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‘The Yellow Birds’ wins ‘Guardian’ first book award

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Hodder & Stoughton) has won the 2012 Guardian First Book Award. Chair of the judging panel and editor of Guardian Review Lisa Allardice said that Powers ‘utterly fulfilled the first book award criteria of promise, originality and raw talent’, with the Guardian reporting that his novel had narrowly beat Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers to win the £10,000 (A$15,400) award. Australian Booksellers Association president and owner of Pages & Pages Jon Page was an early fan of the novel, calling it ‘gut-wrenchingly beautiful’ in a review on his Bite the Book blog back in May this year. Powers served in the US army in 2004 and 2005 and draws on his experiences to tell the story of Private John Bartle, who is sent to Iraq’s Nineveh province and is trying to keep a promise to his friend’s mother to bring him home. The title of the book is taken from a marching song Powers learned with the army.

 

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Category: International news