UEA alumnus Tom Benn has been nominated for this year’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger for his first novel, ‘The Doll Princess’, which was published by Jonathan Cape earlier this year. Tom (pictured) was born in 1987, and grew up in Stockport. He graduated from UEA’s undergraduate programme in 2009, and from the MA in Creative Writing in 2010, when he was that year’s recipient of the Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Bursary. ‘The Doll Princess’ is set in Manchester in the 1990s and is described by the John Creasey judges as “a ‘Get Carter’ for that decade”. An extract from the book can be found on UEA’s creative writing website at: www.newwriting.net. The John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger is worth £1000 to the winner and is administered by the Crime Writers’ Association. Among the previous winners of the award are Patricia Cornwell, Minette Waters and, last year, S.J. Watson, for his Booker-shortlisted novel ‘Before I Go To Sleep’.
Tom Benn nominated for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
