Do you know of a brilliant literary debut? As the deadline looms for entries to this year's first book award, we're launching the search for the 10th title for the longlist
Shelf discovery ... can you find an award-winner from the mass of this year's debut titles? Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
There's just a week left for publishers to enter books for the 2012 Guardian first book award – but with only two entries allowed per publisher, we're aware that there are hard choices to be be made, so we're launching a hunt for an extra title to join the longlist by popular demand.
Last year's hunt led us to Juan Pablo Villalobos's Down the Rabbit Hole – an exquisite little fable about Mexico's narcoculture, which was championed by its translator Rosalind Harvey and was the first title to be published by And Other Stories. It went on to make the shortlist, and was among the favourites titles with last year's Waterstones reading groups.
The great strength of the first book prize is that it offers a chance for books of different genres to compete: we're proud of a list of past winners that ranges from short stories about China and Zimbabwe to a graphic novel and a biography of cancer.
The last two years have seen a flurry of new ventures, and new ways of trying to make publishing pay, from crowd-funding to self-publishing. But with over 100,000 titles published in the UK every year, it's harder than ever for new writers and publishers to break through.
Any debut first published in this calendar year in the UK is eligible, and we're particularly keen to hear about all those new and small publishers who might not have the means, or presumption, to submit books through the official channels.
Full story at The Guardian
Last year's hunt led us to Juan Pablo Villalobos's Down the Rabbit Hole – an exquisite little fable about Mexico's narcoculture, which was championed by its translator Rosalind Harvey and was the first title to be published by And Other Stories. It went on to make the shortlist, and was among the favourites titles with last year's Waterstones reading groups.
The great strength of the first book prize is that it offers a chance for books of different genres to compete: we're proud of a list of past winners that ranges from short stories about China and Zimbabwe to a graphic novel and a biography of cancer.
The last two years have seen a flurry of new ventures, and new ways of trying to make publishing pay, from crowd-funding to self-publishing. But with over 100,000 titles published in the UK every year, it's harder than ever for new writers and publishers to break through.
Any debut first published in this calendar year in the UK is eligible, and we're particularly keen to hear about all those new and small publishers who might not have the means, or presumption, to submit books through the official channels.
Full story at The Guardian
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