McInerney wins 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize

In the UK, Irish author Lisa McInerney has won the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction for The Glorious Heresies (John Murray). McInerney’s black comedy about five misfits living on the fringes of a post-crash Irish society was chosen from a shortlist which also included Mrs Engels (Gavin McCrea, Scribe) and The House at the Edge of the World (Julia Rochester, Penguin). The win is McInerney’s second in as many weeks, with the book having also been awarded the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Chair of judges Iain Pears said the judges knew they ‘had found a major literary figure for the next generation’. ‘Lisa is a genuinely exciting writer—there is electricity running through her prose,’ said Pears, who also called on publishers to continue to support editors as well as new writers. ‘We should never forget that editors and authors work in partnership; each must support the other. Authors need time to grow and develop, but editors need the encouragement to stick with them during this long—and sometimes erratic—process and they deserve our applause when they do.’ For more information on the prize, visit the website here.

Category: International news