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Douglas Stuart and Kiran Millwood Hargrave are among the 34 writers and illustrators shortlisted for the Society of Authors Awards this year.
The SoA also announced the final choices for the Betty Trask Prize and awards, the McKitterick Prize, the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, the third Paul Torday Memorial Prize, and the Queen’s Knickers Award for illustrated children’s books.
The Betty Trask Prize and awards are presented for a first novel by a writer under 35, with a prize fund of £26,200. This year's shortlist features Bad Love by Maame Blue (Jacaranda Books), The Last Good Man by Thomas McMullan (Bloomsbury), The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams (William Heinemann), The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Picador), the unpublished The Water House by Nneoma Ike-Njoku, and The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong (Picador).
Stuart's Shuggie Bain (Picador) is nominated for the McKitterick Prize, awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40, with a prize fund of £5,250. Also shortlisted are All the Water in the World by Karen Raney (John Murray Press), The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean (William Heinemann), As You Were by Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker), Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (Chatto & Windus) and Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward (Corsair).
McKitterick Prize judge Nick Rennison said: “The titles on the shortlist vary greatly in subject and setting, from a young Glaswegian’s love for his deeply damaged mother to a teenager’s encounter with the potentially supernatural, from the dark underbelly of an Indian city to middle-class American suburbia. What unites them all are energy, inventiveness and a commitment to the novel as an endlessly rewarding, and inspiring, literary form.”
With a £6,000 prize fund, the Queen’s Knickers Award is awarded for an outstanding children's original illustrated book for ages up to seven. The shortlist comprises The Diddle that Dummed written by Kes Gray, illustrated by Fred Blunt (Hachette Children’s Group), The Gobbledegook Book written by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Giselle Clarkson (Gecko Press), Lift-the-Flap Questions and Answers About Plastic written by Katie Daynes, illustrated by Marie-Eve Tremblay (Usborne), Mr Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise written and illustrated by Alex T Smith (Hodder Children’s Books), Never Show a T-Rex a Book written by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Diane Ewen (Puffin) and The Pirates are Coming! written by John Condon, illustrated by Matt Hunt (Nosy Crow),
The £1,000 Paul Torday Memorial Prize is awarded to a first novel by a writer over 60. This year's nominations are All the Water in the World by Karen Raney (Two Roads), Dirt Clean by Judith Amanthis (Victorina Press), In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O'Shaughnessy (Scribe UK), Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Elfan Jones (Unbound) and The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood (Quercus).
Anne Youngson, judge and inaugural winner of the prize in 2019, says: “None of these novels could be accused of following a trend or aiming for a particular niche. There is a confidence in the purpose and execution of all five books.”
Finally, the £1,575 ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award is awarded for a short story by a writer who has had at least one short story accepted for publication. The shortlist features “Eventually Meeting the Sky Somewhere” by Maeve O'Lynn, “The Hopelessness of Hope” by Sean Lusk, “The House of Wild Beasts” by Anne Aylor, “I Told You Not to Fly So High” by D M O'Connor, “Swanskin” by Alison Littlewood and “What The Deal Is” by Dafydd Mills Daniel.
Winners will be announced online on 9th June 2021 in an online ceremony presented by novelist Joanne Harris, sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society. As part of the SoA @ Home festival, a series of free online events themed around the awards will run from 25th May to 18th June.