News Archive

Independent Welsh Imprint’s First Novel Beats off Major Publishers to Win UK’s Oldest Literary Award Nomination

First time novelist Gee Williams has been nominated for Britain’s oldest literary award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Her literary mystery Salvage is one of only five on the shortlist for the prestigious prize, which is £10,000, and awarded during the Edinburgh Festival week late this August. Published by tiny Aberystwyth-based imprint, Alcemi, a division of Y Lolfa, the novel was one of two novels which launched the imprint only last July.

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize, which was established in 1919, is highly regarded its past winners include DH Lawrence and EM Forster, as well as international heavyweights Salman Rushdie, Carol Shields, Ian McEwan and Jonathan Franzen.

Alcemi editor Gwen Davies said,

“Gee is sharing company with past nominees such as Alice Munro, Sarah Waters and Ali Smith: she has done fantastically well to beat off established novelists from around the world with her first novel. And since Salvage is the only one on this year’s fiction shortlist which doesn’t come from a major publishing house, Alcemi has done pretty well too, especially considering we haven’t yet published our third title. Wales has already been well served by this prize, since Byron Rogers’ The Man Who Went into the West: The Life of RS Thomas won the JTB biography prize for 2006. So on three counts, I am ecstatic!”

Gee Williams commented, “Storytelling is what gets us through the dark nights and days.  To be shortlisted for this particular fiction prize is a joy - also a great relief. It means I’ve shared the obsession. Other people - in this case some very knowing people - have said ’yes, that’s it’. Salvage is about how a group of friends have a stark question put to them: who will you hurt to get want you want? Elly finds something of great value when she needs it most. Richard finally finds true sexual passion and love in the same woman. But if both hang on to their treasure trove, the results for those around them will be catastrophic. And though they feel they can write their own endings, someone else is looking over their shoulders.”       

The prize is unusual in that it is judged by academics from the University of Edinburgh rather than the media personalities that can dominate other literary prizes. One such anonymous sifting judge had recently highlighted Salvage on the blog, blindmanwithapistol.blogspot.com,

“The jewel [of the nominations]… Cliches and generic conventions only provide… writerly ammunition, as Williams constantly shifts her literary goalposts from crime to romance to a metafictional crisis, while never losing the immediacy of the characters or the suspense of the crime. A masterful stylist, Williams is constantly inventive and inspiring in her craft, and boasts a knack for stunning images and observations. If Gee Williams was a more celebrated author, she could win this competition.”

The publishers naturally hope that the celebrations start here…