Meyer wins UK’s inaugural ‘Mslexia’ Novella Competition

Author Angela Meyer has won the inaugural £1000 (A$1815) Mslexia Novella Competition for Joan Smokes (Contraband).

Joan Smokes centres on a young woman who attempts to escape the past by travelling to Las Vegas, ‘tackling themes of reinvention, grief, trauma and love’. Prize judge and Galley Beggar Press co-founder Eloise Millar praised Meyer for her ‘pared-back, brittle language’. ‘The real magic is in how the author puts the reader so surely in the protagonist’s shoes,’ said Millar. ‘As an act of empathy, as well as a beautifully rendered work of literature, Joan Smokes shines.’

The novella will be published in the UK in November. The Mslexia Novella Competition was open to adult and YA manuscripts between 10,000 and 40,000 words by women authors of any nationality.

For more information about the award, click here.

Category: Local news