Nikita Lalwani Gifts £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize money to Liberty
Friday, June 27, 2008In a moving speech at the announcement of the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize last night (Thursday 26th June), winner Nikita Lalwani asked the trustees of the Prize to donate her £10,000 prize money to the human rights organisation, Liberty.
Nikita comments,
“In the UK right now, I don't think we can take basic elements of personal freedom for granted. Liberty is an organisation which campaign and fight for our rights as individuals across the board and I am glad they exist.”
Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti comments,
“We are overwhelmed by Nikita Lalwani’s generosity in giving her hard won prize money to Liberty. In tough times it is so heartening to see an acclaimed writer recognizing the dangers of complacency about human rights in Britain. For a national campaigning organisation of only 25 staff, this kind of donation will make a real difference.”
Nikita Lalwani was born in Kota, Rajasthan in 1973 and raised in Cardiff. Gifted is her first novel and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007 and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2007and the Glen Dimplex Fiction Award 2007.
A child prodigy, Nikita wanted to take her maths O-level early but was dissuaded by her father. She initially studied medicine at Oxford University but left after her first year, realising that it wasn’t a career she wished to pursue.
She then read English at Bristol University and continued on to a post-graduate degree in journalism and creative writing.
Gifted was written in 18 months and Nikita received responses from potential agents within two days of looking. The Bookseller cited the book as “one of the most coveted British fiction debuts of the year”. Nikita lives in London with her husband and child.
For more information about Gifted and the Desmond Elliott Prize please visit www.desmondelliottprize.com
The Winner
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
Penguin Books, £7.99
“Superb, brilliantly realised…especially memorable for its sensuous power…
The searing narrative is unflinchingly and tenderly written.” The Independent
Cardiff in the 1980s is a place where maths can get you noticed. Rumi Vasi is the town’s ‘maths prodigy’; untangling numbers and Rubik’s cubes protects her from the harsh realities of the playground and gives a pattern to her world. But after years of her father’s determined tutoring, Rumi find that numbers are beginning to lose their innocence. India infuses her with a romantic sense of belonging and, as she grows older and desire becomes a dirty word in the Vasi household, the idea of love is opened up to painful examination.
In a voice that is by turns very funny and fiercely tender, Nikita Lalwani reveals a captivating story of high aspirations and deep longing, and the sometime loneliness of childhood.
The Prize
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 looked for a first novel which is intelligent with broad appeal, a page-turner which makes you pause for thought.
Chair of the judges, Penny Vincenzi was joined on the judging panel by Tatler Editor, Geordie Greig and author and journalist Cristina Odone.
Notes to editors
• Nikita Lalwani may be available for interview. Please contact Hannah Blake at Colman Getty
• Liberty is also known as the National Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934, Liberty is a cross party, non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for fundamental rights and freedoms in England and Wales. Liberty promotes the values of individual human dignity, equal treatment and fairness as the foundations of a democratic society. For more information go to www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
• 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
June 2008
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