Women on Top: Desmond Elliot Prize Long List Announced
May 1, 2013
The Desmond Elliot Prize, launched in 2007, awards a £10,000 prize for debut works of fiction. The long list for this year’s Desmond Elliot Prize is comprised of seven women and three men. Novelist Joanne Harris, chair judge, said of the prize: “The Desmond Elliott Prize is a landmark moment in an author's career. It is enormously heartening that as well as it being a wonderful time for debut fiction, it's also an exciting time for female writers."
Three of the five previous Desmond Elliot Prize winners have been women. Grace McLeen was last year’s winner. Other winners include Anjali Joseph who also won the Betty Trask Prize and Nikita Lalwani, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
The Desmond Elliot Prize 2013 full longlist is: The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber, The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence, The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan, The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland, Petit Mort by Beatrice Hitchman, The Fields by Kevin Maher, Signs of Life by Anna Raverat, Seldom Seen by Sarah Ridgard and Jammy Dodger by Kevin Smith. The shortlist will be announced on May 23 and the overall winner revealed on June 27 at a ceremony at Fortnun & Mason. Created in memory of publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliot, the prize is judged by a panel of three judges asked to look for a first novel of depth and compelling narrative. Books from all fiction genres are considered.
Source: Telegraph Book News
