The shortlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2013 was announced today. The shortlist was selected from a longlist of ten novels by a panel of judges chaired by best-selling novelist Joanne Harris.
Launched in 2007, The Desmond Elliott Prize has established itself as the premier prize for new fiction. A panel of three judges for the Prize are asked to look for a novel of depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The work should be vividly written and confidently realised and should contain original and arresting characters. Books from all fiction genres are considered.
The shortlist
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (Sceptre)
About the book
On 30 May 1593, a celebrated young playwright, poet and spy was killed in a tavern brawl in London, or so the official version goes. In The Marlowe Papers the truth is revealed, in blank verse, according to Christopher Marlowe himself: that his supposed death was an elaborate ruse to avoid being convicted of heresy; that he was spirited across the Channel to live on in lonely exile; and that he continued to write, hiding behind the name of a colourless man from Stratford – one William Shakespeare.
About the author
Ros Barber is the author of three volumes of poetry and her work has appeared in publications such as Poetry Review, London Magazine, the Guardian and Independent on Sunday. She has a PhD on Marlowe and has recently been appointed Associate of the Shakespearian Authorship Trust. She lives in Brighton and has four children.
The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence (Hodder & Stoughton)
About the book
Alex Woods knows that he hasn’t had the most conventional start in life. And he knows that even the most improbable events can happen – he’s got the scars to prove it. What he doesn’t know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered, reclusive widower Mr Peterson, he’ll make an unlikely friend, someone who tells him that you only get one shot in life. So when, aged 17, Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he’s fairly sure he’s done the right thing…
About the author
Gavin Extence was born in 1982 and grew up in Lincolnshire. From the ages of five to 11, he enjoyed a brief but illustrious career as a chess player, winning numerous national championships and travelling to Moscow and St Petersburg to pit his wits against the finest young minds in Russia. He won only one game. He now lives in Sheffield.
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (William Heinemann)
About the book
Anais Hendricks is in the back of a police car, heading for The Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can’t remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is blood on Anais’s school uniform. The residents of the Panopticon form intense bonds and Anais finds herself part of an ad-hoc family. Much more suspicious are the social workers. Looking up at the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she is part of an experiment, she always was, and the experiment is closing in.
About the author
Jenni Fagan was born in Livingston, Scotland. She graduated from Greenwich University with the highest possible mark for a student of Creative Writing and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA. A published poet, she has won awards from Arts Council England, Dewar Arts, and Scottish Screen among others and was included in Granta Magazine’s Best of Young British Novelists list 2013. Fagan works as a writer in residence in hospitals and prisons and lives in London.
The 2013 longlist
* The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (Sceptre)
* The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence (Hodder & Stoughton)
* The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (William Heinemann)
* The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland (Harper Fiction)
* Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman (Serpent’s Tail)
* The Fields by Kevin Maher (Little, Brown)
* Signs of Life by Anna Raverat (Picador)
* Seldom Seen by Sarah Ridgard (Hutchinson)
* Jammy Dodger by Kevin Smith (Sandstone Press)
h2. Library competition
Remember that there is still time to submit your library display photographs for the competition. The winning library will get to choose three members of staff to attend the Prize ceremony at Fortnum & Mason in London Piccadilly, on the evening of 27 June, to include a contribution towards travel costs. Photos must be submitted to Juliana Oliver by 11 June.
Extras
Keep up to date with the Prize by following on Twitter.
Read the first chapter of the entire Desmond Elliott long list.
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
Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman
The Fields by Kevin Maher
Signs of Life by Anna Raverat
Seldom Seen by Sarah Ridgard
Jammy Dodger by Kevin Smith
The Painted Bridge by Wendy Wallace (Simon & Schuster)
Watch a video about the prize:
