Alert! Nigerian-born Irenosen Okojie has been shortlisted for the 2016 Betty Trask Prize for her novel Butterfly Fish.
Okojie was born in Nigeria and moved to England aged eight. Her writing has been featured in The Guardian and The Observer, and her short stories have been published on Kwani and Phatitude. Butterfly Fish is her first book, and her short story collection Speak Gigantular will be published by Jacaranda Books Art Music in September.
Prize judge Michèle Roberts called Butterfly Fish: “A bittersweet story uniting different traditions of narrative to create a whole new geography of the imagination.”
The Betty Trask Awards are given annually to the debut novelists under the age of 35, to celebrate “young authors writing in a traditional or romantic style”.
The winner will receive £10,000 (about R225,000) and will be announced at an ceremony on 21 June. The three runners-up will each receive a Betty Trask Award worth £5,000.
The judges this year were Simon Brett, Joanne Harris and Michèle Roberts, while the prize and the awards will be presented by John Agard.
Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohamed won the award in 2010 for Black Mamba Boy, while African authors shortlisted in previous years include NoViolet Bulawayo for We Need New Names (2014), Chibundu Onuzo for The Spider King’s Daughter (2013), Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani for I Do Not Come to You by Chance (2010), and Mark Behr for The Smell of Apples (1995).
Shortlist and judges’ comments
- Glass by Alex Christofi (Serpent’s Tail)
“A marvellously funny, original story, written with immense charm and humour” – Joanne Harris
- Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie (Jacaranda Books Art Music)
“A bittersweet story uniting different traditions of narrative to create a whole new geography of the imagination” – Michèle Roberts
- The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury Circus)
“A fascinatingly imaginative and enchanting book set in a Victorian London that builds up a completely self-consistent world only slightly out of kilter with the real one”- Simon Brett
- Weathering by Lucy Wood (Bloomsbury)
“An emotionally mature consideration of generational love, loss and change” – Michèle Roberts
Book details
- Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie
EAN: 9781909762312
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- Glass by Alex Christofi
EAN: 9781846689680
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- The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
EAN: 9781620408346
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- Weathering by Lucy Wood
EAN: 9781408840955
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