Aloun Assamba, Jamaican Minister for Tourism, Entertainment and Culture (left) with Commonwealth Writers' Prize winner, Lloyd Jones
New Zealand author wins Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2007
4 June 2007
The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize aims to reward the best fiction written in English by both established and new writers and to take their work to a global audience
New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones has won the 21st Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (CWP) for his novel ‘Mister Pip’.
Chair of the judges and distinguished Australian author, Justice Nicholas Hasluck, said: “This mesmerising story shows how books can change lives in utterly surprising ways.
“When a round-up of suspects on a war-torn Pacific island leads to an attempt to seize a fictional character, violence comes face to face with the power of the imagination.”
Mr Jones, an established fiction writer, was awarded the top prize of £10,000. He will spend a year in Germany from August 2007 as recipient of the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers’ Residency.
D Y Béchard of Canada was named winner of the Best First Book, for his generational novel ‘Vandal Love’. He received £5,000.
In a unique aspect of the Prize, eight regional Best Book and Best First Book prize winners were invited to take part in a series of readings and other public activities alongside the judging.
This year’s activities formed part of Jamaica’s Calabash International Literary Festival -- a three-day festival of readings, poetry and storytelling.
The competition attracted more than 350 entries from Commonwealth regions -- Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia, and South-East Asia and the South Pacific.
“Throughout the 21 years of the CWP, we have witnessed how books, with varying degrees, directions and perspectives, are able to capture the intricate cultural dimensions within the Commonwealth,” said Dr Mark Collins, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation.
“Through the Prize, the Foundation is recognising literature’s ongoing strength and influence and its ability to raise awareness of individual, societal and global issues.”
The competition organised by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation aims to reward the best Commonwealth fiction written in English, by both established and new writers, and to take their work to a global audience.
Entries for the Prize were assessed by four regional panels of judges and the selection of the overall winners was made by a pan-Commonwealth panel.
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