‘Effortlessly hip’: two novels named joint winners of Queen Mary small press fiction prize

‘Effortlessly hip’: two novels named joint winners of Queen Mary small press fiction prize Rebecca Gransden’s Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group and Nell Osborne’s Ghost Driver ‘crossed the line together’ to take award previously known as the Republic of Consciousness prize Two experimental novels have jointly won the Queen Mary small press fiction prize, formerly known as the Republic of Consciousness prize. Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden, published by Tangerine Press, and Ghost Driver by Nell Osborne, published by Moist Books, were announced as this year’s winners during a ceremony held at Queen Mary University, London, on Wednesday evening. “Sometimes it’s clear the judges can’t choose between two books, and literary prizes aren’t races,” said prize founder Neil Griffiths. “When two cross the line together, we don’t use technology to measure in hundredths of a second – they both win.” Gransden’s novella is about a character’s travels in a post-apocalyptic land. The reader goes “on a seismic journey with a young woman through a society demolished, where bodies rot, and geology has erupted,” said judge and writer Susanna Crossman, describing the book as a “mesmerising dystopian novel”. Osborne’s novel, meanwhile, follows the life of a woman named Malory. “The familiar becomes unfamiliar as Malory navigates, with creeping horror, office politics, body dysmorphia, drunk nights, relationships and a giant fly,” said Crossman. The book is a “shape-shifting gem powered by an effortlessly hip voice that crackles with restless energy”, said judge and writer Stu Hennigan. The two writers win a five-day writing retreat. All longlisted presses are awarded £500. At the shortlist stage, each title receives an additional £1,000, with 70% going to the publisher and 30% to the author. Shortlisted along with the winners were Darryl by Jackie Ess (Divided Publishing), The First Jasmines by Saima Begum (Hajar Press), and Spit by David Brenn...