Kelman on Guardian First Book longlist

01.09.11 | Katie Allen - The Bookseller

Stephen Kelman’s Man Booker-longlisted debut Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) has been longlisted for the 10-strong Guardian First Book Award 2011.

The list also includes five other fiction titles: The Submission by Amy Waldman, (Heinemann); The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, (Harvill Secker); The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock (Canongate); The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed (Penguin) and Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (And Other Stories).
Three non-fiction titles are also in the running, The Possessed by Elif Batuman, (Granta); Chavs by Owen Jones (Verso); and Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Fourth Estate). The list is completed by Rachel Boast’s poetry collection Sidereal (Picador).
The £10,000 Guardian First Book Award is open to all first-time authors writing in English, or translated into English, across all genres. This year’s judging panel comprises author David Nicholls; author Antonia Fraser-Pinter; Stuart Broom, literary events co-ordinator, Waterstone's; Katharine Viner, deputy editor, Guardian; and Lisa Allardice, chair and editor of the Review, Guardian. A series of regional reading groups, run in partnership with Waterstone's bookstores, will assist the judges in drawing up the shortlist.
The winner will be announced on 1st December.