The shortlist for the inaugural Paul Torday Memorial Prize, was announced today by the The Society of Authors . The prize will be awarded to a first novel by a writer over 60, with a prize fund £1,000 plus a set of the collected works of British writer Paul Torday, who himself only published his first novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen at the age of 60. Judged by Mark Lawson, Kate Mosse and Anita Sethi.
Sealskin by Su Bristow (Orenda Books)
Walking Wounded by Sheila Llewellyn (Sceptre)
Silence Under a Stone by Norma MacMaster (Doubleday Ireland)
The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson (Two Roads)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Zaffre)
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (Doubleday)
Commenting, the Paul Torday Memorial Prize judges said:
“This inaugural shortlist vitally reminds us that writing is a job with no mandatory starting date, demonstrated through excellent historical fiction alive with time and period, magical explorations of landscape and love, a devastating story about the hidden consequences of the brutality of wars, and an exploration of the archaeology of the human heart.”
