29-year-old Evie Wyld saw off competition from an exceptional shortlist which included the Booker winner Aravind Adiga and Orange Prize winner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to win the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009 with her book After the Fire, a Still Small Voice.
The novel, which was published to rave reviews in August 2009, is set in eastern Australia and tells a story of fathers and sons, their wars and the things that they will never know about each other. Following the collapse of his marriage, Frank retreats to a small costal community in an attempt to build a new life for himself, away from the horrors of his violent past. Frank’s story is set against the struggles of his own father, Leon, who forty years earlier, is forced to depart from life working in his family’s suburban cake shop to face horrors of his own in the war in Vietnam.
Wyld, who was named one of Granta’s New Voices of 2008, received her cheque for £5,000 at a ceremony at the Century Club in Piccadilly.
Louise Doughty, chair of Judges said:
'Evie Wyld's first novel is a remarkable book. A sometimes poignant, sometimes comic story of a father and son who have so much in common but never quite connect, it is awash with fine images that linger in the mind. Wyld’s choice of subject matter is both brave and wide-ranging, from the wars in Korea and Vietnam to the back country of Eastern Australia, Wyld captures the inflections of male speech and male bonding in a way that feels both acute and realistic. Most importantly, she writes brilliantly, able to paint a picture or create a convincing encounter with a few deft, evocative strokes, in a prose style worthy of our very best writers. There is nothing 'first novelish' about this first novel. It's a fantastically mature book, never showy, a slow burn that drags the reader in.’
This year’s shortlist was a truly international list with writers from Nigeria, India, Canada Australia and the UK vying for the award, which is the second oldest literary award in the UK. The 2009 shortlist comprised two works of non-fiction, a debut poetry collection, a collection of short stories and two novels.
Click here to read the press release (Word .doc 301Kb)
Click here to read an interview with Evie Wyld
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize rewards the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by a UK or Commonwealth writer aged 35 or under.
This important prize is awarded in honour of the writer John Llewellyn Rhys, who was killed in action in the Second World War. It was founded 67 years by John Llewellyn Rhys's young wife, also a writer, who began the award to honour and celebrate his life.
Past winners include Margaret Drabble (1966), William Boyd (1982), Jeanette Winterson (1987), Ray Monk (1990), Matthew Kneale (1992), David Mitchell (1999) and Sarah Hall (2006/07). Last year's winner was Henry Hitchings for The Secret Life of Words.
2009 prize
The shortlist for the 2009 prize has been announced. The shortlisted books are:
Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga (Atlantic Books)
The Striped World by Emma Jones (Faber and Faber)
Six Months in Sudan by James Maskalyk (Canongate)
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fourth Estate)
Waste by Tristram Stuart (Allen Lane)
After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld (Jonathan Cape)
Click here to read more about the shortlisted authors
Click here to read more about the shortlisted books
Click here to download the press release (Word .doc 199Kb)
Judges
The judges for the 2009 prize are Louise Doughty (Chair), Joanna Kavenna and Stephen Knight.
Louise Doughty is a novelist, playwright and critic. She is the author of five novels; Crazy Paving, Dance With Me, Honey-Dew, Fires in the Dark and Stone Cradle, and one work of non-fiction A Novel in a Year. She has also written five plays for radio.
She has judged many prizes for emerging authors, including the Orange Award for New Writers, and was a judge for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction. Her new novel, Whatever You Love, will be published in 2010.
Joanna Kavenna grew up in various parts of Britain, and has also lived in the USA, France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Her first book The Ice Museum was about travelling in the far North. Her most recent book, Inglorious, was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2006/7 and won the 2008 Orange Award for New Writers.
Kavenna’s writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, the Guardian and Observer, the Times Literary Supplement, the International Herald Tribune, the Spectator and the Telegraph, among other publications
Stephen Knight read English at Jesus College, Oxford, after which he studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to become a freelance director with a particular interest in new writing. He is the author of Flowering Limbs, which was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the TS Eliot Prize; Dream City Cinema, also shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize; and, for younger readers, Sardines and Other Poems.
He has also published a novel, Mr Schnitzel, which won the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year in 2001. His fiction and poetry reviews appear in the TLS and the Independent on Sunday.
The winner will be announced on 30 November 2009.
Click here to read about previous winners
Prize administration
Prize information
Claire Shanahan
t 020 8516 2972
e prizes@booktrust.org.uk
Press enquiries
Katherine Solomon
t 020 8875 4583
e katherine.solomon@booktrust.org.uk
