The Authors’ Club is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2024 Best First Novel Award is Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s All The Little Bird Hearts (Tinder Press).
The guest adjudicator, journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed, presented the £2,500 award at a reception at the National Liberal Club in London on 22 May. She said:
“All The Little Bird Hearts has continued to haunt me since I read it. I was captivated by its voice and perspective and Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s thrilling plotting, with its showdown at a summer garden party. Barlow’s exploration of the intersecting dynamics of class, poverty and wealth, patriarchy, autism and the bond between a single mother and her teenage daughter is a magnificently told story. Every ingredient of a great novel was here.”
Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Ahmed faced the daunting task of selecting a winner from a terrific shortlist that also included:
One Small Voice, by Santanu Bhattacharya (Fig Tree)
The New Life, by Tom Crewe (Chatto & Windus)
Fire Rush, by Jacqueline Crooks (Jonathan Cape)
Pearl, by Sian Hughes (The Indigo Press)
Close to Home, by Michael Magee (Hamish Hamilton)
She also highly commended Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks and said: “Crooks’ highly original voice took my breath away. This is a magical book which turned her story of love, fear, racism and ancestry from 70s London to Bristol to Jamaica into something mythic. I cannot wait to read what Crooks does next.”
The prize is for the debut novel of a British, Irish or UK-based author, first published in the UK. There is no age limit. The winning novel is selected by a guest adjudicator from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors’ Club members, chaired by Lucy Popescu, who said: “This is a perceptive and nuanced novel that beautifully illuminates issues around neurodiversity. Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow skilfully portrays her protagonist’s complex relationships and interactions.”
The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award
Inaugurated in 1954, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award is now in its 70th year, making it the longest-running UK prize for debut fiction and – except for the James Tait Black and the Hawthornden – the oldest literary prize in Britain. Previous winners have included Brian Moore, Alan Sillitoe, Paul Bailey, Gilbert Adair, Nadeem Aslam, Diran Adebayo, Jackie Kay, Susan Fletcher, Nicola Monaghan, Laura Beatty, Anthony Quinn, Jonathan Kemp, Kevin Barry, Ros Barber, Hisayo Rowan Buchanan, Gail Honeyman, Guy Gunaratne, Claire Adam, Ingrid Persaud and Tish Delaney. Last year’s prize was awarded to Ayanna Lloyd Banwo for When We Were Birds.
Past adjudicators have included Louisa Young, Alex Wheatle, Andrew Miller, Louise Doughty, AL Kennedy, Vikram Seth, Philip Hensher, Joanne Harris, Deborah Moggach and, going back further, Kingsley Amis and Compton Mackenzie.
The Authors’ Club was established by Walter Besant in 1891, and has provided a social meeting place for writers for 133 years.
For further info on the award contact Chair of the judges: lucyjpop@gmail.com