Dundee International Book Prize judges announced
Published On Thu 13 Feb 2014 by Roddy Isles
A judging panel featuring some of the literary world's most influential figures has been announced for this year's Dundee International Book Prize.
Broadcaster Kirsty Lang, writer Neil Gaiman, publisher Scott Pack, literary agent Felicity Blunt and writer and critic Stuart Kelly will cast their eyes over the work of aspiring novelists from across the globe. The entrants are competing for a publishing deal with Cargo Publishing and £10,000, the largest cash prize for unpublished work in the UK.
Now in its 10th year, the Prize attracted more than 350 entries in 2013 with In The Rosary Garden, Nicola White's crime thriller inspired by a notorious true case of infanticide in Ireland in the 1980s, being named the winner.
The competition is a joint venture between the 'Dundee - One City, Many Discoveries' campaign and Literary Dundee, a University-led initiative. It is open to both local writers and authors from around the world.
Literary Dundee Director Anna Day said, 'The judging panel for the 2014 Dundee International Book Prize is testament to the status of the prize and the recognition by leading literary figures of the importance of hearing new voices. The breadth of experience on the panel is breathtaking and I can't wait to see which of the entries they pick as the winner.'
Cargo Managing Director Mark Buckland said, "Once again, we have a diverse judging panel that brings a wealth of experience in finding new talent. To have the prize judged by the best in broadcasting, agenting, writing, publishing and prize judging itself, is a mark of the importance and scope of the Dundee International Book Prize."
Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council's city development committee, said, "The judging panel for this year's Book Prize is one of the strongest that I have seen, peppered as it is with household names and key industry figures.
"As the prize matures not only does the quality of the entries rise so the judging becomes more and more difficult. That is why I am delighted to see such a high calibre panel who I am sure will be more than up to the tough task they will face in selecting a worthy winner of one of the world's top literary prizes."
As a regular presenter of a nightly arts and culture programme Front Row, Kirsty Lang is one of the best known voices on Radio 4. Previously she appeared on the Today programme and The World at One. Earlier in her career, was on the staff of The Sunday Times and Channel 4 News, working as a presenter and reporter. Lang was a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York for several months at the beginning of 2012.
Neil Gaiman is one of the best known and most creative writers in the world, with bestselling hits such as American Gods, Neverwhere and Stardust. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book in 2008. In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards.
Scott Pack is a publisher at HarperCollins, looking after the Friday Project imprint and the Authonomy online community. At Friday Project he publishes authors such as Brian Aldiss, Charles Lambert, William Wharton, Caroline Smailes, Sarah Salway and Niven Govinden. With Authonomy, he heads up the team trying to find new writing talent from a community of unpublished writers. Before becoming a publisher he was head of buying for Waterstones.
An agent with Curtis Brown, Felicity Blunt works with some of the most exciting names in literature, including Tom Rob Smith, Rosamund Lupton, Tamar Cohen and Toby Forward. She is based between London and New York selling direct in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and is on the board for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
Stuart Kelly is a writer, critic, reviewer and programmer for Aye Write, Glasgow's book festival. He served as a judge for the Man Booker Prize 2013 and Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 4. His books include Scott-Land: The Man Who Invented A Nation, which was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Non-fiction Prize and was Radio 4's Book Of The Week. He writes reviews for several newspapers and magazines and is a regular guest on BBC Radio Scotland's book programmes.
There is no minimum or maximum length to the manuscript but it must be the author's debut novel.
The closing date is 4th March. Only shortlisted authors will be contacted by the organisers of the prize. The winner will be informed of their success in June and the book will be launched in published form in the autumn as part of the Dundee Literary Festival.
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