French peasant saga wins Republic of Consciousness Prize

In the UK, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo has won this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses for his novel Animalia (trans by Frank Wynne, Text), reports the Bookseller.

Del Amo’s novel, which explores the trials of a peasant farming family in France across five generations, was praised by judges as a ‘savage and brutal book, replete with sex and violence, which is also spellbinding, strange and immersive’.

The £10,000 (A$20,100) prize will be shared equally among the publishers of the five shortlisted books, ‘to support all of the publishers on the shortlist in what is an extremely difficult time for small businesses and freelancers’. The other publishers were Dostoyevsky Wannabe, for We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff (Isabel Waidner); And Other Stories, for Love (Hanne Ørstavik, trans by Martin Aitken); the87press, for Broken Jaw (Minoli Salgado); and Galley Beggar Press, for Patience (Toby Litt).

The award, which was launched in 2017, recognises ‘brave, bold and brilliant’ literature from small presses.

Category: International news