I’m always keen to see what books are listed for the Rathbones Folio Prize each year because they consistently pick high quality literature. The books are nominated by an Academy made up of writers and critics meaning the judges are always actively involved in creating or critiquing new fiction, nonfiction and poetry. So I have faith in their choices which are judged solely on the criterion of excellence. The judges this year considered over eighty books in total and have selected only eight for their shortlist.
Two are among my favourite books that I read last year: “Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli and “Constellations” by Sinéad Gleeson. While Luiselli’s novel has already achieved book award attention being longlisted for both the Women’s Prize and the Booker, it’s wonderful to see Gleeson’s deeply personal and artful book of memoirist essays receive prize recognition.
Other books that have received other award attention and that I’ve been keen to read are “On Chapel Sands” by Laura Cumming which explores the mystery of her mother’s disappearance as a child. This has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards Biography category and shortlisted for the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. I saw Fiona Benson read from her poetry collection “Vertigo & Ghost” at the Forward Prize readings at the Southbank and have been keen to read it since. It went on to win the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Collection.
In surveying the best books of the year lists from various critics last year two books which consistently mentioned were Zadie Smith’s first collection of short stories “Grand Union” and Ben Lerner’s third novel “The Topeka School”. I’ve previously read a few stories from Smith’s book and have meant to read more. Coincidentally, my partner just finished Lerner’s novel a few days ago and highly recommended it to me.
One of my favourite things about following book prizes is that they often introduce me to books I’ve never heard of before. The remaining two shortlisted books are ones I’ve not come across but which sound really fascinating. “Guest House for Young Widows” (which was also shortlisted for last year’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction) by journalist and academic Azadeh Moaveni investigates and reports on the accounts of women who left their comfortable lives to join the Islamic State. Finally, James Ladun’s “Victory” is made up of two novellas which explore male sexual violence, power and corruption.
I’m looking forward to reading some of these books and discussing them soon. Let me know if you’ve read any or which you’re keen to read. The winner will be announced on March 23rd.
