11 July 2013
Dundee International Book Prize 2013 - three finalists announced
The three finalists for the 2013 Dundee International Book Prize have been announced - with a publishing deal and £10,000
cash on offer to the winner.
This year's finalists are a community worker in an ex-mining community in Belgium, a former soldier turned wild animal
preserve manager and a Dublin-born former Leverhulme Writer in Residence.
Debut novels from Jeff Hayden, Colette Victor and Nicola White have seen off stiff competition from 350 other entrants
to reach the final stage. The all-star judging panel - comprising Brian Cox, Lorraine Kelly, Norman Foster, Clare Alexander
and A L Kennedy - 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A publishing deal with Cargo Publishing and £10,000 - the largest cash prize for unpublished work in the UK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 ninth winner of the Book Prize, organised by the University of Dundee's Literary Dundee
initiative, and Dundee City Council's 'One City, Many Discoveries' campaign.
Peggy Hughes, of Literary Dundee, said, 'We're really excited by the final three in this fantastic year for the Dundee
International Book Prize. We had a huge number of strong entries and the very happy task of narrowing things down to just three.
'Jeff, Colette and Nicola have really grabbed us with their assured and compelling debuts. We can't wait to see which
one our judges pick to take this year's title.'
Jeff Hayden was born in San Francisco and raised in the Caribbean, educated in Switzerland, Colgate University
and the Wharton School of Business. Having worked in the military and as a publisher, he now manages a preserve
for animals in the wild in Colorado. His novel, Mango, is based on a true, and as of yet unsolved, murder case
in 1950s Puerto Rico.
Born and bred in Dundee, South Africa, Colette Victor has been living in Belgium for the past twelve years. She has
written five novels, one of which, a YA novel, was shortlisted for the Mslexia Children's Novel Competition. What to do
with Lobsters in a Place Like Klippisfontein is an examination of racial tensions in a small, rural, conservative town in
South Africa.
In the Rosary Garden by Nicola White explores a grisly discovery in the grounds of a convent school in 1980s Dublin which
sparks a complicated case for the investigating detective. Nicola's short stories have been published widely and broadcast
on radio. Last year she was Leverhulme Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh and in 2008 won the Scottish
Book Trust New Writer Award.
Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council's city development committee, said, 'Each year the standard of manuscript
submitted gets better and better and I am glad I'm not one of the judges tasked with the difficult decision of picking
just one winner.
'The truly international nature of the entries is certainly reflected in this year's shortlist and the book prize has
helped to spread the word about the city's literary and cultural credentials across the globe. It is also, of course, part of
the great range of things happening in Dundee which has led to the city being shortlisted for UK City of Culture 2017.'
The eBook containing all shortlisted entries can be downloaded for free from http://amzn.to/1dlH2I0 Paper
copies can be obtained from Literary Dundee, 6th Floor, Tower Building, University of Dundee.
The 2012 winner was The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up by Jacob M Appel, a sharply observed post-9/11 novel about
patriotism, politics and the media.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07800 581902 |
