The Society of Authors, the UK trade union for writers, awards multiple grants and prizes. As I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I was one of the manuscript judges for its 2022 McKitterick Prize, awarded to a debut novelist aged 40+.
Last night I watched part of the livestream for the SoA Awards ceremony, held at Southwark Cathedral. I had to take the above screenshot! SoA Chair Joanne Harris and keynote speaker Lemn Sissay handed out the prizes to the winners and runners-up. (The full list is available here; I’m particularly delighted that Will McPhail’s In, the first graphic novel nominated for an SoA award, won the £10,000 Betty Trask Prize.)
The McKitterick Prize winner was:
A book I clearly need to source at once!
And the runner-up was:
(A controversial novel I’m not so sure I see myself reading.)
Wishing an enjoyable long Jubilee weekend to those in the UK who plan to celebrate. Down with the monarchy, is the general vibe in my household, but we’ll have scones and meet some new neighbours at today’s street party (our first of two) anyway.
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Much the same here re the Jubilee. Thanks to my partner, I do have a Sex Pistols earworm, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I liked our vicar’s take. She said something like, “even if you’re not so sure about the monarchy, I think we can all agree that the Queen is a good egg and have a glass of wine and a piece of cake.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy to agree with that!
LikeLike
Have a lovely weekend, republicans, royalists all. I am rereading A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel’s take on the French Revolution), a rather different approach to monarchy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been wary of that one because of its heft! My only somewhat appropriate read for the long weekend is Red, White & Royal Blue, a silly romance novel.
LikeLike
I had very mixed feelings about Animal – Taddeo tries very hard to be controversial but I found it very wearing after a while. We are taking advantage of a lovely long weekend but won’t be celebrating too much. Each to their own though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The street party wasn’t really our scene, but we shared some scones, listened to a local band and met a few more neighbours.
LikeLiked by 1 person