Boundary-Defying Works: British and Irish Writers Lead 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize Shortlist Alongside Fresh U.S. Voices
From South London’s estates to 18th-century Ireland and its modern counterpart; with takes on class, sexual awakening and domestic abuse; from mermaid myths to the making of things – eight deeply personal works of literature “pushing at the edges of their forms” have been shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021.
Sara Baume handiwork (Tramp Press)
Amina Cain Indelicacy (Daunt Books)
Elaine Feeney As You Were (Harvill Secker)
Caleb Femi Poor (Penguin)
Rachel Long My Darling from the Lions (Picador)
Carmen Maria Machado In the Dream House: A Memoir (Serpent’s Tail)
Doireann Ní Ghríofa A Ghost in the Throat (Tramp Press)
Monique Roffey The Mermaid of Black Conch (Peepal Tree Press)
The judges have chosen books by seven women and one man to be in contention for the £30,000 prize which looks for the best fiction, nonfiction and poetry in English from around the world. Six out of the eight titles are by British and Irish writers, with three out of Ireland alone (two of which are published by the same publisher, Tramp Press). The spirit of experimentation is also reflected in the strong showing of independent publishers and small presses (5 out of 8).
2021 judge Roger Robinson says: “It was such a joy to spend detailed and intimate time with the books nominated for the Rathbones Folio Prize and travel deep into their worlds. The judges chose the eight books on the shortlist because they are pushing at the edges of their forms in interesting ways, without sacrificing narrative or execution. The conversations between the judges may have been as edifying as the books themselves. From a judges’ vantage point, the future of book publishing looks incredibly healthy – and reading a book is still one of the most revolutionary things that one can do.”
The 2021 shortlist ranges from Amina Cain’s Indelicacy – a feminist fable about class and desire – and the exploration of the estates of South London through poetry and photography in Caleb Femi’s Poor, to a formally innovative, genre-bending memoir about domestic abuse in Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House, and a feminist revision of Caribbean mermaid myths, in Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch.
In the darkly comic novel As You Were, poet Elaine Feeney tackles the intimate histories, institutional failures, and the darkly present past of modern Ireland, while Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost In The Throat finds the eighteenth-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill haunting the life of a contemporary young mother, prompting her to turn detective. Doireann Ní Ghríofa is published by Dublin’s Tramp Press, also publishers of Sara Baume’s handiwork – which charts the author ’s daily process of making and writing, and explores what it is to create and to live as an artist – while poet Rachel Long’s acclaimed debut collection My Darling From The Lions skewers sexual politics, religious awakenings and family quirks with wit, warmth and precision.
The winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize will be announced in a digital ceremony with the British Library on Wednesday 24 March. Further details will be released shortly.
Last year, the Mexican novelist and essayist Valeria Luiselli was awarded the Rathbones Folio Prize for her fiercely imaginative autobiographical work of fiction Lost Children Archive (4th Estate). The 2021 winner will join previous winners Raymond Antrobus (2019), Richard Lloyd Parry (2018), Hisham Matar (2017), Akhil Sharma (2015) and George Saunders (2014).
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