I’ve spotted the shortlists for this year’s Forward Prize, published today. I’ve only read only one of those books – Emma Jones’s The Striped World, so I can’t really say anything about the line-up. What a useless blogger I am!
I'm glad that Salt have a nomination with Sian Hughes’s The Missing. Has anyone read Meghan O’Rourke’s Hatlife? Who will be publishing it in the UK? I can't find it on amazon.co.uk.
It's just struck me - not a single nomination for any book from Bloodaxe or Carcanet! Is it the first time that's happened? However, that's not the product of a daring move into unusual territory - in fact, quite the opposite. The main prize nominees have come from the big trade publishers - Picador, Cape and Faber, with only one independent (Arete, run by Craig Raine). The First Book has one each from Faber, Picador, Seren, Salt, CB Editions, and whoever is due to publish the UK edition of Meghan O'Rourke's book.
