A young adult
novel, described by leading United Kingdom children’s author Mal Peet as “richly
imagined, sinisterly futuristic and morally complex,” is the first of its genre
to be awarded the 2014 Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing.
Craig Gamble wrote
the winning book, The Watch List, as part of his 2014 Master of Arts
folio at Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern
Letters (IIML). He says receiving the Prize is a great, and humbling, honour.
“I'm completely blown away.
This year spent in the MA programme has already been hugely rewarding.
“Being able to
spend so much time thinking and talking about writing, and in the company of
classmates and teachers who so deeply care about it, has been for me truly
life-changing. I am very grateful to have had that experience.”
Craig has
previously completed the Children’s Writing workshop and the Young Adult
Writing Workshop at the IIML.
Supported by
Wellingtonians Denis and Verna Adam through the Victoria University Foundation,
the $3,000 Adam Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding student in the
Master of Arts in Creative Writing programme at the IIML.
The Watch List imagines what would happen in a crisis if the hero’s
sidekick had to take the lead. In a physically and morally dangerous city, its
narrator has to come to terms with using everything at his disposal to survive.
Emily Perkins, a
Senior Lecturer at the IIML and co-convenor of this year’s Master’s programme,
says she was completely drawn in to the exciting and emotionally rewarding
story.
“Craig’s writing is
vivid and alive, with lots of thrilling action and a wonderfully-drawn teenage
narrator navigating his increasingly frightening world with great heart. It
will find a wide readership who will respond to the richly imagined setting,
resonant characters and dramatic plot,” she says.
Carnegie Medal
winner Peet, an examiner for Craig’s thesis, says he was “walloped between the
eyes” by the novel.
“Events come thick
and fast: this is a novel with its foot on the throttle most of the time… a
story that has enormous energy and invention. I look forward to seeing it in
print,” he says.
Previous Adam
Foundation Prize recipients include acclaimed authors Eleanor Catton, Catherine
Chidgey, Paula Morris and Ashleigh Young.
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