Today, the Authors’ Club announces the longlist for the annual Best First Novel Award, now in its 70th year.
The longlisted books are as follows:
Santanu Bhattacharya One Small Voice (Fig Tree)
Stephen Buoro The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa (Bloomsbury Circus)
Kate Collins A Good House for Children (Serpent’s Tail)
Tom Crewe The New Life (Chatto & Windus)
Jacqueline Crooks Fire Rush (Jonathan Cape)
Heather Darwent The Things We Do To Our Friends (Viking)
Sian Hughes Pearl (The Indigo Press)
Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow All the Little Bird-Hearts (Tinder Press)
Michael Magee Close to Home (Hamish Hamilton)
Alice Slater Death of a Bookseller (Hodder & Stoughton)
Sarah Thomas Queen K (Serpent’s Tail)
Wiz Wharton Ghost Girl, Banana (Hodder & Stoughton)
Lucy Popescu (chair of the judging panel) commented: “We are delighted to announce our longlist of twelve striking debut novelists who introduce us to an array of memorable characters. There are fresh perspectives on the coming-of-age narrative and a thrilling range of themes, from corruption and religious intolerance, through neurodiversity and masculinity, loss and bereavement, wealth and privilege, obsession and desire, to ghosts and superstition. As well as their inward journeys, the books transport us from Britain to India and Hong Kong, Jamaica and Nigeria, and a luxury yacht in the Maldives.
Key Dates
Shortlist announcement: Monday 25 March
Event for shortlisted writers, National Liberal Club, Wednesday 24 April
The winner will be announced at a dinner at the National Liberal Club: Weds 22 May
About the Prize:
The winning novel will be selected by this year’s guest adjudicator journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors’ Club members, chaired by Lucy Popescu.
The prize is open to any debut novel written in English and published in the UK between 1 Jan and 31 Dec 2023. The prize of £2500 exists to support UK-based authors, publishers and agents, so the novel must originate in the UK and not have been published anywhere else in the world before its UK publication.
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.
Past 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.
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.
About The Authors’ Club
Established by Walter Besant in 1891, the Club has provided a social meeting place for writers for 133 years.
Contact: lucyjpop@gmail.com