Events: The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize

British writing will be celebrated later today when the winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize will be announced in London at the Jerwood Space.

Fifteen books in total have been long listed (this is the first year the list has been released prior to the winners being announced.) The prize, established in 2010 is now in its fifth year. The prize is unique and it aims to showcase great British fiction.

“With writers from Swansea, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bath, Brighton, Lancaster, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Glasgow and London, and publishers from Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland and Norfolk, this year’s longlist presents an exciting snapshot of contemporary British fiction writing and publishing,” said Founder and Director Sophie Rochester.

Later today, eight winners will each be awarded £5,000. WH Smith Travel will be running an eight-week summer promotion featuring all eight winning Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize titles. Titles will feature in stores across the UK from 25 June 2015.

The fifteen books in contention for the prize money are:

• A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth (Canongate Books)
• Beastings by Benjamin Myers (Bluemoose Books)
• Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, Penguin Random House)
• Mobile Library by David Whitehouse (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
• Mother Island by Bethan Roberts (Chatto & Windus, Penguin Random House)
• Significance by Jo Mazelis (Seren Books)
• The Four Marys by Jean Rafferty (Saraband)
• The Incarnations by Susan Barker (Doubleday, Transworld)
• The Offering by Grace McCleen (Sceptre, Hodder & Stougton)
• The Redemption of Galen Pike by Carys Davies (Salt)
• The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis (Sandstone Press)
• The Stray American by Wendy Brandmark (Holland Park Press)
• The Way Out by Vicki Jarrett (Freight Books)
• Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyer (Melville House UK)

When announcing the list, chair of judges India Knight said:

“It is absolutely thrilling to have found such brilliant books, across such a wide variety of genres, and from authors that live and write all over the country. These are fantastic writers who deserve to be household names.”

The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize is a Literary Platform project and is open to British writers who have had more than one work of fiction published.

Find out more at http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk

We wish the fifteen authors on the list the best of luck.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.