News | Thursday, 24th July 2014
MMU Novella Award winner announced
"Startlingly ambitious" work takes home inaugural prize
34 YEAR-old English teacher James Edgecombe has been announced as the winner of the inaugural MMU Novella Award.
James’ novella The Art of Kozu was described by judge Jenn Ashworth as “a stunningly well-controlled and startlingly ambitious piece of writing that makes remarkable use of voice and deployment of detail.”
James wins £1,000 and publication with Sandstone Press, who have twice had titles long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. The Art Of Kozu will be published in September. As part of the prize, Diana Beaumont of Rupert Heath Literary Agency will give serious consideration to offering James representation.
The MMU Novella Award has been established by the Department of Contemporary Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Cheshire Campus, partnered by Sandstone Press and Time to Read, the forum of 22 library authorities in the North West.
Novella “renaissance”
“With the conclusion of the first MMU Novella Award, we have got a new and distinctive literary award off the ground,” said Robert Graham, Creative Writing Programme Leader at MMU Cheshire. “We are championing a form that is enjoying a renaissance at the moment, thanks in part to the rise of the e-book. The difference in heft between, say, Bleak House and Heart of Darkness isn’t nearly as apparent on an e-book reader.”
Robert Davidson, Managing Director of Sandstone Press said, “The Art of Kozu is a fine work of fiction that will stand the test of time - and I'm delighted to say that the e-book will be available immediately. With this title, and the strength of the short list and entries generally, I feel that MMU’s championing of the novella form through this Award has been triumphantly vindicated. The short, profound work has returned to the fore!”
The winner was announced at the MMU Novella Festival, which took place at the University’s Crewe Campus on Saturday, July 12.
The strong line-up of writers appearing at the festival featured Alison Moore, Booker Shortlisted in 2012 for her first novel The Lighthouse;Livi Michael, author of The Whispering Road and Malkin's Child; and Michael Stewart, author of King Crow, which won The Guardian’s 2011 Not The Booker prize. The festival also offered an insider’s view of the book trade from Kevin Duffy, publishing director of Bluemoose Books.
