Well that was fun. The search for a book to fill the 10th slot on this year's first book award longlist has as ever thrown up a host of marvellous nominations, spanning the world of books from psychogeography to poetry and from self-published blockbuster to experimental non-novel . Once again, the quality of this year's titles means we're expanding the longlist to 11 titles. And once again among the blue-chip publishing powerhouses and the sparky independents are a bunch of imprints I'm discovering for the first time a big hullo to everyone at Orpen, Fledgling and Dead Ink. Thanks for all these inspiring recommendations. It's enough to make you think that perhaps the end of the writing worldisn't so nigh after all.