The 2015 Exeter Novel Prize - The Winners, Award Ceremony, Judge's Reports and long list
Finalists, left to right: Lucy Ayrton, Louise Mangos, Lucy Welch (winner), Lizzie Lamb, Christopher Holt, Mark Dlugash (not in photo)
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A big thank you to the five talented writers who were shortlisted for the 2015 Exeter Novel Prize and came to the award ceremony. We were sorry not to see Mark Dlugash, but whilst a trip from his home in New York might have been possible, he'd already booked to go to Los Angeles. I think that's fair enough.
We were also very sorry that our lovely judge, Broo Doherty, had an unexpected and close bereavement this week. Understandably this kept her away, but she was kind enough to send me her decision and notes on each of the shortlisted novels. Thanks to Niall Duffy for being a great Master of Ceremonies and introducing the CreativeWritingMatters team, that's Sophie Duffy, Margaret James and me, Cathie Hartigan, I spoke about this year's competition, the hundreds of entries from all over the world, and the success of previous finalists. I also thanked Exeter Writers for their generous donation of the first prize and launched The 2015 Exeter Story Prize Collection, an anthology selected from last year's short fiction competitions. The team answered questions from the audience before our last year's winner, Clare Harvey, told us about the amazing time she has had since her novel, The Gunner Girl was published. We read Broo's reports (see below) on each of the six shortlisted novels. What an amazing variety of subject matter! Then it was time for the ceremony itself, and we welcomed each of the finalists to the front. At last, I could reveal the winner! But first, as I read out each name, Clare Harvey presented the finalists with their engraved paperweights. Owing to Mark's absence, Lucy Welch was left by herself, but once I had read out his name, it was clear she was the winner. Congratulations to Lucy! Clare presented the big trophy to our worthy winner for her 'impressive novel' A Place at Tumaini. We wish you every success with it in the future, Lucy. It was then time for fizz (or tea), photos and considerable writerly conversation. My thanks to everyone who came for making it such a happy and successful occasion. |
A Place at Tumaini by Lucy Welch (winner)
Set in Tanzania, this is the story of Alice and Phil who, after a troubled first year of marriage, decide to make a fresh start in Dar es Salem. Phil has worked there in the past and has history, while Alice, a painter, has never been before so she struggles with adapting to a whole new life in a new, alien environment. As a painter she finds herself heavily involved in a charity run house, Tumaini, which gives shelter to street children.
There she rediscovers her love of painting and forms a close relationship with one of the boys, Aliki, who has run away from his abusive step-father and is trying desperately to find himself a place to live.
As the novel unfolds, we realise that Paul is not quite as the man we initially imagined, while Alice grows in stature as she begins to see beyond her initial first impressions of Tanzania as alien and uncaring, and finds a heart and soul in Africa she could never imagine elsewhere. Atmospheric and engaging, I loved the descriptions of Tanzania, the community and the sense of place, and felt this was an original starting point for an impressive novel.
Heroine by Lucy Ayrton
Dani, a heroin addict, is in prison. She’s having a bad day: her social worker, Emma, has riled her up, she’s missing her baby daughter and parole looks like a distant dream. To make matters worse, she is expecting a new cellmate. So when Martha the quietly-spoken Scottish girl arrives, Dani feels rather maternal towards her, and as their relationship develops Dani realises that she can protect her. But Martha is not quite all that she seems, and Dani has to learn to re-evaluate her position if she is to survive.
A fascinating insight into the world of the modern prison, complete with a sense of smell, noise and ensuing chaos, I was intrigued by the world that has been created here, and felt a warmth towards Dani owing to her only too obvious vulnerability and desire to be loved.
Orphaned Leaves by Christopher Holt
Ernst Frick served as an SS officer during the war and was responsible for killing thousands of Jews, but one particular death haunts him: the point blank killing of a red headed Jew who escaped from the trenches.
After the war, once Ernst’s wife and daughter have committed suicide, Ernst is left to come to terms with his war history. He is given a new identity and becomes Otto Brandt because Otto is a name Europeans call their circus bears and Labrador dogs….
As a fugitive from Germany, he elects to start a new life in Australia but he is forever haunted by the memory of the red headed woman he killed. Visually horrifying and yet strangely affecting, this is a novel that is trying to explain the horrors of the SS during the Second World War, and illustrate the repercussions for everyone post-war. It is an original way of looking at things, reminiscent of The Reader, and is certainly just as harrowing.
Scotch on the Rocks by Lizzie Lamb
The novel opens with Ishabel Stuart racing across a Scottish causeway to her aunt’s house seeking comfort and solace, having discovered her fiancée has been unfaithful. She has the added burden of her recently deceased father’s ashes in her car; he has requested that his ashes be scattered from a Munro and Ishabel is expected to know how to organise it.
Her aunt, Esmee, a life long protestor, runs a B&B on the island, and inevitably the hotel is full when Ishabel arrives. Not only full, but full of an unwanted American who is going to stay on in the hotel while Esmee heads down south with her ancient hippy dippy friends to protest about fracking in Manchester.
This is a lively and amusing opening to a romantic novel. The setting is authentic, the characters original and the stroppy parrot who has the perfect answer for every situation certainly raised a smile whenever he appeared.
Strangers on a Bridge by Louise Mangos
On a springtime run in Switzerland, English-born Alice Reed sees a man standing on the Tobel Bridge, notorious for its suicides. A compulsive helper, Alice talks to the victim, Manfred, and dissuades him from jumping.
But Manfred misinterprets Alice’ s euphoric relief as budding affection, and he begins to stalk her. Gradually their relationship becomes mutually dependent at the expense of their respective families, and the end result is not quite what anyone was hoping for.
Tense, visually rewarding, this is a satisfying opening to what I anticipate being a tense and psychologically disturbing thriller.
The Fastest Girl in Red Hook by Mark Dlugash
A futurist novel set in New York in 2065. The city has been taken over by super-intelligent machines that control every aspect of human life. And anyone who is prepared to react against the regime is in danger of losing their life. On the night before her sixteenth birthday, which Kim anticipates celebrating with her father, he is kidnapped. He has spoken out once too often. Desperate to discover what has happened to him, Kim steals a jetpack, flies under the Verrazano Bridge, and escapes to join the resistance. The rebels, led by beautiful Sandroski and vicious Gwen, are cool, high-tech, and duplicitous. They offer Kim a choice: they’ll send her on a secret mission into Manhattan with a chance to get her father back but only if she’s willing to complete their mission to infiltrate the enemy base
I imagine this will develop as a race-against-time novel, in which Kim has to face decisions beyond her years. But, as a mature and loving daughter, she will make all the right choices and save her father. But I could be wrong. Cleverly conceived, this is a novel which would appeal to readers of Station Eleven.
Set in Tanzania, this is the story of Alice and Phil who, after a troubled first year of marriage, decide to make a fresh start in Dar es Salem. Phil has worked there in the past and has history, while Alice, a painter, has never been before so she struggles with adapting to a whole new life in a new, alien environment. As a painter she finds herself heavily involved in a charity run house, Tumaini, which gives shelter to street children.
There she rediscovers her love of painting and forms a close relationship with one of the boys, Aliki, who has run away from his abusive step-father and is trying desperately to find himself a place to live.
As the novel unfolds, we realise that Paul is not quite as the man we initially imagined, while Alice grows in stature as she begins to see beyond her initial first impressions of Tanzania as alien and uncaring, and finds a heart and soul in Africa she could never imagine elsewhere. Atmospheric and engaging, I loved the descriptions of Tanzania, the community and the sense of place, and felt this was an original starting point for an impressive novel.
Heroine by Lucy Ayrton
Dani, a heroin addict, is in prison. She’s having a bad day: her social worker, Emma, has riled her up, she’s missing her baby daughter and parole looks like a distant dream. To make matters worse, she is expecting a new cellmate. So when Martha the quietly-spoken Scottish girl arrives, Dani feels rather maternal towards her, and as their relationship develops Dani realises that she can protect her. But Martha is not quite all that she seems, and Dani has to learn to re-evaluate her position if she is to survive.
A fascinating insight into the world of the modern prison, complete with a sense of smell, noise and ensuing chaos, I was intrigued by the world that has been created here, and felt a warmth towards Dani owing to her only too obvious vulnerability and desire to be loved.
Orphaned Leaves by Christopher Holt
Ernst Frick served as an SS officer during the war and was responsible for killing thousands of Jews, but one particular death haunts him: the point blank killing of a red headed Jew who escaped from the trenches.
After the war, once Ernst’s wife and daughter have committed suicide, Ernst is left to come to terms with his war history. He is given a new identity and becomes Otto Brandt because Otto is a name Europeans call their circus bears and Labrador dogs….
As a fugitive from Germany, he elects to start a new life in Australia but he is forever haunted by the memory of the red headed woman he killed. Visually horrifying and yet strangely affecting, this is a novel that is trying to explain the horrors of the SS during the Second World War, and illustrate the repercussions for everyone post-war. It is an original way of looking at things, reminiscent of The Reader, and is certainly just as harrowing.
Scotch on the Rocks by Lizzie Lamb
The novel opens with Ishabel Stuart racing across a Scottish causeway to her aunt’s house seeking comfort and solace, having discovered her fiancée has been unfaithful. She has the added burden of her recently deceased father’s ashes in her car; he has requested that his ashes be scattered from a Munro and Ishabel is expected to know how to organise it.
Her aunt, Esmee, a life long protestor, runs a B&B on the island, and inevitably the hotel is full when Ishabel arrives. Not only full, but full of an unwanted American who is going to stay on in the hotel while Esmee heads down south with her ancient hippy dippy friends to protest about fracking in Manchester.
This is a lively and amusing opening to a romantic novel. The setting is authentic, the characters original and the stroppy parrot who has the perfect answer for every situation certainly raised a smile whenever he appeared.
Strangers on a Bridge by Louise Mangos
On a springtime run in Switzerland, English-born Alice Reed sees a man standing on the Tobel Bridge, notorious for its suicides. A compulsive helper, Alice talks to the victim, Manfred, and dissuades him from jumping.
But Manfred misinterprets Alice’ s euphoric relief as budding affection, and he begins to stalk her. Gradually their relationship becomes mutually dependent at the expense of their respective families, and the end result is not quite what anyone was hoping for.
Tense, visually rewarding, this is a satisfying opening to what I anticipate being a tense and psychologically disturbing thriller.
The Fastest Girl in Red Hook by Mark Dlugash
A futurist novel set in New York in 2065. The city has been taken over by super-intelligent machines that control every aspect of human life. And anyone who is prepared to react against the regime is in danger of losing their life. On the night before her sixteenth birthday, which Kim anticipates celebrating with her father, he is kidnapped. He has spoken out once too often. Desperate to discover what has happened to him, Kim steals a jetpack, flies under the Verrazano Bridge, and escapes to join the resistance. The rebels, led by beautiful Sandroski and vicious Gwen, are cool, high-tech, and duplicitous. They offer Kim a choice: they’ll send her on a secret mission into Manhattan with a chance to get her father back but only if she’s willing to complete their mission to infiltrate the enemy base
I imagine this will develop as a race-against-time novel, in which Kim has to face decisions beyond her years. But, as a mature and loving daughter, she will make all the right choices and save her father. But I could be wrong. Cleverly conceived, this is a novel which would appeal to readers of Station Eleven.
Long List
A Mole of Sorts - Malcolm Heyhoe
A Place at Tumaini - Lucy Welch
Afterwards - Colette Hill
Cloud Cover - Carolyn Milner
Down by the Riverside - Henry Stanley
Going Back - Raili Taylor
Heroine - Lucy Ayrton
Holly and Ivy - Moira Please
Large is the Smallest We've Got - Gerald Gouriet
Locks - Ashleigh Nugent
Orphaned Leaves - Christopher Holt
Prodigal Honey - Dettie Gould
Scotch on the Rocks - Lizzie Lamb
Strangers on a Bridge - Louise Mangos
The Chernobyl Privileges - Alex Lockwood
The Fastest Girl in Red Hook - Mark Dlugash
The Last Tiger - Barbara Jaques
The Staircase on Calle Mayor - William Bidder
The Whole Truth - Sarah Steele
Whirligig - Richard Buxton
A Mole of Sorts - Malcolm Heyhoe
A Place at Tumaini - Lucy Welch
Afterwards - Colette Hill
Cloud Cover - Carolyn Milner
Down by the Riverside - Henry Stanley
Going Back - Raili Taylor
Heroine - Lucy Ayrton
Holly and Ivy - Moira Please
Large is the Smallest We've Got - Gerald Gouriet
Locks - Ashleigh Nugent
Orphaned Leaves - Christopher Holt
Prodigal Honey - Dettie Gould
Scotch on the Rocks - Lizzie Lamb
Strangers on a Bridge - Louise Mangos
The Chernobyl Privileges - Alex Lockwood
The Fastest Girl in Red Hook - Mark Dlugash
The Last Tiger - Barbara Jaques
The Staircase on Calle Mayor - William Bidder
The Whole Truth - Sarah Steele
Whirligig - Richard Buxton