All female line-up for Commonwealth prizes
All female line-up for Commonwealth prizes
Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short
Story Prize winners announced
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the winners of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The awards were presented by John le Carré at Hay Festival in Wales.
Part
of Commonwealth Writers, these two prizes unearth, develop
and promote the best new writing from across the
Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide. The
three female winners of this year’s prizes have written
stories set in Trinidad and Tobago, British Columbia and
Glasgow’s Hazlehurst estate – a diverse range of
geographies and backgrounds that reflects the global nature
of the accolade.
Commonwealth Book Prize
winner:
Lisa O’Donnell, UK, The Death of Bees
Random
House
Lisa O’Donnell’s debut novel The Death of Bees has been awarded this year’s Commonwealth Book Prize. She has previously won the Orange Screenwriting Prize in 2000 for her screenplay The Wedding Gift. The Death of Bees is a story of two young sisters living in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst estate, trying to hold the world at bay after the mysterious death of their parents.
“The Death of Bees emerged the
overall winner virtually by acclamation. This coming-of-age
novel is at once a grim, dark, entertaining story about
gnawing emotional neglect in the lives of the young
protagonists as they struggle to keep their deadly secret
– the two young sisters bury their parents in their back
garden - literally from being unearthed. The Death of Bees
is effortlessly fresh and original; it is fiction that
provokes and shocks; it is innovative in its narrative style
and told in a natural convincing voice, maintaining the high
standards of the Commonwealth Book Prize.”
Godfrey
Smith, Chair, Commonwealth Book Prize
“I am incredibly
proud to have won the Commonwealth Book Prize. It's a huge
leap for me in what seemed an impossible step. The
prodigious voices I stood beside overwhelm me, so many
towering stories out there.” Lisa O’Donnell,
Commonwealth Book Prize winner
Commonwealth Short
Story Prize winners:
Sharon Millar, Trinidad and Tobago,
The Whale House
Eliza Robertson, Canada, We Walked on
Water
"It is a measure of the quality we had to choose
from in the shortlist, that we unanimously settled on two
joint winners. It was impossible to decide between them,
though each one is quite distinctly different from the
other. Both fulfilled our criteria of excellence in style,
originality and tone. The Whale House, by Sharon Millar, has
lush descriptions of landscapes as well as emotion. It is
striking how even minor characters are drawn vividly in
quick, tightly written strokes. We Walked on Water, by
Eliza Robertson, is an exhilarating story about the
relationship between a brother and sister, both competitive
swimmers. The descriptive writing is nothing short of
strikingly beautiful, in terms of emotions felt, the natural
environment and the structure. Both these stories stay in
the imagination and the heart, long after they have been
read."
Razia Iqbal, Chair, Commonwealth Short Story
Prize
The Whale House is a story of a woman recovering from a miscarriage, which in turn resurrects an old conflict and a long kept secret. Bush medicine, teenage sexuality, and difficult moral choices culminate in this uniquely Trinidadian story – one of marriage and the secrets we keep from the ones closest to us.
“When a story grows
legs and begins to run, it's both humbling and enormously
exhilarating. It's almost impossible to describe the
delight and excitement of winning The Commonwealth Short
Story Prize. I'd like to thank Commonwealth Writers for
their continuing support of new and upcoming writers. For
writers who live far from the metropolis prizes such as this
are a dream come true. They also provide a powerful
motivation to continue writing.”
Sharon Millar,
Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner
We Walked on Water is about a boy who loses his twin sister during the Ironman competition in Penticton, BC. The story begins the year after Liv's death, when the boy decides to compete again.
“I feel both grateful and not-quite-believing to
be selected as one of the overall winners of this prize. I
am thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to share my
work.”
Eliza Robertson, Commonwealth Short Story Prize
winner
ENDS