New Writing

Two UEA alumni have been longlisted for the Booker Prize. Ayòbámi Adébáyò (pictured), who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2014, is nominated for A Spell of Good Things; and Paul Murray, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2001, is nominated for The Bee Sting. Ayòbámi’s debut novel Stay With Me was shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2017 and the Wellcome Book Prize in 2018. It was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2018 and the Prix Les Afriques in 2020. It was also named the winner of the 9Mobile Prize for Literature in 2019. Paul published his first novel An Evening of Long Goodbyes in 2003. It was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Kerry Irish Fiction Award. His second novel Skippy Dies was published in 2009 and was nominated for numerous awards, including the Costa Novel Award, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Writing, and (in the United States) the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also longlisted for the 2010 Booker Prize. His third novel The Mark and the Void was published in 2015 and was the co-winner of the 2016 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. The Booker Prize shortlist will be announced on 21 September, and the winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on 26 November.