vividly interlocking lives of the other Greensiders: Little Stacey, who is looking for his first girl. Valerie, ambitious and cool, with some bad secrets she has to deal with. Orin, stealing and dealing, attempting to keep away from anything too deadly.

Courttia tells gripping stories from real lives, stories about fighters and dreamers, revenge and love, betrayal and friendship, in a language that is burning with originality, conviction, and energy.

“Snakeskin” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2002. James, a private investigator, is quickly getting jaded with hunting down cheating wives and errant husbands. When he learns that Viali Walker, the gorgeous daughter of this prominent black MP, has been murdered, all of this changes. His rekindled interest in justice takes him into Soho’s underworld.

“A Book of Blues” is a short story collection and was released in 2011. “A Book of Blues”, in stories threaded together with music, explores both internal and physical landscapes and the neverending diversity of human relationships. Courttia Newland shows a command of different voices and remarkable empathy, and his heartfelt and compelling stories take us into the lives of this wide range of characters: old friends attempting to connect their disparate lives yet again and a music journalist suffering from a crisis of identity in Miami.

Newland is an accomplished storyteller whose locations span cultures and continents, from the bustle of Portobello Road to the sparse Kenya bush. He paints vivid portraits of characters endeavoring to navigate their way through a world where love presents just as many issues as it does opportunities.

“Cosmogramma” is a short story collection and was released in 2018. In his unnerving and sharply crafted collection of speculative fiction shorts, Courttia envisages an alternate future as lived by the African diaspora.

Robots used as human proxies in this war become driven by all-too-human desires; these Kill Parties roam the streets of this post-apocalyptic world, mysterious seeds show up in cities all around the world and grow into the likeness of the people in their vicinity, and this matriarchal race of mer creatures depends on inter-breeding with mortals in order to survive.

Through transfigured bodies and some impossible encounters, he brings a fresh and sharp eye to some age old themes of the human capacity for ambition, greed, and self destruction however ultimately of our resilience and strength.

“A River Called Time” is a stand alone novel that was released in 2021. The Ark was built in order to save the lives of many, however quickly became a refuge for the elite, with the entrance getting closed without warning.

Years after the Ark got cut off from the world, a world that is much like our own, however in which slavery has never existed, this shot at survival inside of the Ark’s confines is granted to a select few that can prove their worth. Among them is Markriss Denny, whose own path to future excellence is just marred by this closely guarded secret: without warning, his spirit will leave his body, and allows him to experience and see a world that is far beyond his physical limitations.

Denny, once he’s inside the Ark, learns about another with the same power, whose own existence could spell catastrophe for humanity. He’s forced into this desperate race to comprehend his abilities, and in doing so uncovers the truth about the Ark, himself, and the people that he believed he once knew.

Readers found this to be gloriously enthralling book. It’s ambitious and immersive reimagining of the city from a formidable British voice. This master storyteller returns with a piece of astonishing speculative fiction, interrogating social inequality, the complexities of truth and the very essence of what it truly means to be human, all in Newland’s powerful and precise prose.