The longlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize has been announced.
Now in its seventh year, the award showcases the best debut novels from British and Irish writers and as you can see from the list below, there are some familiar (and already award-winning) names selected as well as a few surprises.
• The Letter Bearer by Robert Allison (Granta)
• Idiopathy by Sam Byers (Fourth Estate)
• Meeting the English by Kate Clanchy (Picador)
• The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer (HarperCollins)
• Sedition by Katharine Grant (Virago)
• The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt (Simon & Schuster)
• A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (Galley Beggar Press)
• The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland)
• Marriage Material by Sathnam Sanghera (William Heinemann)
• Ballistics by D. W. Wilson (Bloomsbury)
The chair of judges, Chris Cleave, said that the “strength of these ten astonishing novels proves that our home-grown talent is world class.”
The shortlist for the Prize will be announced on 26th May, with the overall winner’s prize of £10,000 presented at a ceremony at Fortnum & Mason in London on 3rd July.
We’ll be following the award here on the blog with a podcast dedicated to the shortlist and further coverage leading up to the announcement of the winner in July.