The Desmond Elliott Prize Announces Nominations

The Desmond Elliott Prize 2016 announced yesterday (May 6) a shortlist of three books in the running to take home the “most prestigious award for first-time novelists” (Daily Telegraph). 

'The Glorious Heresies' by Lisa McInerney (John Murray), 'The House at the Edge of the World' by Julia Rochester (Penguin) and 'Mrs Engels' by Gavin McCrea (Scribe),  have been chosen from a longlist of ten books published in the last year by British and Irish debut novelists. McCrea and McInerney are Irish, while Rochester is English.

Award-winning blogger Lisa McInerney 'The Glorious Heresies' has also been shortlisted for this year's Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction. She is the creator of the Irish blog 'Arse End of Ireland', about a council estate in Galway, and has also written regularly for websites including Culch.ie, The Antiroom and Irish news site TheJournal.ie

Gavin McCrea, author of 'Mrs Engels' was born in Dublin and has since travelled widely, currently living between the UK and Spain. In addition to this prize nomination, 'Mrs Engels' has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Julia Rochester, has worked for the BBC Portuguese Service and for Amnesty International as Researcher on Brazil. Her novel, 'The House at the Edgy of the World' has also been longlisted for this year's Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction. Part mystery, part psychological drama, Julia Rochester's 'The House at the Edge of the World' is a darkly comic, unorthodox and thrilling debut.
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The winner will be named on 22 June at a ceremony taking place at Fortnum & Mason in London.