Welsh Novelist on Authors' Club Shortlist

Welsh author Mari Strachan has been shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award of 2010.

The Earth Hums in B Flat (Canongate, 2009) is one of six books on the shortlist.

The other five are Choke Chain by Jason Donald (Jonathan Cape), The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath (Hutchinson), The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn (Jonathan Cape), Designs for a Happy Home by Matthew Reynolds (Bloomsbury) and After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld (Jonathan Cape).

The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award is presented to the most promising debut novel issued by a British publisher in the previous year.

The shortlist is selected by a panel of Club members chaired by literary editor Suzi Feay.

“We were looking for six novels that were deeply satisfying in their own right, but which also pointed the way to a significant future career,” said Feay.

“We wanted readability but weren’t prepared to compromise on depth, writing style and ambition. These are the books that have given us the most pleasure and fuelled our most passionate debates, and any one of them would be a worthy winner.”

The winner will be announced and the £2500 prize presented at a dinner at The Arts Club in Dover Street, London W1, on 7th April.

The 2010 guest adjudicator is the novelist Amanda Craig, who will select the winner from the shortlist.

From its establishment in 1955, the prize has been awarded to novelists who have gone on to enjoy distinguished careers.

Past winners include Brian Moore for The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Alan Sillitoe for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Paul Bailey for At the Jerusalem.

Recent winners include Laura Beatty for Pollard (2009), Segun Afolabi for Goodbye Lucille (2008) and Nicola Monaghan for The Killing Jar (2007).