Meet four of the shortlisted writers of the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2023, the longest-running UK prize for debut fiction and the second oldest literary prize in Britain. Previous winners have included Brian Moore, Alan Sillitoe, Diran Adebayo, Jackie Kay, and Guy Gunaratne.
The chair of this year’s judging panel, critic Lucy Popescu, will lead a Q&A with the authors, followed by readings from their work. We’ll be joined by:
James Cahill
James Cahill, author of Tiepolo Blue, an atmospheric novel charting the rites of passage of a middle-aged professor of art history. Cahill’s writing on art has appeared in publications including The Burlington Magazine, the TLS, the LA Review of Books, and the LRB. He was the lead author and consulting editor of Flying Too Close To The Sun, a survey of classical myth in art from antiquity to the present day.
Freya Berry
Freya Berry, author of The Dictator’s Wife, which tells one woman’s journey to unravel her past, a brooding thriller and a profound meditation on who is complicit in the violence of a totalitarian regime. Berry previously worked as a journalist at Reuters. After a stint in New York reporting on the 2016 US election, she left to write her first novel.
Paddy Crewe
Paddy Crewe, author of My Name Is Yip, who with a memorable protagonist and skilful use of language evokes a lawless society during the American Goldrush. Crewe studied at Goldsmith and, as well as the Authors’ Club Award, My Name Is Yip has been longlisted for the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
Joanna Quinn
Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre, a sweeping family saga set in Dorset rich in period detail. Quinn’s short fiction has been published by The White Review and Comma Press among others.
Doors will open from 6:45pm at Foyles Bookshop, 107 Charing Cross Road on May 3rd, 2023.