News

The Desmond Elliott Prize 2008 Shortlist is announced

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Banned in Russia, film rights sold to director, Ridley Scott and with the shortest odds ever quoted by a bookmaker for a book to win a literary award, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith has made it on to the shortlist for the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize, announced today, Thursday 22 May.

It is joined on the shortlist by equally notable first novels:

• Gifted by Nikita Lalwani (Viking)

“A sparkling, funny and poignant study of a young maths prodigy struggling with her gift and a difficult family.” Gerard Woodward, Observer, Books of the Year

• Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Simon & Schuster)

“An amazingly assured and exciting debut.” Simon Mayo’s Book Club, Radio 5 Live

• Sunday at The Cross Bones by John Walsh (Fourth Estate)

“A voluble, stylish, moving gem... comic, sympathetic, deeply affecting... It's an enthralling circus of a book.” Sunday Telegraph

Each of the three books on The Desmond Elliott Prize 2008 shortlist reflects the purpose of the prize: to highlight first novels which are page-turners with strong word-of-mouth appeal.

Penny Vincenzi, Chair of the Judges, comments,

“We are thrilled with this - the first ever Desmond Elliott Prize shortlist. These three books pushed all our judging 'buttons' - they are true page-turners, they are all intelligent and thought-provoking, and they cover a very broad range. And all three have that crucial quality for a successful book, word-of-mouth appeal; we really feel that anyone reading them would talk about and recommend them.  And we felt sure--and this was important to us--that Desmond would have approved of them. There is something for everyone who loves a good read: we have the charmingly tender narrative of Gifted by Nikita Lalwani; a riveting and suspense filled thriller in the tradition of a young John Le Carré in Child 44 and John Walsh on characteristically splendid - and witty - form in Sunday at the Cross Bones. We battled over the difficult decision on which books should be shortlisted and I'm sure the winner decision will be torturous!”

William Hill has given odds on the shortlist: Child 44 is the favourite at 1/ 2; Gifted is at 2/1; and Sunday at the Cross Bones is at 3/1.  Graham Sharpe of William Hill comments: “1/2 is the shortest price we have ever quoted a book at to win a literary award, so Child 44 is the hot favourite.”

Named in honour of literary agent and publisher Desmond Elliott, one of the most charismatic and successful men in recent publishing history who died in August 2003, the Prize is designed to celebrate sparkling new fiction and is worth £10,000 to the winner.

In the spirit of Desmond Elliott, the judges are looking for a first novel which is intelligent with broad appeal; a novel which is a page turner, but which makes you pause for thought and a novel which has word-of-mouth appeal.

Penny Vincenzi is joined on the judging panel by Tatler Editor, Geordie Greig and author and journalist Cristina Odone.

The winner of the 2008 inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize will be announced on 26 June at Fortnum & Mason, in London. 

 

See the Shortlist >>

Notes to editors

• The judges of the Desmond Elliott Prize are available for interview. Please contact Colman Getty to request an interview

• The shortlisted authors may be available for interview after the announcement is made in 22 May. Please contact Colman Getty

• Electronic Images of the shortlisted books, judges and the Prize logo are available from Colman Getty

• There were 11 books on the longlist

• The Desmond Elliott Charitable Trust is a registered charity. It is chaired by Dallas Manderson, Group Sales Director of Orion Publishing Group. He is joined by Christine Berry, managing partner of Taylor Vinters, one of the leading commercial law firms in Cambridge, and Liz Thomson, Editor of Publishing News. Both Dallas and Christine worked with Desmond Elliott at Arlington Books

• The Desmond Elliott website includes information about the prize and the shortlisted books with regular news updates - www.desmondelliottprize.com

For further information please contact
Hannah Blake or Mark Hutchinson
at Colman Getty
T: 020 7631 2666
E: hannah@colmangetty.co.uk

See the Shortlist >>

Other current news items