Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Bloomsbury author wins major prize
June 07 2018 - 5:33AM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMBMY
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
07 June 2018
7 June 2018
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING Plc
("Bloomsbury")
Bloomsbury author wins major prize
- Bloomsbury's Kamila Shamsie wins the Women's Prize for Fiction
-
- Bloomsbury authors make up 40% of The Golden Man Booker Prize
shortlist -
As a mark of Bloomsbury's continued success, at an awards
ceremony in central London last night, Wednesday 6th June - hosted
by novelist and Women's Prize Founder Director, Kate Mosse - the
2018 Chair of Judges, Sarah Sands presented the 2018 Women's Prize
for Fiction to Bloomsbury author Kamila Shamsie for her seventh
novel, Home Fire. Bloomsbury's authors made up a third of the
shortlist of six, with Jesmyn Ward with her novel Sing, Unburied,
Sing also nominated.
Chair of Judges Sarah Sands said:
"This was a dazzling shortlist, it had depth and richness and
variety. We were forcibly struck by the quality of the prose. Each
book had its champions ... In the end we chose the book which we
felt spoke for our times. Home Fire is about identity, conflicting
loyalties, love and politics. And it sustains mastery of its themes
and its form. It is a remarkable book which we passionately
recommend".
Bloomsbury's winners of this prize in the past (which was
originally known as the Orange Prize and the Bailey's Prize) have
included Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels and The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller, both of which sold significant extra numbers as
a result of winning this major prize. Large reprints of Home Fire
have now been ordered.
Beyond last night's win, the publisher's authors continue to
gain recognition in some of the industry's leading awards. The
Golden Man Booker Prize, a special one-off award for Man Booker
Prize's 50th anniversary celebrations, will pick the best work of
fiction from the last five decades of the prize. Two of the five
books nominated were published by Bloomsbury, drawing attention to
the publisher's incredibly talented stable of authors that spans
over thirty years.
All 51 previous winners were considered by a panel of five
specially appointed judges, each assigned a decade to read the
winning novels from before choosing a favourite from the period.
Bloomsbury published the winning shortlisted works from both the
1990s - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje - and the 2010s,
with the most recent winner Lincoln in the Bardo by George
Saunders.
The shortlist has now been put to the public to decide the
winner, which will be announced on 8 July 2018 at the Man Booker 50
Festival at Southbank Centre.
Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury, said:
"Firstly, may I congratulate Kamila Shamsie for this great
recognition of her highly topical masterpiece Home Fire. I am
grateful to the Women's Prize for the possibility of bringing
thousands of new readers to Kamila Shamsie's work.
We are delighted too that two of our authors have been chosen
for the Golden Man Booker Prize shortlist.
Our mission at Bloomsbury is to publish books of excellence and
originality. Our literary fiction has always been at the centre of
that mission. For Bloomsbury to have 40% of the "best of the Man
Booker Prize" shortlist is very exciting, particularly as we didn't
exist for the first 20 years of the 50 years of the Prize.
I would like most of all to thank Michael Ondaatje, George
Saunders and all of our authors but also the editors of Bloomsbury
including our two editors in chief, Liz Calder in the beginning and
now Alexandra Pringle.
I hope that the largest possible number of readers will take
part in the vote for the overall winner."
--- ends ---
For further information, please contact:
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc +44 (0) 20 7631 5630
Nigel Newton, Chief Executive
FTI Consulting +44 (0) 203 727 1000
Charles Palmer, Emma Hall, Dwight Burden, SCBloomsbury@fticonsulting.com
Leah Dudley
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