Simon (26) won the prize for his novel `Nothing Human Left’ a psychological thriller set in a Dublin public school as a schoolboy’s criminal desires reach a frightening conclusion.
As winner he receives a £10,000 prize and his novel will be published by Glasgow-based publishing house Cargo.
“Winning the Dundee International Book Prize and having my novel published by Cargo is a major game changer for me” said Simon.
“It is the realisation of a dream I’ve had since I was eight years old and a validation of all those hours spent scratching away at the page.”
He will be handed the prize at a gala dinner staged as part of the Dundee Literary Festival, featuring leading authors and the actor Brian Cox.
The £10,000 prize is the largest offered in the UK to unpublished authors. Simon will also now speak at this week’s Dundee Literary Festival at the University of Dundee. His winning book is now on sale.
The Dundee International Book Prize is a collaboration between the University of Dundee, Cargo Publishing and Dundee City Council’s ‘One City, Many Discoveries’ campaign. It has been sponsored this year by the Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa.
Tremendous
The winner was picked by a panel of judges made up of Anna Day, Director of Literary Dundee; Mark Buckland, Head of Cargo Publishing; and Emily Dewhurst of Kitchen Press.
Mark Buckland, Managing Director of Cargo, said, “We’re delighted to be the publisher for the prize and we’re looking to develop the prize in the coming years into something that can really support and energise authors like Simon.”
Anna Day, Director of Literary Dundee – a University of Dundee-led initiative to promote interest in literature – said, “We have a very deserving winner in Simon. This is a tremendous book and we hope to see it go on to sell many copies. We received well over 100 high quality entries from around the world but Simon’s book stood out.”
Councillor Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council’s city development committee, said, “Our reputation as a centre of literary and artistic excellence in many fields continues to develop and grow.
“A rich storytelling tradition runs through Dundee, whether it be in song, literature, as a narrative in a computer game or the plot of a film and the city’s on-going association with encouraging the very best in that tradition through new novel writing is reflected in the long standing success of the Book Prize.”
The shortlist for the 2011 Dundee International Book Prize was:
? As it was in the beginning by Rachel Newsome (London).
? 14 variations from white by Emma Hooper (Bath).
? Sympathy for the doc by Simon Ashe-Browne (Dublin).
? No place to fall by Alissa Jones Nelson (Dundee).
? The broken glass collector by Elizabeth Switaj (Belfast).
? Pixelated by Lane Palmer (London).
? Touching cloth by Adrian Wizneivski (Loch Winnoch).
? Granmere’s piano by Jay Weber (Arlington,USA).
? The sacred combe by Thomas Maloney (Henley-on-Thames).
? The Flax flower by Amanda MacLean (London).
For more on theDundeeLiterary Festival see: www.literarydundee.co.uk
