30 July 2012
Three budding authors named as Book Prize finalists
A practising psychiatrist from New York, a former professional astronomer based in Edinburgh and an "all ginger" copywriter from Manchester have been named as the finalists in the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize.
Debut novels from Jacob M Appel, Pippa Goldschmidt, and Matt Hill have beaten off competition from 472 other entrants to reach this stage. The all-star judging panel - comprising Stephen Fry, Philip Pullman, Alan Bissett, and Jenny Brown - have read each and will debate the merits of the three finalists before the winner is announced at the Dundee Literary Festival in October.
A publishing deal with Cargo Publishing and £10,000 - the largest cash prize for unpublished work in the UK - is up for grabs.
An anthology of extracts from all 12 authors who made the shortlist stage of the competition is available as a free eBook from Amazon or in hard copy format from Literary Dundee.
The top title will be named as the eighth winner of the Book Prize, organised by the University of Dundee's Literary Dundee initiative, and the One City, Many Discoveries campaign.
Anna Day, Director of Literary Dundee, said, "We have a very exciting final three in one of the strongest ever years for the Dundee International Book Prize. We had a record number of entries this year and quantity was certainly matched by qualtity, giving us the very welcome problem of how to narrow down the field.
"Congratulations are due to Jacob, Pippa and Matt and the pressure is now on our judges to pick a winner between these three exceptionally strong finalists."
Huffington Post writer Jacob Appel is the author of more than 200 short stories and a renowned bioethicist, who practices psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. His first book, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, is a sharply observed post-9/11 novel about patriotism, politics and the media.
Pippa Goldschmidt grew up in London and is the writer in residence at the ESRC Genetics Forum at the University of Edinburgh. A former astronomer, her fiction examines different aspects of science and the hidden stories of scientists. Her entry, Wider Than The Sky, is a beautifully written novel about loss, family and astronomy.
Matt Hill was born in 1984 and grew up in Greater Manchester. He completed a journalism degree at Cardiff University before returning to Manchester. He describes himself as "half-copywriter, half-fiction writer, all ginger", and 'The Folded Man', his debut novel is a dark, dystopian vision of Britain told in a unique and confident voice.
Will Dawson, convenor of Dundee City Council's city development committee said: "The number and quality of entries to the Book Prize, confirms its place on the world stage for creative writing. It's hard to believe it's 12 years since it was launched in Dundee, and we can all be immensely proud of the continued success of this competition."
The eBook containing all shortlisted entries can be downloaded for free from http://amzn.to/DundeeInternationalBookPrize. Paper copies can be obtained from Literary Dundee, 6th Floor, Tower Building, University of Dundee.
The 2011 winner was Simon Ashe-Browne's 'Nothing Human Left', a psychological thriller set in a Dublin public school.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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