Short-story collection acclaimed for its creation of 'complete worlds' in each tale
'Truly remarkable' … Claire Vaye Watkins. Photograph: James Davies
The American writer Claire Vaye Watkins has won the 2013 Dylan Thomas award with her collection of short stories, Battleborn.
This assured collection brings together stories from the underbelly of Nevadan life – a tourist lost in Death Valley, two brothers caught in the gold rush, a teenage girl whose pregnancy a boyfriend tries to abort – as well as a semi-autobiographical account of Vaye Watkins's troubled family history. Her father was a close associate of Charles Manson and died when she was six.
The 29-year-old author has called it a "homesick book and a grieving book", made from "mutated, exaggerated or sculpted versions of rumours whispered around my town and the mythology of the Mojave desert, where I was from". The stories, which first appeared in literary magazines such as Granta, the Paris Review and Ploughshares, were written after the death of her mother, while studying at Ohio State University.
The chair of judges, Peter Florence, compared Vaye Watkins to Dylan Thomas, paying tribute to her ability to give "a perfect version of a complete world" in a short story.
Fellow judge Allison Pearson called her "truly gifted", suggesting that it was particularly exciting for the £30,000 prize to find a "truly remarkable short story writer" in the year Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. The shortlist was made up of two collections of poetry, three novels and two short story collections.
The panel, charged with finding the best literary work in English written by an author under 30, also included Cerys Matthews, Carolyn Hitt, Kim Howells, Nicholas Wroe and Peter Stead.
Vaye Watkins joins a roster of previous winners including the Vietnamese writer Nam Le, Lucy Caldwell and Maggie Shipstead, who won the 2012 award with her debut novel Seating Arrangements.
Footnote:
Publishers Granta are on a real roll right now. They published the above book by Claire Vaye Watkins and also announced yesterday was the news that David Almond, (also published by Granta) had won prestigious Eleanor Farjeon award.
In addition of course they published The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton wthe recent winner of the Man Booker Prize.
This assured collection brings together stories from the underbelly of Nevadan life – a tourist lost in Death Valley, two brothers caught in the gold rush, a teenage girl whose pregnancy a boyfriend tries to abort – as well as a semi-autobiographical account of Vaye Watkins's troubled family history. Her father was a close associate of Charles Manson and died when she was six.
The 29-year-old author has called it a "homesick book and a grieving book", made from "mutated, exaggerated or sculpted versions of rumours whispered around my town and the mythology of the Mojave desert, where I was from". The stories, which first appeared in literary magazines such as Granta, the Paris Review and Ploughshares, were written after the death of her mother, while studying at Ohio State University.
The chair of judges, Peter Florence, compared Vaye Watkins to Dylan Thomas, paying tribute to her ability to give "a perfect version of a complete world" in a short story.
Fellow judge Allison Pearson called her "truly gifted", suggesting that it was particularly exciting for the £30,000 prize to find a "truly remarkable short story writer" in the year Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. The shortlist was made up of two collections of poetry, three novels and two short story collections.
The panel, charged with finding the best literary work in English written by an author under 30, also included Cerys Matthews, Carolyn Hitt, Kim Howells, Nicholas Wroe and Peter Stead.
Vaye Watkins joins a roster of previous winners including the Vietnamese writer Nam Le, Lucy Caldwell and Maggie Shipstead, who won the 2012 award with her debut novel Seating Arrangements.
Footnote:
Publishers Granta are on a real roll right now. They published the above book by Claire Vaye Watkins and also announced yesterday was the news that David Almond, (also published by Granta) had won prestigious Eleanor Farjeon award.
In addition of course they published The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton wthe recent winner of the Man Booker Prize.
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