Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl. And because he has leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer.
The awards are made to the best first book published in the last year in Ireland and the UK by an author within each of the following five categories: Fiction, Biography/Non-fiction, Poetry, Children’s Book and for the best first book published in any genre in the Irish language.
The winner of the Fiction category was Allan Bush for his book Last Bird Singing (Seren); the Biography/Non-fiction Book category was won by Nia Wyn for Blue Sky July (Seren) ; the Poetry prize went to Will Stone for Glaciation (Salt Publishing); while the prize for best Irish-language book went to Simon Ó Faoláin for Anam Mhadra (Coiscéim).
With a total prize fund of €45,000, the Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards offer unprecedented support and exposure for emerging writers in a range of genres.
Each category winner received a cheque for €5,000, with a further €20,000 going to Sally Nicholls for winning the overall prize.
Chairman of the Judging panel, Gerard Smyth, described the book by saying,
“I hope it’s a tribute to this book, and to Sally Nicholls, to say that for me it stopped being a work of fiction after only a few chapters –Sam, and Felix, and their parents took on flesh – you just know that in real life they are out there, close by. This is not a book solely about dying and death. In fact it’s more about life, and its one that stops you in your tracks to make you think, with gratitude, about life. It’s a book that reveals a new author of great promise. And I dare to predict that in time this will become a children’s classic.”
The Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards are presented in association with the Irish Writers’ Centre and have been judged this year by the following all-Irish panel of writers: Claire Kilroy and Mike McCormack (Fiction), Peter Cunningham and Thomas McCarthy (Biography/Non-fiction), Dermot Bolger and June Considine (Children’s), Gerard Smyth and Matthew Sweeney (Poetry) and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (Irish-language).
Speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of Glen Dimplex Martin Naughton said: ‘We hope that these awards will continue to provide encouragement to, and a forum for, promising writers to further develop their skills at a critical time in their careers.’
The Chairman of the Irish Writers’ Centre Carlo Gébler said: ‘After the great success of our inaugural year (which included a Business2Arts Award), The Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards in association with the Irish writers’ Centre are already being seen as the pre-eminent awards for new writers in these islands.’
The full list of winners is:
Glen Dimplex New Writer of the Year 2008
Sally Nicholls
Ways to Live Forever
Scholastic Children's Books
Sally Nicholls was born in Stockton, just after midnight, in a thunderstorm. Her father died when she was two, and she and her brother were brought up by her mother. She has always loved reading, and spent most of her childhood trying to make real life work like it did in books. After school, she worked in Japan for six months and travelled around Australia and New Zealand, then came back and did a degree in Philosophy and Literature at Warwick. In her third year, realising with some panic that she now had to earn a living, she enrolled in a masters in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa. It was here that she wrote her first novel, Ways to Live Forever. Sally is now living in a little flat in London, writing stories and trying to believe her luck.
Glen Dimplex Fiction Award 2008
Allan Bush
Last Bird Singing
Seren
Allan Bush is a retired building surveyor who has lived and worked in Cardiff all his life, though he also has a passion for Italy. ‘Last Bird Singing is visceral, scalpel-sharp, and run through with a vein of tenderness and love. This is uncompromising storytelling in stark and beautiful prose.’ – Desmond Barry
Glen Dimplex Biography/Non-fiction Award 2008
Nia Wyn
Blue Sky July
Seren
Nia has worked as a journalist in Wales and in London and is currently taking an MA in creative writing at Cardiff University. Her lyrical memoir Blue Sky July (Seren) was featured widely when released in October 2007. It reached the prestigious top 25 band on the bestseller list at amazon.co.uk in the same month, shortly after Nia had been interviewed by Simon Mayo on his book review programme. Serialised with the Guardian, Good Housekeeping and Daily Mail, it was also Radio's 4's book of the week, Radio 5's book of the month and WH Smith's book of the month. The title appeared on This Morning with Fern Britton and Philip Schofield in January, 2008. Blue Sky July was shortlisted for the 2008 Wales Book of the Year. Penguin UK and Penguin US have since bought the paperback rights under the Michael Joseph imprint.
Glen Dimplex Children’s Book Award 2008
Sally Nicholls
Ways to Live Forever
Scholastic Children's Books
Sally Nicholls was born in Stockton, just after midnight, in a thunderstorm. Her father died when she was two, and she and her brother were brought up by her mother. She has always loved reading, and spent most of her childhood trying to make real life work like it did in books. After school, she worked in Japan for six months and travelled around Australia and New Zealand, then came back and did a degree in Philosophy and Literature at Warwick. In her third year, realising with some panic that she now had to earn a living, she enrolled in a masters in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa. It was here that she wrote her first novel, Ways to Live Forever. Sally is now living in a little flat in London, writing stories and trying to believe her luck.
Glen Dimplex Poetry Award 2008
Will Stone
Glaciation
Salt Publishing
Will Stone, born in 1966, is a poet and translator living in Suffolk. His reviews, essays and translations have appeared in various literary publications including the TLS, the Guardian and Poetry Review. His poems have been published in The London Magazine, Agenda, The Shop and Poetry Salzburg. His latest work in translation To The Silenced – Selected Poems of Georg Trakl was published by Arc in 2005.
Duais teanga na Gaeilge Glen Dimplex 2008
Simon Ó Faoláin
Anam Mhadra
Coiscéim
Rugadh Simon Ó Faoláin i mBaile Atha Cliath, ach tógadh in Iarthar Dhuibhneach é. Seandálaí gairmiúil is ea é, agus tá cúpla leabhar seandálaíochta scríofa nó comhscríofa aige. Tá tréimhsí caite aige i nGaillimh, sa Bhreatain Bheag, ar Oileán Acla agus i gCorcaigh, ach tá sé lonnaithe anois in Iarthar Dhuibhneach arís. Is é seo an chéad cnuasacht filíochta aige. |
