2009 Desmond Elliot Prize Shortlist

EDWARD HOGAN’s dèbut novel, Blackmoor (Simon & Schuster, 2008), has made it onto another literary prize shortlist. This time it is the 2009 Desmond Elliott Prize for a first novel published in the U.K., it was announced on May 26, 2009. Hogan’s novel is shortlisted alongside Nathalie Abi-Ezzi’s A Girl Made of Dust (Fourth Estate, 2008) and Anthony Quinn’s The Rescue Man (Jonathan Cape, 2009).

The Desmond Elliott Prize 2009 panel of judges is chaired by Candida Lycett Green who is joined by former Literary Editor of The Independent on Sunday, Suzi Feay, and Rodney Troubridge of Waterstone’s. Lycett Green comments: “We have been both entertained and inspired by the quality of writing amongst the contenders for this year’s shortlist and it was very difficult to decide on a final three. The result is a shortlist of three haunting books, all gripping in different ways while dealing with the complications of love and life in extremis. Together they are a celebration of new writing of which Desmond Elliott would be proud.”

The Prize was established in 2008 in honour of publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott, one of the most successful men in this field, who died in August 2003. He stipulated that his estate should be invested in a charitable trust that would fund a literary award “to enrich the careers of new writers.” Worth £10,000 to the winner, the prize is intended to support new writers and to celebrate new writing. The inaugural prize was awarded to Nikita Lalwani for her first novel, Gifted. The winner of the 2009 Desmond Elliott Prize will be announced on June 24, 2009.