Press Release
Group titles storm the Orange Award for New Writers Shortlist07/04/2009
This year's Orange Award for New Writers shortlist was announced this morning and two of the three titles on the shortlist are published by HUK.
• Francesca Kay, An Equal Stillness (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Nami Mun, Miles From Nowhere (Virago)
• Ann Weisgarber, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree (Macmillan New Writing)
The prize is open to all first works of fiction written in English by a woman of any age or nationality, and published as a book in the UK. The winner will receive a £10,000 bursary funded by Arts Council England which is intended to help the winning writer pursue their work with greater freedom at a crucial stage in her career.
"We were deeply impressed by the tremendous quality of this year's new writers," said Mishal Husain, BBC World News presenter and Chair of judges, "it was a very competitive field and therefore an excruciating process to choose just three of the 80 books we read. The shortlist we eventually decided upon reflects the dynamism and diversity of the entries, showcasing three authors with very different voices but an outstanding talent. We believe their extraordinary novels will appeal to a wide range of readers and also inspire the writers of tomorrow."