The Shortlist and Longlist

The 2011 Shortlist

The 2011 Longlist

Christine Donovan: Jump Derry

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Panos Ioannides: Gregory and Other Stories

A beautifully presented collection of short stories by an avant-garde writer from Cyprus. He writes in deceptively simple prose, which penetrates beyond the obvious to inner truths that leave the reader with much to think about. The title story, “Gregory” is particularly powerful, told from the point of view of a group of young soldiers who have been ordered to take part in a firing squad.

Sarah James: Into the Yell

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Johnny McKeagney: In the Ould Ago

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Michael Richardson: Careless Talk

A very well-written novel set just after the second world war, told from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old boy who has just started at an Art School. The ability of Michael Richardson to evoke the period so convincingly is extremely impressive. The reader suffers with the protagonist as he negotiates the excruciating embarrassments of adolescence, but then cheers at the endearing way in which he manages to bounce back. It is warm, funny and real.

Christopher Smith: Why Don’t you Fly: Backdoor to Beijing – by bicycle

A travel book based on the author’s experiences as he cycled from Worcestershire to Beijing, passing through places as diverse as Europe, Iran and India. The rich details about landscape, food and the people the author met on his journey give a penetrating insight into lives and worlds that are unfamiliar to most of us. It is amusing, extremely well-written and very readable. This book could well have been awarded a prize, but the judges felt that there were some problems with the presentation of the text and maps that detracted from the quality of the contents. The smallness of the text made the reading challenging.

Andrew Sharp: The Ghosts of Eden

A moving, lyrical novel set in Africa, which explores childhood loss and atonement. Andrew Sharp writes with great authority on the dilemmas of Europeans who offer their support to African countries and it is clear that he has much personal knowledge of this world. The judges felt that the sections set in the past, from the child’s viewpoint, are particularly powerful and perceptive. It is a mature, intelligent, satisfying read.

Lindsay Stanberry–Flynn: Unravelling

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Gillian Andrews: Valhai

An exciting, imaginative young adults’ novel set in another galaxy, featuring three argumentative teenagers who rebel against the age-old order of things and an intelligent lake that can communicate. This was a novel that might have been more successful, but was marred by punctuation problems, although Andrews says that the errors have now been corrected.

Billy Bob Button: Felicity Brady and the Wizards Bookshop

A door stopper of a Children’s book with magic and adventure. Harry Potter readers would love this.

Joanna Czechowska: The Black Madonna of Derby

A novel about three generations of an immigrant Polish family, exploring the clash of cultures between generations, contrasting the world of London in the sixties with the grim life in the Soviet Union.

Bobbie Darbyshire: Love, Revenge and Buttered Scones

A well-plotted comic novel, full of surprises, about a romantic novelist, a bizarre Scottish family and several extraordinary coincidences.

Christine Donovan: Jump Derry

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Margaret Gill: The Quetzal Skull

An exciting and mystical novel for young adults about an unassuming teenager who possesses a narwhal tusk that takes him to the rainforests of Costa Rica and confrontation with a drug lord.

Dianne Gray: The Everything Theory

A novel for young adults using archeology and theories about the past and future as a background to a rip-roaring adventure across the world.

Jill Hopkins: Nidae's Promise

A children’s novel following the adventures of a swallow making an epic journey in search of an island where he can find life-giving berries to save the life of a young boy.

Panos Ioannides: Gregory and Other Stories

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Fiona Ingram: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab

An action-packed children’s novel set in Egypt, featuring mysterious happenings, an intrepid granny and a sinister plot to gain absolute power.

Sarah James: Into the Yell

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Lindsey Mackie: ASO

A science fiction novel set in 2050 in a post apocalyptic world of limited resources, where children are taken away from their parents and brought up in Wales by special carers and the elderly are sent as far away as possible in the opposite direction.

Johnny McKeagney: In the Ould Ago

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Gitta Ogg: The Uncharted Voyage: A Wartime Saga

A memoir of a young Jewish girl who was forced to flee with her family from Czechoslovakia in a series of complex moves across the changing map of Europe of the 1930s before finally arriving in England.

Michael Richardson: Careless Talk

See shortlist

Andrew Sharp: The Ghosts of Eden

See shortlist

Christopher Smith: Why Don’t you Fly: Backdoor to Beijing – by bicycle

See shortlist

Lindsay Stanberry–Flynn: Unravelling

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