Gordon Burn Prize 2017 – shortlist announced
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We’re thrilled to announce the shortlist for the Gordon Burn Prize 2017. The list continues to showcase some of the most interesting contemporary writing in its wide-ranging selection of titles.
Six were selected by judges Petina Gappah, Allan Jenkins, Ian Sansom and Cosey Fanni Tutti to go forward:
- Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile by Adelle Stripe (Wrecking Ball Press)
- Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova (Granta Books)
- First Love by Gwendoline Riley (Granta Books)
- The Long Drop by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
- This Is Memorial Device by David Keenan (Faber & Faber)
- This Is the Place to Be by Lara Pawson (CB Editions)
In the spirit of the Gordon Burn Prize, the shortlist is far-reaching, eclectic and provocative. It includes two debuts, four works of fiction and two of non-fiction, with a third of the list published by two small presses as the resurgence of the independent publisher in the UK continues.
Ian Sansom, one of the judges, commented:
‘Gordon Burn was unique and the Gordon Burn Prize is unique. It recognises what so many prizes fail to recognise: that literature, like all art, is in a constant process of reinvention and renewal and that the novel is a truly bastard form. The Gordon Burn Prize is a celebration of the art of possibility. This year’s shortlist includes hybrid works in many forms – autofiction, memoir, biography, travel writing and crime — and draws attention to brilliant and truly inventive work that might otherwise be overlooked. All ye that are weary and heavy burdened, gaze upon these works and wonder!’
The winner of the Gordon Burn Prize 2017 will be announced at Durham Book Festival on Thursday 12 October 2017. Tickets are on sale from the Durham Book Festival website from 10 August.
Discover the titles at gordonburnprize.com