Debut Novel Wins 2015 New Angle Prize

Press Release

Kate Worsley's debut novel She Rises (Bloomsbury, March 2014) is the £2,000 winner of the 2015 New Angle Prize for Literature, announced at the Awards Dinner on Wednesday 9th September.

In the words of the judges "She Rises was the unanimous winner for its memorable characters, brilliant narrative voice, beautiful detail and a sensational story. She Rises is a feat of imagination which will appeal to a diverse audience".

The biennial prize was established in 2009 to celebrate the literature of East Anglia. There are no categories – entries simply have to have a strong East Anglian theme. The winning entry is set in eighteenth century Harwich, evoking the harsh, sometimes brutal, maritime tradition of the east coast with characters firmly rooted in their north Essex hinterland.

The runner up was Ronald Blythe's The Time by the Sea (Faber & Faber, June 2013). The Judges - Carol Bundock, Katie Ward and Jules Pretty - recognised this to be 'an extremely special book, written in warm, elegant prose by an author with a deep connection to our region'.
The other four shortlisted books were Mark Cocker's Claxton, Esther Freud's Mr Mac and Me, Jason Hewitt's Dynamite Room, Alex Monroe's Two Turtle Doves.

In what they described as "a vintage year" for the New Angle Prize the judges declared they were "proud to be able to draw attention to these splendid titles, fiction and non-fiction alike, work by both established authors and a young generation".

The New Angle Prize is organised by the Ipswich Institute (independent library and the only surviving Birkbeck foundation other than London's Birkbeck College) and is sponsored by Gotelee Solicitors and Scrutton Bland accountants.