You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Doubleday has two titles longlisted for this year's Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, in the Best Published Novel category.
Submissions from indie publishers Pushkin Press, Head of Zeus, Dottir Press and Unicorn Publishing Group have also made the longlist, alongside titles from large houses including Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House imprint Viking.
The prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English, and recognises the best adventure fiction published between 1st May 2020 and 30th April 2021. After a year’s hiatus due to Covid-19, the award has returned with a 12-strong longlist, with the following authors all in the running for the £10,000 prize:
Ayesha Harruna Attah, The Deep Blue Between (Pushkin Press)
D V Bishop, City of Vengeance (Pan Macmillan)
John Boyne, A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom (Doubleday)
Ali Bryan, The Hill (Dottir Press)
Niall Edworthy, Otto Eckhart's Ordeal (Universe, Unicorn Publishing)
David Gilman, The Englishman (Head of Zeus)
Kim Hughes, Operation Certain Death (Simon & Schuster UK)
Rachel Joyce, Miss Benson's Beetle (Doubleday)
Lawrence Osborne, The Glass Kingdom (Hogarth)
Alex Shaw, Total Blackout (HQ)
James Swallow, Rogue (Bonnier Books UK)
Jess Walter, The Cold Millions (Viking)
This year the competition received 127 entries from publishers and literary agents, by authors from across the world, including entrants from Australia, Canada, Ghana, Ireland, South Africa, India, New Zealand and the UK. The longlist was selected from these entries by a panel of librarians and library staff.
From the longlist, six titles will be selected by the same panel to progress to the shortlist. The 2021 judging panel comprises Jon Coates, deputy news editor of the Sunday Express and book reviewer for the Daily Express; explorer Dwayne Fields; and Pip Stewart, travel writer and filmmaker.
The prize will also include a public vote over the summer, with the reader’s choice equating to one vote from the judging panel.
The shortlist for Best Published Novel will be revealed on 20th May and the overall winners of each category on 8th September. The prize also includes award categories for the Best Unpublished Manuscript, and the Author of Tomorrow: for a writer aged 21 years and under who has submitted a short piece of adventure writing.
Niso Smith, founder of The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, which administers the award, commented: "Books are a lifeline for many people and have been more so than ever over the past year. While we have not been able to travel, to experience other places and cultures, to meet the people who make our world so colourful, we have relied on books to take us there. This longlist truly has an adventure for everyone."