Edward St Aubyn has today, Monday 19 May 2014, been named the winner
of the fifteenth Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for his brilliant satire on
the world of literary prizes, Lost
For Words (Picador).
He joins a stellar list of previous
winners including Ian McEw
an, Marina Lewycka, DBC Pierre, Terry Pratchett and,
most recently, double winner Howard Jacobson.
Lost For Words has been described as a “a fizzing
satire that neatly skewers all the contradictions of literary prize-giving’
(Mick Brown writing in the Daily Telegraph).
In the novel, each of the judges of the Elysian prize
for literature has a reason for accepting the job. For the chairman, MP
Malcolm Craig, it is backbench boredom; media personality Jo Cross is on the
hunt for a ‘relevant’ novel, and Oxbridge academic Vanessa Shaw is determined
to discover good writing. But for Penny Feathers of the Foreign Office,
it’s all just getting in the way of writing her own thriller. Over the
next few weeks they must read hundreds of submissions to find the best book of
the year, and so the judges spar, cajole and bargain in order that their chosen
title gets the recognition it deserves.
Meanwhile, a host of authors are desperate for Elysian
glory, including brilliant writer and serial heartbreaker Katherine Burns,
lovelorn debut novelist Sam Black, and Sonny, convinced that his magnum opus, The
Mulberry Elephant, will take the literary world by storm.
The result is a wonderfully comic novel that questions
the role of art in a celebrity-obsessed world where everyone has his or
her own agenda.
Edward St Aubyn comments,
‘The only thing I was sure
of when I was writing this satire on literary prizes was that it wouldn't win
any prizes. I was wrong. I had overlooked the one prize with a sense of humour.
‘The challenge I set myself
with Lost For Words was to see if I could enjoy writing. In that, at
least, I succeeded. The fact this novel has given pleasure to others - and in particular the judges of the Bollinger Everyman Woodhouse
Prize for Comic Fiction - is an encouragement for which I am delighted and
grateful.
‘I regret that my pig and I
will not be spending as much time together as we both might have liked, but I
know we will be in complete harmony. Lost For Words will
be leading a literary life down on Comic Farm, surrounded by Lightning
Rods and Snuff and Skios, and all the other previous winners,
while I'll be up in London making a pig of myself with a Jeroboam of delicious
Bollinger.’
David Campbell says,
‘Lost For Words is a wonderfully funny send up
of literary prizes and much of contemporary cultural life. I'm delighted it's
won our fifteenth Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.’
Edward St Aubyn will be presented
with a locally-bred Gloucestershire Old Spot pig at the Hay Festival on
Saturday 24 May which will then be named after his winning novel. Lost for
Words will join a long line of exotically-named pigs, including Snuff,
A Short History of Tractors in
Ukrainian, and All Fun and Games until
Somebody Loses an Eye.
The winner is announced ahead of an event at this
year’s Hay Festival, where Edward St Aubyn will be in conversation with William
Sieghart on Saturday 24 May. Edward St Aubyn will also be presented
with his prize: a jeroboam of Bollinger
Special Cuvée, a case of Bollinger
La Grande Année and a set of the Everyman’s Library PG Wodehouse collection.
The judges for the 2014 prize were broadcaster and
author, James Naughtie; Everyman’s Library publisher, David Campbell; and
Director of the Hay Festival, Peter Florence.
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