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Andrew Solomon’s Far From the Tree has won the Green Carnation Prize, which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender literature.
The book, a study of family which tells the stories of parents who learn to deal with exceptional children, is published by Chatto & Windus.
The Green Carnation Prize’s chair of judges, Uli Lenart of Bloomsbury bookshop Gay’s the Word, said the book was “a work of extraordinary humanity” and was “life-affirming, insightful and profoundly moving”. He continued: “Andrew Solomon continuously makes you reassess what you think. An opus of diversity, resilience and acceptance, Far From The Tree is a book that has the power to make the world a better place.”
Fellow judge Kerry Hudson, who was shortlisted for the prize in 2012, said: “In the way that the best literature does, Far from The Tree gives access to different worlds and in doing so will change the way you look at things forever. It informs, inspires, moves and entertains. It is the sort of book that makes you grateful to have found it and that remains a gift for a lifetime.”
The other shortlisted novels were Gob’s Grief by Chris Adrian and May We Be Forgiven by A M Homes (both Granta); Black Bread White Beer by Niven Govinden (The Friday Project); Richard House’s The Kills (Picador); and Fanny & Stella by Neil McKenna (Faber).
The Green Carnation Prize was founded in 2010 by author Paul Magrs and journalist and blogger Simon Savidge as an award celebrating the best fiction and memoirs by gay men. In its second year the prize was opened to the whole LGBT community.
The prize will return in 2014 for its fifth year.